Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, featuring double kick and blast beat techniques; minor keys or atonality; abrupt tempo, key, and time signature changes; and chromatic chord progressions. The lyrical themes of death metal may include slasher film-style violence, political conflict, religion, nature, philosophy, true crime and science fiction.
Kreator is a German thrash metal band from Essen, formed in 1982. Their current lineup consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Miland "Mille" Petrozza, drummer Jürgen "Ventor" Reil, lead guitarist Sami Yli-Sirniö, and bassist Frédéric Leclercq. The band's lineup has changed multiple times over its 41-year career, most noticeably with their bassists and lead guitarists. Petrozza and Reil are the only two original members left in Kreator, although the latter took a break from the band from 1994 to 1996. Yli-Sirniö has been the lead guitarist of Kreator since 2001, while Leclercq joined in 2019 as the replacement of Christian "Speesy" Giesler, who had been a member of the band since 1994.
Cryptopsy is a Canadian technical death metal band from Montreal, formed in 1988.
Forbidden is an American thrash metal band from the San Francisco Bay Area, California. Formed in 1985 as Forbidden Evil, but would change their name in 1987. Since their formation, Forbidden have broken up and reformed twice with numerous line-up changes. After breaking up for the first time in 1997, Forbidden reunited once again in 2007, went into an indefinite hiatus in 2012, but reformed in 2023. The current line-up of the band is Norman Skinner (vocals), Craig Locicero (guitar), Matt Camacho (bass), Steve Smyth (guitar) and Chris Kontos (drums).
Extol are a Christian metal band from Bekkestua, Norway that was formed in 1993. The band is known for playing a variety of different styles of metal which include progressive metal, death metal, black metal and thrash metal.
Grave is a Swedish death metal band that was formed in 1986 by vocalist and guitarist Ola Lindgren who is their only constant member. The band had particular success in the early 1990s, and their first four albums, Into the Grave, You'll Never See..., Soulless and Hating Life, cemented their reputation as one of Sweden's foremost death metal bands. Grave went on hiatus in 1997, but got back together two years later. Since then, they have released seven more albums, making a total of eleven studio albums. Along with Dismember, Entombed and Unleashed, Grave is considered one of the "big four" of Swedish death metal.
David Justin Vincent, also known as Evil D, is an American musician who is best known as the former lead vocalist and bassist for the death metal band Morbid Angel as well as the bassist for Genitorturers.
Into Eternity is a Canadian progressive metal band from Regina, Saskatchewan, formed in 1997 by Tim Roth, Scott Krall and Jim Austin.
City is the second studio album by Canadian extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad, released on February 11, 1997. Frontman Devin Townsend assembled a permanent lineup of Strapping Young Lad to record the album, including prolific drummer Gene Hoglan, and Townsend's former bandmates Jed Simon on guitar and Byron Stroud on bass. The album was critically acclaimed, with Revolver naming it one of "the greatest metal albums of all time", and it is widely considered Strapping Young Lad's best work. The album was re-released in 2007 with several bonus tracks and altered cover art.
Origin is an American technical death metal band from Topeka, Kansas, founded in 1990 under the monikers Necrotomy and Thee Abomination. They have been recognized by music critics and metal fans alike for combining a harsh sound with a high level of technical skill.
Trivium is an American heavy metal band from Orlando, Florida, formed in 1999. The band comprises vocalist and guitarist Matt Heafy, guitarist Corey Beaulieu, bassist Paolo Gregoletto, and drummer Alex Bent.
Believer is an American technical thrash metal band from the late 1980s and early 1990s, that plays a hybrid of thrash and progressive metal. Believer is known for its innovative use of symphonic elements in thrash metal, featuring some of the earliest examples of symphonic metal. Their lyrics deal with topics of philosophy, theology and social issues.
Threat Signal is a Canadian heavy metal band from Hamilton, Ontario. The band has had numerous lineup changes, with only Jon Howard remaining from the original incarnation. Their music is often classified as metalcore, melodic death metal, or groove metal.
Temple of Blood is an American Christian metal band based out of Huntsville, Alabama. Musically, they are influenced by the thrash metal music of bands like Annihilator and Megadeth and the traditional heavy metal music by bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. The band's name is derived from 1 Corinthians 6:19 and according to the band's vocalist: "the idea of our bodies being temples of flesh and blood to God".
The Unspoken King is the sixth studio album by Canadian death metal band Cryptopsy. The album was released on May 26, 2008 in Europe, and June 24, 2008 in the US by Century Media Records. It was the last album to feature guitarist Alex Auburn and bassist Eric Langlois. Keyboardist Maggie Durand was also removed from the band shortly after completion.
Man Must Die is a Scottish technical death metal band from Glasgow, formed in 2002.
Lullabies for the Dormant Mind is the second studio album by Canadian metal band The Agonist. It was produced by Christian R. Donaldson. The album demonstrates a more diverse sound than the Agonist's debut album and features classical, jazz, opera, grindcore, thrash metal, and black metal influences. It features guest violins by Avi Ludmer and orchestrations by classical pianists Melina Soochan and Jonathan Lefrancois-Leduc (Blackguard). In 2009 the band released two videos from the album, "...And Their Eulogies Sang Me to Sleep" and "Thank You, Pain".
Day of Mourning is the fourth studio album by Canadian deathcore band Despised Icon. It was released September 22, 2009 through Century Media Records. The album is featured in four different editions, including; the standard, the United States exclusive Hot Topic edition, the Europe Exclusive LTD digipak edition, the iTunes edition and the Japanese edition.
Prisoners is the third studio album by Canadian metal band the Agonist. It was released on June 4 in Europe and June 5, 2012 in North America via Century Media records and was produced by the band's longtime producer Christian Donaldson. "Ideomotor" has been confirmed as the first single. The album sold 1,400 copies in the United States in the first week of its release and debuted at No. 19 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart. This is the last album with original singer Alissa White-Gluz before she joined Arch Enemy in 2014.
Killitorous is a Canadian technical death metal band based in Ottawa, Ontario. The band is known for its unorthodox blend of technical death metal, grindcore and hardcore as well as using comedy and pop culture references rather than stereotypical death metal themes.
