Death 'n' roll

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Death 'n' roll (portmanteau of death metal and rock 'n' roll) is a subgenre of death metal music that incorporates hard rock-inspired elements. The achieved effect is that of death metal's trademark combination of growled vocals and highly distorted detuned guitar riffing with elements reminiscent of 1970s hard rock and heavy metal. [1] [2] Notable examples include Entombed, Gorefest, Carcass, Kaptain Sun, Six Feet Under, Pungent Stench and the Fernando Colunga Ultimate Experience.

Contents

History

While the "death 'n' roll" tag was first associated with Entombed, [3] Daniel Ekeroth associates the style with a previous group called Furbowl. [4] After Entombed's release, Wolverine Blues , the band became associated with what the music press dubbed as "death 'n' roll", [5] a label which has followed Entombed's career ever since. [6] [7] [8] [9] In the years following the album's release, the sound was embraced by Dismember on Massive Killing Capacity (1995), Carcass on Swansong (1996) and Six Feet Under on Warpath (1997). [10]

Another noteworthy death 'n' roll release is Soul Survivor , Gorefest's 1996 effort. This album showed more than a passing nod to classic rock. [11] Proof of that influence was the club tour organized by the band that same year, where Gorefest played songs by AC/DC, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. [12] Gorefest broke up after their last 1990s album, Chapter 13 , which continued the trend started in Soul Survivor [11] (Gorefest reformed seven years later). [13] Two of its members currently play in Live & Dangerous, a Thin Lizzy tribute band from the Netherlands. [14]

Confronted with the "death 'n' roll" label in interviews, the death metal acts it usually is attached to react with skepticism. Entombed's LG Petrov made the following statement, regarding this issue: "We see it as Entombed music, if people see that as death 'n' roll so be it. We just laugh, death 'n' roll, why not? When we write songs, we aren't thinking it has to be a particular style." [7] When questioned about their mixture of death metal and rock and roll, Gorefest's Frank Harthoorn replied: "Strange, everyone has always mentioned this death n' roll thing. To me it's just metal, plain and simple. I don't believe our influences are different from other bands." [15]

Further reading

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Entombed (band)</span> Swedish death metal band

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<i>Clandestine</i> (album) 1991 studio album by Entombed

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">At the Gates</span> Swedish melodic death metal band

At the Gates is a Swedish death metal band from Gothenburg, formed in 1990. The band was a major progenitor of Gothenburg-style melodic death metal alongside In Flames and Dark Tranquillity. Prior to their first disbandment in 1996, At the Gates released four albums, ending with and including Slaughter of the Soul (1995), which has been seen as a landmark in the mid-1990s Swedish death metal scene as well as being a major inspiration for many metalcore bands. After reuniting for a one-off tour in 2008, the band reformed once again in 2011, and they have since released three more albums: At War with Reality (2014), To Drink from the Night Itself (2018) and The Nightmare of Being (2021).

Melodic death metal is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal. The genre features the heaviness of death metal but with highly melodic or harmonized guitar riffs and solos, and often features high-pitched shrieked vocals alongside the low-pitched growls commonly featured in traditional death metal. Pioneered by the English heavy metal band Carcass with their 1993 album Heartwork, melodic death metal developed further in Sweden in the mid-1990s. The Swedish death metal scene did much to popularise the style, soon centering in the "Gothenburg metal" scene. At the Gates' Slaughter of the Soul, Dark Tranquillity's The Gallery, and In Flames' The Jester Race, all released in the mid-1990s, were highly influential albums in melodic death metal, with At the Gates and In Flames being the two most common influences on North American 2000s heavy metal bands. Many American heavy metal bands emulated At the Gates' sound, resulting in the usage of the phrase "At the Gates worship".

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carcass (band)</span> British extreme metal band

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicke Andersson</span> Swedish musician

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<i>Wolverine Blues</i> 1993 studio album by Entombed

Wolverine Blues is the third studio album by Swedish death metal band Entombed, released on 4 October 1993 by Earache Records. The album displays a completely different sound from previous releases, combining elements of hard rock, heavy metal, and hardcore punk while still retaining much of their traditional, death metal roots, in a style that would later be known as death 'n' roll. The band also adopted a mid-tempo groove metal style for this release, similar to that of American band Pantera.

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References

  1. 1 2 Huey, Steve. "Gorefest Biography". allmusic.com. Retrieved 15 February 2008. Erase, was released in 1994 and found the band moving subtly toward more traditional forms of metal, partly through its sure sense of groove. That approach crystallized on 1996's Soul Survivor, which combined death metal with the elegant power and accessibility of '70s British metal.
  2. ↑ Cosmo Lee. "Stylus magazine review". stylusmagazine.com. Archived from the original on 17 June 2008. Retrieved 18 July 2008. "Death 'n' roll" arose with Entombed's 1993 album Wolverine Blues ... Wolverine Blues was like '70s hard rock tuned down and run through massive distortion and death growls.
  3. ↑ Tobin, Dan (1999). Wolverine Blues (CD booklet). Entombed. Nottingham, United Kingdom: Earache Records. p. 8.
  4. ↑ Ekeroth, 2008, p. 264.
  5. ↑ Tobin, Dan (1996). Entombed (CD booklet). Entombed. New York, NY: Earache Records. p. 4.
  6. ↑ Birchmeier, Jason. "( Entombed > Biography )". allmusic.com. Retrieved 15 February 2008.
  7. 1 2 "Entombed Interview". metalchaos.co.uk. Archived from the original on 23 April 2008. Retrieved 14 February 2008.
  8. ↑ Bowar, Chad. "Entombed Interview: A Conversation With Vocalist L.G. Petrov". Heavy Metal. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 20 February 2008.
  9. ↑ "ENTOMBED: Unique, Detailed Biography". MusicMight. Archived from the original on 17 April 2009. Retrieved 26 May 2008.
  10. ↑ Boyd, William. "10 essential Death'n'Roll albums". Metal Hammer . Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  11. 1 2 Huey, Steve. "( Gorefest > Biography )". allmusic.com. Retrieved 15 February 2008.
  12. ↑ Paul the Postman (September 2007). "Interview with GOREFEST :: Maelstrom :: Issue No 58". Maelstrom Zine. Archived from the original on 27 February 2009. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  13. ↑ "GOREFEST: Unique, Detailed Biography". MusicMight. Archived from the original on 26 September 2012. Retrieved 26 May 2008.
  14. ↑ "GOREFEST Members' THIN LIZZY Tribute Band; Photos Available". roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net. 14 May 2007. Archived from the original on 26 February 2009. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  15. ↑ Mira, Fabio Desiderato de (March 2006). "Gorefest" (in Portuguese). Secrets of the Moon zine. Archived from the original on 26 October 2009. Retrieved 4 March 2008. Estranho, todo mundo sempre tem mencionado essa coisa de Death N' Roll. Para mim, isso é apenas Metal, claro e simples. Eu não acredito que nossas influências sejam diferentes de outras bandas.
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