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.
Grindcore is an extreme fusion genre of heavy metal and hardcore punk that originated in the mid-1980s, drawing inspiration from abrasive-sounding musical styles, such as thrashcore, crust punk, hardcore punk, extreme metal, and industrial. Grindcore is considered a more noise-filled style of hardcore punk while using hardcore's trademark characteristics such as heavily distorted, down-tuned guitars, grinding overdriven bass, high-speed tempo, blast beats, and vocals which consist of growls, shouts and high-pitched shrieks. Early groups like Napalm Death are credited with laying the groundwork for the style. It is most prevalent today in North America and Europe, with popular contributors such as Brutal Truth and Nasum. Lyrical themes range from a primary focus on social and political concerns, to gory subject matter and black humor.
Napalm Death are an English grindcore band formed in Meriden, West Midlands in 1981. None of the band's original members have been in the group since 1986, but since Utopia Banished (1992), the lineup of bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mitch Harris, drummer Danny Herrera and lead vocalist Mark "Barney" Greenway has remained consistent through most of the band's career. From 1989 to 2004, Napalm Death were a five-piece band after they added Jesse Pintado as the replacement of one-time guitarist Bill Steer. Following Pintado's departure, the band reverted to a four-piece.
Earache Records is a British independent record label, music publisher and management company founded by Digby Pearson in 1985, based in Nottingham, England, with offices in London and New York. The label helped to pioneer extreme metal by releasing early grindcore and death metal records between the late 1980s and mid-1990s. Its roster has since diversified into more mainstream guitar music, working with bands such as Rival Sons, the Temperance Movement, Blackberry Smoke, Scarlet Rebels and the White Buffalo. The company also hosted the 'Earache Express' stage at Glastonbury Festival in 2017 and 'The Earache Factory' at Boomtown 2018. The label's logo is a homage to Thrasher magazine, as Pearson was a skateboard culture enthusiast.
Shane Thomas Embury is a British bassist and a member of the grindcore and death metal band Napalm Death since 1987—the longest-serving member of the band.
Anaal Nathrakh are a British extreme metal band formed in 1999 in Birmingham by multi-instrumentalist Mick Kenney and vocalist Dave Hunt. They are currently signed to Metal Blade Records. The band's name is Irish for snake's breath and was taken from Merlin's Charm of Making in John Boorman's 1981 film Excalibur. The band recorded two demos in 1999, which were later released as an album.
Michael Kenney is a British musician and record producer. He gained popularity as the lead guitarist of the extreme metal band Anaal Nathrakh, for which he performs under the stage name Irrumator. He now releases phonk music under the name Kordhell.
The Codex Necro is the first studio album by British extreme metal band Anaal Nathrakh. It was released on 22 November 2001.
Domine Non Es Dignus is the second studio album by British extreme metal group Anaal Nathrakh. It was released on 2 November 2004. The title translates to "Lord, you are not worthy" in Latin.
Dave Hunt is an English extreme metal vocalist. He is the vocalist of Anaal Nathrakh under the pseudonym V.I.T.R.I.O.L.,, a phrase found in alchemical literature which purports to be the origin of the name of vitriol. He was also the vocalist of Mistress under the pseudonym Dave Cunt until their split in March 2008.
Eschaton is the third studio album by British extreme metal band Anaal Nathrakh. Musically, the album continues in the vein of the previous album, Domine Non Es Dignus. Some reviewers have commented that the overall atmosphere and production are at the same time a step back towards the out-and-out ferocity of the band's debut. The album features guest appearances by Shane Embury (Embryonymous) on bass, and Attila Csihar performs vocals on "Regression to the Mean".
Hell Is Empty, and All the Devils Are Here is the fourth album by British extreme metal band Anaal Nathrakh, released on 29 October 2007 by FETO Records. The album title is a quote from the first act of William Shakespeare's The Tempest.
In the Constellation of the Black Widow is the fifth studio album by British extreme metal band Anaal Nathrakh, released on 29 June 2009 by Candlelight Records. The album was also released on LP, limited to 500 copies. 250 copies are pressed on black and white splatter vinyl, and 250 copies are pressed on black and purple vinyl.
Passion is the sixth studio album by British extreme metal band Anaal Nathrakh. It was released on 17 May 2011 by Candlelight Records. The album features guest appearances by Drugzilla, Rainer Landfermann, Ventnor and Alan Dubin.
Vanitas is the seventh full-length studio album by British extreme metal band Anaal Nathrakh. It was released on 23 October 2012, on Candlelight Records. The album was released in North America on 6 November 2012.
Desideratum is the eighth full-length studio album by British extreme metal band Anaal Nathrakh. It was released on 28 October 2014 on Metal Blade Records.
The Whole of the Law is the ninth full-length studio album by British extreme metal band Anaal Nathrakh. It was released on 28 October 2016 on Metal Blade Records.
A New Kind of Horror is the tenth studio album by British extreme metal band Anaal Nathrakh. The album was released on 28 September 2018 through Metal Blade Records. The album has released two singles, “Forward!”, and “Obscene as Cancer”. The album is a follow-up to their 2016 album The Whole of the Law. The album's lyrics deal with the horrors of the First World War, contemporary politics, and the letters of D.H. Lawrence. Vocalist Dave Hunt stated:
"This is not a happy album. It is bitter, vengeful, sarcastic, sardonic, violent, terrified and horrified — terrifying and horrifying in equal measure. Above all, it is human, and all that that entails. It's as sincere as we could make it. There's a lot that goes into our albums, of course, but it all comes about as a natural result of who we are, and for A New Kind of Horror we felt early on that it was clearly its own thing. It doesn't have to stand in comparison with anything because to us it's in a class of its own."
Make Them Die Slowly are a British black metal band, formed by Mick Kenney of Anaal Nathrakh in 2020.
Endarkenment is the eleventh studio album by British extreme metal band Anaal Nathrakh. The album was released on 2 October 2020, through Metal Blade Records. Two singles were released from the album: "Endarkenment" and "The Age of Starlight Ends". The music was recorded in Mick Kenney's studio in southern California, while the vocals were recorded in the band's home town of Birmingham, UK. Vocalist Dave Hunt said of the album, "I think in terms of feel, it's brighter, more open and direct than maybe we've been in the past. Obviously I don't mean it's happy-go-lucky sounding, or suggestive of a sunny disposition. I mean something more like it burns with light rather than glowers with darkness. It's coruscating." Most of the music was written by Kenney in less than a week.
