Technical death metal | |
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Cultural origins | Late 1980s, United States, Canada and Europe |
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Technical death metal (also known as tech death) is a musical subgenre of death metal with particular focus on instrumental skill and complex songwriting. Technical and progressive experimentation in death metal began in the late 1980s and early 1990s, largely driven by four bands that, according to Allmusic, are "technical death metal's Big Four" – Death, Pestilence, Atheist, and Cynic. All but Pestilence are part of the Florida death metal scene, [2] [3] to which Nocturnus, another influential band, also belongs. [4]
"People are in their garage making a demo, and once they get into a studio they're going to want to use the [recording equipment]. It offers all sorts of temptations. Even without trying, you start to become good at your instrument, you're gonna want to do things with it."
Distinct features of the subgenre include dynamic song structures, complex and atypical rhythmic structures, abundant use of diminished chords and arpeggios, frequent employment of odd time chord progressions, and consistent use of techniques such as string skipping in the guitar work. Bass lines are usually complex, and drumming is complex including techniques such as blast beats, odd time signatures and double kicks. The technical death metal genre has also been influenced by mostly jazz fusion, [1] as well as thrash metal and progressive/technical-inspired heavy metal bands like Death, [5] [6] Megadeth, [7] Slayer, [5] [8] Voivod, [9] Kreator, [6] Dark Angel, [7] Coroner, [6] Sadus, [10] and Watchtower, the latter of whose second album Control and Resistance (1989) is often considered to be one of the sources of inspiration for the genre. [11] [12]
Despite the increasingly sophisticated songwriting, technical death metal has been noted for having more commercial appeal than traditional death metal. According to music journalist T Coles, "Though death metal songwriters weren't moving away from the grim subject material, there was a growing desire for clarity, with bands tightening up to better communicate weird or abstract ideas of death, and to court some of the more lucrative commercial possibilities. This more professional approach, forged from recording engineers and musicians working to refine the sound, would be the spark that finally ignited the interest of larger organizations." [13]
Sociologist and music critic Keith Kahn-Harris assessed: "Within the confines of a genre there's always a tension: Where do you go with extreme music? What limits are left to explore? One of the reasons I think that extreme metal artists end up producing more technical or listenable work is ultimately it becomes less artistically satisfying to produce [traditional death metal]." [14]
The 1990 album The Key by Nocturnus has been cited as the first progressive death metal album. [15] One of the key works that cemented the subgenre was Atheist's debut album Piece of Time , also released in 1990, which took death metal into a more intricate level while incorporating influences ranging from jazz fusion to progressive metal. In 1991, New York death metal group Suffocation released their debut album Effigy of the Forgotten , which focused on pairing speed and brutality with a "sophisticated" sense of songwriting. Atheist's second album Unquestionable Presence , Pestilence's third album Testimony of the Ancients , and Death's fourth album Human were all released the same year, forging a path for more intricate and refined releases within the death metal genre. [3]
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.
Progressive metal is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified guitar-driven sound of the former with the more experimental, cerebral or quasi-classical compositions of the latter.
Thrash metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and fast tempo. The songs usually use fast percussive beats and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead guitar work.
Voivod is a Canadian heavy metal band from Jonquière Quebec. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Denis "Snake" Bélanger, guitarist Denis "Piggy" D'Amour, drummer Michel "Away" Langevin and bassist Jean-Yves "Blacky" Thériault. The band has had numerous members changes throughout its 43-year career, with Langevin as the only consistent member. Their current line-up includes Langevin, Bélanger, Daniel "Chewy" Mongrain (guitar) and Dominic "Rocky" Laroche (bass).
Suffocation is an American death metal band formed in 1988 in Centereach, New York, currently consisting of lead guitarist Terrance Hobbs, bassist Derek Boyer, rhythm guitarist Charlie Errigo, drummer Eric Morotti, and vocalist Ricky Myers. The band rose to prominence with their 1991 debut album Effigy of the Forgotten, which became a blueprint for death metal in the 1990s. Since then, Suffocation has recorded eight albums. These feature growled vocals with downtuned guitars, fast and complex guitar riffs and drumming, open chord notes and occasional breakdowns.
A number of heavy metal genres have developed since the emergence of heavy metal during the late 1960s and early 1970s. At times, heavy metal genres may overlap or are difficult to distinguish, but they can be identified by a number of traits. They may differ in terms of instrumentation, tempo, song structure, vocal style, lyrics, guitar playing style, drumming style, and so on.
Atheist is a Florida death metal band from Sarasota, Florida, founded in 1987.
Avant-garde metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music loosely defined by use of experimentation and innovative, avant-garde elements, including non-standard and unconventional sounds, instruments, song structures, playing styles, and vocal techniques. Avant-garde metal is influenced by progressive rock and extreme metal, particularly death metal, and is closely related to progressive metal. Some local scenes include Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Boston, and Seattle in the United States, Oslo in Norway, and Tokyo in Japan.
Pestilence is a Dutch death metal band founded in Enschede in 1986. They have been through various membership changes throughout their existence, with guitarist-vocalist Patrick Mameli as the sole constant member. After disbanding in order to pursue other musical directions in 1994, Pestilence reunited in 2008, and was put on a "permanent hold" in July 2014. However, the band reunited once again in October 2016. To date, Pestilence has released ten studio albums, and they are one of "technical death metal's Big Four", along with Death, Atheist, and Cynic.
Coroner is a Swiss thrash metal band from Zürich formed in 1983, better known for the lineup formed in 1985. They garnered relatively little attention outside of Europe. The band broke up in 1996, but reformed 14 years later. The band has performed at multiple live venues and festivals around worldwide since 2011, and as of 2023, they are working on their first studio album in more than three decades.
Watchtower is an American progressive metal band based in Austin, Texas, active from 1982 to 1993 and they have reunited occasionally since 1999. The band has released two studio albums―Energetic Disassembly (1985) and Control and Resistance (1989)―as well as one compilation album, four digital singles, one EP and three demo cassettes, and has been featured on numerous compilation albums. They are also notable for featuring vocalist Jason McMaster, who left Watchtower after the release of Energetic Disassembly to form Dangerous Toys, and was replaced by Alan Tecchio, who appeared on Control and Resistance and the band's 2016 EP Concepts of Math: Book One. After leaving the band once again in 2010, McMaster returned to Watchtower for the second time in 2023.
Deathcore is an extreme metal subgenre that combines death metal with metalcore. The genre consists of death metal guitar riffs, blast beats, and metalcore breakdowns. While there are some precursors to the concept of death metal fused with metalcore/hardcore elements seen in the 1990s, deathcore itself emerged in the early 2000s and gained prominence beginning in the mid-2000s within the southwestern United States, especially Arizona and inland southern California, which are home to many notable bands and various festivals.
Nocturnus, currently Nocturnus AD, is a Florida death metal band formed in Tampa, Florida, in 1987 by the drummer/vocalist Mike Browning.
Effigy of the Forgotten is the debut full-length album by New York–based death metal band Suffocation, released in 1991. The album features several tracks that are re-recorded versions of tracks that appeared on the band's Reincremation demo and Human Waste EP. The cover artwork was created by Dan Seagrave.
Consuming Impulse is the second album by Dutch death metal band Pestilence, released in 1989. While retaining some of the thrash metal elements from its predecessor Malleus Maleficarum (1988), Consuming Impulse saw the band progress further towards the traditional death metal genre with progressive influences; this can be seen as one of the earliest examples of technical death metal, a subgenre that would be used and expanded on Pestilence's subsequent albums. Consuming Impulse was also their first release with then-new guitarist Patrick Uterwijk, and their last one to feature bassist and vocalist Martin van Drunen.
Terrorizer was an extreme music magazine published by Dark Arts Ltd. in the United Kingdom. It was released every four weeks with thirteen issues a year and featured a "Fear Candy" covermount CD, a twice yearly "Fear Candy Unsigned" CD, and a double-sided poster.
The Key is the debut studio album by American death metal band Nocturnus. It was released on Earache Records on October 1, 1990.
Florida death metal is a regional scene and stylistic subdivision of death metal. Some of the most significantly pioneering and best-selling death metal acts emerged in Florida, especially in the Tampa Bay area. As a result, Tampa is unofficially known by many death metal fans as the "capital of death metal." The scene coalesced in the mid-1980s through early 1990s around the output of bands such as Death, Nasty Savage, Deicide, Monstrosity, Morbid Angel, Atheist, Obituary, and others. The producer Scott Burns and the studio Morrisound Recording were also instrumental in developing and popularizing the Florida scene. Some bands which originated outside of Florida, such as Malevolent Creation and Cannibal Corpse, relocated to the state in order to participate in this burgeoning scene. The Florida bands featured a more technical approach to the evolving death metal sound, a style which spread beyond the confines of the state, and some were instrumental in creating the progressive death metal subgenre. The death metal genre as a whole, including the Florida scene, declined in popularity in the second half of the 1990s, but many bands within the Florida scene persisted and the scene resurged in popularity in subsequent decades. Although the scene attracted more media attention, it continued to be underground due to its extreme nature.
Cryptic Shift is an English extreme metal band formed in Leeds, West Yorkshire in 2013. They have two EPs and two demos, with their debut album Visitations from Enceladus being released on 4 May 2020 through Blood Harvest records. In an article for The Quietus, the album was referred to as "damn near essential, and proof that [Britain] has a valid contribution to make to this new wave of progressive death metal".