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On the Downfall of Death Metal
by Noctir (Oct. 2010)
In the shadows of the early-to-mid 1980s, a malevolent darkness fell over the underground metal scene. While speed and thrash metal were more intense and aggressive than what came before, the first wave of black metal and the early death metal bands created an atmosphere shrouded in evil, death, and darkness. This was a special time in music history, when everything aligned to spawn various new sub-genres.
Inspired by the early thrash and black metal bands, death metal came forth in the mid-’80s, and few could have predicted how large it would grow. Many point to Possessed and Mantas / Death as the first death metal bands, though Possessed’s Seven Churches links more strongly to Venom, Slayer, Bathory, and Hellhammer, fitting better with first wave black metal. This leaves Mantas / Death as the true start of pure death metal.
In a short time, many other bands formed, representing the true spirit of this new sub-genre. Morbid Angel, Necrophagia, Xecutioner / Obituary, Massacre, Autopsy, and many more established the core elements of death metal. The plague spread quickly as bands from thrash and grindcore scenes, like Nihilist, Pestilence, Carcass, Napalm Death, and Carnage, joined the ranks.
Death metal grew in popularity throughout the late ’80s and early ’90s. Nearly all the best albums of the sub-genre were released between 1987 and 1991. But just as things seemed to be going well, the same problems that hit thrash metal began to afflict the scene. Record labels signed a flood of uninspired bands, many only imitating their contemporaries instead of drawing from the original ideology. Instead of talented bands making great albums, legions of mediocre, unimaginative groups churned out rehashed music lacking passion or creativity. Many were aiming for the same sound as their idols, resulting in a scene where everything began to sound alike.
The two most popular studios were Morrisound in Tampa, Florida, and Studio Sunlight in Stockholm, Sweden. After Entombed’s Left Hand Path, most Scandinavian death metal bands wanted to record at Sunlight to capture that signature sound. Tomas Skogsberg usually delivered what they wanted, which made most Swedish death metal from this period sound very similar. Bands traveled from Norway and Finland to get this production.
In the States, the problem was worse. Scott Burns’s production sucked the life from nearly every record he touched. Death, Obituary, Morbid Angel, Deicide, Malevolent Creation, Cannibal Corpse, and dozens of others were all hurt by his vision of what death metal should sound like, as well as their own choice to record there. Bands even traveled from abroad to get that same lifeless sound, such as Napalm Death and Pestilence. So many good death metal albums were reduced to soft, non-threatening piles of wasted potential. Some classics, like Blessed Are the Sick, still manage to shine despite this, but imagine how much better they could have been with a different studio or producer. Thrash, black, and death metal all thrive on a raw sound; each loses atmosphere as production smooths away rough edges.
Another problem was branching out and becoming too progressive. This went against the very essence of death metal. At the start, death metal conjured the essence of death, and you could almost smell the decaying flesh and rotting graves on albums like Scream Bloody Gore, Leprosy, Consuming Impulse, and Slowly We Rot. In all honesty, releases like Altars of Madness owed more to old black metal bands in atmosphere and content. Similarly, Deicide did very little to invoke a feeling of death. Many in the Norwegian black metal scene said they were more like a commercial black metal band, their Satanic message unrelated to death, though they used the typical death metal sound.
By the early ’90s, even established bands began changing style. Some were tired of death metal’s limitations and brought in different influences. Their “death metal” riffs were boring and generic, fused with technical nonsense or traditional metal riffs and arrangements, often creating more upbeat, accessible music. Death is an early example of this. Other bands like Atheist started out with these ideas. It’s hard to call such bands pure death metal since their atmosphere lacked anything deathlike. Many others followed. With so many bands copying each other and using the same studios and producers, some ventured outside death metal’s boundaries to stand out by injecting jazz influences, for example, which has no place in death metal.
This progression away from pure death metal mostly started in Europe. Bands like Entombed, Tiamat, Amorphis, and Sentenced all drifted into different territory. Sentenced started as pure death metal in ’91 but by ’93 were melodic, following the same path as many others. By ’94, bands like In Flames emerged. Most of this melodic death metal stuff isn’t really death metal at all, more like half Iron Maiden with harsh vocals. The vocals themselves often resembled second wave black metal more than traditional death metal. For example, Joakim Göthberg, who was briefly In Flames’s vocalist, had been with Marduk before. Most vocalists in this scene used a raspier style, unlike the dominant death metal vocals of the period. While At the Gates is often lumped in here, they gradually evolved into melodic death metal by ’94. Their earlier material, like Gardens of Grief, wasn’t melodic.
Lyrics also changed. Early death metal bands mostly wrote about horror films, serial killers, or death itself in a serious tone. But by the early ’90s, thrash influence took over, and many bands wrote political lyrics or mundane topics. Death, for example, shifted to positive thinking or addressing media slander and ex-members. This was ridiculous and boring and had no place in death metal.
By around 1992, death metal’s dominant sound was becoming more percussion-driven. Songs were often led by drumming instead of guitar riffs. Guitars got thicker and bass-like, with less treble. Vocals went deeper and deeper. Vocalists like Chris Barnes (Cannibal Corpse), Joe Ptacek (Broken Hope), and Frank Mullen (Suffocation) developed ‘cookie monster’ growls that stopped adding atmosphere. Even better vocalists like David Vincent and Glen Benton dropped their unique qualities for deeper vocals.
This deepening of vocals was tied to a stupid concept of “brutality.” By the mid-’90s, bands competed to be faster, more technical, with more drum fills, time changes, and riff cycles. If they weren’t mixing in grindcore and noise, they crammed in so many riffs that Darkness Descends began to seem primitive. The ’90s “groove” also took over, focusing on catchy rhythms and breakdowns, killing the sub-genre further and attracting mouth-breathing parasites.
Think of the A Nightmare on Elm Street movies. The first was gritty and creepy. The second was inferior but still decent. By the third, Freddy Krueger was a stand-up comedian, killing the creepy atmosphere. The same happened to death metal.
Bands might write a decent riff, but the atmosphere is gone. By ’97-98, bands like Suffocation, Nile, Cryptopsy, and Opeth were popular, but none captured what death metal once was. I washed my hands of it. Since then, modern releases have disappointed. Nothing new is being done. Old bands churn out garbage and cheapen their legacies. New bands rip off the old, adding nothing. The original principles of death metal are long forgotten. Many realized this long ago. Norwegian black metal musicians rebelled against death metal’s trendiness as early as ’91-92.
In the end, a sub-genre founded on creating an atmosphere of death and darkness became sterile and lifeless. That’s the real death in death metal. It has no feeling, just mechanical noise. Riffs, songs, and bands are interchangeable. There hasn’t been a relevant death metal release in over a decade, and there’s no reason to believe this will change. Death metal will continue as a parody of itself, with few musicians or fans realizing it. It’s frustrating, but how can one argue for the integrity of a sub-genre sold out by one of its creators nearly two decades ago?
Inspired by the early thrash and black metal bands, death metal came forth in the mid-’80s, and few could have predicted how large it would grow. Many point to Possessed and Mantas / Death as the first death metal bands, though Possessed’s Seven Churches links more strongly to Venom, Slayer, Bathory, and Hellhammer, fitting better with first wave black metal. This leaves Mantas / Death as the true start of pure death metal.
In a short time, many other bands formed, representing the true spirit of this new sub-genre. Morbid Angel, Necrophagia, Xecutioner / Obituary, Massacre, Autopsy, and many more established the core elements of death metal. The plague spread quickly as bands from thrash and grindcore scenes, like Nihilist, Pestilence, Carcass, Napalm Death, and Carnage, joined the ranks.
Death metal grew in popularity throughout the late ’80s and early ’90s. Nearly all the best albums of the sub-genre were released between 1987 and 1991. But just as things seemed to be going well, the same problems that hit thrash metal began to afflict the scene. Record labels signed a flood of uninspired bands, many only imitating their contemporaries instead of drawing from the original ideology. Instead of talented bands making great albums, legions of mediocre, unimaginative groups churned out rehashed music lacking passion or creativity. Many were aiming for the same sound as their idols, resulting in a scene where everything began to sound alike.
The two most popular studios were Morrisound in Tampa, Florida, and Studio Sunlight in Stockholm, Sweden. After Entombed’s Left Hand Path, most Scandinavian death metal bands wanted to record at Sunlight to capture that signature sound. Tomas Skogsberg usually delivered what they wanted, which made most Swedish death metal from this period sound very similar. Bands traveled from Norway and Finland to get this production.
In the States, the problem was worse. Scott Burns’s production sucked the life from nearly every record he touched. Death, Obituary, Morbid Angel, Deicide, Malevolent Creation, Cannibal Corpse, and dozens of others were all hurt by his vision of what death metal should sound like, as well as their own choice to record there. Bands even traveled from abroad to get that same lifeless sound, such as Napalm Death and Pestilence. So many good death metal albums were reduced to soft, non-threatening piles of wasted potential. Some classics, like Blessed Are the Sick, still manage to shine despite this, but imagine how much better they could have been with a different studio or producer. Thrash, black, and death metal all thrive on a raw sound; each loses atmosphere as production smooths away rough edges.
Another problem was branching out and becoming too progressive. This went against the very essence of death metal. At the start, death metal conjured the essence of death, and you could almost smell the decaying flesh and rotting graves on albums like Scream Bloody Gore, Leprosy, Consuming Impulse, and Slowly We Rot. In all honesty, releases like Altars of Madness owed more to old black metal bands in atmosphere and content. Similarly, Deicide did very little to invoke a feeling of death. Many in the Norwegian black metal scene said they were more like a commercial black metal band, their Satanic message unrelated to death, though they used the typical death metal sound.
By the early ’90s, even established bands began changing style. Some were tired of death metal’s limitations and brought in different influences. Their “death metal” riffs were boring and generic, fused with technical nonsense or traditional metal riffs and arrangements, often creating more upbeat, accessible music. Death is an early example of this. Other bands like Atheist started out with these ideas. It’s hard to call such bands pure death metal since their atmosphere lacked anything deathlike. Many others followed. With so many bands copying each other and using the same studios and producers, some ventured outside death metal’s boundaries to stand out by injecting jazz influences, for example, which has no place in death metal.
This progression away from pure death metal mostly started in Europe. Bands like Entombed, Tiamat, Amorphis, and Sentenced all drifted into different territory. Sentenced started as pure death metal in ’91 but by ’93 were melodic, following the same path as many others. By ’94, bands like In Flames emerged. Most of this melodic death metal stuff isn’t really death metal at all, more like half Iron Maiden with harsh vocals. The vocals themselves often resembled second wave black metal more than traditional death metal. For example, Joakim Göthberg, who was briefly In Flames’s vocalist, had been with Marduk before. Most vocalists in this scene used a raspier style, unlike the dominant death metal vocals of the period. While At the Gates is often lumped in here, they gradually evolved into melodic death metal by ’94. Their earlier material, like Gardens of Grief, wasn’t melodic.
Lyrics also changed. Early death metal bands mostly wrote about horror films, serial killers, or death itself in a serious tone. But by the early ’90s, thrash influence took over, and many bands wrote political lyrics or mundane topics. Death, for example, shifted to positive thinking or addressing media slander and ex-members. This was ridiculous and boring and had no place in death metal.
By around 1992, death metal’s dominant sound was becoming more percussion-driven. Songs were often led by drumming instead of guitar riffs. Guitars got thicker and bass-like, with less treble. Vocals went deeper and deeper. Vocalists like Chris Barnes (Cannibal Corpse), Joe Ptacek (Broken Hope), and Frank Mullen (Suffocation) developed ‘cookie monster’ growls that stopped adding atmosphere. Even better vocalists like David Vincent and Glen Benton dropped their unique qualities for deeper vocals.
This deepening of vocals was tied to a stupid concept of “brutality.” By the mid-’90s, bands competed to be faster, more technical, with more drum fills, time changes, and riff cycles. If they weren’t mixing in grindcore and noise, they crammed in so many riffs that Darkness Descends began to seem primitive. The ’90s “groove” also took over, focusing on catchy rhythms and breakdowns, killing the sub-genre further and attracting mouth-breathing parasites.
Think of the A Nightmare on Elm Street movies. The first was gritty and creepy. The second was inferior but still decent. By the third, Freddy Krueger was a stand-up comedian, killing the creepy atmosphere. The same happened to death metal.
Bands might write a decent riff, but the atmosphere is gone. By ’97-98, bands like Suffocation, Nile, Cryptopsy, and Opeth were popular, but none captured what death metal once was. I washed my hands of it. Since then, modern releases have disappointed. Nothing new is being done. Old bands churn out garbage and cheapen their legacies. New bands rip off the old, adding nothing. The original principles of death metal are long forgotten. Many realized this long ago. Norwegian black metal musicians rebelled against death metal’s trendiness as early as ’91-92.
In the end, a sub-genre founded on creating an atmosphere of death and darkness became sterile and lifeless. That’s the real death in death metal. It has no feeling, just mechanical noise. Riffs, songs, and bands are interchangeable. There hasn’t been a relevant death metal release in over a decade, and there’s no reason to believe this will change. Death metal will continue as a parody of itself, with few musicians or fans realizing it. It’s frustrating, but how can one argue for the integrity of a sub-genre sold out by one of its creators nearly two decades ago?
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