"Brutal" death metal? Define.

[Stormwatch]

Okay, so what exactly is brutal death metal? To me, a song like "Reign Forever World" by Vader sounds pretty brutal, although it's not a zillion miles an hour. Nile are pretty brutal right? But are Zyklon? Isn't "Unas Slayer of the Gods" as brutal as anything else on "in Their Darkened Shrines"? It seems to me like something is labelled "brutal" simply because it's as fast as fuck, but surely slow, grinding riffs can be just as brutal (more so perhaps) than something like Cryptopsy: million-miles-an-hour, vocalist-sounding-like-he's-vomiting-and-farting-at-the-same-time. Isn't the slow breakdown in Angel Of Death brutal? Am I fucking stupid or what?

 

[SuicideMachine]

You just know what brutal is when you hear it!

 

[CF87]

You just know what brutal is when you hear it!

Exactly, just like a charley horse to the leg(It's brutal and you deff can feel it) more than say a punch to the arm etc... music applies the same.

 

[genocide roach]

"vocalist-sounding-like-he's-vomiting-and-farting-at-the-same-time"

AAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA

ok. here is how i see brutal DM. 1 speed, FAST. riffs are very busy, lots of blast beats, no stopping, no slowing down. just fast fast fast!

some brutal DM bands: severed savior, origin, gorgasm, pyemia

although, i think part of this brutal thing is the fact that its just a nice adjective and its been over used. and somehow it became a sub genre.
~gR~

 

[Henrik Main]

Disgorge, Brodequin, Devourment, Decrepit Birth, Deeds Of Flesh.. A tad more "brutal" than the bands you listed.. An extreme mount of hyper fast blastbeats, a different production than "usual" DM, fair amounts of technicality thrown in here and there.. That's brutal DM for you.

 

[SuicideMachine]

and yes, unas slayer of the gods and angel of death are both brutal songs, and anyone who says different will be smacked, preferebably with a duelling glove!!!

 

[genocide roach]

i wouldnt call deeds of flesh brutal. they have melody and tempo changes. and well... variety. hahaha
~gR~

 

[Stormwatch]

There's 2 types of brutal really.
1) My idea of brutal - anything that sounds fucking intense, like the aforementioned breakdown in Angel Of Death, which makes me bang my head like a fucking numpty
2) Everyone else's idea of brutal - blastbeats and one string riffing, which is so fast, icf you try and headbang to it you have to bang your head at every SECOND or third beat otherwise your not headbanging, your head-nodding. Like a fucking crazed donkey.

I dunno, I find a power chord more brutal than constant one string riffing with a widdle at the end of each bar.

 

[genocide roach]

ACK!!!!!!

i hit reply instead of new topic. sorry!!!!
~gR~

 

[Spirit In Black]

There's 2 types of brutal really.
1) My idea of brutal - anything that sounds fucking intense, like the aforementioned breakdown in Angel Of Death, which makes me bang my head like a fucking numpty
2) Everyone else's idea of brutal - blastbeats and one string riffing, which is so fast, icf you try and headbang to it you have to bang your head at every SECOND or third beat otherwise your not headbanging, your head-nodding. Like a fucking crazed donkey.

I dunno, I find a power chord more brutal than constant one string riffing with a widdle at the end of each bar.

I agree with you, these new bands most like Decrepit Birth and Severed Savior(and numerous other Unique Leader bands, not all but some) play everything so fast and don't repeat riffs very often, just don't do it for me. I'll take Suffocation's brutality over these bands any day. Suffocation are one of the most brutal bands ever in my opinion and they actually made riffs that you could identify from one another and remember after you stopped listening to the cd.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

Brodequin are the best (and probably the ultimatum) recommendaton I can give for "brutal" death. Them, Wormed, and Disgorge.

 

[Barnolde]

Disgorge, Brodequin, Devourment, Decrepit Birth, Deeds Of Flesh.. A tad more "brutal" than the bands you listed.. An extreme mount of hyper fast blastbeats, a different production than "usual" DM, fair amounts of technicality thrown in here and there.. That's brutal DM for you.

I wouldn't call Deeds Of Flesh brutal death, but the others I agree on. Both Disgorge bands are good examples of it. Internal Suffering is another, I swear on my life that their songs don't have any discernable words in them, despite what the lyrics booklet tells me.

 

[Oceanic Motion]

There's normally a few parts of the Brutal DM sound that can be quite easily identified to pigeon hole the band:

1. Deep Vox. Wallowing in pig shit style burpz0rz vox or just lower than your standard DM bark.

2. Loads of Blast beats. BB are fairly constant throughout the whole album.

3. Fast riffing, and as someone said, very little repitition.

4. A muddy production is often used for a lot of Brutal Dm bands.

They're the traits I can look for if I was to call a band Brutal DM or not. Comparing bands like Houwitser, Severed Savior and Detrimentum to bands like Decapitated, Morbid Angel and Vader. But obviously you do get bands that have loads of blast beats but not mega deep vox, good production but little riff repitition, i.e Krisiun. I suppose its up to the listener.

 

[anonymousnick2001]

I see no such thing as "brutal" death and regular death. There's death metal, and shit.

Cryptopsy/Nile/Origin/Gorgasm/Suffocation/Krisiun/Vital Remains/Demilich are death metal. Not all are enjoyed by me, but they're death.

Cannibal Corpse/Deicide/Morbid Angel/Obituary/any DM not simialr to those above due to idiotic growling or uncomplicated, atonal, shite, are just that.

 

[hibernal_dream]

I agree! It's a pretty useless term IMO and will probably stop being used in a few years. Just like no one says 'heavy' metal anymore, all DM is pretty brutal isn't it?

 

[None_So_Vile]

I dont think there's any set description that makes something brutal, you just think "wow this is brutal" when you hear it, you dont have to like...look at guidlines or something

 

[Life Sucks]

Brutal death metal is the heaviest death metal IMO. Usually there are loads of blastbeat passages, some heavy chugging riffs thrown in, some tremolo picking, and deep grunted vocals. Some say that brutal death refers to the NYDM style, and some say it refers to California dm (which I don't like at all). I don't agree with either, but I would agree that the Florida style dm and early 90s Swedish style dm are regular dm and not brutal dm. Basically, if you are a big dm fan and have listened to dm for a long time, you can tell what is brutal dm. That being said, I think that it is unnecessary and kind of dumb to distinguish between death metal and brutal death all the time.

 

[Spirit In Black]

I see no such thing as "brutal" death and regular death. There's death metal, and shit.

Cryptopsy/Nile/Origin/Gorgasm/Suffocation/Krisiun/Vital Remains/Demilich are death metal. Not all are enjoyed by me, but they're death.

Cannibal Corpse/Deicide/Morbid Angel/Obituary/any DM not simialr to those above due to idiotic growling or uncomplicated, atonal, shite, are just that.

Have you ever listened to any of these bands you have listed? How can you say Cryptopsy and Nile don't have idiot growling and Morbid Angel and Deicide do. The bands you listed as "shite" are much more straightforward and the vocals are more comprehensible than the bands you listed as enjoyable. I mean Obituary and Cannibal Corpse can be quite simple at times a you compare them too Cryptopsy who is all over the place all the time.

I think you need to actually listen to CC, Deicide, Morbid Angel, and Obituary before you judge them.