Would you put it over their earlier material?
British Steel is underrated.
There's definitely a band with death metal instruments and exclusively clean vocals. The way the labeling system works it would either be labeled "death/thrash" or "progressive death metal"
None of the classic traditional metal bands have albums as perfect as certain extreme metal albums. For example, no single Priest album is as solid (filler free) as Gothic by Paradise Lost.
That's the most immediately obvious difference, but if Dragonforce redid all their shit with Corpsegrinder on the mic no one would call it death metal.This is simply false. The biggest difference between Cannibal Corpse and Dragon Force is the vocals, and Dragon Force is certainly not labeled as "_____death metal."
Shit like gothic metal tends to not have stand out tracks, is the simple answer to that. Death metal very rarely does too. (Extreme metal in general)
It's a solid album with some great cuts, but Living After Midnight sucks
Say what you will about that album but Leather Rebel is my favorite Priest song.
What? Dead Congregation, Morbid Angel, Hypocrisy, At The Gates, Pestilence, Death, Suffocation, Immolation, Origin, fucking a lot of others disprove that idea. They all have a knack for song placement and album flow. Often with semi-coneptual lyrics (I.e. Hypocrisy sticking to alien shit and da devil or Origin and fucking space sex or whatever cuz who pays attention to their lyrics anyway). My point is a large chunk of quality death metal is more thought out in this regard than you must be able to realize.I don't think a lack of hooks is quite the way to put it, because extreme metal is inherently less catchy and accessible than traditional metal, but it's more an issue of extreme metal bands being hyper-focused on a niche sound than any willful intent of creating a album vs collection of songs. For example, everyone can acknowledge that Nespithe is a classic and very original album, and I think many would agree that there are a handful of elements that most/all songs on the album share in terms of writing. Despite that, I don't think there's quite as conscious an effort in writing one cohesive album in the sense that songs X and Y serve purpose Z and Q on the album. That is in contrast to the classics of heavy metal, where the placement of the epic towards the end or that one slow and heavy song after the speed metal track is very important for creating a cohesive album flow. Death metal, for the most part, doesn't tell a story (literally or figuratively) like trad.
That was my first favorite on the album, and still one of my favorites overall.
What? Dead Congregation, Morbid Angel, Hypocrisy, At The Gates, Pestilence, Death, Suffocation, Immolation, Origin, fucking a lot of others disprove that idea. They all have a knack for song placement and album flow. Often with semi-coneptual lyrics (I.e. Hypocrisy sticking to alien shit and da devil or Origin and fucking space sex or whatever cuz who pays attention to their lyrics anyway). My point is a large chunk of quality death metal is more thought out in this regard than you must be able to realize.
Death metal anthems? Hammer Smashed Face for sure. Roswell 47, Spheres of Madness, Dead By Dawn, and everyone sings along with God of Emptiness when the video is played haha. Baby Killer, maybe. I Don't Care, Pull The Plug, The Exorcist, You'll Never See..., Override of the Overture or Sickening Art, Corporal Jigsaw Quandry.
Maybe they aren't anthemy, but all of them have their own catchy hook in some way. Every one. Tell me death metal doesn't have fucking hooks. Hell, a lot have generic rock structures (Verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge or solo etc)
Shit like gothic metal tends to not have stand out tracks, is the simple answer to that. Death metal very rarely does too. (Extreme metal in general)