Death Metal Hates

[Hammer of Might]

I might be alone here, but I think "brutal" death metal is almost invariably terrible.

It is devoid of all the sinister morbidity that made early thrash/death so exciting, and it is overly focused on speed and lacks the variety of riffs that made the more 'old school' bands so timeless.

A lot of these bands are essentially attempting to show off their needless musicianship within the umbrella of death metal, but have lost everything that it used to be about.

I can appreciate bands like Suffocation - often labelled brutal death - because I find their riffs innovative and their range of dynamics more balanced. However, most of this newer generation of brutal death bands (ie. see Unique Leader's entire roster pretty much) are lifeless and monotonous.

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I may as well also spew another of my hates in death metal here, and that is gore lyrics.

WHAT IS THE POINT? It is the same point as I made above - the first generation of death metal bands did not need to make childish attempts to outdo each other's gore credentials in order to appear dark - their music and occult themes did that much better than pathetic fairytale splatter lyrics can.

As for a band like Cannibal Corpse, I just think they are shit musically as well as lyrically.

 

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

Well I'm going to keep an eye on this because it's so negative and, thus, flame wars might ensue, but I genuinely disagree with you I guess. I like both of these things very much. Brutal death is a branching of traditional death, so it's obviously not going to hold the same values to the same level of esteem.

 

[Zephyrus]

There is a comprehensive thread on this subject.

http://ultimatemetal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=259055

Nevertheless your attack is futile.

 

[Hammer of Might]

Boo hoo. Well we can still have a lyrics discussion.

 

[Killbot]

I don't mind brutal death metal IF song writing is not sacrificed for the sake of brutality. I'm pretty sure that was said a thousand times in the thread Zeph linked to, but I don't want to delete the text I just spent literally seconds typing.

 

[Zephyrus]

Boo hoo. Well we can still have a lyrics discussion.

You can't judge a band based on lyrics, whether their music is brutal death or not.

 

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

There's really no discussion to be had on lyrics; they don't make a difference unless they are completely farcical in the context of what they're trying to get across.

 

[Carcassian]

Actually, I think this is an interesting thread, and credit to Hammer for creating it.

Yes, I also feel that the pursuit of brutality for its own sake is a futile pursuit. I have been given a couple of dozen "brutal" DM albums to review before now, and generally, they're utterly forgettable and interchangeable. Death metal (at least good death metal), isn't solely about being brutal - it's about being heavy. "Heavyness" requires the creation of an atmosphere in marriage with the brutality.

This sinister and thoroughly disagreeable atmosphere is what makes Old School death metal so inherently superior to the pale imitation of brutal death metal. I would also say that brutal death metal, while undeniably on some levels technical, is as sterile and unappealing to my ears as progressive rock. It is an exercise in wankery.

* * * * * *

On the other hand, I find gore lyrics, at least those written with tongue-in-cheek to be finely amusing. Firstly, because they repulse normal minded folk, and that puerile sense of humour remains funny to me. Secondly, it appeals in the same way as crap horror movies; yes, they're cliched and shite, but they're AMUSING, cliched and crap.



All in my opinion, of course.

 

[CF87]

I dislike a lot of newer brutal death metal and new technical DM bands. I dislike a lot of faster modern death metal. I don't see death metal as having lots of blast beats. I think atmosphere is very important also. Death metal not just talking about fucking a corpse and seeing how many palm muttes you can do in 30 minutes.

Specific bands I dislike: decapitated,deicide,six feet under.

I'm not going to point out some crappy underground US death metal bands that chug on power chords always with really awful production on labels that probably ripp them off.

 

[Carcassian]

On the other hand, I like Decapitated and Deicide. They both write songs O enjoy and can remember.

 

[Pitiless Wanderer]

I dont mind the music, but yea, I really hate gore lyrics. It really hinders my ability to take a band seriously.

 

[Necro Joe]

I also feel that the pursuit of brutality for its own sake is a futile pursuit. I have been given a couple of dozen "brutal" DM albums to review before now, and generally, they're utterly forgettable and interchangeable. Death metal (at least good death metal), isn't solely about being brutal - it's about being heavy. "Heavyness" requires the creation of an atmosphere in marriage with the brutality.

This sinister and thoroughly disagreeable atmosphere is what makes Old School death metal so inherently superior to the pale imitation of brutal death metal. I would also say that brutal death metal, while undeniably on some levels technical, is as sterile and unappealing to my ears as progressive rock. It is an exercise in wankery.

Agreed. If I'm looking for something insanely fast and vicious I normally go for grind or grind influenced bands. Short songs + loads of time-changes + shrieked vocals = WIN.

 

[swizzlenuts]

It's almost that the newer death metal, when it isn't entirely influenced by old school lacks a lot of substence. They focus on being so brutal, heavy, technical, and catchy they forget what death metal is about. I used to be all over brutal technical death metal, mainly because of its catchiness, but after finding some the higher quality death metal bands, I can't get enough of them.

Granted there are tons of old school death metal bands that can be thought of only caring about being thrashy and catchy, like Bluuurgh.

 

[CF87]

Does anyone else strongly dislike six feet under other than the fact they make such generic crappy death metal. Six Feet Under is probably the biggest best selling death metal on earth so in someways they're representing death metal. They step in front of everyone else but don't want to be leaders or a good influence on future death metal or represent the genre as something serious. People probably don't like death metal because of them. If someone is getting into death metal Six Feet Under is going to be one of the first bands they hear. It seems like the band releases albums and DVD's in such short periods of time that it's somewhat abnormal and gimmicky. They should either take a lower profile by releasing less cds over longer periods of time or break up. I'm sick of people kissing them and chris barnes ass like they're saviors and the best death metal band since sliced bread. Metal-blade is such a shitty label so they will probably milk this band until hell freezes over. Since people can't overdose on pot chris barnes is probably going to be in death metal until he's 50 writting shitty gore lyrics and anti-war songs. How hypocritical is that.

 

[swizzlenuts]

I hate Six Feet Under, and Cannibal Corpse annoys the fuck out of me, specially with Chris Barns. They are just a mediocre band now, but like every genre there is the good and the bad.

 

[CF87]

It's almost that the newer death metal, when it isn't entirely influenced by old school lacks a lot of substence. They focus on being so brutal, heavy, technical

That's the problem. Some bands seem to focus on hitting a lot of notes that actually don't sound put together well. It's more they're just fast musicians without any sence of rythmn class distinction or style within playing. You should be able to form your own style and not sound like someone else regardless if you learned the samethings. Some newer death metal literally sounds like when you warm up with scale runs. If you can't have a solid rythmn or use your notes to actually form something focused than what's the point. Being a fast player alone does not demenstrate or show you are actually a competant musician. Some guitarist don't sound interested at all in playing a guitar and I just get a feeling someone taught them something fancy and they can do it because you can do something if someone shows you. That does not make you genuine at doing something when you seem soulless with your approach or bored. It's like doing something again and again you don't like. You know how to do it and your mind is somewhere else and you seem like a machine. Mechanism within musicians/ instruments can be so damn redundant and stupid I want to hit the person who has no feeling. What happened to enthusiam when doing something. You make better music when getting into it over trying to be textbook.

 

[ohiogrinder]

why doesn't anyone ever bash melodeath? I'd rather listen to Unique Leader DM than any of that saccharrine bullshit.

 

[Carcassian]

Don't get me wrong mate, utter wank like Mercenary makes my blood boil much more than the likes of the gutteral bludgeon brigade.

 

[dEaThToFaLsEmEtAl34]

A lot of modern death metal sounds almost mechanized. It's not as "free-flowing" and raw as old school death metal thus lacking the original spirit of the genre.

 

[swizzlenuts]

why doesn't anyone ever bash melodeath? I'd rather listen to Unique Leader DM than any of that saccharrine bullshit.

Because most people don't like it.