Did Death really name the death metal genre?

[Hammer of Might]

The story goes that Chuck Schuldiner's Death gave the name to 'death metal', but is this really true?

For one, I don't really think Death personify the genre that much in a lot of their releases, and I'm not sure that they were really the first to fully represent what I consider death metal, as they still remained quite thrashy.

So is this rumour true, or just a convenient nominal coincidence that biographers have latched on to?

 

[skeptik]

I honestly have no idea but I would assume that it more likely stems from the Possessed song.

 

[CF87]

Possessed can be seen as either thrash or death metal. I think 'Seven Chruches' was the first death metal album.

 

[Hammer of Might]

I just have a problem with the idea that Death really represented the genre as we know today to enough extent to have given it its name.

I think it's more likely that the term 'death metal' arose from somewhere else - the Possessed song has been suggested - and not the coincidental band name of Death.

 

[Cynical]

Possessed wrote "Death Metal" back when Death was still known as Mantas.

 

[Unfaithfully Metalhead]

It was the Possessed song that named it and they were considered the first DM band though at the time i considered them a BM band for it's time.. as for the band Death you have to remember that back then nothing like that was heard of .. yes Thrashy but in a very different way... it was mainly the vocals that define the genre back in the 80's... you are probably young and never grew up in those days.. but if you look it up in terms of bands/albums what was out the year Death came out and listen to Death you can see why it defined the genre.. if you compare Death Metal of now to DM of the 80's ... no you probably wont consider the band Death a DM band.. but you forget .. all music evolves.. Slayer was considered BM when i was a young teenager ... from their debut album until i suppose the late 80's... same with Bathory and Venom.. but if you compare them to today's BM bands then no you wouldnt consider them BM bands... but again it was something new back in the early to mid 80's and at the time it defined the genre's of DM and BM .. it just happened to evolve over the years that those bands never evolved with the times of today... but they are all great bands nonetheless and i will always consider them BM or DM ...

 

[Krigloch the Furious]

what year did death start?

 

[Unfaithfully Metalhead]

what year did death start?

Death the band... 1987 with Scream Bloody Gore...

 

[MasterOLightning]

Death had been doing demos since maybe 1983. I'm not sure when Posessed started. I believe the genre name simply had to do with the subject matter and sound of the music. The band Death definitely met that criteria. Of course we're talking about Scream Bloody Gore and Leprosy, not anything later. I would say the name comes from neither the band nor the song name.

 

[Toby]

Death changed their name from Mantas to death not that long after they started, I thought. I could be wrong, but I thought they released 1 or 2 demos under Mantas, then changed.

And yeah, they could've given the genre it's name, possibly, but they weren't the first. (i.e. Possessed have been mentioned already.0

 

[Unfaithfully Metalhead]

Death had been doing demos since maybe 1983. I'm not sure when Posessed started. I believe the genre name simply had to do with the subject matter and sound of the music. The band Death definitely met that criteria. Of course we're talking about Scream Bloody Gore and Leprosy, not anything later. I would say the name comes from neither the band nor the song name.

Demos dont count as official releases.. anyone back then could make a demo on a 8 track in their bedroom.. plus im sure there were other bands who made demo's at the same time if not before 1983... so Possessed really is the first band and laid the track for Death and other bands to get signed and accepted... but the genre name definetly came from the Possessed song.. much like the name Black Metal came from Venom... just accept it and move on lol ...

 

[Unfaithfully Metalhead]

Side note: Onslaught's 1985 album "Power From Hell" also has a song called "Death Metal." No doubt that Possessed was about 5000 times more influential, though.

Also, what most people don't realize is that "death metal" in 1986 meant something completely different from what death metal is today. It wasn't an established genre with specific stylistic foundations, it was basically a label given to anything darker/rawer/more extreme than that more common thrash bands. For example, Bathory, the first few Sodom and Sepultura releases: death metal in 1986.

Probably reiterating things that have already been said, but I can't be bothered to read the whole thread, heh.

Exactly what i said... but you said it much better and in less words lol ... it goes same with BM... Venom, Bathory & Slayer (yes damnit them too lol i grew up in the 80's and at the time we considered it BM if only for the lyrics if nothing else) ...

 

[Hammer of Might]

Also, what most people don't realize is that "death metal" in 1986 meant something completely different from what death metal is today. It wasn't an established genre with specific stylistic foundations, it was basically a label given to anything darker/rawer/more extreme than that more common thrash bands. For example, Bathory, the first few Sodom and Sepultura releases: death metal in 1986.

I think that's the crucial point, well said.

Because by my standards of "death metal" as a fully-formed and distinct genre nowadays I have difficulty calling Possessed death metal, I think of it more of darkened, eccentric thrash, but that is exactly the point that I am missing - that sort of thing WAS death metal at the time.

 

[Stormwatch]

Everything Death did up until after Human could be defined as classic "death metal" - fo rme they DO personify the genre, even if later releases have little in common with the classic DM sound.

 

[Life Sucks]

It was the Possessed song that named it and they were considered the first DM band though at the time i considered them a BM band for it's time.. as for the band Death you have to remember that back then nothing like that was heard of .. yes Thrashy but in a very different way... it was mainly the vocals that define the genre back in the 80's... you are probably young and never grew up in those days.. but if you look it up in terms of bands/albums what was out the year Death came out and listen to Death you can see why it defined the genre.. if you compare Death Metal of now to DM of the 80's ... no you probably wont consider the band Death a DM band.. but you forget .. all music evolves.. Slayer was considered BM when i was a young teenager ... from their debut album until i suppose the late 80's... same with Bathory and Venom.. but if you compare them to today's BM bands then no you wouldnt consider them BM bands... but again it was something new back in the early to mid 80's and at the time it defined the genre's of DM and BM .. it just happened to evolve over the years that those bands never evolved with the times of today... but they are all great bands nonetheless and i will always consider them BM or DM ...

True. I remember when Sepultura was considered DM. Back when Beneath the Remains was their latest release, I have seen them referred to as death metal in metal magazines.

 

[Stormwatch]

I've NEVER heard Slayer being called a black metal band. Unless it was in a shitty newspaper or something where the journalist knew absoloutely NOTHING about music. To suggest they were considered a BM band is not true as far as I can remember.

 

[Hammer of Might]

Abort! Abort!

 

[Life Sucks]

I've NEVER heard Slayer being called a black metal band. Unless it was in a shitty newspaper or something where the journalist knew absoloutely NOTHING about music. To suggest they were considered a BM band is not true as far as I can remember.

I've seen Slayer referred to as death metal in the past, but not black metal.

 

[skeptik]

I have.

 

[Unfaithfully Metalhead]

I've NEVER heard Slayer being called a black metal band. Unless it was in a shitty newspaper or something where the journalist knew absoloutely NOTHING about music. To suggest they were considered a BM band is not true as far as I can remember.

i'm talking circa 1983 to around 1988 ... i grew up then.. i dont know when you were a teenager but i grew up in that era and believe me they were referred to as BM by fans and media alike... it was only after Mayhem and that incarnation of BM came that no one referred to Slayer as such anymore... btw i'm 33 so you get a idea ... also i don't know about now but back then when Reign in Blood came out racist skinheads yelling white power used to show up at the shows... i thought it was kind of funny back then considering Tom Araya isn't even white lol ...