Has Death Metal gone stagnant?

[dill_the_devil]

Just wondering if anyone else is becoming concerned about the dearth of innovation and quality in all aspects of the death metal genre over the last couple of years? Other than Nile, Korum and Regorge, I can't think of too many death metal bands of late that have really made me sit up and take notice. It seems like all the melodic death metal bands are trying their hardest to get on MTV, the brutal death metallers have settled for copying Morbid Angel and Cannibal Corpse right down to the growls (or maybe even Carcass if they feel like speeding up), and the technical death metal bands are rapidly becoming extreme metal's answer to Yngwie Malmsteen... all fancy fretboard runs and octopus-limbed drumming, but no actual songs.

Admittedly, this opinion may be based on the fact that I do get to listen to a lot of death metal through my position reviewing for this site, but surely out of the many bands I've reviewed recently (including Severe Torture, Imperious, Desecration, Depraved, The Defaced, The County Medical Examiners, Gorerotted, etc), there should be more than around three that really made me feel like I was hearing something new and exciting?

Am I alone in this opinion?

 

[NAD]

NO!

Omnium Gatherum, Mors Principium Est, Ephel Duath, Manes, Vader, Nile, and Opeth all get me going with recent releases.

Granted, few of those are "traditional" death metal bands, but they do have innovation.

 

[Stormwatch]

I thought Ephel Duath were "jazz-black metal"? Never heard them but thats the impression I got from Terrorizer magazine.

 

[no country for old wainds]

Ephel Duath are very difficult to define.

 

[tara]

I don't think so. There are tons of bands out there who are good and trying new things. As long as there are creative and skilled metal musicians out there, death metal will stick around.

 

[Profanity]

No

Better Death Metal is coming out of Germany and Poland every day.

Sweden seems to be slowing down a bit.

A big Death Metal scene is developing in South America though.

 

[None_So_Vile]

i find a lot of death metal i hear is just a carbon copy of the cannibal corpse-esq music, just uncomprehensable growling and riffs which are pointless to listen to, and i cant stand the whole thing where you have to think of the sickest name and have the goriest front cover, i hate a lot of the images that go along with the genres, sorry getting sidetracked. I do think there are some very innovative bands around but not so much in the death metal genre because in my view death metal is a very limited genre. I am very impressed by bands such as Nile and Decapitated though

i talk shit..

 

[Death Opeth]

I highly suggest you check out Grave. They are some real brutal shit that have their own sound in my opinion. They blow Corpse away in my opinion. Their first release was in the early 90's. Definetly check anything out off of "You'll never see..." album. Some of the best brutal death metal I have herad.

 

[FailingAcension]

Ephel Duath are sharp rocks

 

[SculptedCold]

Grave aren't brutal death metal.


I don't think it's gone 'stagnant' as such. I agree that there's little in the way or 'innovation' or 'originality' anymore, and as Dying Sun said in a thread ages ago (to paraphrase), people too easily see those terms in bands that are just throwing different genres' into a blender. But, eh, there's always bands out there doing very interesting things, whether original or not.

 

[Rodrigo]

i find a lot of death metal i hear is just a carbon copy of the cannibal corpse-esq music, just uncomprehensable growling and riffs which are pointless to listen to, and i cant stand the whole thing where you have to think of the sickest name and have the goriest front cover, i hate a lot of the images that go along with the genres, sorry getting sidetracked. I do think there are some very innovative bands around but not so much in the death metal genre because in my view death metal is a very limited genre. I am very impressed by bands such as Nile and Decapitated though

I agree totally with what you said. I never was a fan of CC, I enjoy their live shows but I could never sit down and listen to a CD of theirs. Now with a bunch of bands imitating that sort of sound coming out its just plain boring. I do say that bands like Cryptopsy, Nile and Vital Remains are definitely worth checking out.

 

[Krilons Resa]

Brutal Death is a little stale lately compared to the mid-90's...but thanks to bands like Vital Remains, Vehemence, Nile, Decapitated, Immolation, and Behemoth, I can't complain to much.

 

[Divine_intent]

Maybe you should check out the underground before opening your trendy mainstream mouth fuckhead.

 

[BRUTAL SENSATION]

I agree some of the DM scene is gettin stagnant, especially some of the more established bands...

But you lust have to hear some of the more unknown lablels to see that DM if far from stagnant like:

Willowtip - Harakiri, kalibas, Sadis euphoria, circle of dead children, rune etc...

Razorback - frightmare, lordgore, Ghoul..

Unique leader - Psycroptic, Mortal Decay, Severed Savior, Spawn of possession etc...

Obscene - Lykathea Aflame, Fleshless, Phobia, Ingrowing

And then there is all the killer stuff on Relapse...etc..

 

[christcrusher]

I think a lot of Death Metal that is more original and penetrating is coming out of Europe. I have had a huge batch of Death Metal for review, and bands like Depraved, Severe Torture, (I recently just got these 2 in) Hate, Pyaemia, Disavowed, Kronos, Aeon, Aborted, Pandemia, and Decapitated just have been capturing my attention more than the USA Death Metal, as of late. It is hard to be more for one side because I am a huge Death Metal fan in general, but recently I have been very pleased with the Euro Death Metal I received.

Then again, bands such as Nile, Vital Remains, Vehemence, Beyond Fatal, Dying Fetus, Deeds of Flesh, Devourment, Prophecy, Vile and Kataklysm (Can) definitely keep the US Death Metal scene alive.

 

[Stormwatch]

Ephel Duath are very difficult to define.

Go on, try!
Then tell me what Melechesh and Enslaved sound like cos I quite fancy getting some of their stuff but I don't think it'll be guitar-heavy enough for me.

 

[MURAI]

I find this trend of so called melodic death metal with the likes of In Flames and Soilwork just boring. I'm into the earlier death metal bands like Obituary and Morbid Angel but honestly I don't know too much of the newer bands in death metal as much as you all. I really love some of the newer death metal groups like Impaled, Nile and Cryptopsy though. Would you all consider God Forbid to be death metal or should they be just considered metalcore? Some of their songs I think should definately be considered partly death metal.

 

[Stormwatch]

I agree with the guy above - In Flames dont sound anything like Death metal to me. The singer doesn't grunt for one thing, and that's always been a prerequisite for death. (I must admit I've only heard one album - the live one, but that's supposed to be a broad range of their music isn't it?) Soilwork and CoB are also not like death metal either in terms of sounding like Morbid Angel or Death (the band) - keyboards and all that nonsense. At least with Opeth you can see a heavy death metal affinity.

 

[GONETribalchemy]

well, 'Death Metal's stagnant' is the same statement as 'Black Metal's dead', there plenty of bands that renew the style, both larger bands (yes Grave crush), but in the UG too, from Russia (Molphar, Tales of Darknord, Mind Eclipse...), ever more from Poland (Azarath, Hate, Anima Damnata, ...), from Norway (Diskord, BRT, Myrkskog,...), Italia/Greece (Morbus, Enshadowed, Maleficarum,...), Sweden and so on, go

 

[Profanity]

well, 'Death Metal's stagnant' is the same statement as 'Black Metal's dead', there plenty of bands that renew the style, both larger bands (yes Grave crush), but in the UG too, from Russia (Molphar, Tales of Darknord, Mind Eclipse...), ever more from Poland (Azarath, Hate, Anima Damnata, ...), from Norway (Diskord, BRT, Myrkskog,...), Italia/Greece (Morbus, Enshadowed, Maleficarum,...), Sweden and so on, go

You forgot to mention the South American scene.