How do you like Death Metal?

[Life Sucks]

Some 17 years ago, I realized I really liked the more extreme bands I was listening to (Metallica, Megadeth, Testament, etc.). So then I got into Sepultura (who still played very good extreme thrash at the time). It took some time to get used to the lack of vocal melody, or lack of singing at all, but I really loved the aggression, technicality, and dark atmosphere of the music. I was now ready to get into death metal, and started out with bands such as Pestilience, Dismember, Entombed, Amorphis, Death, Morbid Angel, etc., and from there started exploring the lesser known bands (as best I could, as the internet was not yet around back then). I love death metal and will never stop listening to it.

 

[The Ozzman]

Man, I don't remember the first DM album I bought. I'm pretty sure it was Heartwork, but I can't remember. The one album that hit me the hardest though in terms of DM (we're talking any aspect of DM, I assume) was Children of Bodom's Follow the Reaper. The second 'Bodom After Midnight' started, I fell in love. Now I can't get enough of death metal

 

[As-I-Lay-Dying]

Soft metal route ftw.
Stuff like SlipKnoT to Lamb of God to Gojira and Death.

 

[BlackMetalWhiteGuy]

Before I got into death metal, I was mostly into dance, electronica, industrial metal and nu metal and I would often listen to the radio as I went to sleep. One night though, the usual station was knocked out by a storm or something, so I put on a different one. When I woke up in the middle of the night, they were playing some of most amazingly brutal music I'd ever heard. I had no idea that it was death metal, because I already didn't like traditional death metal bands such as Cannibal Corpse. Anyway, I went to that radio station's website and found out that the show I was listening to was only on the air between midnight and 6:00 AM Sunday morning, so I made a point to start listening to it all the time. After a while, I heard Kalmah's "Kill the Idealist," and absolutely loved it, although at the time I wasn't sure of the band name, or song title, so I emailed the DJ and he replied a few minutes later with the correct information. I bought the CD and started looking for related bands and finally realized that there's more than just one type of death metal. After I got to college, I continued looking up more symphonic and melodic black / death metal bands. Then one of my friends showed me a youtube video of Muhammad Suicmez from Necrophagist and was blow away by his skill, so I listened to some TabIt tabs and liked them enough to order both of their CDs. From then on, I've been really into technical death metal, as well.

 

[Alongside Death]

I like death metal because it is fast, it's brutal and it is a great stuff to headbang, unlike grindcore (which I also like).

 

[Caecius]

Thanks for all the posts, I'm looking into a lot of different bands and starting to look past the vocals till I get use to them, if I ever do. But by the way things have been going in my tastes of music, they keep getting heavier and heavier. I should have no problem with death metal after I listen and explore the bands.

 

[~Neurotica]

DM is good when it's got that piece of brutality. Whith deep low growl. Like Amon Amarth, Bolt Thrower, Perimeter. When it has good rythm section and agressive guitars.

 

[~Derek~]

I got into death metal without knowing of or what death metal was, I just enjoyed Six Feet Under and Morbid Angel as metal bands, and wa smore interested in getitng into metal with harsh vocals than say a particular subgenre. I enjoyed the vocals as well.

 

[~Neurotica]

I'm still cooler than you though.

 

[~Derek~]

^Noooooo!!! Just because you can play blastbeats and get "free music", ok ok, maybe you are.

 

[ohiogrinder]

The only death metal bands that I can tolerate now are Death and some of the 90s progressive death bands like Atheist and Pestilence. I used to like Obituary, Bolt Thrower, and Cryptopsy, but they got boring after a while.

you don't like Autopsy or Dismember?

for shame!

oh and BlackMetalWhiteGuy, I'm envious of you.

 

[waif]

I can't explain why I like it, I just do.

Pretty much.

Basically, if you keep listening to thrash you're gonna end up listening to death metal, as DM is the natural evolution of thrash. There are a bunch of bands that straddle the line between death and thrash, such as Dew-Scented. Chech that out. Good stuff. Understand that not all death metal is purely deep grunts and blast beats. Recomendation: Check out Kataklysm's In The Arms Of Devastation. Will open your eyes a bit.

 

[Death Aflame]

Short answer: the dark melodic sensibility, generally evil atmosphere, deep compositions that necessitate repeated listens to grasp the genre's inner beauty amid the evil, dirty and dark aesthetics are what draw me to the genre.

The best bands in death metal are, for the most part, wildly inventive yet amazing songwriters at the same time. Also, the genre is extremely wide and features many notable approaches that differ from scene to scene and band to band which make digging through it to find those hidden gems all the more exhilarating.

 

[Rabid Headbanger]

Basically, if you keep listening to thrash you're gonna end up listening to death metal, as DM is the natural evolution of thrash. There are a bunch of bands that straddle the line between death and thrash, such as Dew-Scented. Chech that out. Good stuff. Understand that not all death metal is purely deep grunts and blast beats. Recomendation: Check out Kataklysm's In The Arms Of Devastation. Will open your eyes a bit.

That's a faulty argument. Thrash metal can also lead to black metal, like Gospel of the Horns, Skeletonwitch and Witchtrap.

If you want death thrash listen to Death. Morbid Angel, Obituary and Possesed, not fucking "Dew-Scented".

 

[The Ozzman]

That's a faulty argument. Thrash metal can also lead to black metal, like Gospel of the Horns, Skeletonwitch and Witchtrap.

If you want death thrash listen to Death. Morbid Angel, Obituary and Possesed, not fucking "Dew-Scented".

Also:

Cancer, Entombed and Sepultura

 

[zabu of nΩd]

I'm not that crazy about death metal myself. I tend to listen to a little of everything, as long as the music is well-written and not too boring or monotonous.

As far as songwriting goes, I think Morbid Angel owns the genre -- they throw so many great ideas into their music, and somehow it all comes together really nicely. They were the first DM band I got into, and every one I've heard since then has just been a let-down in comparison.

 

[~Derek~]

I dont like Dew Scented, Cancer seemed good when I heard it on XM, I'm kore into the American style of DM than stuff like Entombed and Dismember with the exceptions of Behemoth, God Dethroned, and Zyklon, Vomitory too.

 

[Priest of Evil]

If you want death thrash listen to Death. Morbid Angel, Obituary and Possesed, not fucking "Dew-Scented".

Exactly

 

[BlackMetalWhiteGuy]

oh and BlackMetalWhiteGuy, I'm envious of you.

Haha, thanks, but why?

 

[ShredHeadJHJ]

I think it's an acquired taste.

If you like thrash, then I suggest exploring that genre. There are a lot of older Death-thrash bands around you might eventually get into.

That might be the case for some, but it was not really a taste I needed to "acquire" per se. I just thought it was so different when I first started listening to it back in about '96 I guess it was. First Death Metal album I ever got was Morbid Angel's "Domination". It just made me feel like a bad ass.

I dug into the genre a bit & I know all the main bands but I never pursued it as much as a lot of guys here have. There is a lot of generic DM that you might waste your time listening to if you're not careful. My best advice would be to take some suggestions from some of the guys here but don't take everyone's opinions to heart because people will inevitably have different tastes than you in the end. Lord knows I've been suggested some fucking garbage shit in the past that I had to wade through.