Death Metal

From Wikipedia - Death Metal

Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal.

It typically employs fast tempos, heavily distorted guitars, deep growling vocals, morbid lyrics, blast beat drumming, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes.

Building off the speed and complexity of thrash metal, death metal emerged during the mid 1980s. It was mainly inspired by thrash acts like Slayer, Kreator and Celtic Frost. Along with the band Death and its frontman Chuck Schuldiner (who is often hailed as "the father of death metal"), bands like Possessed, and Morbid Angel are often considered pioneers of the genre. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, death metal gained more media attention as popular record labels like Earache Records and Roadrunner Records began to sign death metal bands at a rapid rate. Since then, death metal has diversified, spawning a rich variety of subgenres.

Death metal is considered an "underground" form of music, and has been met with considerable hostility from mainstream culture, mainly because of the socially unattractive themes, imagery and stage personae surrounding many bands.

Characteristics Of Death Metal

Death Metal Instrumentation
The setup most frequently used in death metal is two electric guitars, a bass guitar, a vocalist and a drum kit almost universally using two bass drums or a double bass drum pedal. Although this is the standard setup, bands have been known to incorporate other instruments such as electronic keyboards.

The genre is often identified by fast, highly distorted and downtuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking. The percussion is usually fast and dynamic; blast beats, double bass and exceedingly fast drum patterns frequently add to the ferocity of the genre.

Death metal is known for its abrupt tempo, key, and time signature changes, as well as fast and complex guitar and drumwork. Death metal may include chromatic chord progressions and a varied song structure, rarely employing the standard verse-chorus arrangement. These compositions tend to emphasize an ongoing development of themes and motifs.

Death Metal Vocals and lyrics
Death metal vocals are often guttural roars, grunts, snarls, and low gurgles colloquially called death grunts or death growls. This vocal style is sometimes referred to as Cookie Monster vocals, tongue-in-cheek, because of the similarity with the popular Sesame Street character of the same name. Although often criticized, death growls serve the aesthetic purpose of audibly matching death metal's violent or bleak lyrical content.

Death metal's lyrical themes typically invoke Z-grade slasher and splatter movie violence, but may also extend to contain themes of Satanism, criticism of religion, Occultism, mysticism, and/or social commentary. Although violence may be explored in various other genres as well, death metal elaborates on the details of extreme acts, including mutilation, dissection, torture, rape and necrophilia. Sociologist Keith Kahn-Harris (author of Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge) commented that this may be attributed to a "fascination" with the human body that all people share to some degree, a "primal desire", and that although the genre often glamorizes violence and obscurities, there is equally as much fear and disgust amid the exploration. Heavy metal author Gavin Baddeley also stated that there does seem to be a connection between "how acquainted one is with their own mortality" and "how much they crave images of death and violence" via the media. Additionally, contributing artists to the genre often defend death metal as little more than an extreme form of art and entertainment, similar to horror films in the motion picture industry. Needless to say, this has brought such musicians under fire from activists internationally, who claim that this is often lost on a large number of adolescents, who are left with the glamorization of such violence without social context or awareness of why such imagery is stimulating.

According to Alex Webster, bassist of Cannibal Corpse, "The gory lyrics are probably not, as much as people say, [what's keeping us] from being mainstream. Like, 'Death metal would never go into the mainstream because the lyrics are too gory'? I think it's really the music, because violent entertainment is totally mainstream."

Origin of the term Death Metal
There are several theories how the term "death metal" originated. One theory is that the name originates from an early pioneer of the genre, Death. A Florida journalist explained to his readers that Death play their own kind of metal: "Death's Metal". Others contest that Death is not the origin, but that the harsh vocals and morbid lyrical content generally inspired the genre. Another possible origin is a fanzine called "Death Metal", started by Thomas Fischer and Martin Ain of the band Hellhammer (later Celtic Frost). The name was later given to the 1984 compilation Death Metal released by Hellhammer's label Noise Records. The term might also have originated from other recordings. Possessed's 1984 demo is called Death Metal, and a song with the same name is featured on their 1985 debut album Seven Churches. A demo released by Death in 1983 is called Death by Metal.

Read the rest of this article on Wikipedia at Death Metal

Death Metal has many sub-genres that often crossover! It can therefore be difficult to accurately "label" a particular band.

Here is a list of the various genres and sub-divisions of Death Metal and examples of bands that are generally considered to come under each category;

Blackened:
Akercocke, Behemoth, Belphegor, Dissection, God Dethroned, Sacramentum, Zyklon

Brutal:
Cannibal Corpse, Cryptopsy, Deeds of Flesh, Deranged, Disavowed, Disgorge, Hate Eternal, Krisiun, Nile, Skinless, Spawn of Possession, Suffocation, Visceral Bleeding

Old School:
Autopsy, Death, Entombed, Morbid Angel, Obituary, Possessed, Deicide, Benediction, Pestilence

Deathcore:
The Black Dahlia Murder, Despised Icon, As Blood Runs Black, Job For a Cowboy, Carnifex

Goregrind:
Carcass, Cattle Decapitation, Exhumed, Impaled, Guttural Engorgement, Dead Infection

Melodic:
Arch Enemy, Amon Amarth, At the Gates, Dark Tranquility, In Flames, Dissection, Hypocrisy, Soilwork, Wintersun, God Dethroned, Ensiferum

Progressive:
Akercocke, Atheist, Becoming the Archetype, Cynic, Death, Edge of Sanity, Nocturnus, Opeth, Pestilence (Later Releases), Quo Vadis, Sadist, The Faceless, Dying Fetus, Meshuggah

Technical:
Beneath The Massacre, Cryptopsy, Decapitated, Gorguts, Immolation, Necrophagist, Nile, Origin, Suffocation, Visceral Bleeding

A detailed explanation of the sub-genres can be found at Death Metal sub-genres.

Being Death Metal is not about how you look but rather all about the music. The more you know about the music, the more Death Metal you will be. Listening to plenty of death metal, a sub-genre of heavy metal characterized by aggressive and violent lyrics, and going to a concert now and then is all that's required to "be" death metal. However, here are some tips if you feel uncreative and can't find your own style for attending a concert.

* Find a local Military Surplus store. You can find most of what you will need there.
* Buy a pair of combat boots in black without a sewed nose. Never wear colored boots.
* Design your own shirts. Use Adobe PhotoShop and a printer, then find a store that will transfer your design onto a shirt.
* Don't be afraid of white shirts, they can look quite cool.
* Band shirts are OK to wear, but not as good as designing your own.
* Choose military style camo or BDU pants. These are the classic commando pants used by the army and typically have four to six pockets.
* Get some extreme jewelry. Take into consideration that studded leather is too Gothic, while chain mail is very expensive.
* You can try to make your own studded leathers, they will seem a lot less Gothic.
* Try alternative rivets, like holes or spheres (anything you cannot get at Hot Topic or Headbanger).
* If you can afford chain mail, then you are lucky, wear it with pride!
* Use sleeveless gloves (preferably studded, not muffle types)!
* Dye your hair. Black and Steel Blue are the best colors.
* Dying your hair Steel Blue involves a lot of bleaching agents (like Hydrogen-peroxide). If your hair is too dark it may not be suitable for dying.
* Copy the look, clothing and attitude of your favorite Death metal bands.
* Use office equipment (like mouse cables, scissors or clips) as jewelry.

Warnings
* Never use messenger bags!
* You cannot please everybody with what you wear, so try to please yourself first.

Clarification:
You cannot claim to BE a genre of music. Ergo, you can not refer to yourself as "death metal". You can be a "death metal fan", but do you really want to be that one-dimensional? Let's just call you a "person". That works, right? It's much more all-encompassing, as far as aspects of personality go.

Death metal is really about being yourself. If you want to go to church every Sunday and then go home and listen to blasphemous death metal (i.e. Deicide, Immolation, etc.), then that's completely up to you. There are people within the death metal crowd who have been corrupted by the trendy, fascist guidelines that have managed to seep into the scene, thus devastating everything that death metal was originally intended to be. Remember that.

Are you in awe of the raw vocal stylings of death metal bands? Do you ever want to sing along? Here's how to emulate the guttural lyrics that make extreme metal music distinct.

Steps
* Listen to any album using harsh vocal techniques. If you're not already familiar with the genre, browse the links listed below. Buy CDs from bands and singers whose voices you admire. A few notable death metal vocalists are George Fisher & Chris Barnes from Cannibal Corpse, Nergal from Behemoth, and Angela Gossow from Arch Enemy.
* Before you start performing death metal vocals, drink some water, it will help relax your vocal chords. Avoid cold water as it could cause more pain and make your cords feel raw and grated, warm water is a very good idea. Milk, Whiskey and cough drops also soften the vocal cords and make intense vocals less painful.
* Learn how to sing properly. Start with something not that intense, like Black Sabbath, then go to songs with faster and more aggressive singing styles like Slayer or Kataklysm. The most important technique for performing death metal vocals is to be able to control your breathing, establishing a balance between the force used by your diaphragm and vocal cords. Using only the vocal cords will put undue pressure on them and is sure to damage them (minor damage will heal in time). Proper technique is established by using the diaphragm to push air out of your lungs.
* Try going sssssss quietly and then increase in volume. The feeling in your stomach is your diaphragm. This is what you want to feel when performing death metal vocals.
* Fill up your lungs with air, then push out some of the air, tightening your throat and moving your tonsils as you do this. Do this all in one motion, but don't push too hard. The resulting sound should hopefully be the type of low grunt that you want to achieve, so work on that.
* Pick a lyric you want to perform. Always try to pick songs from bands like Slayer, Metallica or other bands who do not use the death grunts as it will be easier to rehearse your grunts. Try singing it normally, then slowly add more "fire" to it, until you can feel your diaphragm really pushing and you're getting that deep sound you're looking for. If you don't succeed in the deep guttural vocals try the raspier approach to these vocals like Mark Hunter of Chimaira. Anyone can achieve this, men as well as women (listen to the current vocalist for Arch Enemy). So long as your vocal range is Alto or lower. Arch Enemy's Vocalist Angela Gossow is an alto, and will say herself, if you are a Soprano, don't even try Death Growls.
* Practice barking like a dog, not just a bowow, but force it out from the bottom of your belly, really imitating the barking sound. Then extend the barking sound and try it with several words and before you do it take a deep breath and go from your diaphragm. Breathing like a dog, as stupid as it sounds, can also help you open your throat and get a guttural sound to your grunts. Don't do it loudly at the beginning, increase your volume as you get better at it.
* After you've mastered basic death grunts, move on to bigger things. Make your grunts louder, faster, lower, deeper, or all of the above. It will help add some variety to your vocals.
* After you've mastered death metal vocals, try to mix things up by learning another vocal style, because even the best death metal vocalists don't use only death grunts in their songs. For example, George Fisher of Cannibal Corpse is known for having high-pitched screams in a few of his songs and Trevor Strnad of The Black Dahlia Murder has been known for using a mix of death grunts, high-pitched shrieking and screaming. Piq Squeals are also performed by a few Death Metal artists. Also, start headbanging when you're performing the vocals, it will make your presentation seem a lot more intense!
* After you're done performing death metal vocals, drink some water, it will help relax your vocal chords. Make sure the water is not cold, or it will cause pain and make your throat feel very sore, stick to warm water (not too hot!)

Tips
* Constantly experiment with what your voice can do!
* Learn to control rasp and phlegm. Rasp = air coming up; phlegm = saliva in your mouth/throat
* Harsh vocals will grow in volume as you gain skill with them and use them correctly.
* Exercise wouldn't hurt. You'll need strong neck muscles to support the pressure that extreme metal vocals put on your neck area.
* Don't use distortion or effects to cover any lack of vocal ability. It sounds bad and it's obvious why you did it.
* To create a more "brutal" sound, you can experiment with saliva in your mouth. It can be trapped between your tongue and throat. It's that "gurgling" you hear in many songs. An open throat is the key. The notes sung and air must come up with ease. One can use their tongue to deflect air being forced up and change tone. The lips are the second method of changing tone. You should never change tone by tightening your throat. There are many techs used in harsh vocals, but keep with a simple growl and scream until you've gained quite the skill within this vocal type.
* Warm up your voice before recording or performing death metal. "Warmimg up" can mean anything from singing midtone melodies to delivering your vocal patterns in a clean chest tone. Even humming for 5 minutes would be more beneficial to you than not warming up your voice at all. When performing live, drink lukewarm water in between songs. Cold water shocks the voice and warm water...well, it doesn't taste that great. Following these simple guidelines will help protect and strengthen your vocal chords.
* A little advice from George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher from Cannibal Corpse. When asked in an interview if his vocals strain his throat, he commented: "Not anymore. That's the funny thing. People ask me like, "Well, how'd you learn to sing like that?" Because I put on the albums and started singing to them. And some people say to me, "But my voice starts to hurt after ten minutes." Well yeah, but eventually my voice got used to it. If you hear me talk now, people think I'm sick but I'm not. They think that I have a cold or I just woke up - this is how I always sound." This is likely the result of poor technique leading to nodules. Your voice should NOT be damaged over time through singing - only bad technique will make this happen.
* Act like you are gargling, but without the water, of course. Practice this until you can hear the gargling noise in the back of your throat.
* A good way to practice your grunts is to say the letters a,e,i,o,n,u. As you get better at your grunts, try doing this faster.
* The "cookie monster" effect cannot be reproduced by straining your voice. That will only damage your vocal chords. You have to push through your abdomen. All of your vocal strength comes from the diaphragm. It also helps if your back is in a fixed position. Don't slouch or leave your spine limp. Inhale and belt out a deep roar by loosening your vocal chords. Your throat has to be relaxed in order for your growl to rumble with intensity. Again, don't force your voice to crack. If it still doesn't crack, then your vocal chords simply weren't made for growling.
* Try moving your tongue while you perform your vocals, but not too much.
* To create even lower harsh vocals, use the inhaling technique. Pinch the incoming air flow a bit farther back in the throat than when "gargling" an outgoing air flow. Moving the base of the tongue back creates a smaller opening and higher pitch; with the tongue forward (even sticking out if you like) the pitch will be lower. This inhaling technique can produce an extreme range of pitch, allowing you to both grunt and squeal like a pig. The incoming airflow will be nowhere near the volume of normal speech. You will need to speak using exaggerated lip movements and the front of the tongue while keeping the back of the tongue muscle in place. While an "inhale vocal tech" may sound "cool", be careful using it. It can (and likely will) damage your vocal cords. The inhale sound can still be created from properly done harsh vocals but requires range needed.
* Over time you'll learn your range, skills increase and you can try to achieve your favorite sounds.
* Practice normal singing for a month first. This will really strengthen your vocals cords and make it easier on you when you start doing death growls.
* Be sure to have variation in your vocals. Monotone growling will sound boring after awhile, no matter how impressive your vocals are.A good vocalist for inspiration is Matthew Chalk, formerly of Psycroptic.
* Drinking a lukewarm liquid may aid in expanding your vocal cords, helping your voice get deeper.
* If you're already good at screaming, picking up death metal vocals should be a piece of cake. Already having skill in death metal singing is also a benefit when learning to scream.
* Switching between screaming vocals and clean like such bands as Reign Of Chaos or Trivium who only have the one singer it is best to focus on breath control more, some bands have 2 singers one for clean vocals and one for the scream