Macros, on May 7 2009, 10:33 PM, said:
If you can honestly say that if I produced a CD with a sample of all the variations of metal on it you'd be fit to identify the difference between the majourity of it? Because I'd be supremely surprised
Absolutely. Admittedly, there would be some areas I would be a bit hazy on, for example in some cases the difference between brutal death metal and technical death metal gets blurred (in fact many bands label themselves as brutal technical death metal) but as a general rule, yes.
And as for what death metal is, well the origins are thus (slightly simplified):
In the 80's heavy metal was huge! Iron Maiden, Metallica et al. were the next big thing, and people were loving it's technicality and difference to, well, anything ever! But, as most genres tend to do, it started to get a bit stale. In the meantime, a new form of punk, labelled hardcore punk was making a noise in Britain (predominantly). Bands like Extreme Noise Terror etc. Were bringing new drumming techniques such as blast beats (the relentless super-fast double bass pedals) and insanely fast guitar riffing - not much talent, but loud and heavy. Them some bands who respected the musical talent and technicality of bands like the big metal ones but also the speed and ferocity of hardcore punk decided to cross breed.
This new form of music was called grindcore, or death metal. I believe its name derived from a couple of things. Firstly, the two main instigators were Death, in Florida (where a majority of the most influential and early death metal bands such as Deicide, Cynic etc. came from) and Napalm Death on this side of the pond (along with the mighty Carcass) The other thing is that a majority of these early bands sang about death/doom/dying etc.
There are, of course many other factors involved, such as other influential bands and singers (Master have been cited by a bunch of guys in the scene as hugely influential on their own work) Again, this got stale after a while, allowing black metal to come in. Black metal is more where you will find the true nutters - the satanists who murdered, burned and mutilated themselves into underground music history (like the guy who shot himself, and his band who used his shattered skull as the front cover of their next album, getting it banned pretty quickly...) But that is another story...
Nowadays, death metal is still around (though many purists/black metal fans say it died) but it is still there. Most bands, however have taken it to new levels, with things like crossover genres (progressive death metal for example. Imagine Pink Floyd as death metal, and you have Opeth, sort of...) or introducing "cleaner" (non growled/screamed/shouted) lyrics or other less traditionally "metal" instruments, including pianos, violins, accordions, and random other eastern instruments!
As for Christian death metal, I guess that is a bit of a juxtaposition. But in a sense, they use elements of the death metal genre conventions (the shouted words, the heavy and brutally fast rhythms & the technical mastery) but use Christian themes and words etc. The band I mentioned before, Becoming the Archetype, have a fantastic use of instruments, using a piano to great effect, but also have some pretty heavy riffage going on.
Anyways, that is one small element of metal. I could tell you about the hair metal of the 80s, the resurgence of NWOAM in the 2000's or anything really. I love music, it is a true passion of mine, and metal is where I have my focus. I could lend you some books on it if you wanted, Mac.
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