Death Metal. Is it noise? Does it suck?

All too often do I hear some narrow-minded people claim an entire massive genre that breeded many sub-genres, is shit. A genre that accomodates some of the greatest talent of today. This genre is death metal.
Absolutely, there is a learning curve involved to appreciate the music ad I won't deny that the vocals can be very off putting at first due to their avant-garde/abrasive nature. But ultimately the vocals compliment the music once you learn to understand they are a conscious choice by the musicians and learn to appreciate them.

What people need to know is how much variation in death metal there is, the level of talent and even the versatility. Not all pieces of music by death metal bands are aggressive, not all involve just guitars drums and death growls, not all are electric.
Here is a medley by death metal band In Flames in which they play extracts of some of their heavy songs but on acoustic guitars.


The music goes beyond simply acoustic guitar pieces though. The folk death metal band Equilibrium released several acoustic tracks along with their latest album which are straight up folk pieces played entirely by the members themselves.


To really highlight the talent of these musicians, here is a piece by SepticFlesh, entirely instrumental and performed by a 150 or so piece orchestra (philharmonic orchestra of Prague). The guitarist wrote the entire thing (and the entire album) because he studied orchestra and composition for years in London.
Truly, this is neo-classical and requires a very skilled musician/songwriter to create.


You may have noticed a trend from the videos posted above. They all lack vocals and electric instruments. Because I assume that is what puts off listeners. Now these pieces are a lot more easy-listening.
What if I were to tell you that you needn't be death metal to have death growls?
What if I told you, you needn't even be a metal band at all??
What if I told you there is actually a technique to executing death vocals and that it requires talent?

For example, the death vocalists utliize the exact same technique as Tuvan/Mongolian/Siberian throat singers.


And this folk duo actually use death growls to present sorrow and longing.


This is another folk band that also uses death growls occasionally. These guys, though primarily play pieces like this with a more operatic vocal style.


But here is another piece by them where you can hear how their other music can vary.


Two of the vocalists that are most highly regarded these days are Mike Patton (most well known from Faith No More) and Kyo (most well known from Dir En Grey). Not only are they highly regarded for their incredible ranges but also for their versatility, capable of doing anything between crooning and making entirely inhuman noises, they also death growl from time to time. They recognise it as a technique worth using.

There are a number of composers, particularly avant-garde/experimental that use growled/screamed vocals to enhance their music. Examples are the italian composer Luciano Berio and composer John Zorn

John Zorn in fact features Mike Patton in some of his music due to his exceptional talent at executing harsh vocals.
Even a "contemporary classical" composer has been known to use shouts/screams in his work


You may or may not know much about art. Honestly I don't myself. But what I do recognise is art should have no boundaries. There are certain conventions of taste and refinement that I'd prefer remain unaltered but there is always room for experimentation.
You must have seen how varied paintings can be. How unusual some can be. Such is the case for music. There are no rules for music, for it too is an art form. Death vocals may not be everyone's thing, they might require a long adjustment period, but art at its core is not for everyone. It is also not always meant to be happy or pleasant. Sometimes it is there to push your buttons. It may present a message, present some imagery. There is something more to death metal that some people will sadly not understand. But I rest my case. I have made my points. And I am well aware that no one is reading it nor gives a shit.

tl;dr

I like some death metal. Mostly it's the vocals that bug me. I will readily admit that it takes talent to growl like that and I gotta respect the singers who do that because it seems like it's really difficult on the throat, but I just don't care too much for the way it sounds.

LMAO, narrow minded or not, those Tuvan Throat singers were fucking hilarious, XD, I'll never like the vocals, no matter how good the rest of the song is, I'm just not that type of person, the type that wears baggy jeans and and SlipKnot hoody for example, I'm more into indie rock, sing/songwriter stuff.

TheCinemaJack wrote:

tl;dr

I like some death metal. Mostly it's the vocals that bug me. I will readily admit that it takes talent to growl like that and I gotta respect the singers who do that because it seems like it's really difficult on the throat, but I just don't care too much for the way it sounds.

It isn't that harsh on the throat once it's done right. It's mostly metalcore vocalists that end up having throat problems and require operations because of improper technique, like Matt Tuck (bullet for my valentine), Matt Heafy (Trivium) and even Matt Shadows (Avenged Sevenfold.. though he had vocal training and learnedhow to do it properly), but granted it is a difficult technique to master.

Stoney wrote:

LMAO, narrow minded or not, those Tuvan Throat singers were fucking hilarious, XD, I'll never like the vocals, no matter how good the rest of the song is, I'm just not that type of person, the type that wears baggy jeans and and SlipKnot hoody for example, I'm more into indie rock, sing/songwriter stuff.

Hey mate I'm not calling you narrow minded, just anyone who writes off death metal as a whole as being shit. It's simply not to your tastes and I respect that, considering I hated death growls and death metal for ages myself. Was only about 2 years ago when I discovered bands in the genre that I liked.
I actually admire Tuvan throat singers. It's different and distinctive. It's not for everyone though, no.
But err Slipknot are like nu metal or something. Completely different to death metal mate lol. The average death metal fan would burn slipknot hoodies.

^^^^

I'm very ignorant when it comes to different types of metal, tbh, not to far from where I live is a REALLY posh area, and when I pass through alot of the "dudes" do be wearing their baggy trousers and SlipKnot hoodies and the works, maybe a bit of generalisation from me. But regarding growls, you said it grew on you, but everytime I try to listen to it, I just say "nah, I don't like this".

But the some of the guitar, drums etc are fucking badass.

^
Might not grow onto everyone.
Maybe you have to change your entire mindset to enjoy it. Personally I got into it because of the songwriting really, and just thought the growls added intensity and power to it. Then eventually I broadened by horizons and listened to other styles of death metal and discovered how refined and expressive it can be.

Here, the first song from a death metal band I ever liked because it has clean singing from start to finish
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJojO8gNunI

so I downloaded the whole album and slowly the songs grew on me.

Gotta love Death Metal \m/

^
I'm actually more into the melodic, symphonic and folk death metal scene.
This kind of thing isn't really to my tastes, though there are of course respectable elements to it. I have a respect for technical death metal but this is more my thing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7b2w8T8e44

^
This song literally made me stop breathing the first time I heard it. From 0:10 to about 0:40. I had to stop the song to regain breath. I was just so focused on the instrumental aspects and got completely blown away...the intensity of it was mad and something I wasn't used to.
So naturally as soon as I regained breath I started it again and fell in love with it.

I actually prefer Melodic Death Metal myself, but the thread title was missing the 'Melodic' part so I went with a standard song.

I remember making a thread a long time ago about the different kinds of metal. Honestly i cannot name one music genre that has more sub genres.

^
No you can't. The fact is most metal musicians are educated musically and they aren't looking to get into the charts. Therefore they have this motivation to experiment and really put some effort into their music.

I don't care for the vocals, but I could listen to some of the instrumentals.

Greg Jennings wrote:

I don't care for the vocals, but I could listen to some of the instrumentals.

like dis

Djent is where its at. Animals as Leaders you hoes.

Jarmuh wrote:

Djent is where its at. Animals as Leaders you hoes.

I find djent to be boring myself.
:S

Lykos wrote:

^
No you can't. The fact is most metal musicians are educated musically and they aren't looking to get into the charts.

It's not that they're not looking to get into the charts. They know they WON'T get into the charts without changing their music because no one wants to listen to death metal.

They are doing one the most anti-popular music styles out there. I'm sure they'd love to get good money from their music but ultimately they have musical integrity and so write music that means something rather than what will get into the charts. There's a reason 99% of death metal bands have part-time jobs on the side.

It's definitely a music you have to grow on to.

Teckno wrote:

It's definitely a music you have to grow on to.

Certainly. It's not a genre you can simply listen to and instantly like. But once you have broken into death growls so-to-speak, you never really have an issue with them again. You can listen to this kind of music without a second thought about the vocals. It becomes one with the music.

Now let's have a history lesson in death metal form:

I like most kind of metal, though i prefer Heavy Metal above most.
I also like Sonata Arcticas style (not sure what genre)

Symphonic power metal I think.

Choon!

Amon Amarth are a fun band and I enjoy them but there are at least 100 melodic death metal bands I'd rather listen to than them

for example this band I just discovered yesterday

NEKROGOBLIKON! \m/

thebigmike1983 wrote:

NEKROGOBLIKON! \m/

YEAH BOIII

And I see you can post video links now :)