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THRASH METAL has spawned few new bands in recent years, and many of the
older ones (most conspicuously Metallica) have made attempts to go
mainstream, with varying degrees of commercial and/or critical success. To
date, it is the only style of underground metal that has captured major
record label attention. Influenced by British bands, thrash has been
largely American (Sepultura, the boys from Brazil, were an exception). The
style came into its own in the early Eighties and reached its artistic apex
in masterpieces like Metallica's Master of Puppets (Elektra, 1986),
Slayer's Reign In Blood (American, 1986) and Sepultura's Arise (Roadrunner,
1991). Slayer, uncompromising kings of the metal underground for more than
a decade, are still hugely respected, but thrash's biggest draw currently
is Pantera, whose latest relapse is Official Live 101 Proof (EastWest).
DEATH METAL currently comprises the largest contingent of underground metal bands and boasts the most extensive worldwide reach. As ubiquitous as McDonald's, it can be found in every part of the globe where there is an industrial working class. It came into being when thrash-band vocalists descended below Lemmy's growl into the sewers. Chuck Schuldiner's band, Death, inspired especially by the vocalists from Venom (Cronos) and Celtic Frost (Tom Warrior), fully defined the subgenre in their classic 1986
album, Scream Bloody Gore.
In its purest form, death metal would work as the soundtrack to the movie
version of Dante's Inferno. Its lyrics focus almost exclusively on death,
disease and decay, and some bands happily dabble in the diabolical. Band
names reflect these themes, as a sampling of a few of the dozens of great
practitioners demonstrates: Deicide, Entombed, Morbid Angel, Brujeria,
Cannibal Corpse, Six Feet Under, Malevolent Creation. Excellent recent
releases include Broken Hope's Loathing (Metal Blade), Obituary's Back from
the Dead (Roadrunner) and Hypocrisy's Abducted (Nuclear Blast).
GRINDCORE, a small subspecies launched by Napalm Death and Carcass in the late Eighties, noisily combines death metal with hardcore punk, with the
politicized lyrics common to the latter. Brutal Truth's new Kill Trend
Suicide (Relapse) and Extreme Noise Terror's Damage 381 (Earache) are solid
example of this Anglo-American subspecialty.
The miscegenation of thrash and hardcore has also spawned a style that some
call METALCORE, which accentuates hardcore's staccato vocals and limited melodies. Metalcore has attracted attention in the Nineties through
American urban bands like Biohazard and Machine Head.
Still another thrash-derived style is INDUSTRIALIZED THRASH, or thrashed industrial.
Godflesh (Love and Hate In Dub, Earache) and Fear Factory (Remanufacture,
Roadrunner), the best-regarded examples, are as different from each other
(despite having remixed new releases) as both are from the mainstream
metalized industrial of Ministry and Nine Inch Nails.
In contrast to the aggression and heavy sound of thrash and its offshoots,
PROGMETAL derives mainly from classic New Wave of Heavy Metal bands like Iron Maiden. Progmetal echoes the art rock of Seventies bands like Emerson, Lake and Palmer and Rush, incorporating musical elements from jazz and 19th century Romantic classical music. The subgenre is notable for epic songs with spiritual themes and strong tenor vocalists. Helloween, from Germany, was an early exponent. The best of the current bands are Gamma Ray, Blind Guardian, Angra, and the main American entry, Dream Theater.
Slower still are the bands best filed under the category of DOOM. Rooted in
Sabbathy St. Vitus, Candlemass and Trouble, one variety of this slow 'n'
heavy sound features a psychedelic buzz, as in the case of Slo-Burn
(Slo-Burn, Malicious Vinyl). Other doom bands encase their sound in
synthesizers, adding gothic flavoring (especially in the vocals and
visuals), as exemplified by My Dying Bride (Like Gods of the Sun,
Fierce/Mayhem) and Avernus (Of the Fallen, MIA).
BLACK METAL, an exciting subterranean metal subgenre, began in the early Eighties with bands like Venom and Mercyful Fate, and experienced a major resurgence in Norway in the early Nineties. The name comes from a 1982 Venom title cut with a strong Luciferian lyrical focus. Customarily
presented by corpse-painted musicians performing vampirish visuals, black
metal songs commonly feature dead-earnest demonic posturing, with lyrics
heavy with murder and church-burning mayhem. Musically, the genre is
characterized by swirling layers of cosmic keyboard soundscapes and rasped,
screeching vocals. Landmark offerings include recent releases from Emperor
(Anthems of the Welkin at Dusk, Century Media), Dimmu Borgir (Enthroned
Darkness Triumphant, Nuclear Blast) and Cradle of Filth (Dusk and Her
Embrace, Fierce/Mayhem).
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Why death metal gets no respect.
By Jim DeRogatis
As a group, death metal guitarists believe they've never quite gotten the
props that their dexterity and extreme sounds deserve.
"You can take any hard rock band, country band, grunge band or whatever,
and you'll always see them in guitar magazines," says Broken Hope guitarist
Jeremy Wagner. "But these bands cannot match the level of skills and
musicianship that a death metal band has. Our solos shred more than any
Yngwie Malmsteen or whatever, but this music gets overlooked so much. The
guitar work is always a roller coaster of time changes and different moods.
It's so technical and over the top.
"We've got suites going on, arpeggios, and broken chords that we
incorporate into rhythms. I really think that a lot of people don't
appreciate it, but if you can get past the grungey vocals and not worry
what the lyrics are about, you're going to see that the level of
musicianship in this music is way beyond anything else."
Guitarist Adam Zadel of Oppressor believes that death metal's harsh attack
drives some people away. "The crushing guitar tone usually will stray most
people," he says. "Your typical players might just say, 'Oh, I can't even
understand anything, it's so distorted,' and they just pass it off without
giving it a chance. But there are tons of great guitar players in death
metal. As far as music that comes out now, that's where a lot of the best
players are."
"What characterizes the death metal guitar sound?" asks Obituary's Trevor
Peres. "It's just thick. It's the thickest guitar sound you can ever get, I
think. I really don't do much to it: I play a Fender and I go through a Rat
distortion and a Marshall, and that's it. It's very simple; I don't have a
split-channel amp or nothing. It's the most basic Marshall head there is,
and it's a 50 watt. I don't even use a 100 watt; it just sounds thicker to
me, I don't know why."
He may be the thickest in the land, but Peres is hardly up to his neck in
endorsements. "I talked to Fender a few times, and people don't really give
you the time of day unless you're Eric Clapton or something. I'm not much
of a lead player. I don't sit there and practice leads. But people don't
come to hear Obituary to hear leads. They come to hear the groove, that's
what they're into, and that's what makes everybody go off. They love to
hear that tone. People always tell me straight up: You can tell Obituary by
their guitar tone. But it sucks, because the guitar mags and the companies
don't really respect us that much."
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