Death Metal Giants

Well if you look at it objectively they really don't have a lot of death metal elements for a death metal band. They've got the vocals and... not much else. Blast beats? They only have one song with blast beats. Distorted guitars? They're distorted, just not to the extent of your average joe death metal band. Dissonant or atonal riffs? They are a band that relies on melody.

I find such is the case with many melodic death metal bands, which is why I really don't think of them as death metal, but rather in a separate category.

Opeth, definitely, though as said before this poll is missing a lot of the greats. So my real vote goes for Death... 

Opeth!!!

Vic wrote: I would (and I did!) object to call them Death Metal Giants. Perhaps I'm making too much a fuss out of the poll title but when I think of Death Metal giants of the genre I think of Death and Morbid Angel, not In Flames or Opeth, who are newer bands who simply borrow some of the sonic aesthetics of the death metal genre (most notably the vocals of course). Nile plays modern brutal death metal, which is incidentally the genre which features prominently blast beats. And which is also the genre that is the natural evolution of the death/grind genre. Classic Tampa Florida Death Metal and the classic swedish death metal scenes were in the golden years (late eighties early nineties) NOT identified by blast beats, which weren't a *regular* attribute. I'm trying to remember if Death has ANY blast beats on their albums.

Hey Vic,
I'm pretty much with you on all you said as well.  I am glad you make the point of what constitutes quote
"Death Metal", but there has been something I have held onto-and would love to do research on for a
Book one day, but to ask these "Pioneers" (who started over 20 years ago) "What made Death Metal-
Death Metal"?  My contention that it was soley based on the Vocals, why the vocals - The Grunting
"Cookie Monster" Barks and growls?  I think simply at 1st, the one chosen to do the Vocals just couldnt
sing!   And then in a dominoe effect, it caught on, and a Genre was born.  Then came the musical
parts that basically closed the foundation of what we now know as Death Metal.
But since the beginning, each generation is trying to improve on it, if youre into it or not.  I still love
the classics but I am always looking for something new to be amazed at (So Vic, I am not trying to
change your mind to like Opeth and I am not a huge fan of In-Flames, but I do like alot of thier
material.  Also Lyrics are VERY important to me, so I'm not a fan of most Satanic and Gore-Metal
acts, but many I concede belong in "Giants" status).

Something I was real surprised of was this about Carcass (via-Wikipedia):

Symphonies of Sickness is the second album by the British extreme metal band Carcass. It was released through Earache Records in December 1989.

The progression of the band's style since Reek of Putrefaction is immediately evident. The sound becomes more characteristic of death metal, with Bill Steer's guitar technique improving, Jeffrey Walker's bass and vocals become much more prominent in the mix and Ken Owen changing his style of drumming completely, implementing a new style of double-bass drumming absent from the band's earlier offerings.

Thats pretty interesting, Death Metal was soo "New" that Owen would "discover" Double Bass
Drumming (My earliest recollection of that prominant sound was Obituary's "Chopped in Half"
and how the double-bass were recorded).
You (Vic) also poise the question if Death even had any Blast Beats (I dont recall any)? So my
theory stands, I think this genre was born from the type of Vocals implimented and the techniques
of the musician soon followed.

Opeth's Mikael Akerfeldt is a pretty intelligent and articulate guy and is a HUGE fan of the genre
as well as other musics, all this and his playing abilities is why we love the band, its a matter of
taste - but I look at it as another selection of something I can reach for among the Death Metal
(Metal, Rock, Prog and other musics) giants we've grown up with.
As contemporaries, I do think they are "Giants" and are part of the Death Metal legacy that keeps
growing.  I mean, Opeth were born in 1990, Meshuggah 1987, Amon/Deicide in 1987 and many
others around that time. Many of these deserve "Giants" status imo.

The Founding Fathers and its Offspring.
I think we may be talking the "Golden Age" of Death Metal Giants when we mention the likes of
Napalm Death, Possessed, Morbid Angel, Carcass, Death, Obituary, Malevolent Creation and
others of the era (Some creep into the Grind-Core/Gore Metal genre as well), it had to start
somewhere with someone.  Rock 'n' Roll from 30 years ago isnt the same as Rock 50 years ago . . .
But I think the whole point of the Poll was to have a broad spectrum of this genre, just a few were
missing but, I'm an old man , I have many a Band in my memory and collection.
The younger generation is still discovering what many of us have lived with for decades .

With respect, bang on!

Funny how that particular Enslaved track reminds me of . . .

Almost same changes (Not as many/or at all, Black Metal Blastbeats) and structuring.
I understand not liking a band though, their are many popular Death Metal bands I
dont like but hey . . . I hear Death Metal here .

By the way, its a CRIME I have no Enslaved albums!!!   And that track was awesome.

Saw them open for . . .
Wait for it!!! . . .




. . . Enslaved put on quite a show!


Edited by MAVIIIVAM - 06 Mar 2011 at 7:05pm

WHY IS IMMOLATION NOT HERE?

....Where the hell is Death??? Impossible to have a bigger death metal giant than them....


Out of these options, Opeth by a million miles.


Morbid Angel would be next, good band.
Can't say I care much for Cannibal Corpse, and honestly I hate Nile. In Flames has been no good after their third album.

But Opeth is not death metal. Don't want to start a discussion but even their early stuff is more progressive than any DM band I know. People hear the growling and think "DEATH METAL" and sure they are heavy...but really, that does not make death metal. It's really far from, and they have never been that close.

So, my favorite DM band are the fathers of it all: Death


Edited by The Angry Scotsman - 24 Mar 2011 at 2:07am