Cannibal Corpse headbanging live in Chicago, 2009 © Gene Ambo ./Retna Ltd./Corbis
Metal
wouldn't be metal without its over-the-top tendencies, and it's this
ferocious desire to push the boundaries that's seen it evolve from a
hard-edged offshoot of '60s rock into scores of subgenres.
Death metal is only one of them, but you could write an entire book on
its evolution (indeed, there is one: Albert Mudrian's Choosing Death),
so what follows is a rapid-fire history that's as brutal and
to-the-point as a BC Rich to the bonce.
Still,
with the axe-men from Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Obituary and Carcass
all queuing up to spill their guts, you'd best know your death metal
onions, lest they turn the blades on you.
Extreme
metal came to life in the early '80s as Newcastle's Venom took the
toughest elements of Motörhead, Priest and Sabbath, and bolted on harsh
vocals, Satanic themes and punk rock aggression. By 1984,
Venom-influenced acts crept through the underground, peddling aggressive
thrash with gruff vocals: San Francisco's Possessed released the Death
Metal demo, Switzerland's Hellhammer appeared on a compilation called
Death Metal, and Florida's Death put out Death By Metal. Notice a theme
yet?
Trevor Peres, guitarist with classic groovy
death metallers Obituary, recalls: "Down in Florida, people were
listening to Nasty Savage and Savatage as well as shredders like Randy
Rhoads before the really heavy stuff started with bands like Celtic
Frost, Slayer, Hellhammer and Venom."
Blastbeats and gore-laden vocals
In
1986, Slayer's Reign In Blood shocked 'em all with blinding kick
drum-work and speedy picking - both vital components of death metal.
Meanwhile, unsigned grindcore band Repulsion recorded their debut album,
which was saturated with two other death metal staples: blastbeats and
gore-laden vocals.
One problem: the record was
so extreme that no label would touch it, making it strictly for
tape-trading die-hards. Notable fans included UK grinders like Napalm
Death and Carcass.
Come 1987, death metal finally took shape with Death's Scream Bloody Gore, and in '89, Morbid Angel's Altars Of Madness upped the ante even further, featuring blinding blastbeats, complex structures, and often atonal riffage and soloing.
Florida's festering scene
A
whole festering scene was taking root in Florida. Peres explains: "The
other big Florida bands were Deicide, Morbid Angel and Death. We were
all doing the same thing and didn't realise it. We were probably in
competition, subconsciously. Next thing you know, you got a whole
scene…"
Other locals included Monstrosity and Massacre, while New York's Cannibal Corpse soon moved in.
Minor mainstream success ensued for the Florida lot: the Cannibal lads had a couple of smashers with albums Tomb Of The Mutilated and The Bleeding; while Obituary followed their opening salvo of Slowly We Rot with Cause Of Death and the big-selling The End Complete; and Deicide's eponymous debut in 1990 delighted blasphemy-hungry metallers, as did '92's furiously technical follow-up, Legion.
In the UK, Carcass had matured considerably since their grindcore beginnings, unleashing the surprisingly melodic Heartwork in 1993. In the same year, Morbid Angel released their immortal masterpiece, Covenant.
This brush with popularity led to bad publicity, mainly due to
Cannibal's grim aesthetics and the Satanic stance of Deicide, whose
fiery frontman Glen Benton had an inverted cross branded into his
forehead (check it out above)!
Church burnings, suicide and murder
The
embarrassing misconception that all death metallers were sick-minded,
suicide-obsessed devil-worshippers took hold, and the genre was often
confused with the (quite different) Norwegian black metal scene, where
church-burnings, suicide and murder had occurred.
In
reality, death metallers are like any other rockers. There are some
Satanic acts, but this is often more of a metaphor for inner strength
and a reaction against Christianity. As for the unrelenting gore and
death, would you brand someone a nutter for reading horror books or
watching grisly movies? Thought not.
Today,
death metal is recognised as exhilarating, challenging music that offers
guitarists huge opportunities for expression. One of the most
technically accomplished guitarists of the genre is Ralph Santolla,
formerly of Deicide and currently plying his trade with Obituary: "It's
not just about technique," notes Santolla, whose trademark is his
melodic soloing style.
"Anybody can practise for
10 hours a day - that takes discipline, not talent. What impresses me
is when people take that technique and make great music with it. For
example, Alexi and Roope from Children Of Bodom are a huge inspiration
to me. The Deicide album The Stench Of Redemption [2006] got a lot of
attention for my guitar playing, but I never would have played that
stuff if it hadn't been for touring with those two guys when I was in
Iced Earth."
"Watching them play took me back to
the sweeping and fast alternate picking that I had let fall by the
wayside. I was doing more legato, big interval stuff, but I realised you
could do what they were doing and make it sound super-cool.
groove-filled riffs and razor-sharp pinch harmonics
Cannibal
Corpse guitarists Pat O'Brien and Rob Barrett can rival anyone on the
scene for picking accuracy and speed. "A lot of it has to do with
picking," reckons Pat. "You can get your picking precision tight by
practising scales. A really good place to go is the Guitar Grimoire
book series - they have every scale and mode in them. Going up and down
the scales in groups of three or four notes works for me."
"Instructional
material from people like Vinnie Moore and Paul Gilbert will give you a
different perspective; study as much as you can and then add your own
take on it."
Groove-filled riffs and razor-sharp pinched harmonics
Songwriting
is crucial, of course, and one reason Cannibal Corpse sell so many
albums is that they write groove-filled riffs that stick in your head,
often with razor-sharp pinched harmonics. "It's just a matter of angling
your pick and pinching it," explains O'Brien, "and then you need the
right kind of distortion to make it come out."
"Rob
and I use Boss Metal Zone distortion pedals. The distortion's backed
off a bit, just to add to the gain on the amp and give it an extra edge.
We both use Mesa/Boogie [Triple/Dual] Rectifiers and the guitars have EMG 81s."
Obituary's Peres (pictured above) favours a more traditional rig. "I play a Strat;
not many people play those in death metal. It has a humbucker and a
Floyd Rose so I can dive-bomb and stay in tune, and I always use a
passive pickup. If you know what you're doing, you can make it sound
heavy. I turn the tone button all the way down and roll off the mids,
and there's my sound."
"I use a Marshall JCM 800 (yes, the Ritchie Blackmore setup!) plus a Pro Co Rat distortion [pedal] and some noise reduction, and that's it."
Michael
Amott is an important figure in the metal scene, and while many will
know him for his work with Arch Enemy, it's with the legendary Carcass
that he made his name. "I started listening to death metal when I was 11
years old!" Amott says. "It's a part of me: riffing at 200bpm in a low
tuning with a tight rhythm-picking hand is in my blood."
Ralph
Santolla recognises the band's contribution to the death metal genre:
"Carcass were so far ahead of their time when it came to making crushing
music, but making it melodic with a groove. So many bands these days
are trying to remake Heartwork."
brutal death metal
Brutal death metal
Swedes Dark Tranquillity and In Flames were also key players in melodic death metal, while others shunned traditional tuneage, such as the NY scene's '-ation' bands: Immolation, Incantation and Suffocation. The latter's slamming, percussive sound birthed the 'brutal death metal' subgenre; Pestilence, Nocturnus, Cynic and Atheist, meanwhile, injected out-there timings and melodies, creating 'progressive death metal'.
Following the early-'90s boom, fresh talent reinvigorated the scene for the new millennium.
The
timeless titans of death metal remained as revered as ever, but further
'outside' influences would filter in, leading to diverse acts like
Nile, Cryptopsy, Krisiun, Mithras, Origin and Dying Fetus. Detuned
guitars were now the norm, with some acts using 7-string guitars, as popularised by Morbid Angel.
And
if you'd like to slaughter the strings like Carcass (pictured above),
Corpse and co? Michael Amott laughs: "Throw away your Guitar Hero
console and practise every day!"