If we had to concoct a subgenre that would be a form of Spinoza Ray Prozak Vijay Prozak Brett Stevens sonic Hell, it could well be slam: a death metal influenced continuation of what Pantera and Meshuggah did to speed metal, giving it a bit of groove and lots of chromatic fills based on rhythmic expectation. Internal Bleeding pretty much pioneered this subgenre.
Tags: internal bleeding, pantera, slam, unique leader records
Some bands perfectly encapsulate a sound and an era through the appropriation and development of an existing idea. Van Halen fascinated the mainstream with his take on tapping and his twist on virtuosity which had existed for centuries on various string instruments. Iron maiden took the harmonies from Thin Lizzy and adapted them for their long narrative epics. Suffocation took the slow thrash metal staccato riff and completely changed its use by using them as breakdowns. While those three bands are heavily associated with their respective techniques that have been used by all sorts of bands, Suffocation has spawned multiple subgenres that are all terrible and are completely eluded by the original intention.
13 CommentsTags: Brutal Death Metal, cryptopsy, death metal, deathcore, frank mullen, hessians, iron maiden, metalcore, nydm, slam, suffocation
Sometimes in between quests for the perfect transcendent meal, you wind up in the drive-thru. There’s nothing wrong with that- not every action in life has to be one of self-discovery or grandiose vision- sometimes you just want to destroy yourself as a brief respite from analytical or introspective journeys, which actually provides a contrast that truly showcases the merit in the pursuit of depth but also gives an objective worth to consumables that are designed with much less substance in mind. There is a place for what is now known as “slam” in the death metal pantheon, and as with any subgenre of course the progenitors are the best examples of it, as prior to its neanderthalic fall from grace it started as marriage of the percussive elements of Suffocation with the over-the-top imagery of gore-focused grind bands while limiting the use of humanistic elements like melody and cyclical structure. This is a more than valid metal style as it does actually transcend a known formula through divorcing it from song archetypes and instead celebrates an ignorance that is mirrored perfectly in masochistic savagery. Given that is is more rhythmically focused than previous death metal styles is it natural that it would meet its downfall by travelling down an insultingly urban path that betrays the savagery it had once wielded, but it is still worth revisiting a few choice releases to analyze what may unfortunately be the last true movement in a dying genre at the turn of the century.
10 CommentsTags: Brutal Death Metal, cenotaph, death metal, disgorge, Exuviate, Gore, internal bleeding, Mortal Decay, slam
Camouflage cargo shorts band Dying Fetus released a music video for “Panic Amongst The Herd” off their upcoming crap album, Wrong One to Fuck With, on sell-out sludge and metalcore label Relapse Records. Relapse insist that:
1 CommentNow 25 years into their distinguished career, Dying Fetus cement their legacy with Wrong One to Fuck With and uphold their position as the dominant force in death metal today.
Tags: deathcore, dying fetus, Hardcore, Hardcore Punk, music video, new track, relapse, relapse records, slam, thrash metal, upcoming release
These random, gimped releases are held in high regard by high-pitched “metal” critics and core pogo stickers. The Death Metal Underground staff takes it upon themselves to scorn and defile them in the name of all that is good in the metal genre.
28 CommentsTags: amon amarth, cynic, deathcore, dripping, fags, homosexuality, in flames, jazz fusion, lykathea aflame, melodeaf, metalcore, nu-metal, random, sadistic metal reviews, slam, techdeaf, tek-deth
Swedish death-influenced gore/grind band RazorRape have scheduled the release of their upcoming album Orgy in Guts for August, 2015.
Tracklist:
1. Bonesaw Facefuck
2. A Beast of Human Waste
3. Holy Gory Glory Hole
4. Spinal Cord Impalement
5. Vomit Drenched In Mucus
6. Choking On Feces
7. Orgy In Guts
8. Black Flood Of Body Fluids
9. Bitch Butcher Boogie
10. Grinding The Dead
11. Rampage In Red
12. Rot In Excrement
13. Lady Gagball
14. Hey Whore, Let’s Gore
15. Tennis Racket God
Tags: 2015, death metal, Gore, Grindcore, Orgy in Guts, RazorRape, slam
Self-identifying with the “Slam” tag, Dysentery play a mid-paced, groove-oriented deathcore. The music is based on two poles. The first is very simple grooving rhythms either in slow tempo or in blast-beat-ridden sections with very obvious and simple stress points. The second is the use of pinch harmonics (aka squeals) to round off some phrases.
The music shows a single-minded ambition: grooving brutality. Simple rhythmic indulgence in a pleasure-oriented music. As such, this music is little more than the reggaeton of “extreme” metal. The band might as well change their guitars and drums for a computer software simulator of a mixer and start playing with beats and singing about big-ass girls and how macho you are and what not.
4 CommentsTags: 2015, death metal, Dysentery, Fragments, funderground, poser, slam
The metal scene is not a static thing. It goes on, and you either participate or accept it as is. For this reason, many of us are looking into newer styles of metal.
Cuff combine Cryptopsy-inspired deathcore with slam and a Voivod-inspired technological fascination. Comprised of only two guys, Bob Shaw (vocals) and Zach Smith (all instruments), this band has bashed out an incredible number of albums.
Zach Smith took the time between beard agriculture and research of tortures to answer our questions:
You’re a two-person band with one person doing all vocals and the other doing all instrumentals. How does that work out? Do you collaborate on the songwriting or contribute roles as you can?
Mostly the songs are written by me, with input from Bob as to where or how the song structures should be. I think it works well the way we do things, at least it’s worked for the last 8 years We both write the lyrics , so it’s pretty equal what we do as a band.
As a Canadian band, you have a rich history to live up to… including both Cryptopsy, for your general musicality, and Voivod or Dead Brain Cells perhaps for the sci-fi lyrics. What made you choose to go in this direction?
It was an obvious choice to us to go with the sci-fi stuff, it felt like it matched the music and tone of the band perfectly.
The French metal scene is amazing, we made a trip out to Montreal last year and were met with open arms by some of the coolest fans/bands on the planet.
As for our influences I think we borrow more from American brutal death metal than anything Canadian, but Cryptopsy is an obvious candidate for an influence.
Inevitably your album will be compared with West Coast technical gore-grind but other influences seem to be there. I hear Cannibal Corpse, and notice at least one of y’all wearing a Dying Fetus tshirt. Can you tell us what your other influences were?
My influences vary between styles of music, anything from Zeppelin to the Beatles and back to Devourment. It’s a whole mish-mash of interesting things indeed! Bob’s influences include of course Dying Fetus along with Wormed and Jenovavirus.
Transient Suffering Through the Ergosphere is your third album. What were the other two like? Is there a continuing storyline between them? If so, what part does this third album tell?
Well actually it’s our 8th full length and 24th release in total!
The album is a continuation from our last album from Gore House Productions called Forced Human Sacrifice to the New Gods of Earth. We have plans for a third album in the storyline somewhere down the road but try and keep that between us!
With only two men in the band, it doesn’t seem like you would have the advantage of being able to jam on this material. How do you compose? Are mathematical formulas, laser pointers and graph paper involved?
Lots of riffs and demos in the recording process, and we rehearse with our drum machine named Montgomery a few times a month. We’ve played live with a lot of bands as well over the years. Almost played with the legendary Anal Cunt but Seth had to kick the bucket right before the show was drawing near!
How do you describe the music you make?
Our music, to me, is organized chaos. It has a real dark vibe to it that stands out among other little things like sound design and song structure. We’re heavily influenced by Jenovavirus, Dying Fetus and Devourment mostly for their ‘slam’ elements.
Can you tell us about recording this album? Was it a challenge, where did you do it, and did you achieve the sound you wanted? Were there any production hacks necessary to make that come about?
We recorded it in a little building down the street from our houses with a good friend of ours Ken Coul.
The studio is called Black Cloud Recording Studio and we did get the sound we were looking for and more. It’s our best sounding album to date with the most crushing slams and fastest grinds we’ve written. No frilly production was used other than amp presets and some reverb. It’s all natural!
What’s next for Cuff?
An EP, a new full length, new merch and definitely a tour are sometime in the near future. We really need to get out there to our friends across the world (and also to please our label GHP! Haha).
All in all, we’re keeping busy and that’s what matters.
You can check us out on Facebook and our Bigcartel sites.
Tags: cuff, deathcore, gore house productions, slam
Grunting percussive deathgrind band Swine Overlord unleash their Parables of Umbral Transcendence on the world on August 19, 2014. The title might lead a listener to believe this album will be more jazz-lite “technical death metal,” but instead what you have here is gurgling blasting primitive and raw sound in the style of all bands inspired by Suffocation.
While much of metal has focused on hybridizing with known rock, jazz and blues genres, the deathgrind genre continues its development of its hybrid of primal death metal and raw explosive grindcore, continuing the gore and paranoid dystopic themes of its origin. Swine Overlord take a similar path with music and lyrics in the blasting mayhem and cadenced grooves of this work of utter depravity and abandonment of social trust.
To celebrate the launch of Parables of Umbral Transcendence, Gore House Productions and DeathMetal.org present the live stream of the album in its entirety:
20 CommentsTags: deathgrind, gore house productions, slam, swine overlord
