Technical Death Metal

cross-posted from: https://infosec.pub/post/15522858

Technical Death Metal is one of metal's most beloved and popular genres. But where exactly did it start from? Today, in this Metal Documentary series we analyze the history of bands like Cynic, Atheist, Death, and Pestilence to determine the true origins of one of metal's most famous and well-known genres.

Technical death metal (also referred to as tech-death) is a musical subgenre of death metal that began and developed in the early- to mid-1990s, with a particular focus on challenging, demanding instrumental skill and complex songwriting.

Technical experimentation in death metal began in the late 1980s and early 1990s by four bands that are often grouped together as "technical death metal's Big Four" – Death, Pestilence, Atheist, and Cynic – as well as Nocturnus; all but Pestilence being part of the Florida death metal scene.

Some of the distinct features of this genre include dynamic song structures, complex and atypical rhythmic structures, abundant use of diminished chords and arpeggios, frequent employment of odd-time chord progressions, and constant use of string skipping on the guitars. Basslines are usually complex, and the drums are extremely fast-paced with abundant use of blast beats and other extreme drumming techniques. The technical death metal genre has also been influenced by mostly jazz fusion, as well as thrash metal and progressive/technical-inspired heavy metal bands like Death, Megadeth, Slayer, Voivod, Kreator, Dark Angel, Coroner, Sadus, and Watchtower, the latter of whose second album Control and Resistance (1989) is often considered to be one of the sources of inspiration for the genre.

• Space Corpse (or Spacecorpse?) - Shapeshifter [EP] (USA-CO)
• Valsa Pintura - Plénitude [EP] (France) (instrumental tech)

Also, don't forget to catch Gojira playing the Olympic opening ceremony in a couple hours!

Bonus - misc eye-catching new releases since I last posted, listed loosely in reverse order of release:

• Abiosis - Hollowing the Mortal Form
• Serpentslain - Cognitive Dissonance [EP]
• August Mayhem - Incredulity (arguably deathcore)
• Commander - Angstridden (very groovy, ffo Griefgod, Eye of Horus)
• Lynchpin - ...This Mortal Coil [EP]
• Fallujah - The Flesh Prevails 10 year anniversary remix/remaster (I haven't done a close enough A:B listen to understand the difference, but damn is TFP a great album)
• Helvetskval - Hjarnspoken
• Abandon Agony - Dark Matter [EP]
• Replacire - The Center That Cannot Hold
• Severe Torture - Torn from the Jaws of Death (not tech, but gotta love these DM kings)
• The Fallen - S/T (arguably *core)
• Ulcerate - Cutting the Throat of God

I promise I’m not dead, just very busy with both work stuff and life stuff. Thanks to other posters for contributing content to the community! I definitely don’t intend to be the primary poster long-term lol

Pretty hyped for their show

Light on proper tech this week, here's a mix of tangentially related stuff that might be worthwhile

• Diminish the Gods - Exopaedian (AUS-NSW) (I've been waiting for this for over a year, haven't listened yet but should be good for tech/core enthusiasts)
• A Karmic Gray - Ghosts of Times Obscure (USA-OH)
• Shitkluster - Shitocracy (USA-KY)
• Xenocide - S/T [EP] (USA-IL)

Weird prog-death goodness out soon

Whitechapel - The Saw Is the Law (USA-TN, 2014)

Obviously, any metal with "death" in the genre name never ends up literally on the radio. But some singles are catchy in a way that feels like a radio jam. This is one of my best examples of that, alongside Aversions Crown - Hollow Earth and Carnifex - Pray For Peace

Oops late one this week

• Blasteroid - Crypts of Mind (Greece) (ffo Mastodon, but deathier than that)
• Cutterred Flesh - Love at First Bite (Czechia) (again, NYP right now)
• Esodic - De Facto De Jure [EP] (Jordan) (death/thrash, and the first Jordanian band that's come to my attention)
• Vale of Pnath - Between the Worlds of Life and Death (USA-CO)

Who's stoked for more Vale? I see what people are saying about the stylistic shift, but this is still sick

Who else is ready for more Cutterred Flesh? Official release date seems to be tomorrow, but Bandcamp is showing it's currently NYP? Anyway, this opener has me sold

From clicking around, it seems to be that all existing releases are name-your-price, and preorders are $1. Definitely give this a look - here is a sample of albums that appear for me as NYP:

• The Last of Lucy - Godform (yes, the new one, super sick)
• Replicant - Infinite Mortality (also quite new)
• Dyssebeia - Garden of Stillborn Idols
• Arborescence of Wrath - Inferno (underrated af)
• Orphalis - As the Ashes Settle

And some head-turning $1 preorders:

• Carnophage - Matter of a Darker Nature
• Cutterred Flesh - Love at First Bite
• Februus - Surveillance Orgy