DEATH METAL IN THE 21ST CENTURY - PARADIGM 1: OLD SCHOOL DEATH METAL (OSDM)
DEATH METAL IN THE 21ST CENTURY - PARADIGM 1: OLD SCHOOL DEATH METAL (OSDM)
INTRODUCTION
Salva Rubio, in "Extreme Metal, 30 years of darkness (1981-2011)", page 153, proposes an aesthetic exercise where we search for "a parallelism between the different substyles of Extreme Metal and the classic styles of Art History" . Thus, he compares the Romanesque (simple in appearance and very expressive) with the classic bands that gave rise to Extreme Metal: Venom, Bathory, Hellhammer... The Gothic, where the adoration for detail and ornament is unleashed is compared to the Thrash Metal. Next, he equates Renaissance art with Death Metal, both styles that develop the styles of the previous stages, freeing themselves from constraints imposed on an aesthetic level in search of greater creative freedom, a freedom that seeks to go further, that does not recognize borders.
After the emergence of Death Metal, Rubio proposes two great labels to encompass the evolution of the style after those first years: Technical Death Metal (which he compares to mannerism) and Brutal Death Metal (which he relates to Baroque).
This division is still valid in this century since it is where the majority of Death Metal band releases are framed. All the bands that practice Spectral Metal would be here, one that does not seek to innovate but rather to repeat and continue the legacy of the classic bands of the genre. But in parallel, other paradigms have been emerging that are precisely those that are advancing the style towards unexplored areas within the cartography of metal.
I propose three great new paradigms where to place Death Metal bands that have a speculative attitude when composing, that seek...
Paradigm 1 - Old School Death Metal (OSDM).
Paradigm 2 - Dissonant Death Metal (DDM), with Obscura (1998) by Gorguts as its origin.
Paradigm 3 - Textural Death Metal (TDM) with Seepia (2003) by Portal as the origin.
Here we will expose Paradigm 1 made up of bands that began their careers with releases focused on recovering the classic sound of the bands that gave rise to the genre both in style and aesthetics as well as in the theme of their lyrics. This would fall within Spectral Metal. But album after album they have been adding elements that justify that they can now be defined as Speculative Metal.
Since the beginning of the century, a phenomenon began to occur within extreme metal where many bands (especially in northern Europe) sought to return to the sound of the first extreme bands. What was later called Blackened Death Metal, Black Death Metal or War Metal emerged. Of all these bands, the one that has had the most importance has been Teitanblood, a Spanish band that, due to its way of composing using many elements of Speculative Metal, has been the most influential in terms of new contributions to the extreme genre. (You can read about Teitanblood here: https://metalespeculativo.blogspot.com/2024/02/teitanblood-seven-chalices-guia-de.html).
When this movement to recover old school Death Metal began to have greater influence in the US, a group of bands emerged that are defined as Old School Death Metal (OSDM) and which are the ones we are going to analyze here. We will talk mainly about BLOOD INCANTATION, ULTHAR, TOMB MOLD as main and most influential bands to which we add VASTUM, SPECTRAL VOICE, BLACK CURSE, ASTRAL TOMB. To the previous bands I add two British groups whose sound is related to OSDM: CRYPTIC SHIFT and SLIMELORD.
This fertile ecosystem of musicians and bands has multiple and interesting connections with each other. And one of the characteristics of Speculative Metal musicians is that they participate in multiple projects simultaneously and are very prolific, something that is less frequent within Spectral Metal. Thus, we could begin by saying that Blood Incantation musicians are part of Spectral Voice, Wayfarer and Black Curse. Starting from Ulthar, we see that its members also play or played in Vastum, Black Curse, Necrot or Spirit Possession. Members of Vastum are also members of Necrot. As for Black Curse, which functions as a super band, its members share members with Blood Incantation, Spectral Voice, Wayfarer, Primitive Man, Khemmis or Spirit Possession. Finally, and already on the British side, Cryptic Shift and Slimelord also have several members in common.
Thus, we verify that the rhizome as an architectural and formal element within the music of Speculative Metal groups also extends to the multiple connections that exist between bands.
Most of these bands are still young and few have been active for more than ten years. Therefore, they are a scene that we have to study in depth in order to understand the Shape-of-the-Metal-To-Come (SMC).
BLOOD INCANTATION
Perhaps the most important band in terms of impact within the OSDM. The quality as performers and composers and the theme of their lyrics. Many describe their style as Cosmic Death Metal, with which I agree since they have been adding elements to their original old school style that justify that qualification, making their sound increasingly psychedelic supported by the intensive use of synthesizers and structures. increasingly complex and progressive with very extensive themes.
BLOOD INCANTATION - STARSPAWN (2016)
https://bloodincantation.bandcamp.com/album/starspawn
Blood Incantation's first album after a considerable number of demos was one of the pillars on which the OSDM was going to be built. We see that from the beginning, the extension of some songs already reflected his taste for taking the old school style one step further, it was not a mere return to the origins, with complex and dense structures, with a large number of ideas and guitar sections. clean reminiscent of classic Thrash Metal. One of its most personal characteristics is already present, such as the double guitars with different ideas between them, not only as continuous harmonization. There are many solo passages throughout the songs and the drums maintain an old school style without any reference to the percussion techniques of modern extreme metal. The vocals are varied, with a lot of reverb and effects, which brings variety to the ensemble with clean voices (for example, in the third song) or frenetic and uncontrolled voices typical of another era (in the last song).
The riffs do not sound hackneyed or like copies but are imbued with that imagination that existed in Death Metal in its early days and that current groups have such a hard time recovering.
In the third song they add textures and synthesizers to add density, achieving a psychedelic sensation. The batteries are very inspired, very good ideas, their resources and imagination stand out.
The fourth track begins with an introduction by synthesizers and effect plates, followed by delayed guitars for a long clean passage with very inspired ideas and harmonies. It is a transitional and atmospheric song that expands the band's sonic territory already in this first album.
BLOOD INCANTATION - HIDDEN HISTORY OF THE HUMAN RACE (2019)
https://bloodincantation.bandcamp.com/album/hidden-history-of-the-human-race
Blood Incantation's second LP catapulted them to fame within the underground and was a sales success. It has also become a modern classic and is one of the most influential albums within the genre today. Stylistically, the basis of the songs is built on high quality guitar riffs, they continue to use those double guitars that complement each other and provide a lot of textural richness. The guitarists provide an enormous density of ideas and a constant technical variation in the riffs with numerous changes in pulse and tempo, all framed with a clearer production. It is curious how present the use of flanger is as in the previous album, referring to the classic era of the genre.
In the second track, clean sections are developed with oriental scales in a truly inspired passage where the 4 instruments take turns taking center stage, providing aesthetic resources that advance the narrative of the album with the voices alternating clean with guttural in a brilliant composition. .
The synthesizers are present again in the introduction of the third song; They accompany the band as a texture in a fade in that ends in an atmospheric passage with clean guitars and voices, providing a variety that other bands within the style do not have.
But it is the fourth and last song, the most extensive, that is the highlight here. The musicians develop a great variety of ideas and styles of different riffs with a rhizomatic and complex structure, which surprises in its twists. Just the fact of conceiving a song of this length is a declaration of intentions and shows the influence that exists between the current paradigms within Extreme Metal, especially with the influence of Gorguts with their extensive song Pleiades' Dust (more than half an hour length, something absolutely exceptional within Death Metal) which in turn was influenced by Deathspell Omega and its song Chaining the Katechon.
Around minute 6, the first section of the song begins with the synthesizers taking center stage, which serves as a platform on which the second exposition in blocks of riffs of the composition is based. In the outro, the acoustic guitars appear again in an excellent passage of more than two minutes that concludes the album far from what was expected within the style and that has been imitated since then.
BLOOD INCANTATION - TIMEWAVE ZERO (2022)
https://bloodincantation.bandcamp.com/album/timewave-zero
The release of this EP was a true revolution, so much so that many sectors within the underground did not know how to assimilate this movement of the band. Making this album, although as we say the band classifies it as an EP, where the synthesizers are the main instrument and the guitars (clean) appear in a secondary and accessory way, was an act of bravery on the part of the band. A Death Metal band is not supposed to do this but we are within a new paradigm and Blood Incantation are not willing to tread already trodden paths but rather dare to enter unexplored regions within the style. Timewave Zero has been a very useful tool to reeducate the mentality of the community, expand the possibilities of what a band of this type can do, especially coming from one of the bands that is destined to lead Death Metal in the coming years. .
Timewave Zero does excellent management of dynamics, showing a constant dialogue between the different layers, taking turns taking center stage between them. The themes are presented adopting the form of a dronic rhizome, a music where the pulse is present but diffused between the importance of the textural layers. These layers fluctuate and acoustic guitars appear in both the first and second tracks in the most inspired sections of the album. We do not have space to delve into the obvious relationship of this album with Kraut Rock in its most abstract and dreamlike aspect (Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, etc.). Listening to the album, which at a compositional and interpretative level is at a very high level, what role has each musician played within this new aesthetic and style with such a drastic change in instrumentation.
ULTHAR
Ulthar are perhaps the second most important band in terms of popularity and impact on the scene. After two albums very well received by critics and the public, Ulthar has been evolving from a stricter OSDM to more speculative forms of composing: the themes became more complex and extensive, the use of synthesizers and psychedelic elements began to be more present and the definitive step has been the publication of two albums simultaneously (Anthronomicon and Helionomicon) in 2023 in what was a surprising and risky move for a Death Metal band but which was very well received. This must be seen as a brave move since Helionomicon is an album made up of only two songs of almost twenty minutes each. This can also be seen as an interesting response to the B-side of "Hidden History of the Human Race" or "Timewave Zero" by Blood Incantation with songs of similar length. We will see how this dynamic of interaction between bands continues, which predicts future releases to which we will have to pay close attention.
ULTHAR - COSMOVORE (2018)
https://ulthar666.bandcamp.com/album/cosmovore-2
The album opens with synthesizers, an instrument that Ulthar has used since the first demo. The band's sound is natural and effective, with a recognizable style that uses carefully arranged riffs, full of tremolo sweeps and slurs. Another characteristic element of Ulthar is that two voices are used, Steve Peacock and Shelby Lermo, each one with a very marked style when performing that adds variety in the vocal aspect, something very necessary in today's extreme metal.
On this first album, there is still a greater presence of blast beats and less tendency towards progressive and complex structures. The drums have an old school standard style, well executed although they do not stand out particularly within the album.
Synthesizers are present again in the last and longest track, relating this element to the introduction of the album and serving to close a circular structure. On Cosmovore, the variety of riffs in the compositions is less than on later releases. Precisely, the last song, more progressive and varied, is the one that shows what is to come in their following albums: more complex structures, more mid-tempos, more varied and slow riffs with a greater use of arpeggios and silences. Here they begin to stand out from other similar bands within the OSDM.
At the climax of the last song, in its final section, they use both voices simultaneously or in response, the most interesting vocally of the entire album before sinking into a synth outro of almost two minutes to close the album. . A very well composed outro where the different layers of synthesizers complement each other perfectly.
ULTHAR - PROVIDENCE (2020)
https://ulthar666.bandcamp.com/album/providence
Providence begins with a declaration of intent by the band that shows us the shortest song composed by them, which is fast and uniform. Precisely, this uniformity introduces the first novelties that become evident in the second track: the introduction of clean guitars, they begin to use palm-muted more, there is a greater variety of riffs that are more complex in terms of their internal structure and They are more technical (more tapping riffs appear that were an exception on their first album) which already indicate that evolution from OSDM to more progressive music. The novelties continue, such as, for example, the high voices of the third theme (more desperate, with modulations and more nuances), or the synthesizers at the beginning of the fourth and fifth themes, with several well-constructed layers.
Throughout Providence, Ulthar uses a lot of time changes but does not vary the pulse which is usually kept constant, which prevents the music from sounding more varied.
The drums continue to be old-school, they have nothing modern in their style. Well executed and composed but without much personality, like the Cosmovore.
ULTHAR - ANTHRONOMICON (2023)
https://ulthar666.bandcamp.com/album/anthronomicon-2
As we explained in the introduction, with the publication of two simultaneous albums, the third and fourth of the band's career, Ulthar began to be a band with more personal traits. The sound is now even more progressive with a strong Voivod and Death influence and a more heavy metal approach to the riffs, increasing the variety even further. The structure of the songs is still traditional (with the typical sections of the popular song: verses, choruses, bridges...) But, the strong presence of the synthesizers at the end of many songs, determine the internal rhythm of Anthronomicon and are a connection with Helionomicon, where they are even more present.
This relationship between both albums, seeing the two albums as a double album increases their value in the scene, the act of releasing two albums at the same time, novelty, change of mentality. They are the band's crowning work, since all the elements of their previous albums are now elaborated and presented at their highest level. A concrete example of this would be the final section of the fourth song, with riffs that constantly mutate and vary in the best succession of riffs on the album. This approach would be very interesting in future releases.
The album includes pulse changes. This provides more variety and is an evolution with respect to previous material.
ULTHAR HELIONOMICON (2023)
https://ulthar666.bandcamp.com/album/helionomicon
What will Ulthar do after Helionomicon? This question is key since it is on this album where they develop a more personal, imaginative and speculative sound. The riffs are even more varied, using tapping, slurs, trills and more with a greater number of time changes and different pulses. Here they reach their peak on a formal level since the internal architecture of these extensive songs is a true achievement, especially taking into account that the songs are very dense and populated with riffs, which follow their pause in a very effective attack. to the mind of the listener.
In the first song, clean guitars appear for the first time in the short introduction as well as in the central part of the song, along with synthesizers that serve as a bridge before the final stretch of material prior to the final recapitulation with material from the beginning. The song ends with an outro of almost 3 minutes of synthesizers.
The second theme is more dissonant, you can see the difference in style of each composer, between Lermo and Peacock.
Here the synths appear in the first half, around minute 6, but in a more abstract and less melodic passage.
The final outro with synthesizers (from 15:35) is a 4-minute section marking the way for new bands in terms of the use of these instruments, as Blood Incantation also does.
TOMB MOLD
So far, the groups analyzed (Blood Incantation and Ulthar) have evolved from the unoriginal but well-executed OSDM of their first albums to a more speculative style where elements of psychedelia and progressive music are added in their latest albums. Tomb Mold follow the same evolution and their latest album has attracted a lot of attention for the resources used in it in this sense and which have been accompanied by unanimous acclaim from both the public and critics with very good sales.
TOMB MOLD - PRIMORDIAL PRIMORDIAL MALIGNITY (2017)
https://bloodharvestrecords.bandcamp.com/album/primordial-malignity
A one-minute introduction of synthesizers (common in the scene, as we have already seen), opens Tomb Mold's first album. After it, a storm of fairly technical riffs breaks out with an acceptable variety of ideas, although still far from what they will try in later material.
The guitars are characterized by the use of double ideas that are not far from each other, with slight harmonization. There is sporadic use of certain lead guitars. The solos are still not very technical with effect, short and uncertain, something that will also change later, when your confidence in this section increases. Some changes in time and pulse can be seen but not yet very marked. The style is still uniform, typical of OSDM.
The voices are bland, they don't contribute much, an aspect to improve in the band although there are not many changes in future releases.
The drums follow an old school aesthetic like in other bands, although Max Klebanoff has great pleasure playing with very inspired ideas.
The bass is present in the mix but without much prominence on the album.
The outro of the album is composed of static synthesizers with little prominence, a mere closing, which refers to the introduction, closing the album in a circular way.
TOMB MOLD - MANOR OF INFINITE FORMS (2018)
https://20buckspin.bandcamp.com/album/manor-of-infinite-forms
The change is noticeable from the first riff, less Death influence and more heavy metal orientation with a mix that contributes to the band's progress and adds originality to their style. A big step forward also for the batteries, which are looser, contributing more to the speech.
There are some new additions to the voice that add variety with high-pitched screams.
At a formal level, the topics are also more interesting, the internal architecture of the topics begins to become more complicated and the topics become more extensive.
The solos also progress, becoming more technical and contributing more to the narrative of the album.
Pulse changes are more present and more significant. Long passages where they stay on the same riff are also very interesting, which allows them to develop more ideas and advance their style. The riffs in general have more personality on this album.
The bass has a good sound and production; It is present in the mix but again shows little prominence in the compositions.
From minute 2 of the sixth song we can hear a less aggressive, more open and slower section, like the entire introduction of the last song, with clean guitars, which advance experiments that will appear more clearly in future releases and that are the ones that have made Tomb Mold gain more notoriety within the scene.
TOMB MOLD - PLANETARY CLAIRVOYANCE (2019)
https://20buckspin.bandcamp.com/album/planetary-clairvoyance
This album continues the progression towards more melodic and heavier riffs, leaving behind the death aesthetic of the band's first material. On a formal level, the songs are more stable, there are fewer riffs in each song, and they last longer, allowing them to develop more nuances in each one.
Regarding the guitars, there is a clean section in the middle of the first song, which is a preview of what will come on the next album. Solo guitar arrangements are still present but they are more melodic and develop tonal harmonies (leaving dissonances behind) like those that close the first song. The arrangements in general are more tonal and melodic than previously, announcing the big change for the next album.
There is no evolution in the voices: simple and unremarkable.
The bass has a great sound on this album.
The third song stands out, which is mainly composed of synthesizers to which clean guitars are added.
The guitar solos are still present although without excessive prominence.
The drums continue with their old school style and the best passages are found in the last section of the sixth song where they take the narrative role over an excellent slow riff, a song that ends with a synthesizer section again highlighting its growing role in the material. from the band.
TOMB MOLD - THE ENDURING SPIRIT (2023)
https://20buckspin.bandcamp.com/album/the-enduring-spirit
The Enduring Spirit is the album that has opened the band to a much wider audience. The approach of this album is more technical than the previous ones. And this change leads them to travel common ground with extreme metal in terms of technique, but here the technique is directly oriented to progressive, but we could say that to the progressive rock of the seventies. The evolution of the previous metal continues in this album with the relationship to the riffs that are more heavy metal and less death metal, with a focus on tonality even clearer than before, reducing chromaticism.
This tendency towards the tonal is also seen in the harmonization, the guitar arrangements, and in the solos (which are more numerous and extensive), again with a heavier and less dissonant style.
There are some new features in the voice but it is still the aspect that has evolved the least in the group.
The bass finally has a greater role, it is freer than before, following its own lines more often and providing a more complex contrapuntal discourse and greater density.
The novelties begin with the first extensive song, the third, which opens with a passage of clean chords, free bass and openly progressive seventies-style atmosphere with arrangements oriented to that atmosphere very far from the previous aesthetic where there were certain advances of this but not so obvious. Shortly before minute 4, a passage of this type and aesthetic returns with changes in technique to sound like the 70s, very marked in the percussion. Guttural vocals are included accompanying clean guitars as they announced at the end of their previous EP. These types of passages allow them to build and manage changes in dynamics that they could not make before and variations in aesthetics since this sounds bright (in contrast to the band's usual darker parts) because of the chords and the major key. In this section, the role of the bass is really prominent.
In the second half of the fourth song we hear solos with this new aesthetic, they even superimpose a vocal passage on something that they had not done before, accentuated by the use of the wahwah in the solo, giving rise to something new. This type of arrangement is also repeated at the end of the fifth and sixth songs.
The last song, the most extensive so far from Tomb Mold, is very well constructed and structured where all the new features of this album flow, in a very varied composition. About minute 4 includes one of the most elaborate progressive passages, clean chords, solos with bends, palm muted, paused, dynamic phrasing... which includes the calmest moment of the album with a sound that would be difficult to associate with a Death band. Metal. This section is very extensive, lasting more than 5 minutes, which ends in a very well-crafted climax with a great diversity of ideas in the guitars and with that bass as the protagonist, ending the album with a succession of truly inspired Death riffs.
CRYPTIC SHIFT - VISITATIONS FROM ENCELADUS (2020)
https://cryptic-shift.bandcamp.com/album/visitations-from-enceladus
Opening a Death Metal album with a 25-minute track is quite a statement of intent. The release of Gorguts' "Pleiades Dust marked a profound change in how a Death Metal band can approach its possibilities. And it seems that Criptic Shift are joining in to that idea of such extensive themes, with a clear influence of progressive and experimental music.
The album opens with a short synthesizer intro. Soon the first guitar riffs appear that surprise for being abstract and open, complex in their internal structure.
The drummer's style is closer to progressive rock than to Death Metal. The bass has a lot of prominence throughout the album. Criptic Shift relies on a well-used technicality, with a very complex discourse. The exposition of the material is slow and the use of many silences and pauses at the beginning of the topic is very striking, which interrupt the narrative discourse constantly increasing the tension and disorienting the listener. The atmosphere achieved in this way is accentuated by the fact that the material is recorded live.
After this psychedelic introduction we find a synthesizer section at minute 3 after the abstract exposition of riffs. This passage is the point of origin of the introduction of new material with slow and indefinite riffs of great inspiration.
The voice is surprising when it enters cleanly, although it soon moves to a more aggressive register. The riffs are very imaginative with a great variety of pulses, dynamics and styles. The effects on the voice are reminiscent of Nocturnus. Variety and originality are present wherever we place our attention, with a drum set that really stands out in the resources it chooses to accompany the riffs.
The first solos appear from minute 7 and a question-answer passage follows with several solos that precede an abstract and improvised section at minute 8 of a noise nature that gives rise to the first drop in intensity of the album, with guitars in clean arpeggiates drawing a wheel of chords on which the bass performs an excellent solo. The number of pauses that the musicians and especially the drums choose to present their ideas remains very striking, highlighting this use of dynamics in a Death Metal album. A guitar solo is added to the bass solo while more layers of guitars are added to complete the harmony in a truly psychedelic and progressive passage that is very, very original.
Construction at a formal level only looks forward; No sections are repeated, giving a feeling of experimentation. Very different sections follow one another, with a lot of freshness of ideas and everything converges in another passage around minute 18 that dismantles everything previously built, with an abstract will and noise where the atmospheres are superimposed on a serious, slow and abstract riff. on which the final part of the song will be built, again using many pauses and with a very staccato character. The succession of ideas is constant, highlighting its fragmentary nature. And thus ends this masterpiece. Really impressive.
The rest of the songs, although original, have a more traditional, denser approach with numerous ideas that follow one another and changes in dynamics and style, continuing the succession of good, very inspired compositional ideas.
SLIMELORD
After many demos and EPs, Slime Lord's debut album is finally released. We are faced with an abstract, complex and ambitious album at a compositional level with unpredictable rhizomatic structures that perfectly exemplify the evolution of the style in recent years.
There is a wide variety of ideas, pulses and types of riffs, with aesthetics ranging from Old School Death Metal to the use of more experimental dissonances and asymmetries. To this we must add the work on the guitars with different ideas in each channel, which makes the plot more dense and complex in terms of harmonization, this being an aspect that is reminiscent of Blood Incantation. The guitar solos, of great quality and variety, are very present, providing content to the narrative, highlighting in this sense the work of the guitars in the second song. The voices also stand out as they adapt to the narrative of the album using a variety of techniques and effects. Bass and drums have very notable moments throughout the album, both separately and together, such as, for example, the spectacular end of the third song. Slimelord are here to become one of the most important bands in the genre. If we add to this that they share members with Cryptic Shift, we can say that the talent of these musicians must be taken into account.
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