5 Important Bands, 1 Genre Pt. 3: Death Metal

I have not done one of these in a very long time. To refresh memories or, for new readers, to explain this, these are five bands that have helped me become interested in this genre. Not all of these bands are technically death metal, or still death metal, whatever the case may be. But these bands have influenced me enough into looking more deeply into death metal.

CANNIBAL CORPSE
The first death metal band I was ever aware of was Cannibal Corpse. As many of you know, Cannibal Corpse had a cameo in the first Ace Ventura movie. They played "Hammer Smashed Face" in that clip. I was in seventh grade when I saw that and I had no fucking clue what the hell they were (it was also my first date). I was in awe of the vocal style. It was the heaviest thing I had ever heard. At that point, I still had not really started listening to metal so I didn't think much more of them. Later, they appeared on a tribute album to Black Sabbath that I got and one of my friends loaned me his Ace Ventura soundtrack, which I still have because he died in a car accident before I had a chance to give it back to him.

Cannibal Corpse was probably the first real death metal band I ever listened to, but it would be quite awhile before I started picking up their albums. I liked them when I heard them on various artist compilations and the rare times I heard them on TV or radio, but never really bought any albums until after law school. I have no idea why that is to this day. Cannibal Corpse was the first death metal band I ever heard and was the impetus for me looking into the actual genre.

SEPULTURA
Although Cannibal Corpse was the first real death metal band I started looking into, Sepultura's Morbid Visions was the first album in my collection that could be reasonably considered a death metal album. Sepultura is much more of a thrash metal band, but in their early days, they were heavier than virtually everything else out there. All of the requirements for death metal were present on Morbid Visions, heavy riffs, deep and harsh vocals, and an evil atmosphere. This album helped pave the way for both death metal and black metal. This album was initially disappointing to me as I was originally into their later stuff with Max in ninth grade. Now, it's one of my favorite Sepultura albums.

FEAR FACTORY
Fear Factory is a band who used to be more of a death metal band. Prior to their industrial groove metal, Fear Factory played more of an industrial-sounding death metal. They also are one of first bands to experiment with both clean and harsh vocals on their albums. Fear Factory was an early extreme metal band that I got into at around the same time that I was getting into Sepultura. The harsh death growls on their albums helped serve as a gateway into listening to more and more bands who utilized similar vocal tricks. Demanufacture is still a favorite album.

CELTIC FROST
Celtic Frost was a major influence on pretty much all genres of extreme metal over the years. I first heard Celtic Frost on a various artists compilation and then owned a tribute album. On that tribute album were bands from many different metal genres including death metal bands Sadistic Intent, Grave, Slaughter, and more. Their bass-heavy slower thrash riffs had a major influence on death metal. Many death metal bands have covered tracks by Celtic Frost.

DARK TRANQUILLITY
The melodic death metal band that rises above almost all others was a major gateway into the death metal style without being overly harsh or gory. I started picking up albums from this band early in college. From that point on, my interest in death metal exploded. The band utilized harsh vocals, but accompanied that with melody.

That takes us into my college years. It still wasn't until after law school that I started picking up a lot of death metal albums. As a poor college and law school student, I did not have the money. However, after getting my first job as a lawyer, my CD collection boomed and I started getting albums from Death, Obituary, Morbid Angel, Entombed, Dismember, and more. The five bands I listed formed the core of my death metal listening habits. I filled in the gaps as soon as I could.