Finally a list about the great music known as death metal. No other music is as ferocious, raw, aggressive, ridiculous, sometimes beautiful, and always sure to put a smile on your face. Now for this list there are a few things you need to know before you just dive right in and get your eardrums ravaged. THIS LIST IS NOT ONLY GOING TO BE DEATH METAL IN THE STRICT SENSE! In fact those of you who are expecting the most brutal list of all time are probably going to be disappointed. I know what you’re thinking, “But this list says top DEATH metal bands!?” Yes it does but I want this list to be as cool as is humanly possible so I am expanding it a little. Plus I don’t want some whiny little punk to write “Ok number x was definitely doom thrash surf glam black metal, not death metal!” No one likes it when music gets classified into the craziest most specific genres ever. Here are the guidelines I am using to write this bad boy. The bands will be judged on:
1. Having at least two albums with death metal elements in it
2. The technicality and musicianship
3. Popularity
4. Importance in the history of death metal
5. Awesomeness
Arch Enemy has legendary guitarist Michael Amott from Carcass. It is one of the few metal bands with a female vocalist. What more could you want? They are getting more popular with each album, and every one is getting more melodic than the last. Although some hardcore metalheads may not like this it is perpetuating their growing popularity.
Some people may not know about this gem of a band. They combine the aggression of death metal with the complexities of classical music. If you have not heard any of their songs you are missing out. They are coming out with a new album this summer as well.
This band from Poland scared me the first time I heard them. They bring a black metal influence to this list (just look at the costumes they have). The drums are incredibly fast and crisp and the guitar work has hints of Middle-Eastern influence.
This Finnish band is known for their melodic riffs. While there are other very good Scandinavian melodic death metal bands (ex. Kalmah, Norther) Children of Bodom is the most popular, the reason it clinched the number seven spot.
Hopefully having Cannibal Corpse on this list will help to keep the real brutal death metal fans happy. Cannibal Corpse is extremely heavy and has built up a cult following. The horror film style subject matter of their music is very controversial, with song names like “Hammer Smashed Face” and just about any of their other songs (especially the ones off of Tomb of the Mutilated).
This band was a tough one to put on this list because they are not really death metal, but luckily awesomeness and musicianship are part of the criteria for this list. Mastodon has a unique and progressive style. The drums are absolutely amazing! Over the years Mastodon has enjoyed great reviews and was nominated for a Grammy but lost to the next band…
That’s right! What metal list would be complete without Slayer? Go to a metal show and everyone there loves Slayer. This band is historically important for metal (thrash metal really) and definitely has the popularity, but when it comes down to it the musicianship is not as good as many of the other bands on this list. However this adds to their “metalness.” The members of the band have admitted that there are mistakes in their recordings but they don’t care because they are that cool.
Many metalheads may be surprised to see the number three spot filled by this band, but it really makes perfect sense. They definitely have some death metal elements and the musicianship. While they may not be super popular or important in the history of metal yet, I believe they will be soon. Anyone who disagrees with my decision to put this band at number three should listen to Colors all the way through. It is a beautiful masterpiece with more musical styles than I ever thought could be crammed into one album.
They are everything a death metal band should be. They have caused a nice amount of controversy with their imagery and lyrics. Their lead singer burned an upside-down cross into his forehead. They have brutal riffs and blisteringly fast blast beats with spectacular guitar solos interspersed (listen to the solo in “Homage for Satan”). I don’t think anyone can argue their high position on this list.
Even if Death lacked all the other criteria (which they don’t) they still are the most important band in death metal history. Chuck Schuldiner is the father of death metal for a reason. Death is the band that started death metal plain and simple. Aside from starting the genre this list is based on, the music they make is simply beautiful. It is obvious that Chuck pours his heart into his music. Some of the things he plays will really stick with you.
Everyone’s favorite cartoon band also happens to be ridiculously metal! If Dethklok were a real band they would have the number one spot on awesomeness points alone.
Honorable Mentions: Cynic, Atheist, Pestilence, Dark Tranquility
Contributor: General Tits Von Chodehoffen
Dethklok is the best band on the list. Anyone who listens to Cannibal Corpse and says they like it is a liar. It’s all about the image, just like the pop music they try so hard to distance themselves from.
wow cant believe people listen to this garbage in the first place, they just shout whatever words that cross their minds
The only band on here that I don’t like is BTBAM.
Great list, though.
This list is horrible. I stopped as soon as I saw Arch Enemy.
Seriously?
What about Incantation, Gorguts, etc?
THOSE are some of the best dm bands.
Well General, can’t say you weren’t warned about including Slayer. Your answer to that appears to be covering your ass with all of the caveats in your into. Well whatever, it’s your list.
Now for my “what about” – if only to give props to my hometown San Francisco: What about Possessed???
108. General Tits Von Chodehoffen: I listened to the differences and understand now. My kid likes Black metal apparently. Can’t say that I enjoyed it as much but I did like a few songs. Still, in my opinion its all heavy metal.
Nile, not popular? Kollias’ notieriety amongst the drumming community alone is enough to catapult their popularity to the likes of Necrophagist.
@92, Mark. Cynic, not popular? That’s almost as lolworthy as this list. Cynic has been headlining festivals across the nation and is embarking on large scale tours, Cynic’s reunion was one of the most anticipated events in Metal of the new millenium. Like I said, Cynic has influenced essentially the ENTIRE Canadian Tech DM scene, which is home to Augury, Quo Vadis, Aghora, etc.
I used albums sales only to bolster my point about Morbid Angel, over 1 million is an astronomical number, and even more so for the DM scene. Morbid Angel’s influence simply cannot be estimated. They’re one of the most important bands to ever come out of Florida. Let’s not forget Sandoval’s contribution to Thrash and DM drumming, the alternating blast.
I still contend that At The Gates is much more influential than CoB. ATG made the Melodic DM formula and refined it. Plus, your assertion that the Gothenburg sound is not “THE Melodic Death Metal sound” is absurd. Any Metal historian will tell you that the Gothenburg sound is the very ROOT of Melodic DM, In Flames and At The Gates exemplified this sound very early on.
theres too many variations in metal, prog, speed, thrash, death ect., never will be a list to satisfy everyone
I’m not exactly sure what qualifies as death metal or not, but Sepultura is one of my favorite metal bands and one of the heaviest bands, along with Slayer, that I have ever heard, so I’m just throwing them out there. If they don’t qualify, oh well. They still kick a lot of ass.
What!? No Opeth!? what a travesty!
“Death metal” sucks.
What? No Mariah Carey? That’s ridiculous. Just thinking of her singing brings thoughts of death and destruction.
my death metal days are long gone… but even I had to question why Cannibal Corpse is on here and not Obituary or Sepultura…
I was 13 when I fell for a drummer in a local DM band. Nuff’ said…it was all teased hair, black mascara (which I still am addicted to today), span***** tights, boots with steel toes, and insane stage diving & head banging. seriously. me.
nothing against the genre, but it wasn’t me. found that out the first time I got elbowed simply standing in the ring surrounding a mosh pit.
I’ll have to sample Between The Buried And Me-never heard of them…
rtr
Thank you @ 127. 92′s comment made my head explode. CoB owe EVERYTHING to At the Gates.
To everyone else, if the list said 10 best metal bands (all genres) then obviously the results would be much different in these comments. The point is that it said DEATH metal which many of these bands are simply NOT death metal at all. That’s not “being an elitist *****” or snobbery or anything, that is simply pointing out that the list DOES NOT reflect it’s title.
97. Mark
what are you missing?
taste.
I realize i did the “poor man’s” remark twice but both times were justified. Behemoth completely rips off Nile’s style, yeah a little bit of black in there, but the singer even writes the paragraphs in the booklet about the songs and his trips to Egypt, it’s almost plagiarism. The difference between death metal and deathore are not unlike the differences between, well, Slayer and say, limp Bizkit. Both of those bands are metal right? If you like one you have to like the other by your logic.
After reading the comments, I have to say this as well.
If you don’t like death metal and don’t want to talk about genres stop commenting. You just look like an idiot who has an opinion about something you know nothing about.
Also, BTBAM is straight up deathcore (or maybe mallcore). If you have the balls to say it’s prog or anything else, you need to be educated a little bit and shop for music outside of hot topic.
Gorguts
HORRIBLE…… HOORRRRRRIBLE….. i only agreed with two bands on this list. wow….. death metal and black metal are very different. and wow.
You guys know why I called the list top DEATH METAL bands? Its cause death metal sounds cool. Obviously there are different kinds of metal but guess what? No one cares about all the different cores, grinds, doom, prog, black, hardcore… So what if BTBAM is not strictly Death Metal. They have songs that definitely include death metal elements. And before you suggest bands that should be on the list read the top. I dont care if people disagree with my picks but at least have something legit to back it up with. Keep in mind this list is supposed to be fun so dont get your panties up in a bunch.
What about Dismember? I think they deserve to be on this list.
I LOVE EVERY BAND ON THIS LIST.
Kris is awesome
@ T.J. – Wow, all this time I thought BTBAM was progressive! I must be uneducated. Yeah, it’s not like they played on the Progressive Nation tour with Dream Theater and Opeth, or anything like that. Yeah, no way they’re prog. Oh wait…
You obviously have no technical musical knowledge or even any knowledge about the genre of metal. Deathcore? That’s a stretch. BTBAM doesn’t rely on breakdowns (unless the song flows into it), so I guess the “core” element is out. They are prog metal. I know their whole discography by heart, so I wouldn’t challenge my knowledge of them if I were you…
@ General Tits
You could have easily just said top 10 metal acts.
Don’t get butthurt over something you failed to realize
there’s a reason why it’s underground. if you’ve read the influential metal bands list a while back, you shouldn’t be surprised. the title is just begging to be inaccurate.
Brad knows what he is talking about. And Pieter, I guess I could have called it that, but thats not what this list is so suck a left one.
i like all of those!! great list haha
lol @ the sense of injustice all these death metal fans are feeling.
@143, Brad. BTBAM has LOADS of breakdowns. They have some Progressive elements (time changes, loads of needless *****ery), but they are largely a Metalcore band.
art garfunkel
Genres are not mutually exclusive. Just because btbam are metalcore due to their breakdowns, doesn’t mean they can’t be classified as progressive.
127. Gary Busey Is God : Don’t treat me like an idiot, Cynic are not that popular, even if you would like to think so. So, wait a second, I don’t come from Seattle so I can’t play Grunge? Are you going to completey ignore bands based on their geographical location? That’s crap.
135. T.J. : Yeah ok I see now, Behemoth writes about Egypt and so does Nile, well obviously Nile must be better. Your comment actually made me laugh and I still argue the same point “Zeppelin is a poor man’s Purple” because, well, that’s what you’re saying. Ok, I get it, you like Nile better, that DOES NOT make them superior to Behemoth anywhere but in your mind. So unless you’ve got something decent to add instead of the single aforementioned point…
139. General Tits Von Chodehoffen : Stop saying that crap, if you write a DEATH Metal list people are going to expect – suprise, suprise – Death Metal bands. Re-name it bloody “Top 10 Extreme Metal Bands I Like” if you want, but don’t act like we’re the people missing the point here when we tell you that Slayer isn’t DM.
By the way, why don’t we replace Slayer with Possessed? That seems a lot more Death Metal to me…
was so suprised to see BTBAM on the list! and at number 3!!
having them in it pretty much made the list.
okay they’re not as heavy as some bands on the list but they do have death metal elements and i totaly agree anybody who hasn’t heard them or doesn’t like them listen to colours all the way through, you will not be disapointed.
great list!
interesting list, as metalhead i cannot agree with the list 100% but hey, i’m not going to ***** like everyone else (maybe they should’ve made the list themselves) but it was a good list nonetheless. Oh and Dethklok is a real band (as real as the Gorillaz) and they put on an awesome show. Throw the horns!
@ Gary Busey: Just because they have the occasional breakdown (I never said that they didn’t, I said that they don’t rely on them too heavily, and only include them when appropriate), doesn’t make them exclusively metalcore. They have elements of metalcore because their progressive writing flows into it from time to time.
Yes, they are prog. That’s not up for debate. They are the one of the most progressive band I’ve ever heard (progressive meaning complex and technical as well as moving through various genres).
@ General tits: Right on dude, your list is legit, don’t listen to what these mindless drones are saying.
Krisiun? … awesome list still.
i looked at some lyrics by cannibal corpse
and they are very disturbing
im surprised thier allowed to record that stuff
its not cool at all :/
@ youngchuck: Hahaha! Noob. You have no idea how common lyrics like that are within death metal, do you?
what about Hate Breed, Slipknot, Korn?
@152, Mark. I grew up in Florida, I grew up as these bands were first coming about, and let me say that Cynic is indeed incredibly popular. Judging from your misguided *****ogy, you probably assumed Cynic is Canadian, when in fact Cynic is a Floridian band. So, yes, I now have firm ground to assume that you have no idea about what Cynic is and what music they played and how they shaped DM in the years to come. The Metal community was on fire with discussion at the announcement of a Cynic reunion and new material being released. Like I said, they’re on a large scale tour and continue to headline festivals.
@155, Brad. Reliance on breakdowns is not a main characteristic of Metalcore. Breakdowns are there, but they do not define Metalcore. Case in point, Botch, Leeway, Converge, Slapshot, and other early Metalcore bands.
@ Gary Busey: Those early metalcore bands defined the genre, however, it has changed since then. Breakdowns have become a pivotal aspect of metalcore, deathcore, and hardcore (pretty much anything with “core”).
I cannot believe no one mentioned Simon and Garfunkle, or Elton John. I must be living in a box.
I know this doesn’t fit the criteria, but you got to give a little bit of slack.
CYNIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
143. Brad
Bands play on a Vans tour, but they aren’t shoes
follow me?
@ Tj
People use stupid metaphors to manufacture credibility, but they don’t have any. Follow me?
Are you kidding me?
First off, POSSESSED created Death Metal, NOT Death.
Secondly, Mastodon, Between The Buried And Me, Slayer, and Children of Bodom are NOT DEATH METAL
Thirdly, this list otherwise fails. Only good death metal bands on the list are Death, Deicide, and Cannibal Corpse.
152 Mark,
Nile is the more influential band, Behemoth is the more popular band. Behemoth, in it’s current incarnation, would not exist without Nile, and not the other way around.
In March 2003 metal hammer put Nile’s “in their darkened shrines” at 19 in the top 50 extreme metal albums of all time. Behemoth were still trying to get known with their earlier works, which did not become well known until demigod came out, 3 years after said above release mind you. Behemoth played a mix of black and death metal, which was good, since black metal was the leading popular style of extreme music at the time (these are the same couple of years that say major label releases from the main black metal acts and headlining tours by Dimmu Borgir and the like). So while Nile was trying to breath new life into a classic death metal approach, behemoth, while good, were sucking up the audience by being more approachable and catering to popular themes at the time, while also bringing in the eastern references the same way Nile has many years previous. For me influence is vastly more important than popularity. In a decade only one of these bands will be remembered, and in my opinion the influential band will stay and the popular one will fade away.
*****y flamers converge on this post, but i for one am gonna give kudos for slayer. No im not gonna say they invented it or anywhere near that, but when slayer was doin their ***** it sounded to people of the time about as heavy as some of this does now. Not to mention they set a lot of minds on the right track.
165 brad
nope, thanks for ripping off my joke instead of saying something worthwhile
Ok…without yelling at me….where does Slipknot fall? My kid got me hooked on them.
@161, Brad. To put it frankly, your logic is bull*****. Using your same logic, Sabbath, Candlemass, Priest, Maiden, Motorhead, and Megadeth are not Metal. There’s two different “types” of Metalcore. One that embraces the Metal side, and one that embraces the -core side. The bands that embrace the -core side use breakdowns. The bands that embrace the Metal side, generally do not.
Hardcore Punk is still largely free of breakdowns in the modern sense.
170 oouchan
numetal and then later in their career they added metalcore influences
For everyone who mentioned OPETH!! Yeah! the are having a US tour starting in May. Got my tickets for May 2 in Boston
We have a saying in Brazil: “Taste is like ass, everyone’s is different.” having said that, I wonder why Carcass and Entombed are not on the list. But I liked this list, made me have a listen to bands that probably I would never do otherwise.
I was extremely excited when I saw this list…until the words actually started hitting my brain. First of all if you were going to include bands that even you admitted were not death metal why would you title the list the way that you did? I could see something like “the top ten heavy bands of all time” or something like that but death metal this is not. I know the list is your opinion and I respect that but coming from someone that started to listen to death metal in its very early stages and continues to do so to this day I think this list is way off. I would have had something like this:
1. Death-may not have started the genre but were the most influential
2. Cannibal Corpse-Still one of the biggest death metal bands out there…hell they were in Ace Ventura…lol.
3. Slayer-though technically not death metal, they influenced the genre enough to be able to be included (this would almost make me put Venom on here)
4. Possessed-This is the band that started it all
5. Entombed-Their first two albums influenced an entire countries (Sweden) way of playing death metal.
6. Deicide-Have been going strong for years and show no chance of stopping.
7. Obituary-At the beginning of the surge in death metal they were at teh forefront.
8. Morbid Angel-Heavily influencial to the darker side of death metal…plus they used one of their songs on Beavis and Butthead.
9. Sepultura- This band brought the whole South American scene into the mix.
!0. Carcass- With their medical lyrics they paved a new path in death metal.
Honorable mentions: Pestilence, Gorguts, Malevolant Creation, Bolt-thrower, Meshuggah.
WHERE’S MORBID ANGEL OR POSSESSED?
#175 wolvesofodin
You took the words out of my mouth and I totally agree on everything you wrote! You should have written this list instead!
yes, i do not think this list was truly a death metal top 10 list at all! glad slayer and Between the Buried and Me were on there. i think BTBAM is more prog-deathcore. which is kinda what is so great about where music, especially metal in all its forms, is going nowadays. into the unclassifiable. that’s why i love opeth and BTBAM. if you wanted the #1 death metal band out today it is still Cannibal Corpse. i feel that they define death metal. If you are gonna include Deathcore bands, you definately need KillWhitneyDead in there. i do hope whoever reads this checks them out! KWD is extremely intense, but not death metal. deathcore! not quite the same. glad Dethklok was there at least. and not even a real band! it seems all the bands that were pointed out had why they were not death metal band pointed out in a way, so which ones are? Bloodjihn is another good new one to check out. btw, NC Metal is the best out here now! we have KillWhitneyDead, Knives exchanging hands, Dreamscapes of the Perverse, and bloodjihn right now with many more local, original bands with death metal influence (such as Nyos). What about GWAR? a bunch of guys that dress up as monsters and play songs about murder and war and rape? what is more death metal then that? and they’ve been around for like 20 years, and always stayed underground (except for being on the jerry springer show in the now infamous shock-rock episode.) this list is almost worse than the top 10 politically powerful families. should be taken down and posted again in my humble opinion? it really needs to be a top 20 or 25 to include all the greats. and Opeth should be #1 in my mind
172. Tj…thanks!
160. Gary Busey Is God : Yes, when you were growing up they probably were very popular. But not among the young ‘uns today – like me, I personally love them though
– so lasting influence is the issue for me.
167. Tj : People have to know of them first for their influence to be remembered. Mountain were more influential than Purple, but how many people have heard of Mountain?
170. oouchan and 172. Tj : Yeah probably Nu Metal as you said, but it’s a poor excuse for the genre. I think that if you wanted to try and define them as any real genre it would have to be Metalcore – but Rap was a large part of their first album – simply because Nu Metal doesn’t even hint at the type of music they actually play, so I don’t really think it even constitutes a genre per se.
171. Garey Busey Is God : Umm, it’s called MetalCORE for a reason, it needs Hardcore Punk elements – whatever they may be. Sure some people “embrace” one side more, but you do need both to tag -core onto the end. In saying that you do have a good point that a breakdown isn’t necessary, but it is usual in Metalcore.
175. wolvesofodin : Great list, except for bloody Slayer. Would you seriously put Sabbath on a Doom Metal list? Get over Slayer’s influence and put DEATH Metal bands on there.