I'm a metal elitist dude who is also deep into kpop and jpop, and I have listened to death metal and black metal for 15 years. I am a metalhead first and foremost.
For non-metalheads who don't know the differences between death metal and black metal,
Death metal:
• has drop C to G# guitar tuning (the brutal death metal band Devourment dropped down to E on their latest album)
• has low pitched growling (but Chuck Schuldiner from the band Death used high pitched screams)
• the subgenre melodic death metal uses high pitched screams
• has good production
• is "heavy and brutal"
• is primarily focused lyrically on death, blood and gore, murder and killing (there is a subgenre called Brutal Death Metal (BDM)), perversions and depravity, horror, antichristianity, the occult and and Satanism (only some bands are Satanic)
• uses 7 string to 12 string guitars (usually 7, Viraemia used a 12 string once)
• uses frequent palm muting and "chugging" as a playing style
• the technicality of death metal ranges from simple to extremely technical, virtuoso technicality
• focuses less overall as a subgenre on creating moods and emotions, is less atmospheric than black metal although there is atmospheric death metal with early Septicflesh and experimental death metal like Portal
Black metal:
• has standard guitar tuning or tuned up to F#
• has primarily high pitched screams (although Hate Forest uses death metal growls)
• has purposely very thin, shrill, staticky, very bad production lacking low end (little to no "bass")
• is "sharp, atmospheric, thin, icy, cold, and raw"
• black metal's main lyrical theme is Satanism (this is THE "satanic" genre of metal) but not all of it, artists talk about other occult paths (like the path of Set and other gods/deities/spirits/demons), paganism (and viking battles, there is a subgenre called viking black metal)), nihilism, antichristianity, misanthropy and hatred, depression/loneliness and pain and suicide (there is a subgenre called Depressive Suicidal Black Metal (DSBM)), only some songs about murder, war and genocide, nature (storms, atmospheres, winter), (and there is even a racist subgenre called National Socialist Black Metal (NSBM))
• uses standard 6 string guitars
• uses tremolo picking as a primary playing style, and uses accents and open notes frequently
• THIS is the subgenre, and only subgenre of metal to use corpsepaint (makeup)
• is less technical musically than death metal, is simpler in riffs to create an atmosphere and mood and/or emotion
• has an overall greater range of moods than death metal
Black metal and death metal can mix together to form the subgenres black/death metal, war metal and blackened death metal. I will discuss these three subgenres in a separate post.
Please go to
metal-archives.com
and in the search bar in the upper right corner, search for bands, bands by country, bands by genre and lyrical themes.
If you type in "satanism" with the option "lyrical themes", a list of bands will come up with those lyrical themes.
For example, the death metal band Deicide and the black metal band Beastcraft focus on Satanism.
If a band doesn't show up, then that band is either not considered metal enough or has not been added to the metal-archives encyclopedia.
If any metalhead finds anything I missed, please let me know!
Maybe I was under the spell that "it's all music and entertainment", but I realized all of the dark occultism in black metal and death metal, is all actually real, as are demons, and no, this music isn't just entertainment.
For non-metalheads who don't know the differences between death metal and black metal,
Death metal:
• has drop C to G# guitar tuning (the brutal death metal band Devourment dropped down to E on their latest album)
• has low pitched growling (but Chuck Schuldiner from the band Death used high pitched screams)
• the subgenre melodic death metal uses high pitched screams
• has good production
• is "heavy and brutal"
• is primarily focused lyrically on death, blood and gore, murder and killing (there is a subgenre called Brutal Death Metal (BDM)), perversions and depravity, horror, antichristianity, the occult and and Satanism (only some bands are Satanic)
• uses 7 string to 12 string guitars (usually 7, Viraemia used a 12 string once)
• uses frequent palm muting and "chugging" as a playing style
• the technicality of death metal ranges from simple to extremely technical, virtuoso technicality
• focuses less overall as a subgenre on creating moods and emotions, is less atmospheric than black metal although there is atmospheric death metal with early Septicflesh and experimental death metal like Portal
Black metal:
• has standard guitar tuning or tuned up to F#
• has primarily high pitched screams (although Hate Forest uses death metal growls)
• has purposely very thin, shrill, staticky, very bad production lacking low end (little to no "bass")
• is "sharp, atmospheric, thin, icy, cold, and raw"
• black metal's main lyrical theme is Satanism (this is THE "satanic" genre of metal) but not all of it, artists talk about other occult paths (like the path of Set and other gods/deities/spirits/demons), paganism (and viking battles, there is a subgenre called viking black metal)), nihilism, antichristianity, misanthropy and hatred, depression/loneliness and pain and suicide (there is a subgenre called Depressive Suicidal Black Metal (DSBM)), only some songs about murder, war and genocide, nature (storms, atmospheres, winter), (and there is even a racist subgenre called National Socialist Black Metal (NSBM))
• uses standard 6 string guitars
• uses tremolo picking as a primary playing style, and uses accents and open notes frequently
• THIS is the subgenre, and only subgenre of metal to use corpsepaint (makeup)
• is less technical musically than death metal, is simpler in riffs to create an atmosphere and mood and/or emotion
• has an overall greater range of moods than death metal
Black metal and death metal can mix together to form the subgenres black/death metal, war metal and blackened death metal. I will discuss these three subgenres in a separate post.
Please go to
metal-archives.com
and in the search bar in the upper right corner, search for bands, bands by country, bands by genre and lyrical themes.
If you type in "satanism" with the option "lyrical themes", a list of bands will come up with those lyrical themes.
For example, the death metal band Deicide and the black metal band Beastcraft focus on Satanism.
If a band doesn't show up, then that band is either not considered metal enough or has not been added to the metal-archives encyclopedia.
If any metalhead finds anything I missed, please let me know!
Maybe I was under the spell that "it's all music and entertainment", but I realized all of the dark occultism in black metal and death metal, is all actually real, as are demons, and no, this music isn't just entertainment.
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