--- title: "Death Metal" type: "MusicGenre" url: "https://themetalnet.com/genre/death-metal" parent: "Death Metal" bands: 6230 era: "late 1980s" --- # Death Metal **Death Metal** is a metal sub-genre, formative in the late 1980s. TheMetalNet maps 6,230 bands and 11,681 albums under it. Death metal is extreme metal built on heavily distorted, downtuned guitars, fast tremolo and palm-muted riffs, blast beats with double-kick drumming, and guttural growled vocals. California’s Possessed coined the name on 1985’s Seven Churches, and Florida’s Death made the first pure death-metal album, Scream Bloody Gore, in 1987, turning Tampa’s Morrisound studio into the genre’s hub. Morbid Angel, Obituary, and Cannibal Corpse cemented its brutal, complex sound. Themes run to death, horror, gore, and the grotesque. ## Facts | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Genre | Death Metal | | Level | Sub-genre | | Parent genre | Death Metal | | Formative era | late 1980s | | Bands | 6,230 | | Albums | 11,681 | | Formation span | 1963 to 2026 | ## Notable bands (top 60 by prominence) - [Nickelback](https://themetalnet.com/band/nickelback) (Canada, 1995) - [Arch Enemy](https://themetalnet.com/band/arch-enemy) (Sweden, 1996) - [Behemoth](https://themetalnet.com/band/behemoth) (Poland, 1991) - [Cannibal Corpse](https://themetalnet.com/band/cannibal-corpse) (United States, 1988) - [Carcass](https://themetalnet.com/band/carcass) (United Kingdom, 1985) - [Hypocrisy](https://themetalnet.com/band/hypocrisy) (Sweden, 1990) - [Nile](https://themetalnet.com/band/nile) (United States, 1993) - [Vader](https://themetalnet.com/band/vader) (Poland, 1983) - [Deicide](https://themetalnet.com/band/deicide) (United States, 1987) - [Entombed](https://themetalnet.com/band/entombed) (Sweden, 1989) - [Morbid Angel](https://themetalnet.com/band/morbid-angel) (United States, 1983) - [Kataklysm](https://themetalnet.com/band/kataklysm) (Canada, 1991) - [Obituary](https://themetalnet.com/band/obituary) (United States, 1988) - [Six Feet Under](https://themetalnet.com/band/six-feet-under) (United States, 1993) - [The Black Dahlia Murder](https://themetalnet.com/band/the-black-dahlia-murder) (United States, 2001) - [Die Apokalyptischen Reiter](https://themetalnet.com/band/die-apokalyptischen-reiter) (Germany, 1995) - [Insomnium](https://themetalnet.com/band/insomnium) (Finland, 1997) - [Suffocation](https://themetalnet.com/band/suffocation) (United States, 1988) - [Aborted](https://themetalnet.com/band/aborted) (Belgium, 1995) - [Belphegor](https://themetalnet.com/band/belphegor) (Austria, 1993) - [Cryptopsy](https://themetalnet.com/band/cryptopsy) (Canada, 1992) - [Dying Fetus](https://themetalnet.com/band/dying-fetus) (United States, 1991) - [Septicflesh](https://themetalnet.com/band/septicflesh) (Greece, 1990) - [Atrocity](https://themetalnet.com/band/atrocity-1e1ebd69) (Germany, 1985) - [Autopsy](https://themetalnet.com/band/autopsy) (United States, 1987) - [Bolt Thrower](https://themetalnet.com/band/bolt-thrower) (United Kingdom, 1986) - [Dismember](https://themetalnet.com/band/dismember) (Sweden, 1988) - [Immolation](https://themetalnet.com/band/immolation) (United States, 1986) - [Krisiun](https://themetalnet.com/band/krisiun) (Brazil, 1990) - [Malevolent Creation](https://themetalnet.com/band/malevolent-creation) (United States, 1987) - [Unleashed](https://themetalnet.com/band/unleashed) (Sweden, 1989) - [Blood Stain Child](https://themetalnet.com/band/blood-stain-child) (Japan, 2000) - [Grave](https://themetalnet.com/band/grave) (1988) - [Asphyx](https://themetalnet.com/band/asphyx) (Netherlands, 1987) - [Benediction](https://themetalnet.com/band/benediction) (United Kingdom, 1988) - [Bloodbath](https://themetalnet.com/band/bloodbath) (Sweden, 1998) - [Deadlock](https://themetalnet.com/band/deadlock) (Germany, 1997) - [Decapitated](https://themetalnet.com/band/decapitated) (Poland, 1996) - [Exhumed](https://themetalnet.com/band/exhumed-157fa1d2) (United States, 1990) - [Extreme Noise Terror](https://themetalnet.com/band/extreme-noise-terror) (United Kingdom, 1985) - [God Dethroned](https://themetalnet.com/band/god-dethroned) (Netherlands, 1990) - [The Crown](https://themetalnet.com/band/the-crown) (Sweden, 1990) - [HateSphere](https://themetalnet.com/band/hatesphere) (Denmark, 2000) - [Illdisposed](https://themetalnet.com/band/illdisposed) (Denmark, 1991) - [Incantation](https://themetalnet.com/band/incantation) (1989) - [Misery Index](https://themetalnet.com/band/misery-index) (United States, 2001) - [Necrophobic](https://themetalnet.com/band/necrophobic) (Sweden, 1989) - [Nightrage](https://themetalnet.com/band/nightrage) (Sweden, 2000) - [Sinister](https://themetalnet.com/band/sinister) (Netherlands, 1989) - [Vomitory](https://themetalnet.com/band/vomitory-2c037568) (1989) - [Blood Red Throne](https://themetalnet.com/band/blood-red-throne) (Norway, 1999) - [ChthoniC](https://themetalnet.com/band/chthonic) (Taiwan, 1995) - [Disbelief](https://themetalnet.com/band/disbelief) (1990) - [Hate](https://themetalnet.com/band/hate) (Poland, 1990) - [Macabre](https://themetalnet.com/band/macabre) (United States, 1985) - [Mercenary](https://themetalnet.com/band/mercenary) (Denmark, 1991) - [Origin](https://themetalnet.com/band/origin) (United States, 1997) - [Pestilence](https://themetalnet.com/band/pestilence) (Netherlands, 1986) - [Benighted](https://themetalnet.com/band/benighted) (France, 1998) - [Dave Lombardo](https://themetalnet.com/band/dave-lombardo) (United States, 1965) ## Where it is played - [United States](https://themetalnet.com/country/us): 1,148 bands - [Sweden](https://themetalnet.com/country/se): 308 bands - [Germany](https://themetalnet.com/country/de): 269 bands - [Finland](https://themetalnet.com/country/fi): 219 bands - [United Kingdom](https://themetalnet.com/country/gb): 180 bands - [Australia](https://themetalnet.com/country/au): 140 bands - [Canada](https://themetalnet.com/country/ca): 137 bands - [Netherlands](https://themetalnet.com/country/nl): 134 bands ## Bands formed by decade | Decade | Bands formed | | --- | --- | | 1960s | 5 | | 1970s | 12 | | 1980s | 511 | | 1990s | 1521 | | 2000s | 1186 | | 2010s | 1494 | | 2020s | 558 | --- Source: [TheMetalNet https://themetalnet.com/genre/death-metal](https://themetalnet.com/genre/death-metal). Catalog data from MusicBrainz and Metal Archives. Full site index: https://themetalnet.com/llms.txt