--- title: "Death Metal" type: "MusicGenre" url: "https://themetalnet.com/genre/death" bands: 7587 era: "late 1980s" --- # Death Metal **Death Metal** is a metal genre, formative in the late 1980s. TheMetalNet maps 7,587 bands and 14,409 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 | Macro genre | | Formative era | late 1980s | | Bands | 7,587 | | Albums | 14,409 | | Formation span | 1963 to 2026 | ## Sub-genres - [Death Metal](https://themetalnet.com/genre/death-metal) (6,230 bands) - [Old School Death Metal](https://themetalnet.com/genre/old-school-death) (4 bands) - [Melodic Death Metal](https://themetalnet.com/genre/melodic-death) (713 bands) - [Technical Death Metal](https://themetalnet.com/genre/technical-death) (178 bands) - [Brutal Death Metal](https://themetalnet.com/genre/brutal-death) (635 bands) - [Blackened Death Metal](https://themetalnet.com/genre/blackened-death) (84 bands) - [Death 'n' Roll Metal](https://themetalnet.com/genre/death-n-roll) (14 bands) ## Notable bands (top 60 by prominence) - [Nickelback](https://themetalnet.com/band/nickelback) (Canada, 1995) - [In Flames](https://themetalnet.com/band/in-flames) (Sweden, 1990) - [Arch Enemy](https://themetalnet.com/band/arch-enemy) (Sweden, 1996) - [Amon Amarth](https://themetalnet.com/band/amon-amarth) (Sweden, 1992) - [Behemoth](https://themetalnet.com/band/behemoth) (Poland, 1991) - [Cannibal Corpse](https://themetalnet.com/band/cannibal-corpse) (United States, 1988) - [Dark Tranquillity](https://themetalnet.com/band/dark-tranquillity) (Sweden, 1989) - [Soilwork](https://themetalnet.com/band/soilwork) (Sweden, 1995) - [Children of Bodom](https://themetalnet.com/band/children-of-bodom) (Finland, 1997) - [Carcass](https://themetalnet.com/band/carcass) (United Kingdom, 1985) - [Heaven Shall Burn](https://themetalnet.com/band/heaven-shall-burn) (Germany, 1996) - [Hypocrisy](https://themetalnet.com/band/hypocrisy) (Sweden, 1990) - [Nile](https://themetalnet.com/band/nile) (United States, 1993) - [Shadows Fall](https://themetalnet.com/band/shadows-fall) (United States, 1995) - [Vader](https://themetalnet.com/band/vader) (Poland, 1983) - [At the Gates](https://themetalnet.com/band/at-the-gates) (Sweden, 1990) - [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) - [Omnium Gatherum](https://themetalnet.com/band/omnium-gatherum) (Finland, 1996) - [Unleashed](https://themetalnet.com/band/unleashed) (Sweden, 1989) - [Before the Dawn](https://themetalnet.com/band/before-the-dawn) (Finland, 1999) - [Blood Stain Child](https://themetalnet.com/band/blood-stain-child) (Japan, 2000) - [Grave](https://themetalnet.com/band/grave) (1988) - [Kalmah](https://themetalnet.com/band/kalmah) (Finland, 1998) - [SuidAkrA](https://themetalnet.com/band/suidakra) (Germany, 1994) - [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) ## Where it is played - [United States](https://themetalnet.com/country/us): 1,268 bands - [Sweden](https://themetalnet.com/country/se): 372 bands - [Germany](https://themetalnet.com/country/de): 354 bands - [Finland](https://themetalnet.com/country/fi): 313 bands - [United Kingdom](https://themetalnet.com/country/gb): 199 bands - [Australia](https://themetalnet.com/country/au): 169 bands - [Russia](https://themetalnet.com/country/ru): 165 bands - [Canada](https://themetalnet.com/country/ca): 164 bands ## Bands formed by decade | Decade | Bands formed | | --- | --- | | 1960s | 5 | | 1970s | 17 | | 1980s | 519 | | 1990s | 1723 | | 2000s | 1624 | | 2010s | 1859 | | 2020s | 683 | --- Source: [TheMetalNet https://themetalnet.com/genre/death](https://themetalnet.com/genre/death). Catalog data from MusicBrainz and Metal Archives. Full site index: https://themetalnet.com/llms.txt