Old School Death Metal

Old-school death metal is the founding form of the genre from the late 1980s and early 1990s, built on chunky, mid-tuned riffing, growled vocals, and a rawer, murkier production than the polished styles that followed. American bands like Death, Morbid Angel, and Autopsy and the buzzsaw-toned Swedish scene of Entombed and Dismember set the template. It favors groove, atmosphere, and songcraft over extreme speed or technical flash. Themes run to horror, death, and the macabre.