--- title: "Technical Death Metal" type: "MusicGenre" url: "https://themetalnet.com/genre/technical-death" parent: "Death Metal" bands: 178 era: "early 1990s" --- # Technical Death Metal **Technical Death Metal** is a metal sub-genre, formative in the early 1990s. TheMetalNet maps 178 bands and 363 albums under it. Technical death metal foregrounds virtuosity, packing death metal with intricate song structures, shifting time signatures, sweep-picked runs, and dissonant, jazz- and classical-influenced harmony. Early pioneers Death, Atheist, and Cynic pushed the complexity in the early 1990s, and Gorguts, Necrophagist, and later Obscura carried it into ever more elaborate territory. Blast beats and growls remain, but the focus is on demanding, precise musicianship and unconventional composition. It is death metal as a showcase of skill. ## Facts | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Genre | Technical Death Metal | | Level | Sub-genre | | Parent genre | Death Metal | | Formative era | early 1990s | | Bands | 178 | | Albums | 363 | | Formation span | 1979 to 2021 | ## Notable bands (top 60 by prominence) - [Psycroptic](https://themetalnet.com/band/psycroptic) (Australia, 1999) - [Hour of Penance](https://themetalnet.com/band/hour-of-penance) (1999) - [Extol](https://themetalnet.com/band/extol) (Norway, 1993) - [Beneath the Massacre](https://themetalnet.com/band/beneath-the-massacre) (Canada, 2004) - [The Faceless](https://themetalnet.com/band/the-faceless) (United States, 2004) - [Amoral](https://themetalnet.com/band/amoral) (Finland, 1997) - [Anata](https://themetalnet.com/band/anata) (Sweden, 1993) - [Demilich](https://themetalnet.com/band/demilich) (Finland, 1990) - [The Red Shore](https://themetalnet.com/band/the-red-shore) (Australia, 2004) - [Spawn of Possession](https://themetalnet.com/band/spawn-of-possession) (Sweden, 1997) - [Burning the Masses](https://themetalnet.com/band/burning-the-masses) (United States, 2005) - [Trigger the Bloodshed](https://themetalnet.com/band/trigger-the-bloodshed) (United Kingdom, 2006) - [Wretched](https://themetalnet.com/band/wretched) (2005) - [Achokarlos](https://themetalnet.com/band/achokarlos) (Spain, 1984) - [Arkaik](https://themetalnet.com/band/arkaik) (2004) - [Illogicist](https://themetalnet.com/band/illogicist) (Italy, 1997) - [Anomalous](https://themetalnet.com/band/anomalous) (United States, 2001) - [Sickening Horror](https://themetalnet.com/band/sickening-horror) (2002) - [Archspire](https://themetalnet.com/band/archspire) (Canada, 2009) - [Cyclamen](https://themetalnet.com/band/cyclamen) (Japan) - [Goratory](https://themetalnet.com/band/goratory) (United States, 2000) - [Incinerate](https://themetalnet.com/band/incinerate) (United States, 1998) - [De Lirium’s Order](https://themetalnet.com/band/de-lirium-s-order) (Finland, 1998) - [Devolved](https://themetalnet.com/band/devolved) (United States, 1998) - [Deadborn](https://themetalnet.com/band/deadborn) (2002) - [Havok](https://themetalnet.com/band/havok) (Sweden, 2005) - [Five Star Prison Cell](https://themetalnet.com/band/five-star-prison-cell) (2004) - [Derelict](https://themetalnet.com/band/derelict-c4f79779) (Canada, 2005) - [Hannes Grossmann](https://themetalnet.com/band/hannes-grossmann) (Germany, 1982) - [Sarpanitum](https://themetalnet.com/band/sarpanitum) (2003) - [DeadSquad](https://themetalnet.com/band/deadsquad) (2006) - [Septycal Gorge](https://themetalnet.com/band/septycal-gorge) (Italy, 2004) - [7 H. Target](https://themetalnet.com/band/7-h-target) (Russia, 2010) - [Cranial Incisored](https://themetalnet.com/band/cranial-incisored) (Indonesia, 1998) - [Descend Into Nothingness](https://themetalnet.com/band/descend-into-nothingness) (Canada, 1998) - [Grotesque](https://themetalnet.com/band/grotesque) (Australia, 2004) - [Pestifer](https://themetalnet.com/band/pestifer) (Belgium, 2004) - [Pillory](https://themetalnet.com/band/pillory) (United States, 2003) - [Separatist](https://themetalnet.com/band/separatist) (Australia, 2003) - [Oath to Vanquish](https://themetalnet.com/band/oath-to-vanquish) (Lebanon, 2001) - [The Zenith Passage](https://themetalnet.com/band/the-zenith-passage) (United States, 2012) - [Angel of Disease](https://themetalnet.com/band/angel-of-disease) (Georgia, 2001) - [Divinity](https://themetalnet.com/band/divinity-134c2392) (Canada) - [Polluted Inheritance](https://themetalnet.com/band/polluted-inheritance) (Netherlands, 1989) - [Daggerspawn](https://themetalnet.com/band/daggerspawn) (Serbia, 2005) - [Sin of God](https://themetalnet.com/band/sin-of-god) (2004) - [Pathogenic](https://themetalnet.com/band/pathogenic) (2004) - [Beheaded Zombie](https://themetalnet.com/band/beheaded-zombie) (Russia, 2002) - [Terrordrome](https://themetalnet.com/band/terrordrome) (Greece, 2000) - [Anvil of Doom](https://themetalnet.com/band/anvil-of-doom) (Spain, 1999) - [Cognitive](https://themetalnet.com/band/cognitive) (2011) - [Spasme](https://themetalnet.com/band/spasme) (Canada, 1994) - [Thirteen Bled Promises](https://themetalnet.com/band/thirteen-bled-promises) (Spain, 2009) - [Viscera](https://themetalnet.com/band/viscera) (United Kingdom, 2019) - [Contrarian](https://themetalnet.com/band/contrarian) (United States, 2014) - [Ingenium](https://themetalnet.com/band/ingenium) (Poland, 2000) - [Sophicide](https://themetalnet.com/band/sophicide) (Germany, 2009) - [Sympuls-E](https://themetalnet.com/band/sympuls-e) (2011) - [Ageless Oblivion](https://themetalnet.com/band/ageless-oblivion) (2009) - [A Loathing Requiem](https://themetalnet.com/band/a-loathing-requiem) (United States, 2007) ## Where it is played - [United States](https://themetalnet.com/country/us): 20 bands - [Canada](https://themetalnet.com/country/ca): 11 bands - [Australia](https://themetalnet.com/country/au): 8 bands - [Italy](https://themetalnet.com/country/it): 5 bands - [Finland](https://themetalnet.com/country/fi): 4 bands - [Germany](https://themetalnet.com/country/de): 4 bands - [Russia](https://themetalnet.com/country/ru): 4 bands - [Spain](https://themetalnet.com/country/es): 4 bands ## Bands formed by decade | Decade | Bands formed | | --- | --- | | 1970s | 1 | | 1980s | 4 | | 1990s | 19 | | 2000s | 56 | | 2010s | 47 | | 2020s | 4 | --- Source: [TheMetalNet https://themetalnet.com/genre/technical-death](https://themetalnet.com/genre/technical-death). Catalog data from MusicBrainz and Metal Archives. Full site index: https://themetalnet.com/llms.txt