Swedish death metal

Swedish death metal
Stylistic origins	Death metal, thrash metal, D-beat, punk rock
Cultural origins	Early 1990s, Stockholm and Gothenburg, Sweden
Typical instruments	Electric guitar – Bass guitar – Drums – – Vocals
Mainstream popularity	Underground in early–mid 1990s Increased popularity throughout 2000s
Fusion genres
Gothenburg metal
Other topics
Death growl – Clean vocals

Swedish death metal is a death metal music scene developed in Sweden. Many Swedish death metal bands are associated with the melodic death metal movement, thus giving Swedish death metal a different sound from other variations of death metal. Unlike American death metal groups, the first Swedish bands were rooted in punk rock. While Norway is more notorious for its quantity of black metal, Gothenburg in Sweden has a large melodic death metal scene, while Stockholm is notorious for its rawer death metal scene.

Precursors

Unlike American groups, the Swedish death metal scene's earliest originators were influenced by punk rock, especially the D-beat hardcore punk scene.^[1][2] Bathory, who would subsequently become a primary influence for the black metal scene, were a pivotal group in Swedish extreme metal.^[3][4]

History

In the early 1990s two death metal scenes emerged in Gothenburg and Stockholm. The first wave of "Swedish death metal" consisted of the bands Carnage and Nihilist, who fragmented later into Entombed, Dismember and Unleashed. Many of these bands used the trademark Tomas Skogsberg/Sunlight Studios "buzzsaw" guitar tone.^[4] It was created by using heavily detuned electric guitars (usually C# standard or lower), a maxed out Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal pedal, sometimes in combination with a single guitar through a Boss DS-1 Distortion pedal. The originator of this guitar sound was Nihilist guitarrist Leffe Cuzner though it was evolved and altered over the years.^[5] Newer bands playing in the 'old school' Swedish style are Bloodbath, Repugnant, and Paganizer; among others.^{[citation needed]}

Gothenburg scene

Main article: Gothenburg metal

Later, Swedish and Finnish bands used grindcore-based riffs and began adding progressive rock influences, and the scene moved from Stockholm to Gothenburg.^[4] The Gothenburg sound, propelled by both the Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal with cleaner recordings and melded with New Wave of British Heavy Metal guitar lines, was pioneered by bands such as At the Gates, Dark Tranquillity and In Flames for their respective albums Slaughter of the Soul, The Gallery and The Jester Race.^[4][6]

Other groups to have emerged from the Swedish death metal scene include Scar Symmetry, Hypocrisy, Tiamat, Arch Enemy, Soilwork, Meshuggah, Amon Amarth, Edge of Sanity, Opeth, and The Haunted.^[7]

Influence

The death metal scene in Sweden has influenced many bands and genres outside Sweden. The melodic influence of the Gothenburg sound has spread to the United States to more hardcore punk and metalcore groups such as Himsa, Bleeding Through, and Killswitch Engage. The Stockholm Sound has been known to be very influenced by the first Entombed album as bands such as Autopsy, Death and Repulsion. The Stockholm Sound has less reception but is strictly followed by bands like Trap Them and Rotten Sound. Melodic death metal, on the other hand has had a notable influence on the melodic metalcore sound of the 2000's.

Bands

Main article: List of Swedish death metal artists

Bibliography

• Olivier "Zoltar" Badin, "In the Embrace of Evil: Swedish Death Metal New Blood", Terrorizer #182, April 2009, p. 32-34.
• Daniel Ekeroth, Swedish Death Metal. Brooklyn: Bazillion Points Books, 2008.
• James Hoare, "Left Hand Pathfinders". Terrorizer #182, April 2009, p. 28-29.

See also

• Death metal
• Melodic death metal

References

1. ^ Ekeroth, p. 18.
2. ^ Hoare, p. 29.
3. ^ Ekeroth, p. 27.
4. ^ ^{a b c d} Gibb, Steven. "gothenburg metal, melodic death metal, style flourishes". AllExperts. About.com. http://en.allexperts.com/q/Heavy-Metal-2854/gothenburg-metal-1.htm. Retrieved 2011-2-27. 
5. ^ Ekeroth, chapter 3, "The Birth of Swedish Death Metal," p. 54-86.
6. ^ Marsicano, Dan. "What is Melodic Death Metal". About.com. http://heavymetal.about.com/od/heavymetal101/p/melodicdeathmetalprofile.htm. Retrieved 2011-2-27. 
7. ^ Ekeroth, p. 276.

External links