Florida death metal

Features of death metal Death metal is an extreme sub-genre of heavy metal music that features fast, distorted, down-tuned, and sometimes palm-muted guitar instrumentation, growled and screamed vocals, and hyper-fast, blast beat drumming. Death metal lyrics typically feature graphic, sometimes pornographic and misogynistic, themes of violence, gore, disease, and death; Satanic, blasphemous, and anti-Christian content; or, to a lesser extent, war, apocalypse, social and philosophical concerns, and esotericism and spiritualism. Through the work of producers such as Scott Burns, the raw, primitive sound of early bands transformed into a thicker, more brutal sound. and Glen Benton of Deicide also influenced the development of the death growl. Particular traits of the Florida scene In addition to its contributions to core death metal traits, the Florida style includes additional unique aspects. Generally, guitar tunings are not dropped as low as in other death metal styles, and the playing is considered by many to be tighter, clearer, and more precise. The guitar playing is often more technical than that of other death metal variants. For instance, the Obituary song "Deadly Intentions" (1989) switches between six different riffs, played variously at normal time, half-time, and double-time. The song lacks a verse-chorus structure, and before any riff section is repeated, the five others are played, and the tempo accelerated or decelerated throughout. One of the frequently applied techniques of Morbid Angel is using only a few power chords and octave dyads for rhythmic accents. A typical riff for the band is palm-muted tremolo-picked sixteenth-notes at high speed (for example, 210 beats per minute). The riff stays on each tremolo-picked section for a couple beats, creating a rather static feeling, particularly so when combined with fast double-bass drum and snare that accents the power chords and dyads. Slower examples of signature Morbid Angel riffs comprise octaves, power chords, and palm-muted single-notes. The harmonic scale is E minor with some additional chromatic notes. Typically the 3 is generally minor and the ♭2 at the end of the last measure adds a Phrygian component to the sound. The phrasing is key to these riffs – the dyads are drawn out longer and the first dyad is slid into from a half-step below. Morbid Angel was among the first extreme metal bands to play these octaves in slow riffs and thus add an eerie quality to the music. Another trademark feature of Trey Azagthoth's playing style is using slides on the chromatic power chords to create a slurry effect. Human, in particular, showcased jazz-influenced guitar work and polyrhythmic drumming, courtesy of respective Cynic members Paul Masvidal and Sean Reinart. In 1990, the band Nocturnus released The Key, which featured science fiction lyrics and the use of keyboard. Other Florida bands adopted even more technical and progressive approaches to death metal. For example, Atheist, formed in 1984 in Sarasota, and Cynic, formed in 1987 in Miami, both matured from their thrash and death metal roots into highly technical, jazz-style progressive death metal artists, with Cynic's work occasionally even bordering on jazz fusion. Violence at early concerts Early concerts often featured gore and violence both from musicians and among audiences. The frontman of Nasty Savage, "Nasty" Ronnie Galletti, engaged in various antics such as smashing televisions on-stage, an activity that would leave him covered in blood. Morbid Angel likewise utilized gruesome stage performances such as cutting themselves. This behavior extended beyond concerts. Kelly Shaefer of Atheist recalls when he once encountered the members of Morbid Angel backstage "sitting around a chalice, cutting themselves and bleeding into the cup. I thought, That's fuckin' nuts. We played crazy music, but we didn't roll like that." Shaefer also recalls violent incidents from mosh pits: "I saw someone get their eye poked out of the socket. The eyeball wasn't hanging out, it was pushed out to the side and the guy stayed in the pit with that fucked-up eye. I saw another guy get his ear half ripped off from the top. The whole top of it was flopping down from his head." The band Deicide, formed under the name Amon in 1987, would fill mannequins and buckets with rotten organs acquired from local butchers and then spill the contents into the audience. Vocalist Glen Benton burnt an inverted cross into his forehead to advertise the vehemently anti-Christian stance of the band. Benton would also join in the violence in the audience. For instance, at one concert he "made this armband with .308 Spitzer head [bullets] on it, and went through the crowd sticking that thing into people's backs. At the end of the night there were just a bunch of screws sticking out of the thing where all the bullet heads fell off the armbands. And there were all these people walking around with big blood spike marks on their backs." == History ==