Who was the FIRST Death Metal Band?

[snuif09]

but still possesed doesnt sound like death metal and yea you can say it lay the roots but eventually wagner or whatever laid the roots too.

that death demo really sounds like death metal possesed sounds like thrash on steriods not bad but its not death to my ears.

 

[metal_head666]

Possessed is generally considered the "original" death metal band. Chuck Schuldiner heard the Seven Churches Demo and said "This is the direction we need to go". Also: Death metal (at least early) was "extreme" thrash.

 

[snuif09]

aah that makes sense

soo i think the conclusion is Possesd and death cause you cant really pick one band i think

 

[hufschmid]

from my memory, one of the very very first death metal bands to go into extrême vocals was MORTIFICATION... lol I was a teenager!!!

 

[Pseudonymity]

I've been wondering at what point the deeper growling type vocals started to appear. Lately, I've been listening to more of the earlier DM bands, and a lot of the vocals are much higher pitched than the "cookie monster" style I've come to associate with the genre. In fact, when I first heard Death's stuff a while back, I didn't know why it was classified as DM, as I was stupid and just assumed all death metal had to have the low pitched vocals.

But yeah, very early DM is probably too close/indistinguishable from thrash to really draw the line anywhere.

 

[opethhead]

its kreator definetly they were like early eightees stuff

yea kreators first studio album was put out in 1985 i think that was there first release but i dont know about the demos yet.

How about Venom's 'Welcome to Hell' released in 1981?

no they are black metal

mabye who we think are the fathers are people who may have gotten the idea off of some local band who played in like a bar or something u never know

 

[-TheWickerMan-]

deaths first demo "Death by Metal Reissue" came out in 1984 according to metal archives

since chuck is known as "the philosopher of death metal" i'd imagine that death were the first death metal band, not to mention one of the best

 

[Demonic352]

The first death metal band was "Possessed" formed in 1983.. look it up.
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[Demonic352]

awww, come on, i didn't mean to just end the chat like that. i just know my bands.... not my fault...

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[MFB]

Not to mention about 1849094509349043757346871 others of us said the same exact thing on like, pages 1 & 2? Hmm, I wonder, does someone ELSE know the same thing as you?!

 

[-TheWickerMan-]

The first death metal band was "Possessed" formed in 1983.. look it up.
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possesed were more thrash than death metal, the concept was truly brought into play with death

also, Possessed formed in 1983 but didn't release a demo til '94, and guess who had formed and made music that year too, death

 

[sevenstringj]

Wow, old thread.

If you're gonna say Possessed isn't death metal, then you can't say Death was death metal either. Neither were death metal in the sense that Suffocation or Morbid Angel are death metal. At least to me, death metal really came into its own with the blast beat. But death metal growls and screams apparently preceded that.

 

[-TheWickerMan-]

Wow, old thread.

If you're gonna say Possessed isn't death metal, then you can't say Death was death metal either. Neither were death metal in the sense that Suffocation or Morbid Angel are death metal. At least to me, death metal really came into its own with the blast beat. But death metal growls and screams apparently preceded that.

the basis of most death metal is from death

they didn't have low growls or blast beats but they most certainly were death metal especially their later albums

well suffocation are a brutal death abnd anyway, which is different. and morbid angel aren't THAT different. really death metal properly started to change when bands like CC came on the scene, but death still are death metal.

 

[xxx128]

Of course Possessed is the first death metal band! They had the first commercial release. They where considered to be harder and faster than slayer years before they released seven churches. Something most people couldnt even imagine back then.

Such an extreme form of music has to evolve from something, it doesnt come out of the blue. Back then thrash metal was the most extreme form until death metal evolved from that. Thats why you can clearly hear the thrash elements with possessed. They even have a song called death metal. Its not really far from there...

When chuck was asked if he was the forefather of death metal he answered he was just a guy from a metal band. I suppose he said that because he knew he wasnt the first one. Perhaps he just didnt like being labeled.

Also honorable mention goes to septic death which started in 81. Now they werent death metal but they were pretty extreme.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Of course Possessed is the first death metal band! They had the first commercial release. They where considered to be harder and faster than slayer years before they released seven churches. Something most people couldnt even imagine back then.

Such an extreme form of music has to evolve from something, it doesnt come out of the blue. Back then thrash metal was the most extreme form until death metal evolved from that. Thats why you can clearly hear the thrash elements with possessed. They even have a song called death metal. Its not really far from there...

When chuck was asked if he was the forefather of death metal he answered he was just a guy from a metal band. I suppose he said that because he knew he wasnt the first one. Perhaps he just didnt like being labeled.

Also honorable mention goes to septic death which started in 81. Now they werent death metal but they were pretty extreme.

Nice bump.

 

[Hollowman]

ok I didn't read all the posts ,I really didn't feel like it, Do you mean first signed or first to do this type of music? Morbid Angel was doing Death Metal in 1983. Death formed in 83 as Mantas then Changed their name to Death in 83. Scream Bloody Gore came out in 87 Alters came out in 89. also you have to included Vader for those who remember Communisim (don't know if I spelled that right) who recorded their first EP in 1986

Morbid Angel was formed in 1983 in Tampa, Florida. The band made their vinyl debut in 1987 on New Renaissance Records. They recorded their debut album, Abominations of Desolation, in 1986, but the band was unsatisfied with the final product and it remained unreleased until 1991. Their first proper studio album, Altars of Madness, was released in 1989.

Founded in 1983 by Chuck Schuldiner under the original name of Mantas in Orlando, Death were among the more widely known, early pioneers of the death metal sound along with California's thrashers Possessed. In the late 80s, the band was both a part of and integral in defining the death metal scene which gained international recognition with the release of albums by a number of area acts.

Together with Kam Lee (Barney Lee), and Rick Rozz (Frederick DeLillo), Schuldiner started to compose songs that were released on several rehearsal tapes in 1984.These tapes, along with the Death by Metal demo, circulated through the tape trader world, quickly establishing the band's name. In 1984, Schuldiner dissolved Mantas and quickly started a new band under the name Death. Its members included the same Rick Rozz and Kam Lee. Another demo was released, called Reign of Terror.[

In 1985, after the Infernal Death tape was recorded and released, Schuldiner fired Lee and Rozz in favour of Repulsion's bassist and guitarist, Scott Carlson and Matt Olivio, respectively. However, a drummer could not be found; consequently the band dissolved again. Schuldiner moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and recruited DRI drummer Eric Brecht, but he was not happy with this incarnation of Death and moved back to Florida without a band. There, in 1986, Schuldiner got an invitation from early Canadian thrash band Slaughter to play on their album, which he accepted, moving to Canada. This only lasted two weeks, however, as he found the situation not to his liking. He returned to Florida, then moved quickly to the San Francisco Bay Area again, where he joined with Chris Reifert. They recorded the Mutilation demo, which led to a deal with Combat Records, owned by Important Distribution (later becoming Relativity), that enabled them to record the first LP.

Scream Bloody Gore was released in 1987. Schuldiner briefly had a second guitar player, John Hand, but Hand did not appear on the album (though his photo did). By this time Schuldiner moved back to Florida, leaving Chris Reifert behind. There, Schuldiner teamed up with former bandmate Rick Rozz and two members of Rozz's band Massacre, Terry Butler and Bill Andrews.

Vader is a Polish death metal band from Olsztyn, formed in 1983. According to Piotr Wiwczarek, the band's founding singer and guitar player, the band's name was inspired by Darth Vader from the Star Wars film series. Lyrical themes include stories by H.P. Lovecraft.

Possessed is an American death metal band, originally formed in 1983. Noted for their fast style of playing and Becerra's guttural vocals, they have been cited as a great influence on the death metal genre.In fact, the band's influence on the genre is so great, they are sometimes called the "godfathers" of the death metal genre and are often considered the first death metal group

Carcass was formed as a D-beat band by guitarist Bill Steer together with drummer Ken Owen in 1985 under name Disattack. After releasing demo A Bomb Drops... in 1986, Paul (bassist) and Andrew Pek (vocalist) of Disattack left the band and was replaced by vocalist Sanjiv and bassist Jeff Walker, formerly guitarist and vocalist of the Electro Hippies. About that same time Bill Steer joined Napalm Death (replacing Justin Broadrick) and recorded the second side of what became ND's first album, Scum (1987). Walker also designed the cover art of that record.

hope this helps.

 

[DslDwg]

Like to add my

I grew up in the bay area during the time Possessed "broke" - frankly "Death Metal" was a term that came around later.

Basically we lumped most bands into two categories and that was thrash metal and speed metal. We considered fast tempo with clean vocals speed metal and fast tempo with any other kind of vocals thrash metal.

I think the reason Possessed gets called Death Metal today is because Seven Churches had a song called Death Metal.

I guess it depends how you define a "Death Metal" band - growling vocals - blast beat drums - dark lyrics?

 

[FearFactoryDBCR]

Haven't read any posts so far. But i read the title haha, weren't Death one've the first Death Metal bands?

 

[zid1988]

Anyone know? I have been thinking about it today. I am not talking about who the best was / is..who was the first? There had to be someone. We pretty much all agree that Sabbath was the first true Metal band but who has that distinction for DM?

Discuss....

Black Sabbath(1968), Led Zeppelin (1968) and Deep Purple (1968) were the three bands who gave birth to heavy music.
I hope that helps, thanks