Were did Death Metal start? I hear you ask? Good question for me it’s an evolution process. The most obvious thing about Death Metal is the gutteral / growled vocal style. I’m going to put it out there that this started with Venom from the UK. Previous to this Motorhead had some deeper vocal styles, but I’d still call Lemmy’s vocal style singing as opposed to Chronos from Venom’s style where it became that growled style. Not fully developed into Death Metal but definitely not straight singing anymore. Also the lyrics that Venom accompanied their music with were the first to be as morbidly preoccupied with the darker side of life that Death Metal Tends to be.
Next up we’ve got Swedish band Hellhammer with their Apocalyptic Raids Release. I don’t know if I’d count this as Death Metal or not, even though it has more of what I’d call the classic Death Metal Elements it doesn’t have the extremity of say Possessed’s Seven Churches album.
Next step in the Evolutionary process of becoming Death Metal is the album “Seven Churches” Released by Possessed in 1985. The music itself is closer to thrash metal but the vocals definitely took what Venom and Slayer had done and mutated it another notch into the direction of Death Metal. And There is a song called “Death Metal” on the record which is widely regarded as where the term was coined.
Also in the same year you had albums by Sodom (In the sign of Evil) and Sepultura (Bestial Devastation) which adopted the now familiar death metal guitar tones as well as the gutteral vocals. So now you have at least two of the elements that make up death metal present in those releases. These early records I think were really close to Death Metal but not really there. But that’s my opinion.
Now here’s the clincher. Napalm Death put out their first proper release, Scum in 1986. Do Napalm Death count as death metal? I think in later years yes, for sure. In 1987 I’m not sure. They are definitely Grind-core but does grind-core count as death metal? For me it’s another grey area.
Last but not least we have 1987 bringing us 2 ground breaking albums with Death’s Scream Bloody Gore and Necrophagia’s Season of the Dead. These are both unquestionably Death Metal. But here’s what Im trying to find out which one of these bands put their album out first? I’m having a bit of trouble figuring this part out.
Just to visualise this a little better I’ve included a visual timeline below. You can click on the albums and go to the reviews we’ve done and listen to the albums from there, in order of their release and decide for your self. I’d love to hear your opinion on this as well.
Here’s a link to a video if any of you want to know what Chuck Schuldinger thought about the issue.
 | 1981 – Venom’s Welcome to hell featuring the first truely gutteral growled vocals. |
 | 1984 – Hellhammers Apocalyptic Raids certainly displayed most if not all of the attributes of Death Metal but was it extreme enough? |
 | 1985 – Possessed, whilst still a thrash band coin the term “Death Metal” with their track of the same name and the music and vocals take another darker turn towards Death Metal. |
 | 1985 – Sodom take the gutteral vocals to the next level and play a style of music that is certainly veering towards Death Metal |
 | 1985 – Sepultura inch even closer to toward the pure Death Metal sound with their Debut |
 | 1987 – Napalm Death release the album Scum. It’s definitely extreme, but is it Death Metal or Grindcore or both? |
 | 1987 – Deaths Debut album “Scream Bloody Gore” Unquestionably Death metal. Perhaps the first “Pure Death Metal” album? |
 | 1987 – Necrophagia’s Season of the Dead. Also Death Metal and released the same year as “Scream Bloody Gore” but which came first? |
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