Part 7: Possessed - Death Metal

"The band's influence on the genre is so great that they are sometimes called the "godfathers" of the death metal genre and are often considered the first death metal group, with the name of the genre possibly coming from their first demo entitled Death Metal."

This concludes my series on American Death Metal. Of course there are quite a number of other influential bands not mentioned, but that doesn't really matter.

Part 6: Deicide - Homage for Satan

"The whole point of Satanic music is to blaspheme against the church. I don't believe in or worship a devil. Life is short enough without having to waste it doing this whole organised praying, hoping, wishing-type thing on some superior being." - Drummer, Asheim.

Another Tampa band.

Part 5: Necrophagia - Bloodfreak

"Their name derives from the act of cannibalizing a corpse. The word derives from the two Greek words nekron (corpse) and phagein (to eat)."

Another pioneer of the genre, noted for their reference to gore and horror. Interesting video.

Part 4: Obituary - Don't Care

"Unlike much death metal preceding it, the album (Slowly We Rot) had a sludgy feel and integrated devastatingly slow passages along with obliterating overtures that reached far beyond any point of mayhem that metal had yet to reach; the result was a carnal pleasure for doom, death and thrash fans alike coupling the adrenaline of a speedball with the slow, degrading measures of a sewer at dusk."

Another Tampa band and pioneer of the genre. I don't really care for them.

Part 3: Death - Lack of Comprehension

"The local situation was fuckin' nearly impossible," Chuck Schuldiner (founding member, father of death metal) recalled. "A lot of people looked down upon us. We got a lot of shit from the local band scene; all the bands from around Orlando thought we were pure shit. We were noisy back then, but we were putting out brutal death metal, and it was too much for people to comprehend."

Undeniable influence.

Part 2: Morbid Angel - God Of Emptiness

"Shattering the boundaries of creativity and imagination while evolving with each groundbreaking release throughout its historic career, the band stands alone as the true icon in extreme music, serving as source of countless inspiration to the multitude of fans and never failing to amaze with each evolving chapter."

Hailing from Tampa, Florida, Morbid Angel has always left me wondering why they ordered their album titles alphabetically (their last album started with H). When I saw them live in 2000, I was completely focused on the drummer with his impeccable double bass skills.

Part 1: Cannibal Corpse - Hammer Smashed Face

"We don't sing about politics. We don't sing about religion. [...] All our songs are short stories that, if anyone would so choose they could convert it into a horror movie. Really, that's all it is. We like gruesome, scary movies, and we want the lyrics to be like that. Yeah, it's about killing people, but it's not promoting it at all. Basically these are fictional stories, and that's it. And anyone who gets upset about it is ridiculous".- George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher, Vocalist. "If vomit were a movie, this would be the soundtrack," wrote one critic of Cannibal Corpse's music.

I was introduced to Death Metal through Cannibal Corpse as a young teenager, and this song was the heaviest thing I had ever heard up to that point in my life. I have enjoyed it ever since.