Death 'n' roll
Encyclopedia
Death 'n' roll is a term used to describe the sound of death metal
bands which incorporate rock and roll
inspiration elements to its overall sound. The term is a portmanteau of death metal
and rock'n' roll
. The achieved effect is that of death metal's trademark combination of growled vocals
and highly distorted
detuned
guitar
riff
ing with elements reminiscent of 1970s hard rock
and heavy metal
. Notable examples include Entombed
, Six Feet Under
, and Gorefest
.
, the band became associated with what the music press dubbed as "death 'n' roll", a label which has followed Entombed's career ever since.
Another noteworthy death 'n' roll release is Soul Survivor
, Gorefest's 1996 effort. This album showed more than a passing nod to classic rock
. Proof of that influence was the club tour organized by the band that same year, where Gorefest played songs by AC/DC
, Black Sabbath
and Deep Purple
. Gorefest broke up after their last 1990s album, Chapter 13
, which continued the trend started in Soul Survivor (Gorefest reformed seven years later). Two of its members currently play in Live & Dangerous, a Thin Lizzy
tribute band from the Netherlands
.
made the following statement, regarding this issue: "We see it as Entombed music, if people see that as death 'n' roll so be it. We just laugh, death 'n' roll, why not? When we write songs, we aren't thinking it has to be a particular style."
When questioned about their mixture of death metal and rock 'n' roll, Gorefest's Frank Harthoorn replied: "Strange, everyone has always mentioned this Death N' Roll thing. To me it's just Metal, plain and simple. I don't believe our influences are different from other bands."
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
bands which incorporate rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
inspiration elements to its overall sound. The term is a portmanteau of death metal
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
and rock
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
. The achieved effect is that of death metal's trademark combination of growled vocals
Death growl
A death growl, also known as death metal vocals, guttural vocals, death grunts, and harsh vocals among other names, is a vocalisation style usually employed by vocalists of the death metal and black metal music genre, but also used in a variety of heavy metal and hardcore punk subgenres.Death...
and highly distorted
Distortion
A distortion is the alteration of the original shape of an object, image, sound, waveform or other form of information or representation. Distortion is usually unwanted, and often many methods are employed to minimize it in practice...
detuned
Guitar tunings
Guitar tunings almost always refers to the pitch of the open string, though some tunings may only realistically be attained by the use of a capo on an unmodified instrument....
guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
riff
RIFF
The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format for storing data in tagged chunks. It is primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video, though it may also be used to store any arbitrary data....
ing with elements reminiscent of 1970s hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
and heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
. Notable examples include Entombed
Entombed (band)
Entombed is a Swedish death metal band which formed in 1987 under the name of Nihilist. Though Entombed began their career as an early pioneer of Scandinavian death metal which initially differed itself from its American counterpart with its distinct guitar tone, by the early 1990s their sound had...
, Six Feet Under
Six Feet Under (band)
Six Feet Under is an American death metal band from Tampa, Florida, formed in 1993. The band was originally a side project by Cannibal Corpse vocalist Chris Barnes with guitarist Allen West of Obituary...
, and Gorefest
Gorefest
Gorefest was a Dutch band from the Zeeland region of the Netherlands which was founded in 1988 as a death metal outfit by De Koeyer, Harthoorn, van Schaik and Hoogendoorn.-History:...
.
Origins
While "death 'n' roll" tag was first associated with Entombed, Daniel Ekeroth associates the style with a previous group called Furbowl. After Entombed's breakthrough release, Wolverine BluesWolverine Blues
Wolverine Blues is the third album by Entombed, released in 1993 on Earache Records. The album marked a move away from their death metal roots to the more traditional hard rock and metal style they produced from this album onward called death 'n' roll ....
, the band became associated with what the music press dubbed as "death 'n' roll", a label which has followed Entombed's career ever since.
Another noteworthy death 'n' roll release is Soul Survivor
Soul Survivor (Gorefest album)
Soul Survivor is the fourth studio album released by Dutch death metal band Gorefest. It was released in 1996 on Nuclear Blast Records.-Track listing:# "Freedom" - 4:32# "Forty Shades" - 4:14# "River" - 4:33# "Electric Poet" - 4:20...
, Gorefest's 1996 effort. This album showed more than a passing nod to classic rock
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
. Proof of that influence was the club tour organized by the band that same year, where Gorefest played songs by AC/DC
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
, Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
and Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
. Gorefest broke up after their last 1990s album, Chapter 13
Chapter 13 (album)
Chapter 13 is the fifth studio album released by Dutch death metal band Gorefest. It was released in 1998.- Track listing :# "Chapter Thirteen" - 3:05# "Broken Wing" - 4:04# "Nothingness" - 2:23# "Smile" - 3:08# "The Idiot" - 3:37...
, which continued the trend started in Soul Survivor (Gorefest reformed seven years later). Two of its members currently play in Live & Dangerous, a Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Two of the founding members, drummer Brian Downey and bass guitarist/vocalist Phil Lynott met while still in school. Lynott assumed the role of frontman and led them throughout their recording career of thirteen studio albums...
tribute band from the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
.
Debate
Confronted with the "death 'n' roll" label in interviews, the death metal acts it usually is attached to react with skepticism. Entombed's LG PetrovLars Göran Petrov
Lars Göran Petrov, better known simply as LG Petrov, is a Swedish singer of Macedonian background , born 17 February 1972. He is best known for his work with the band Entombed. In 1991 he was forced to quit Entombed, due to personal problems. He then did the vocals for Comecon's debut album...
made the following statement, regarding this issue: "We see it as Entombed music, if people see that as death 'n' roll so be it. We just laugh, death 'n' roll, why not? When we write songs, we aren't thinking it has to be a particular style."
When questioned about their mixture of death metal and rock 'n' roll, Gorefest's Frank Harthoorn replied: "Strange, everyone has always mentioned this Death N' Roll thing. To me it's just Metal, plain and simple. I don't believe our influences are different from other bands."