Swedish death metal is a death metal music scene developed in Sweden. Many Swedish death metal bands are associated with the melodic death metal movement, thus giving Swedish death metal a different sound from other variations of death metal. Unlike American death metal groups, the first Swedish bands were rooted in punk rock.^[1] While Norway is more notorious for its quantity of black metal, Gothenburg in Sweden has a large melodic death metal scene.

[edit] Precursors

The Swedish death metal scene's earliest originators were in the D-beat hardcore punk scene.^[2] Bathory, who would subsequently become a primary influence for the black metal scene, were a pivotal group in Swedish extreme metal.^[3]

[edit] History

[edit] Stockholm Sound

A Boss HM-2: Heavy Metal distortion pedal. A core element for the buzzsaw tone.

In the early 1990s a death metal scene emerged in Gothenburg and Stockholm. The first wave of "Swedish death metal" consisted of the bands Carnage and Nihilist, who fragmented later into Entombed, Dismember and Unleashed. Many of these bands used the trademark Tomas Skogsberg/Sunlight Studios "buzzsaw" guitar tone. It was created by using heavily detuned electric guitars (five half notes), a maxed out Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal pedal, sometimes in combination with a single guitar through a Boss DS-1 Distortion pedal. The originator of this guitar sound was Nihilist guitarrist Leffe Cuzner though it was evolved and altered over the years. ^[4]

[edit] Gothenburg Sound

Later, the Gothenburg sound, propelled by both the Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal and the Boss MT-2 Metal Zone pedal with cleaner recordings, was pioneered by bands such as At the Gates and In Flames for their respective albums Slaughter of the Soul and The Jester Race.

[edit] Outside Bands

Other groups to have emerged from the Swedish death metal scene include Hypocrisy, Dark Tranquillity, Tiamat, Nightrage, Arch Enemy, Soilwork, Meshuggah, Amon Amarth, Edge of Sanity, Opeth, and The Haunted.^[5]

[edit] Influence

The death metal scene in Sweden has influenced many bands and genres outside Sweden. The melodic influence of the Gothenburg sound has spread to the United States to more hardcore punk and metalcore groups such as Himsa, The Black Dahlia Murder, Bleeding Through, and Killswitch Engage. The Stockholm Sound has less reception but is strictly followed by bands like Trap Them and Rotten Sound.

[edit] Bands

[edit] Bibliography

• Olivier "Zoltar" Badin, "In the Embrace of Evil: Swedish Death Metal New Blood", Terrorizer #182, April 2009, p. 32-34.
• Daniel Ekeroth, Swedish Death Metal. Brooklyn: Bazillion Points Books, 2008.
• James Hoare, "Left Hand Pathfinders". Terrorizer #182, April 2009, p. 28-29.

[edit] See also

• Death metal
• Melodic death metal

[edit] References

[edit] External links