This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. It needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since April 2011. It may contain original research. Tagged since April 2011.

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. Although Norway is notorious for its quantity of black metal, Gothenburg in Sweden has a large melodic death metal scene, while Stockholm is notorious for its rawer death metal scene.

  History

  Precursors

Unlike American groups, the Swedish death metal scene's earliest originators were influenced by punk rock, especially the D-beat hardcore punk scene.^[1][2] Bathory, who would subsequently become a primary influence for the black metal scene, were a pivotal group in Swedish extreme metal.^[3] In the early 1990s two death metal scenes 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.^{[citation needed]} It was created by using heavily detuned electric guitars (usually C# standard or lower), 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 guitarist Leffe Cuzner though it was evolved and altered over the years.^[4] Newer bands playing in the 'old school' Swedish style include Bloodbath, Paganizer and Repugnant.^{[citation needed]} According to Stewart Mason of Allmusic, the "increasingly melodic" style of Swedish death metal combines the post-hardcore aggression and guttural vocals of black metal with melodic and technically proficient guitar lines.^[5]

  Gothenburg scene

Later, Swedish and Finnish bands used grindcore-based riffs and began adding progressive rock influences, and the scene moved from Stockholm to Gothenburg.^{[citation needed]} The Gothenburg sound, propelled by both the Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal with cleaner recordings and melded with New Wave of British Heavy Metal guitar lines, was pioneered by bands such as At the Gates, Dark Tranquillity and In Flames for their respective albums Slaughter of the Soul, The Gallery and The Jester Race.^[6]

Other groups to have emerged from the Swedish death metal scene include Scar Symmetry, Hypocrisy, Tiamat, Arch Enemy, Soilwork, Meshuggah, Amon Amarth, Edge of Sanity, Opeth, and The Haunted.^[7]

  Influence

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

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, Bleeding Through, and Killswitch Engage. Stewart Mason has noted this popularity in the United States, using the term "Swedecore" to describe Scandinavian-style metal as played by non-Nordic bands.^[5] The Stockholm sound has been known to be very influenced by the first Entombed album and bands such as Autopsy, Death and Repulsion. The Stockholm sound has less reception but is strictly followed by bands like Trap Them and Rotten Sound. Melodic death metal, on the other hand, has had a notable influence on the melodic metalcore sound of the 2000s.

  See also

• List of Swedish death metal bands
• Early Norwegian black metal scene

  References

  Footnotes

  Works cited

• Purcell, Natalie J. (2003). Death Metal Music: The Passion and Politics of a Subculture. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-1585-4. 
• Ekeroth, Daniel (2008). Swedish Death Metal. Bazillion Points. ISBN 978-0-9796163-1-0. 
• Olivier "Zoltar" Badin, "In the Embrace of Evil: Swedish Death Metal New Blood", Terrorizer #182, April 2009, p. 32-34.
• James Hoare, "Left Hand Pathfinders". Terrorizer #182, April 2009, p. 28-29.

Heavy metal Subgenres Alternative metal Black metal Cello rock Celtic metal Christian metal Crossover thrash Crust punk Deathgrind Death metal Death 'n' roll Deathcore Death/doom Djent Doom metal Drone metal Extreme metal Experimental metal Folk metal Funk metal Glam metal Goregrind Gothic metal Grindcore Groove metal Grunge Industrial metal Mathcore Medieval metal Melodic death metal Metalcore Neo-classical metal Nintendocore Nu metal Pagan metal Pornogrind Post-metal Power metal Progressive metal Rap metal Sludge metal Speed metal Stoner metal Symphonic black metal Symphonic metal Technical death metal Thrash metal Traditional heavy metal Unblack metal Viking metal Notable scenes New Wave of British Heavy Metal Mediterranean scene Norwegian black metal Swedish death metal Les Légions Noires Bay Area thrash metal Brazilian thrash metal Teutonic thrash metal Australian heavy metal New Wave of American Heavy Metal Neue Deutsche Härte Culture Heavy metal subculture Fashion Subgenres Bands Festivals Umlaut Headbanging Sign of the horns Portal