Death 'n' roll (

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of ''death'' metal and rock'' 'n' roll'') is a subgenre of death metal music that incorporates

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

-inspired elements. The achieved effect is that of death metal's trademark combination of

growled vocals The death growl, or simply growl, is an extended vocal technique usually employed in extreme styles of music, particularly in death metal and other extreme subgenres of heavy metal music. Sometimes death growl vocals are criticized for their ...

and highly distorted detuned guitar

riff A riff is a short, repeated motif or figure in the melody or accompaniment of a musical composition. Riffs are most often found in rock music, punk, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, although classical music is also sometimes based ...

ing with elements reminiscent of 1970s hard rock and heavy metal. Notable examples include Entombed,

Gorefest Gorefest was a Dutch death metal band from Goes, Zeeland. It was founded in 1989 by Jan-Chris de Koeijer, Frank Harthoorn, Alex van Schaik and Marc Hoogendoorn. Career Early works (1989-1994) Within two months of its formation, Gorefest r ...

Carcass Carcass or Carcase (both pronounced ) may refer to: * Dressed carcass, the body of a livestock animal ready for butchery, after removal of skin, visceral organs, head, feet etc. *Carrion, the decaying dead body of an animal or human being, also c ...

Xysma Xysma is a Finnish rock & early metal band that was founded in 1988 in Naantali, a small town near Turku. The band split up in 1998, but reunited in 2006 for a memorial gig, and reunited again in 2011. History Formation and early years In the ...

Convulse A convulsion is a medical condition where the body muscles contract and relax rapidly and repeatedly, resulting in uncontrolled shaking. Because epileptic seizures typically include convulsions, the term ''convulsion'' is often used as a synonym ...

, Kaptain Sun, Six Feet Under,

Pungent Stench Pungent Stench is a death metal band from Vienna, Austria, formed in 1988. Their current lineup consists of Martin Schirenc (vocals/guitar), Jacek Perkowski (bass), and Mike G. Mayhem (drums). Pungent Stench achieved prominence in the death metal ...

and the Fernando Colunga Ultimate Experience.

History

While the "death 'n' roll" tag was first associated with Entombed, Daniel Ekeroth associates the style with a previous group called Furbowl. After Entombed's release, ''

Wolverine Blues ''Wolverine Blues'' is the third studio album by Swedish death metal band Entombed, released on 31 August 1993 by Earache Records. The album displays a completely different sound from previous releases, combining elements of hard rock, heavy ...

'', the band became associated with what the music press dubbed as "death 'n' roll", a label which has followed Entombed's career ever since. In the years following the album's release, the sound was embraced by Dismember on ''

Massive Killing Capacity ''Massive Killing Capacity'' is the third album by Dismember. It was re-released by Regain Records in 2005. A music video was made for the track "Casket Garden". Track listing Personnel * Matti Kärki Matti Kärki, (born 13 December 19 ...

'' (1995),

on '' Swansong'' (1996) and Six Feet Under on '' Warpath'' (1997). Another noteworthy death 'n' roll release is '' Soul Survivor'',

's 1996 effort. This album showed more than a passing nod to

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

. Proof of that influence was the club tour organized by the band that same year, where Gorefest played songs by

AC/DC AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and Heavy metal music, heavy metal, although the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formativ ...

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...

and

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...

. Gorefest broke up after their last 1990s album, ''

Chapter 13 Title 11 of the United States Code sets forth the statutes governing the various types of relief for bankruptcy in the United States. Chapter 13 of the United States Bankruptcy Code provides an individual with the opportunity to propose a plan ...

'', 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 are an Irish rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. The band initially consisted of bass guitarist, lead vocalist and principal songwriter Phil Lynott, drummer Brian Downey, guitarist Eric Bell and organist Eric Wrixon although Wr ...

tribute band from the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Confronted with the "death 'n' roll" label in interviews, the death metal acts it usually is attached to react with skepticism. Entombed's LG Petrov 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 and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

, 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."

References

{{Extreme metal 20th-century music genres 1990s in music Death metal Heavy metal genres

History

Further reading

References