{"id":154844,"date":"2025-09-19T12:30:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T12:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/154844\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T12:30:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T12:30:10","slug":"debate-who-are-the-big-four-of-death-metal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/154844\/","title":{"rendered":"Debate: who are the big four of death metal?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Death metal<\/a> \u2013 does what it says on the tin, doesn\u2019t it? Since it was first formulated by the likes of Death<\/a> and Possessed in the mid-1980s, death metal has been terrorising the uninitiated with its graphic artwork, violent lyrics and sonic brutality. It\u2019s also gone from local subculture to worldwide phenomenon.<\/p>\n

With its first texts being Possessed\u2019s Seven Churches, Death\u2019s Scream Bloody Gore and Necrophagia\u2019s Season Of The Dead \u2013 and its primary influences including Slayer<\/a>, Sepultura, Venom and Mot\u00f6rhead<\/a> \u2013 death metal first took off in the swamps of Florida and the snowy cityscapes of Sweden. Tape-trading networks soon turned it into a global scene, and by the mid-90s it had multiple offshoots: melodic death metal, technical death metal and blackened death metal, to name a few.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Because of this impressive spread, there are many bands to choose from when it comes to naming death metal\u2019s top brass. Morbid Angel<\/a> are one of the best-selling, their 1993 album Covenant having been released by major US label Giant and shipped upwards of 150,000 units. On the other hand, you also have such unsung pioneers as Cynic and Atheist, whose influence on future bands runs far further than their sales figures would suggest. At The Gates<\/a>, based in Gothenburg, would break up only one year after making their magnum opus Slaughter Of The Soul, but their influence helped make superstars out of Trivium, Killswitch Engage and Lamb Of God, all of whom were serious fans.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s just the tip of the iceberg. Cannibal Corpse<\/a> are among the most brutal, Obituary the grooviest, and Carcass the catchiest \u2013 any \u2018Big Four\u2019 of the genre wouldn\u2019t feel quite whole without these, but a line needs to be drawn somewhere. So, we\u2019re turning to you, the readers. Below, we want you to sound off and tell us what your Mount Rushmore of death metal looks like. There are no wrong answers, so be nice down there, OK?<\/p>\n

Sign up below to get the latest from Metal Hammer, plus exclusive special offers, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Death metal \u2013 does what it says on the tin, doesn\u2019t it? Since it was first formulated by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,341],"class_list":["post-154844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}