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 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, Carcass, Xysma, Convulse, Kaptain Sun, Six Feet Under, Pungent Stench 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'', 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'' (1995), Carcass on '' Swansong'' (1996) and Six Feet Under on '' Warpath'' (1997). Another noteworthy death 'n' roll release is '' Soul Survivor'', Gorefest'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 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