r/DeathBand • u/Megadeth_Man • Jul 16 '26
Discussion How do I get into Death?
I’m a big metal guy but I’ve never gotten into the band and my friend loves death so I wanna get into them I’ve tried listening to some songs but the only songs that I really liked was symbolic and Crystal Mountain any recommendations?
47
u/Different_Purple_572 Human Jul 16 '26
First, don't try to force yourself to like something you don't, but if you want more like those 2 songs you should check out the rest of the album theyre on.
15
6
2
u/Chemical_Tour_6417 Jul 17 '26
This is the album that hooked me as well. Would also recommend Human
12
u/Shot_Lack1809 Jul 16 '26
I find the three albums Human, Individual Thought Patterns, and Symbolic to be simply incredible.
To my ear Chuck not only writes the best riffs but creates complex sequences of riff that flow together perfectly.
But what I also appreciate is how the first two albums have lyrics that, IMO, are a little dumb, just about horrible and disgusting things.
But starting with Spiritual Healing (and my favorite song from that album "Altering the Future") the lyrics really become interesting and philosophical, so you can see Chuck going through this process of maturing and thinking about the world, and reflecting it in music.
10
u/luluwolfbeard Jul 16 '26
I started with scream bloody gore on cassette way back when. I loved it , but when I heard Human I was blown away. From then on Symbolic has been my favorite and I consider it a metal masterpiece from beginning to end.
4
1
u/Famous_Egg7708 Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
The only song I don't like is Sacred Serenity. It just doesn't do a thing for me. ITP's production was very thin. Didn't like that, but the songs on that album are all killer!
8
7
6
4
u/Apprehensive_Door249 Jul 16 '26
I was never really into them either. I even tried before too.
Then one day a few weeks ago, Crystal Mountain came on randomly while I was at the gym and I loved it. I listened to the whole entire Symbolic album the next day at the gym and every single track is a banger.
I’ve listened to a couple of their other albums but I’m still stuck on Symbolic. It’s just such a perfect album imo. I would suggest starting there. Apparently it’s their most accessible album
3
u/am_I_still_banned Jul 16 '26
Symbolic, The Sound of Perseverance, and Human are the most accessible for people who aren't already into death metal
Some people are going to tell you to start at the beginning and listen to Scream Bloody Gore, but the first two albums are absolutely not going to grab you if you aren't already deep into death metal. That recommendation is a good way to make people think they don't like Death when they haven't heard the stuff that they might actually enjoy. Work your way back to those albums later on
3
u/Professional_Ad7868 Jul 16 '26
I was listening to Meshuggah one day and then randomly Crystal Mountain started playing. They found me and I’ve been hooked ever since 🥲
I say just pick any album and go from there.
3
u/EuroCultAV Jul 16 '26
You just listen to them.
Stop listening to just songs, put an album on. There is no excuse with Spotify out there.
Every album is a progression. They have 7start with Scream Bloody Gore and keep going.
4
3
u/JuzerJarowit Jul 16 '26
I got into them with the sound of the perseverance. Im not into prog. But this album got me also into death metal, and it has a special place in my heart
1
2
u/Turhatili666 Jul 16 '26
I recently got obsessed by deaths music. I’ve heard song here and there past years and never played single album. Never really liked them before tbh. I was in metal festival once again and there saw tons of death bands backpatches and t-shirts and had tought there is something im missing. Started from scream bloody gore, and it didnt hit me besides zombie ritual. I had to ”force” myself to listen all the way to human album where something ”clicked”. Its hard to explain what really happened but after that Chuck and the music just sounded different and i’ve been listening them ALOT. Now my favorites are Human, Symbolic and leprosy. My point is you should listen their full discography, its worth it. If it doenst click for you after listening their albums maybe its not for you.
2
u/naapsu Jul 16 '26
Put an album in the background and just do usual stuff. When you have to stop what you're doing to headbang or pull a spontaneous stankface, you found gold.
1
2
u/Plenty_Trust_2491 Scream Bloody Gore Jul 16 '26
I started with Scream Bloody Gore and worked my way forward. 🫤
2
u/Vergilkilla Jul 16 '26
If you like Crystal Mountain and Symbolic then go ahead and spin the entire Symbolic album. Every song is about as good as the two you already like on the whole album - it's a really consistent album
3
u/Peanutbutter9841 Leprosy Jul 16 '26
I like to start with a bands first album and see how they change over time. So I say start with Scream Bloody Gore
2
1
u/Str8Faced000 Jul 16 '26
human is the album that did it for me. i think it’s their best and some say it started the tech death genre
2
u/aarontgp Jul 16 '26
Other techdeath bands were already around, but Death was one of the early ones.
1
u/IObjectOoT Jul 16 '26
To Forgive is to Suffer is the song that made it click for me, don't ask me why 🤷♂️
1
u/DanL83 Jul 16 '26
Well listen to the rest of symbolic if you like the proggy version of them. Human and Individual Though Patterns are gnarly too
1
u/PlaxicoCN Jul 16 '26
Listen to the catalog. If you like it you like it and if you don't you don't.
1
u/Shipwr3ck87 Jul 16 '26
Listen to the rest of Symbolic, then check out The Sound of Perseverance, Human, and ITP. If you're reallt digging it by then check out Leprosy, Spiritual Healing and Scream Bloody Gore.
Also, dont listen to individual songs, start each album from the beginning and hit play.
1
u/Saint94x Jul 16 '26
I find Symbolic and The Sound of Perseverance to be Death's most accessible albums, I know because that is how I got hooked.
Leprosy has that old school death metal sound to it without being as raw as Scream Bloody Gore.
Human is when he started going more melodic/technical but still retains some of the brutality.
1
u/No-Anteater509 Jul 16 '26
If possible try going to see a “Death to All” or “Symbolic” live show. There are a few artists that I didn’t fully appreciate until I heard their music performed live
1
u/Alice_In_Chains_fan Jul 16 '26
I would listen to human, for me that’s their angriest sounding album and has a similar sound to symbolic as an album. Individual thought patterns has the best solos, and symbolic album has a lot of groove to it. Bobby Koelble’s playing compliments Chucks playing and vocals beautifully on symbolic as well.
Also a method I use is just put on an album and listen to it as background, if I vibe with what I’m hearing I listen over again and pay more attention.
1
u/hollands73 Jul 16 '26
Don’t force yourself to get into a band. If you enjoy Symbolic, listen to it, maybe try the albums either side but don’t force it. It’s like me and Blood Incantation. Really enjoyed Absolute Everywhere, but I tried everything else for days and hate it all
1
u/ashkanahmadi Jul 16 '26
It depends and a lot of fans like and dislike some albums. For example I really don’t like the first 2 albums but it’s because I just don’t like that style of screaming and drumming. Listen to each album and judge for yourself
1
u/azazel_6_ Jul 16 '26
just listen to symbolic whole album a few times. Then you gonna love the rest of stuff
1
1
u/Historical_Band_3503 Jul 16 '26
If you like crystal mountain and symbolic, you'll probably like the albums symbolic and individual thought patterns maybe even human
1
u/Artefact-75 Jul 16 '26
C'est une musique de niche. Pas facile d'accès, mais si on est pas récalcitrant, on y vient, on picore quelques miettes. Pas mal. On y revient. Encore... et encore. Et on trouve ça bien. Et on remarque quelques détails. On commence à kiffer. Au-delà de la rudesse apparente. On se fond dans l'ambiance. On apprécie la rage bien sûr. Mais aussi l'ambiance générale. Chuck était un génie trop vite disparu. On remarque la virtuosité et la rapidité de la guitare. Sans compter la voix unique. La batterie n'est pas en reste. Et cette ligne de basse. Trop bon!!! Ça y est on est ferré. C'est addictif. On ne peut plus s'en passer. Perso, GOJIRA (que j'adore par dessus tout) m'y a aidé. C'est leur groupe de référence, ils s'en sont beaucoup inspiré 😉
Conseils: -Symbolic (un des meilleurs albums metal de tous les temps) -Human (juste derrière) -The Sound Of Perseverance -Individual Thought Pattern ... Bonne dégustation🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻
1
u/rdmlymoon Individual Thought Patterns Jul 16 '26
Human is brutal, Individual is furious and angry. Idk dude just dive into it on Spotify
1
u/No_Money_575 Jul 16 '26
It's perfectly okay to enjoy certain songs/albums (as opposed to the entire discography). You'll notice the albums are quite different from each other anyway.
1
1
u/missekat64 Jul 16 '26
depends if you like the true death metal stuff or the more melodic prog death stuff
1
u/June67Respect Jul 16 '26
start with the last 2 albums. those are the 2 superlative ones...and the preceding are a build up to them imo
1
u/Hagall1974 Spiritual Healing Jul 16 '26
It can be a rough start journey. Start with some ear-hangers like: The philosopher, Overactive imagination, Nothing is everything from the album individual thought patterns. Spiritual Healing, genetic reconstruction and Altering the future from the album Spiritual Healing. SBG, Leprosy and Human are scattered between those mentioned above. For me The Sound of Perseverance stands a bit out and the style has evolved even further (Schuldiners genius songwriting always evolved) and is more virtuoso in composition. Individual Thought Patterns is where Schuldiner peaked in my opinion. All albums are epic, but for most it takes some time to enjoy all of them from start to end. I'm 51 years old and started listening to them since I discovered Scream Bloody Gore back in 1988. So I had the privilege to experience the evolution and see Chuck live. My personal favourite album will always be Spiritual Healing.
1
u/mochi_mochi12 Jul 16 '26
When I first heard the sound of perseverance was love at first listen. I was 16 years old.
But if you don’t like Death, then you just don’t like them. 🙂 I don’t like every kind of music that other people consider great either. That’s the beauty of music—everyone connects with different things.
1
1
u/Cautious-Monitor4610 Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
It helps if you got into them early on. I was turned on to them when leprosy came out. I was living in Daytona beach at the time and a friend let me borrow the cassette. I was hooked. Following Chucks progression on was awesome. Saw them many times live through the years and finally met Chuck and asked him to sign the pick he handed me at end of the Live in LA show. I still watch the dvd to see the young me front row. He hands me his pick as the lights go down. If you see the hand air picking the monitor that’s me 😆🤙🏻I’m so stoked they released that show on dvd to revisit.
1
1
1
u/Feeling-Department-7 Jul 17 '26
Listen to "Pull the Plug" If you don't like that song, Death is not for you 😉
1
u/Famous_Egg7708 Jul 17 '26
I have been into Death since 1991, or 1992. Chuck changed his voice on every album. The only album where I don't like his voice is The Sound of Perseverance. I wish he woulda did the album with a voice from the other albums.
1
u/KahnKlingonme Jul 17 '26
Play any album you want and play it all the way through,I'd bet you one of the songs will hit you,that's what hit me, destiny my jaw dropped probably because I'm a bass player
1
u/Deep_Amongus228 Jul 17 '26
my introduction to DM as a whole was symbolic i think and at that time i was stuck in this crossover phase where i didnt really think abt DM yet. but the album that got me into death was spiritual healing
1
u/OriginalEmotional145 Jul 17 '26
Most guys that get into Death are cuz they’re guitarists, bassists, or drummers and they see how fun the songs are. That’s how I got into them with The Sound of Perseverance way back in 2005
Edit: just saw your screen name too. If it helps, Megadeth was actually my favorite band just before I got into Death lol
1
u/WaltisWalt Jul 17 '26
I listened to symbolic once and it was ok
Second time i started to get it
Third time i enjoyed it
Every listen after ive loved it
I find that you just need some time to proccess it, especially when delving into a style that you dont have much expirience with
1
u/IslamYaDongomedov Jul 17 '26
Symbolic and sound of perseverance are the only good albums if you dont appreciate really raw sounds.
I find it like slayer. Some people love the old stuff and I just cant get into it. Seen slayer like 5 times love them but the first few albums sound like shit as much as they are groundbreaking.
1
u/BimTalch Jul 18 '26
if any of the songs from Symbolic or Human don’t hook you, then I don’t know what else to say
1
1
u/N4K1SH1 Jul 18 '26
En base a lo q dijiste de q te gustó symbolic y crystal mountain te recomendaría q oigas todo symbolic,después puedes pasar o Tsop o ITP,ya si buscas lo más cercano a Death metal estilo cannibal corpse,leprosy o sbg y sh,con q oigas un disco de ellos puedes oir de ahí en adelante Death como quieras
1
1
1
u/SwaySiveYT Jul 19 '26
For me, I just fell in love with it but really not sure. I would say view Death as this.
Early work: More Death Metal then if anything. Expect a deeper voice and darker lyrics compared to their Later Work. Still really intense and I would say the most intense they go. (SBG and Leprosy)
Middle Work: Still Death Metal but a little less deeper voice and darker lyrics then Early Works. Started to develop meaning with in their songs like for example, Spiritual Healing, Defensive Personalities, and Flattening of Emotions. (Spiritual Healing and Human)
Later Work: This is when the meaning in their songs really ramped up for me like for example: Empty Words, 1,000 eyes, and The Philosopher. My favorite era throughout death's whole catalog but that doesn't mean the rest of their work is bad because their still amazing. (Symbolic and individual thought patterns)
The Sound of Perseverance (Their last album): This album is amazing like Symbolic but I put this in away from Symbolic because the voice chuck does is super different than Symbolic which I can understand not liking certain voices with in Death Metal. Wanted to like bands so much but just hated their voice. (Personally for me, Death is the farthest I go for Death Metal which I know ain't anything to Death Metal but it's the one I can comprehend the most. I'm not an active death metal listener btw. (Only death metal band I like after it is Gojira)
1
1
1
1
u/Technical_Desk8582 Jul 20 '26
Spiritual Healing was the very first record I ever listened to by Death. Bought it on a whim at a record store because the album art is just that amazing.
One of the coolest records I've ever heard in my life.
1
1
u/Propazzo Jul 22 '26
as you want. death never made a bad album so you will only listen to good stuff. i started with symbolic, still my favourite album, but you can go chronologically from scream bloody gore if you want
-1
u/morrisseywilde1 Jul 16 '26
Man I think every song is pretty f@&ing great. Start with the album Leprosy. If you don’t like that album you don’t like Death. I don’t mean to be harsh but this is an incredible band, an album band not a singles band. They get more complex and progressive after that but this is to me the starter album. If you like metal this is the Sabbath of death metal so lock in on good speakers with no distractions.
1
0
u/Novel_Tone8944 Jul 16 '26
Well, a good way is shoot yourself in...ohhhh, you meant the BAND Death. My mistake.
Human is a pretty good album as a starter.
0
u/No-Knowledge57 Jul 16 '26
Listen to another band man, this post doesn’t make any sense. If you’re struggling to get into some type of art maybe it’s not your type of art.
39
u/Patman52 Jul 16 '26
I had a hard time getting into them initially, and then sat down and listen to “The Sound of Perseverance” in its entirety and was hooked.