What's the differance between death metal and black metal?!

What's the differance between death metal and black metal?

Pure Death Metal is characterized by extremely heavy guitars & really fast, single-patterned double bass drums. The vocals are very low "barking"- type of growling. Musically it uses a lot of dissonance (which means that it sounds really discordant to the ear rather than melodious). The lyrical themes usually treat subjects like satanism, mutilation, cannibalism, Anti-Christianity etc. Examples of Pure Death Metal bands are Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, Obsenity.

Pure Black Metal was originally derived from Death Metal. The sound is still characterised by heavy guitars and fast double bass drums. However, in Black metal the vocals are very high-pitched growls (in contrast to the VERY low growls of Death Metal). It also uses way less dissonance and usually has a relatively quite decent amount of melody in it although the melodies sound dark. Most Pure Black Metal bands have a keyboard player who adds a lot to the dark mood. The lyrical theme usually treats subjects like vampires, blood drinking, midieval dungeon-type dark fantasy (not dragons & heroes, but more like gloomy sadistic barons torturing people, you get the picture?:o)), satanism etc. Bands include Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir and Diabolical Masquerade.

I say "Pure" for both genres because there are obviously hybrids of both that do certain things very differently. For example heavy Death Metal Growling on a melodic background music is called Melodic Death Metal, or the vast majority of Black Metal bands from Scandinavia play what is known as Norse Pagan Black Metal. Usually the lyrical content of the hybrids tend to be less morbid and dark.

So again the main differences between the pure genres lie in the vocals, the structure and the sound, and the lyrical content. Say Death Metal is the perfect music to listen to when you're about to brutally mutilate someone :o) whereas Black Metal is the music to listen to when you're having dark thoughts turned inwards or when you feel you wanna take a sip of blood :o)

Death Metal and Black Metal are the only two members of what is known as Extreme Metal.

I personally do not like any of the 2 genres in their pure form (specially Death metal) because the music is too simplistic, does not make any sense to my ears, I find the lyrical themes to be absurd and I do not like those types of growling (personal taste, no judgment). However I do love some bands that do SOME hybrids of the genres; Melodic Death Metal in particular (Children of Bodom, Amoral).

Hope this answers your question:0) Take Care

Note: Motorhead, L.A. Guns, and Overkill have NOTHING to do with Death Metal. Motorhead and L.A. Guns are not even metal; just 80s hard rock!