StarDestroyer.Net BBS

So I'm kind of a stickler for genre assignments on my mp3 player. For most of my music (mostly different kinds of metal) I have a pretty easy time deciding what they are. I get a little stuck on black/death metal. So I'm wondering how you tell the difference (I don't need advice for specific bands, I'm just curious in general). I mean, some are pretty easy, like Cannibal Corpse is clearly death metal, and Emperor is pretty clearly black metal, but how exactly do you tell the difference? And actually, how do you distinguish different kinds of metal in general?

You label them whatever the band says they are, within reason. If Barry Manilow comes out tomorrow and says he's been a Death Metal musician his entire career...

Aha, well, that would certainly make sense. I never really thought of it. I'm always trying to figure it out based on certain chords, vocals, drum beats, guitar tone, etc. Barry Manilow though...*shudder* that would be a little too surreal for me.

I generally distinguish death metel from black metal by, in death metal, the singer sounds like he will cause pain, whereas the black metal singer sounds like he is in pain. Corpse paint is a tip off it's a black metal band. If you can actually read the band logo, it's probably a death metal band.

Listen to the vocals first and foremost, that's how you can tell 90% of the genres apart (especially if they're early 90s bands with a dedication to "rawness" in their sound).

Death metal vocals tend more towards the cannibal corpse style, though there are higher pitched deviations (like Death and Obituary). Black metal vocals tend to be mid to high pitched shrieks by comparison.

Guitars frequently differ, too. Death metal is often in B, A or Drop A, whereas black metal is often in standard E or D (the fusion genre of blackened death metal is often in D). Death metal riffage is more likely to revolve around some chuggy low notes, whereas black metal riffage frequently uses higher notes for the bulk of the song (e.g. lots more of the main riff is played on the standard tuning A string in a black metal band, whereas death bands tend to play on a B string or downtuned E string). Death metal is much more prone to technical guitar playing than black metal is, both in terms of lots of fiddly soloes/riffs and complex tempo changes and the like.

Drums, again, death metal tends to bring out the technical stuff, but both forms of "extreme" drumming usually involve a load of blast beats and so are interchangable.