Old school death metal

Old school death metal denotes the original wave of death metal recorded between the mid-1980s and the early 1990s, before the genre fragmented into technical, melodic and brutal schools. Rooted chiefly in Florida, New York and Stockholm, pioneering bands such as *Death*, *Morbid Angel*, *Obituary* and *Entombed* defined the sound on albums including "Scream Bloody Gore", "Altars of Madness" and "Left Hand Path": downtuned riffing, growled vocals, punk-derived speed and gore-soaked imagery. Its relatively raw production and verse-chorus directness distinguish it from later progressive and hyper-technical variants.