Slamming Brutal Death Metal

Slamming Brutal Death Metal, usually shortened to slam, is a subgenre of brutal death metal built around the slam riff: a slow, palm-muted, groove-based guitar figure played at a breakdown tempo and repeated for maximum physical impact. Songs alternate these mid-paced, chugging passages with blast-beat sections, pinch harmonics and guttural, often pitch-shifted vocals, while the production favours a dry, drum-heavy mix. Developed in the mid-1990s by New York and Texas bands within the brutal death metal underground, it dispenses with melody and much technical display in favour of rhythmic weight, and remains a fixture of the death metal festival circuit.