A hard-and-fast rule in Death Metal aesthetics is that the more technical the music, the less sophisticated the logo. This is exemplified in Technical Death Metal, a genre whose musicians and artists mix “fast, virtuosic guitar riffs and solos of varying tempos and time signature changes with prevalent drumming and frequent blast beats.”¹ It’s like they opt to convey an impression of modesty (or perhaps false modesty), often leading to conversations like this:

• “I can play with my eyes closed!”
• “Cool! But did you also have to do that logo with your eyes closed?”

It is worthwhile pointing out here that you can often place a band in this genre somewhere in time just by looking at the band’s logo. In the 1990s and before, Tech Death bands had “analogously” hand-drawn logos; post-2000s, these logos have been done mostly digitally – and it shows.

Some Technical Death Metal bands to check out:

• Necrophagist
  • Band information
  • Spotify
• Nile
  • Band information
  • Spotify
• Origin
  • Band information
  • Spotify

1990s Tech Death

Logo-wise, it’s usually easy to recognize 1990s bands playing in this genre. They often have what looks like a Black Metal logo, except it’s not – it’s not nearly as sophisticated. If they’re still active to this day, they now probably have a type-only logo, one that is most likely superimposed over an earlier “Black Metal-like” logo.

Some 1990s Tech Death bands to check out:

• Cryptopsy
  • Band information
  • Spotify
• Pestilence
  • Band information
  • Spotify
• Spawn of Possession
  • Band information
  • Spotify

Related (sub)genre(s):

Reference(s):

[1] M. Unger. Sound, Symbol, Sociality: The Aesthetic Experience of Extreme Metal Music, p. 20, 2016.

Take me back to the sample overview.