Is it time for an OLD-SCHOOL FLORIDA DEATH METAL revival???
As we all know, teh metal scene is creatively bankrupt. With the fans hopelessly stuck in the past, the genre’s taste level remains frozen in 1998 or so– which means that the metal scene is basically just a bunch of losers with no new ideas ripping off the bands that came before them ad nauseum. If u think about it, it’s basically the same thing as those weirdos who do Civil War reenactments: a bunch of dorks dressing up in silly historical costumes and doing their best to act out stuff that happened a long time ago while normal ppl walk past and are like “wtf.” It’s getting so bad that I will seriously not be surprised if 2015 is the year of neo-neo-thrash (bands copying Toxic Holocaust and Warbringer while being totally unaware that Evildead or Nuclear Assault ever existed).
With that in mind, what I am wondering is why we haven’t seen a revival of what was without a doubt the most influential and awesome part of the 90s scene: FLORIDA DEATH METAL. I mean, we’ve seen wave after wave of discount melodeath, thrash, doom, and even early 90s mall metal, but not old-school FLDM?? Smdh. I mean yeah I guess kids know the big names like Morbid Angle and Decide but there is way way way more to FLDM than that!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm6UmEB0fV8
If u are unaware, the roots of “technical death metal” as we know it today are in what Atheist, Cynic and Death were doing back in the early 90s. The trick is to not listen to all the entry-level posers from the “I only like the demo” crowd. I mean, the Cynic and Atheist demos are sick but lettuce be cereal, what they did on their albums was 100x more advanced and if u are a REAL fldm fan u will jam “Focus” and “Elements” over the demos any day. The other thing u need to understand is that altho metal dorks respect these albums now, they were HATED when they came out. I was talking to Sean Reinert the other day and he was telling me about how when Cynic toured with The Canibal Corpses in 1994 people threw bottles at them!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uRyaYkymJY
The real soul of what I would hope to see in a FLDM revival is what bands like SOLSTICE were doing– ass-raping technical deathrash that was a little smarter and more progressive than the NY bands of the time without going full prog. It makes me cry inside that kids these days take JUNGLE ROT seriously but have no idea that SOLSTICE even existed :(
if u want to know the secret of getting sick 90s death metal tones, u can start by throwing away ur HM-2 and organge Rockerverb because old school death metal is all about SOLID STATE AMPS!!!! especially this one, the ampeg vh140c, which is the king of that dead “jun jun” chug sound that’s so crucial to this style. Honorable mention goes to the Randall RH100– read more in this awesome GearGods post “Ubiquitous Mediocre Amps Of The 90s.”
Most ppl know MONSTROSITY as being Corpsegrinder’s old band, but I know them as not only the title holders in the “literally worst album art of all time” contest but also as probably the best example of generic 90s FLDM (in a good way). Is there anything even slightly remarkable about anything this band ever did? Fuk no, but that’s why I like it– I love when a band is exactly what u expect them to be!!
And last but certainly not least, maybe my favorite example of sick old-school FLDM is RESURRECTION– especially the lulzy voiceover guy who did those silly little things between songs. But anyway with sludge and doom being the hipster metal subgenres of choice these days I am rly disappointed that kids these days are not into this band. I mean listen to this shit, it’s like the perfect fusion of technical thrash and doomy parts, they should be the most-jocked band of 2014! Oh and not to mention the drumming of the one and only Alex fukin Marquez!
What do u think?? Will FLDM be The Next Big Thing?? Have u traded in ur 5150 for a Randall solid state head yet? Is ur band going to incorporate fusion elements in ur next demo and start citing BRUTALITY as an influence???
