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Death

United States · formed 1984 · last active 2020

Scores span the whole discography; the technical/progressive style, jazz-fusion musicianship, and Gene Hoglan's tenure belong to the 1993-1995 era (Individual Thought Patterns, Symbolic).

Death, formed in Florida in 1983 by guitarist/vocalist Chuck Schuldiner, is the foundational American death metal band - its 1987 debut Scream Bloody Gore is widely cited as one of the genre's first records. Across seven albums Schuldiner, the sole constant member, steered the band from raw, gory death metal toward an increasingly technical and progressive style, culminating in Human (1991), Individual Thought Patterns (1993) and Symbolic (1995). That later era wove jazz-fusion musicianship into extreme metal, drawing on Cynic's Paul Masvidal and Sean Reinert and Steve DiGiorgio's fretless bass. The band ended with Schuldiner's death from brain cancer in 2001.

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SCORE PROFILE

JazzyBalkanHardcoreSurfBarbershopDeathBlackTechnicalGlitchTheatricalFolkDoomDroneShoegazeAmbient8-bit
Jazzy3
Balkan0
Hardcore1
Surf0
Barbershop0
Death9
Black0
Technical8
Glitch0
Theatrical1
Folk0
Doom1
Drone0
Shoegaze0
Ambient1
8-bit0

Accent numbers counted towards the index. Hover an axis — or hold it on a phone — for what it means.

WHY THOSE SCORES

  • Jazzy 3 — The Human/Individual Thought Patterns era folded jazz-fusion technique into death metal via Cynic's Paul Masvidal and Sean Reinert and Steve DiGiorgio's fretless bass - polyrhythms and progressive harmonies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_(metal_band)

MEMBERS

CONNECTIONS

member · 12
collaboration
artwork · 18
  • Age of Silencepath →

    Both bands' cover art was done by freelance illustrator Travis Smith: "Artwork [Artwork By]" credit on Death's The Sound of Perseverance (1998) and "Design [Graphics Design], Artwork [Artwork Photography], Layout" credit on Age of Silence's Acceleration (2004), both confirmed via Discogs extraartists. Pairwise artwork tie per the 2026-08-07 ruling (PROTOCOL rule 7) — Smith is not an atlas band member so there is no anchor band. Companion credit logged in research/edge-taxonomy-ledger.json. source ↗

  • Author & Punisherpath →

    Both bands' cover art/design work was done by freelance artist Orion Landau: Author & Punisher's "Beastland" (2018) and Death's "Vivus!" (2012). Pairwise artwork tie per the 2026-08-07 ruling (PROTOCOL rule 7) — Orion Landau is not an atlas band member so there is no anchor band. One representative Discogs credit cited; the companion credit is logged in research/edge-taxonomy-ledger.json. source ↗

  • Baronesspath →

    Both bands' cover art/design work was done by freelance artist Orion Landau: Baroness's "Blue Record" (2009) and Death's "Vivus!" (2012). Pairwise artwork tie per the 2026-08-07 ruling (PROTOCOL rule 7) — Orion Landau is not an atlas band member so there is no anchor band. One representative Discogs credit cited; the companion credit is logged in research/edge-taxonomy-ledger.json. source ↗

  • Between the Buried and Mepath →

    Both bands' cover art is by Travis Smith (Discogs artist id 1829438, Seempieces): Between the Buried and Me's "Immersed" (2005, Artwork) and Death's own Travis Smith-credited release. Pairwise artwork tie per the 2026-08-07 ruling (PROTOCOL rule 7) — Smith is not an atlas band member so there is no anchor band. Part of Smith's existing 9-band client cluster, now 10 with this addition. source ↗

  • Brain Tentaclespath →

    Both bands' cover art/design work was done by freelance artist Orion Landau: Brain Tentacles's "Brain Tentacles" (2016) and Death's "Vivus!" (2012). Pairwise artwork tie per the 2026-08-07 ruling (PROTOCOL rule 7) — Orion Landau is not an atlas band member so there is no anchor band. One representative Discogs credit cited; the companion credit is logged in research/edge-taxonomy-ledger.json. source ↗

  • Casualties of Coolpath →

    Both bands' cover art was done by freelance illustrator Travis Smith: "Artwork [Artwork By]" credit on Death's The Sound of Perseverance (1998) and "Artwork" credit on Casualties of Cool's Casualties of Cool (2014), both confirmed via Discogs extraartists. Pairwise artwork tie per the 2026-08-07 ruling (PROTOCOL rule 7) — Smith is not an atlas band member so there is no anchor band. Companion credit logged in research/edge-taxonomy-ledger.json. source ↗

  • Cephalic Carnagesatellitepath →

    Both bands' cover art/design work was done by freelance artist Orion Landau: Cephalic Carnage's "Lucid Interval" (2003) and Death's "Vivus!" (2012). Pairwise artwork tie per the 2026-08-07 ruling (PROTOCOL rule 7) — Orion Landau is not an atlas band member so there is no anchor band. One representative Discogs credit cited; the companion credit is logged in research/edge-taxonomy-ledger.json. source ↗

  • Devin Townsend (maximalist era)path →

    Both bands' cover art was done by freelance illustrator Travis Smith: "Artwork [Artwork By]" credit on Death's The Sound of Perseverance (1998) and "Artwork" credit on Devin Townsend's Ziltoid the Omniscient (2007), both confirmed via Discogs extraartists. Pairwise artwork tie per the 2026-08-07 ruling (PROTOCOL rule 7) — Smith is not an atlas band member so there is no anchor band. Companion credit logged in research/edge-taxonomy-ledger.json. source ↗

  • Dillinger Escape Planpath →

    Both bands' cover art/design work was done by freelance artist Orion Landau (Discogs artist id 594339): The Dillinger Escape Plan's "Cursed, Unshaven, And Misbehavin'" (2003, Design/Sleeve) and Death's "Vivus!" (2012). Pairwise artwork tie per the 2026-08-07 ruling (PROTOCOL rule 7) — Orion Landau is not an atlas band member so there is no anchor band. Dillinger Escape Plan joins Landau's existing pairwise cluster as a 10th client. One representative Discogs credit cited; the companion credit is logged in research/edge-taxonomy-ledger.json. source ↗

  • Dysrhythmiapath →

    Both bands' cover art/design work was done by freelance artist Orion Landau: Death's "Vivus!" (2012) and Dysrhythmia's "Live From The Relapse Contamination Festival" (2004). Pairwise artwork tie per the 2026-08-07 ruling (PROTOCOL rule 7) — Orion Landau is not an atlas band member so there is no anchor band. One representative Discogs credit cited; the companion credit is logged in research/edge-taxonomy-ledger.json. source ↗

  • Mastodonpath →

    Both bands' cover art/design work was done by freelance artist Orion Landau: Death's "Vivus!" (2012) and Mastodon's "Remission" (2003). Pairwise artwork tie per the 2026-08-07 ruling (PROTOCOL rule 7) — Orion Landau is not an atlas band member so there is no anchor band. One representative Discogs credit cited; the companion credit is logged in research/edge-taxonomy-ledger.json. source ↗

  • Opethpath →

    Both bands' cover art was done by freelance illustrator Travis Smith: "Artwork" credit on Death's The Sound of Perseverance (1998) and "Artwork" credit on Opeth's Blackwater Park (2001), both confirmed via Discogs extraartists. Pairwise artwork tie per the 2026-08-07 ruling (PROTOCOL rule 7) — Smith is not an atlas band member so there is no anchor band. Companion credit logged in research/edge-taxonomy-ledger.json. source ↗

  • Russian Circlespath →

    Both bands' cover art/design work was done by freelance artist Orion Landau: Death's "Vivus!" (2012) and Russian Circles's "Blood Year" (2019). Pairwise artwork tie per the 2026-08-07 ruling (PROTOCOL rule 7) — Orion Landau is not an atlas band member so there is no anchor band. One representative Discogs credit cited; the companion credit is logged in research/edge-taxonomy-ledger.json. source ↗

  • Soulflysatellitepath →

    Freelance illustrator Travis Smith is credited "Artwork" on Death's The Sound of Perseverance (1998) and "Layout" on Soulfly's Omen (2010), both confirmed via Discogs extraartists. Pairwise artwork tie per PROTOCOL rule 7 — Smith is not an atlas band member. Companion credit logged in research/edge-taxonomy-ledger.json. source ↗

  • Strapping Young Ladpath →

    Both bands' cover art was done by freelance illustrator Travis Smith: "Artwork [Artwork By]" credit on Death's The Sound of Perseverance (1998) and "Artwork [Visuals]" credit on Strapping Young Lad's SYL (2003), both confirmed via Discogs extraartists. Pairwise artwork tie per the 2026-08-07 ruling (PROTOCOL rule 7) — Smith is not an atlas band member so there is no anchor band. Companion credit logged in research/edge-taxonomy-ledger.json. source ↗

  • Testamentpath →

    Both bands' cover art was done by freelance illustrator Travis Smith: "Artwork [Artwork By]" credit on Death's The Sound of Perseverance (1998) and "Artwork" credit on Testament's First Strike Still Deadly (2008 reissue), both confirmed via Discogs extraartists. Pairwise artwork tie per the 2026-08-07 ruling (PROTOCOL rule 7) — Smith is not an atlas band member so there is no anchor band. Companion credit logged in research/edge-taxonomy-ledger.json. source ↗

  • Today Is the Daypath →

    Both bands' cover art/design work was done by freelance artist Orion Landau: Death's "Vivus!" (2012) and Today Is the Day's "Sadness Will Prevail" (2002). Pairwise artwork tie per the 2026-08-07 ruling (PROTOCOL rule 7) — Orion Landau is not an atlas band member so there is no anchor band. One representative Discogs credit cited; the companion credit is logged in research/edge-taxonomy-ledger.json. source ↗

  • Windspath →

    Both bands' cover art was done by freelance illustrator Travis Smith: "Artwork [Artwork By]" credit on Death's The Sound of Perseverance (1998) and "Design, Layout" credit on Winds' Reflections of the I (2002), both confirmed via Discogs extraartists. Pairwise artwork tie per the 2026-08-07 ruling (PROTOCOL rule 7) — Smith is not an atlas band member so there is no anchor band. Companion credit logged in research/edge-taxonomy-ledger.json. source ↗

label · 10

FURTHER LISTENING

Nearest score profiles in the atlas.

  • Dissonant tech-deathEI 4
    Gorgutssatellite
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    Gorguts is a Canadian extreme-metal band formed in Sherbrooke, Québec in 1989 around founder Luc Lemay, and one of the acts that turned death metal toward dissonant, atonal, structurally complex 'avant-garde' territory (notably on 1998's Obscura and 2013's Colored Sands). Their experimentalism lives inside the death-metal idiom rather than in cross-genre blending, pairing technically demanding writing with harsh, jagged harmony. The reunion lineup drew in New York avant-metal figures Kevin Hufnagel and Colin Marston.

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    Aoecistsatellite
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    Aoecist is the solo microtonal dissonant death metal project of Alan Brucke (aka The Cynic), who also plays in Pull the Strings and Mind Prisoner. Debut EP 'With a Whimper' (2025, Hauntology Records) pairs sickly microtonal riffing and atonal guitar tones with abrupt tempo shifts and a nihilistic lyrical stance. A 2025 three-way split, 'Illusory Dissolvents', paired Aoecist with fellow dissonant death acts Light Dweller and Sleep Paralysis. Firmly a bedroom one-person dissonant death metal project rather than a scene-connected act.

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  • UnaffiliatedEI 10
    Rivers of Nihil
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    Rivers of Nihil are a Reading, Pennsylvania band who wrote a four-album cycle with one season each, and turned the autumn record into the one everybody names first. Where Owls Know My Name (2018) put a saxophone in the middle of a technical death metal album — three solos and atmospheric passages from Burial in the Sky's Zach Strouse, with cello and trumpet around them — and it landed because the songs were already long, cinematic and keyboard-shaded, with somewhere for a horn to go. Brody Uttley's keys and programming carry that atmosphere; Adam Biggs moved from bass to lead vocals in 2022, and the self-titled 2025 album was written with no dedicated frontman at all. The saxophone stayed, which is the tell: the band deliberately refused to be 'the sax band' and kept using it anyway, as one more colour rather than a gimmick to retire.

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  • UnaffiliatedEI 15
    Sarmat
    TechnicalDeathJazzy

    Sarmat is a New York technical death metal quintet whose 2023 debut Determined to Strike (I, Voidhanger Records) pairs Gorguts-style dissonance with jazz-fusion horn and piano interludes, drawing comparisons to a hybrid of Imperial Triumphant and Weather Report. The record is framed as the first chapter of a three-part interstellar sci-fi concept cycle, and was mastered by Colin Marston at his Menegroth studio. Bassist/pianist guest Steve Blanco doubles as the touring bassist of Imperial Triumphant.

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  • Dissonant tech-deathEI 4
    Encenathrakhsatellite
    DeathTechnical

    Encenathrakh is an American brutal death metal supergroup founded in Columbus, Ohio around 2013-2014, uniting bassist/guitarist Colin Marston (Gorguts, Dysrhythmia, Krallice, Behold... The Arctopus), guitarist Mick Barr (Orthrelm, Krallice), drummer Weasel Walter (The Flying Luttenbachers, Behold... The Arctopus), and vocalist Paulo Henri Paguntalan. Their music pushes brutal death metal to an atonal, disjointed extreme, with Marston citing avant-garde composer Brian Ferneyhough's dense scores as a touchstone.

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  • UnaffiliatedEI 10
    Dethklok
    DeathTechnical

    Dethklok is the real-world melodic death metal act behind Brendon Small's animated series Metalocalypse, with Small performing guitars, lead vocals, bass and keyboards and Gene Hoglan (Strapping Young Lad, Death, Dark Angel) on drums since the 2007 debut The Dethalbum. Powered by Hoglan's blast beats and Small's technical shredding, the studio project became the highest-charting death metal act in Billboard 200 history at the time. Its over-the-top satirical concept culminated in the sung-through metal opera The Doomstar Requiem (2013). The touring lineup has drawn on Zappa/Vai-school virtuosos including Bryan Beller, Mike Keneally and Nili Brosh.

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  • UnaffiliatedEI 12
    Dagtum
    DeathTechnicalJazzy

    Dagtum is a Filipino death metal trio from Pateros formed by veterans of the local extreme-metal underground, including Adam Carlo Along of Legion and brothers Ronaldo Jr. and Ronnel Vivo of Basalt Shrine. Their 2021 debut Revered Decadence (Eastbreath Records) folds dissonant, sludge-thickened death metal into jazz-inflected improvisation and creepy, horror-soundtrack atmosphere, drawing comparisons to Gorguts, Ulcerate and Portal.

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  • UnaffiliatedEI 10
    Ingurgitating Oblivion
    TechnicalDeathJazzy

    Ingurgitating Oblivion are a German death metal band (active as such since 2002, roots in 1997) built around founder-guitarist Florian Engelke. Their later work, especially Vision Wallows in Symphonies of Light (2017) and Ontology of Nought (2024), moved into progressive, dissonant, avant-garde death metal, lacing Gorguts-style dissonance with jazz guitars, vibraphone, piano and musical saw, and drawing openly on Ligeti, Bartok and jazz. With Defeated Sanity's Lille Gruber on drums for the pivotal 2017 record, they became a fixture of the explorative death-metal underground.

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  • UnaffiliatedEI 9
    Orgone
    DeathTechnicalJazzy

    Orgone is a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania avant-garde extreme-metal band formed in 2006, beginning as a technical deathgrind outfit (Accumulator, The Goliath) before drifting toward a genre-agnostic progressive death sound. The Joyless Parson (recorded 2008, released 2014) and Pleroma (2024) fold acoustic/chamber instrumentation, cello, jazz voicings and post-metal atmosphere into their knotty tech-death, with the band openly describing itself as unclassifiable. It stands as a cult, self-releasing act on the experimental fringe of American death metal.

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  • UnaffiliatedEI 8
    ByoNoiseGenerator
    TechnicalDeathJazzy

    ByoNoiseGenerator are a five-piece avant-garde/brutal death metal and deathgrind band from Perm, Russia, formed in 2014, built around a dedicated saxophone player alongside the standard metal lineup. Their three LPs (Turbulent Biogenesis 2015, Neuromechanica 2018, Subnormal Dives 2025) blend insanely technical grindcore with freeform jazz, funk (Primus-style) guitar work and drum-and-bass detours. Subnormal Dives (2025) drew coverage from Angry Metal Guy, The Progressive Subway and Everything Is Noise for this jazz/deathgrind hybrid.

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