death metal

American  

noun

1. a type of speed metal music featuring violent or Satanic imagery.

---

death metal British  

noun

1. 1. a type of heavy-metal music characterized by extreme speed and lyrics dealing with violence, satanism, etc

   2. ( as modifier )

      a death-metal band

---

Etymology

Origin of death metal

First recorded in 1985–1990

Example Sentences

Tap in a few text descriptors—male blues vocal, 80s synth pop with dark romance, death metal with accordion—and out comes an AI produced song within a matter of minutes.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 28, 2026

“You don’t want to rock down the highway to death metal at 90 decibels with a nervous dog in the car,” she says.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 25, 2026

I have two sons who are into melodic death metal.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 22, 2025

“Chuck Schuldiner of Death,” is about the influential death metal singer-guitarist who died from a brain tumor as he sought to bring new dimensions to his music.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 19, 2025

As it turns out, when Martín was truly mad—yeah, everything I’d seen up to that point was him being cheery—he liked to blast death metal in the kitchen.

From "The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora" by Pablo Cartaya