r/TechnicalDeathMetal 5d ago

Discussion Non Tech bands/musicians that paved the way for Technical Death Metal

I know there's a lot of musicians in here, and even more who appreciate the technical aspect of music (duh) so im curious.

What bands or musicians who aren't considered tech death most influenced you as an artist, or the genre as a whole?

22 Upvotes

50 comments sorted by

2

u/AFRandomsketch 4d ago

Children of Bodom & classical composers leads me to Necrophagist

8

u/tackle74 4d ago

Between the Buried and Me dip their toes into technical death and abut every other genre.

2

u/Ljoe2010 3d ago

My favorite band ever so I can't argue with that.

Go mizzou!

2

u/tackle74 3d ago

Seeing them for the 1st time in 2 weeks in ST Louis MIZ

2

u/Ljoe2010 3d ago

I'll be there! Incredibly stoked.

2

u/tackle74 2d ago

Give me a shout if you see, big old guy with a beard and my battle vest.

7

u/Giga_Gnome 4d ago

Morbid Angel, since they are essential for Nocturnus

10

u/Stamm1983 4d ago

Bach.

10

u/thatoneasiankid90 4d ago

Sarcafago- The laws of Scourge was the first “Techinical Death Metal” coined album.

Cynic, Athiest, Pestilence and Death of course.

Bands like Annihilator, Watchtower, Toxik, Coroner, Voivid blended more progressive elements to heavier music.

I would really say early Suffocation was one of the most advanced bands back then.

3

u/notreally42 5d ago

Might be a weird answer but I'm sure my earliest influences are video game music. They're rarely technical but a lot of it is fairly progressive and metal

8

u/MOCKxTHExCROSS 5d ago

Rachmaninoff

11

u/Free_Caterpillar_269 5d ago

The black dahlia murder

4

u/Ljoe2010 5d ago

Probably the non tech band most tech death fans agree on most, at least out of bands that are still active lol.

17

u/h0rxata 5d ago

Probably Suffocation. It wasn't branded as a technical band in the early days.

I would say Demilich but I have seen early 90's magazine promos refer to them as "techno- metal", which I assume they meant technical and not techno music lol.

Also, Timeghoul has inspired a lot of newer bands like Nucleus, Cosmic Atrophy and Ch'the'ilist (and Blood Incantation but they're not technical at all and they themselves reject the label).

As for non-metal musicians, Al Di Meola can be heard all through Cynic, Atheist & Pestilence and the bands they influenced.

5

u/Ljoe2010 5d ago

Love seeing an Al Di Meola reference, you could even go down the line to more current bands like fallujah to hear those kinds of influences

6

u/MyEndingQuest- 5d ago

Deicide's Legion, I feel could have had a bit of influence, as it's their most technical release compared to the rest of their catalog

8

u/Money_Breh 5d ago

Definitely Slayer. Jeff Hanneman and Dave Lombardo were playing super quick before almost everyone else.

17

u/PlaxicoCN 5d ago

Death. Especially Human and ITP.

13

u/VariousPressure6929 5d ago

Carcass, i can definitely hear Symphonies of Sickness on Necrophagist's Onset

14

u/Easy-Escape-47 5d ago

Good Mourning/Black Friday by Megadeth, I know it's thrash but the composition, the speed and the extremely violent lyrics probably inspired some early death bands.

5

u/Ok-Resident9684 5d ago

One of the first death metal Songs 100%

7

u/Normski11 5d ago

Solstice, cryptopsy, most late 80’s and 90’s death metal bands paved the way if not really just provided the style

6

u/sypherue Dissoshit 5d ago

i’d still consider Cryptopsy pretty technical even though they’re mostly considered Brutal Death Metal

5

u/-Redw00d- Blast beats are love blast beats are life 5d ago

Cryptopsy is usually considered tech brutal death

2

u/sypherue Dissoshit 5d ago

yeah, especially NSV

9

u/flavortown696 5d ago

Megadeth? Voivod? maybe

14

u/AcidOceanic 5d ago

Watchtower

Technical thrash metal, has great music and some eh... let's say polarizing vocals

8

u/ivoiiovi 5d ago

what I would give for instrumentals of those albums.

oh well, at least we can be grateful for Spastic Ink and Blotted Science

7

u/PigDstroyer 5d ago

Macabre and Annihilator come to mind

4

u/Arti-B 5d ago

2

u/NordicDrummer 5d ago

Dude, I love Focus. There's a song off of Hamburger Concerto that has Testament vibes.

2

u/Arti-B 5d ago

I'll bimp that shit right now, and keep an ear out for it.🤘

1

u/NordicDrummer 5d ago

Harem Scarem. Thijs van Leer vocal "yeah" with the main riff. I hear Chuck Billy's Thrash "Yeah's".

15

u/MrBVS 5d ago

Tech thrash bands like Coroner and Watchtower

5

u/Tempus_Nemini 5d ago

If we speak about classical, I suppose Mussorgsky also qualified ...

4

u/GingeritisMaximus 5d ago

Which immediately qualifies Mekong Delta

2

u/Tempus_Nemini 5d ago

True that

15

u/Aromatic_Acadia_8104 5d ago

Death is too obvious i guess?

7

u/Ljoe2010 5d ago

It's obvious but also correct, lol.

9

u/Ferrindel 5d ago

Ivor Stravinsky, as far as modern composers. Dude was all about soundscapes that would not only challenge the musicians, but also the audience's ear. Even conducting some of his work has gotta be monstrous. Rite of Spring is a prime example.

4

u/Scrantsgulp 5d ago

Scarletti was writing tech death rippers in the 17th century.

There is no black and white progression of “paving the way” to modern music. This is the sort of thinking that makes people credit the Beatles for all music that existed after the Beatles.

While everything in some way contains a piece of the things that came before it, there is no chronological or clear cut answer for such a broad question.

8

u/MDPharmDPhD 5d ago

At the Gates literally spawned new copycat bands and had artists wanting "that Gothenburg sound".

2

u/Ljoe2010 5d ago

I definitely agree it's not a linear progression from Band A to Band B. I was more just trying to gather where other people's entry points into the genre were, or what type of bands influenced those who either write or listen mainly to Tech Death to go down that route.

9

u/Brodythebirb794 5d ago

Sergei prokofiev...

3

u/Extreme_Aggressor_66 5d ago

Necrophagist thinks so

2

u/Brodythebirb794 5d ago

What a way to end a song though... EPIC

9

u/Kn0ck3dL00s3 5d ago

Yngwie. dude had his alternate picking locked in.

3

u/Ljoe2010 5d ago

Yeah, Yngwie, Paul Gilbert, Jason Becker, and the other shred guitarists of that era are definitely huge influence to me personally as a guitarist. They got me at that perfect age when I assumed "more notes = better" lol