The evolution of a band’s sound is often a testament to their artistic ambition. While many groups remain tethered to the genre that birthed them, others choose to push boundaries, eventually shedding their original skin to explore new musical territories. Here are five bands who started out as death metal acts but ultimately moved in wildly different directions.
While each of these bands shares a common thread in the earliest facets of their careers, they have since diverged into distinct sonic landscapes. It is worth noting that while there are instances of bands abandoning their death metal roots across the globe, four of the bands highlighted here hail from Sweden, with the fifth originating from neighboring Norway.
Sweden has long been a global hotbed for death metal, particularly the melodic variety. This may be attributed to the 1983 broadcast of the Dortmund Festival on Swedish television, which featured legendary acts such as Def Leppard, Krokus, Ozzy Osbourne, Michael Schenker, Quiet Riot, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Scorpions. The influence of these melodic pioneers clearly left an indelible mark on the impressionable youths who would go on to form bands just as the death metal scene began to bubble up.
The extreme origins of these five bands are where the comparisons start and stop. Each eventually drifted from their early style, with some shedding their extremity altogether. Today, you are unlikely to find them all on the same playlist, as their current sounds bear little resemblance to their formative years.
While overhauling a sound can be a risky endeavor, these artists likely never would have reaped their current rewards had they not followed their own creative ambitions.
