death metal

American  

noun

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

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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

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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

A death metal band doesn’t really have hits in the way other kinds of music might, because there’s no singles chart for death metal, for example.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 3, 2025

The mainstream hard rockers and hair bands of the 1980s certainly wouldn’t exist without Osbourne, but neither would more niche offshoots, like stoner rock, thrash metal, death metal and doom metal.

From Salon • Jul. 26, 2025

He was really into death metal, so he usually came to school dressed head to toe in black.

From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi