Editing Death metal (section)

==Etymology==
{{quotebox
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| author = Lee du-Caine and Joel McIver of [[MusicRadar]]
| source = <ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/a-history-of-death-metal-249395 | title=A history of death metal | date=April 30, 2010 }}</ref>
| quote = By 1984, [[Venom (band)|Venom]]-influenced acts crept through the [[underground music|underground]], peddling aggressive [[thrash metal|thrash]] with gruff vocals: San Francisco's [[Possessed (band)|Possessed]] released the ''Death Metal'' demo, Switzerland's [[Hellhammer]] appeared on a compilation called ''Death Metal'', and Florida's [[Death (metal band)|Death]] put out ''Death By Metal''. Notice a theme yet?
}}

Verifiable uses of the term "death metal" began around 1983, however it was largely interchangeable with what is now understood as [[thrash metal]].<ref name="Zoris, 2025">{{cite web |last1=Zoris |first1=Alexandros |title=HEAVY METAL SUBGENRES ΚΑΤΑ ΤΗΝ ΔΕΚΑΕΤΙΑ ΤΟΥ '80 – ΟΡΟΛΟΓΙΑ, ΑΠΑΡΧΕΣ, ΝΟΗΜΑΤΟΔΟΤΗΣΗ ΚΑΙ ΜΕΤΕΠΕΙΤΑ ΕΞΕΛΙΞΗ - ΜΕΡΟΣ 1ο |url=https://metalzone.gr/articles/heavy-metal-subgenres-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%B1-%CF%84%CE%B7%CE%BD-%CE%B4%CE%B5%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B5%CF%84%CE%B9%CE%B1-%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%85-%E2%80%9880-%E2%80%93-%CE%BF%CF%81%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%BF%CE%B3%CE%B9%CE%B1-%CE%B1%CF%80%CE%B1%CF%81%CF%87%CE%B5%CF%83-%CE%BD%CE%BF%CE%B7%CE%BC%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%BF%CE%B4%CE%BF%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%83%CE%B7-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B9 |access-date=7 March 2025 |archive-date=March 7, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250307222244/https://metalzone.gr/articles/heavy-metal-subgenres-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%B1-%CF%84%CE%B7%CE%BD-%CE%B4%CE%B5%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B5%CF%84%CE%B9%CE%B1-%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%85-%E2%80%9880-%E2%80%93-%CE%BF%CF%81%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%BF%CE%B3%CE%B9%CE%B1-%CE%B1%CF%80%CE%B1%CF%81%CF%87%CE%B5%CF%83-%CE%BD%CE%BF%CE%B7%CE%BC%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%BF%CE%B4%CE%BF%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%83%CE%B7-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B9 |url-status=live }}</ref> The 1983 premier issue of the [[zine]] ''Metal Chaos'' used the term to describe the music that disc-jockey Gene Khoury played on [[WMSC (FM)]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shapiro |first1=Lantz |journal=Metal Chaos |date=1983 |volume=1 |page=15 |title=Northwest Metal |url=https://thecorroseum.org/fanzines/metal_chaos-01.php#pid=14 |access-date=7 March 2025 |archive-date=March 13, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250313140846/https://thecorroseum.org/fanzines/metal_chaos-01.php#pid=14 |url-status=live }}</ref> and the Winter 1983–1984 issue of ''[[Metal Forces]]'' used the term to describe [[Metal Church]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shannon |first1=Mike |title=Metal Church Let Us Pray |journal=[[Metal Forces]] |date=1984 |issue=2 |page=8 |url=https://archive.org/details/brjkkjjjjj |access-date=7 March 2025 |quote= Kurdt Vanderhof, the band's founder and guitarist, constructed the CHURCH even before the likes of Mike Varney, METALLICA or stateside Death Metal were ever established.}}</ref> and [[Hellhammer]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Doe|first1=Bernard|title=Demo-Lition |journal=[[Metal Forces]] |date=1984 |issue=2 |page=45 |url=https://archive.org/details/brjkkjjjjj |access-date=7 March 2025 |quote=HELLHAMMER take the meaning of "Death Metal" to its extreme (you've surely got to be dead to appreciate this although brain damage may help!) However, the band like to describe their music as "Blood Attack" and proclaim themselves as being "The Axe Attack From The Darker Side Of Metal"}}</ref>

During 1984, use of the term began to gravitate towards more extreme bands, such as [[Bathory (band)|Bathory]], [[Destruction (band)|Destruction]], [[Onslaught (band)|Onslaught]], [[Slayer]] and [[Sodom (band)|Sodom]]. Hellhammer, in particular, put a significant emphasis on the term, being used in the liner notes for ''[[Apocalyptic Raids]]'' (1984),<ref name="Zoris, 2025" /> and being used as the name for both [[Thomas Gabriel Fischer|Thomas Fischer]] and [[Martin Eric Ain|Martin Ain]]'s zine, and their split album ''[[Death Metal (split album)|Death Metal]]'' (1984).{{sfn|Purcell|2003|p=53}} The same year [[Possessed (band)|Possessed]] released their demo, ''Death Metal''; featuring an eponymous song which would also be featured on the band's 1985 debut album, ''[[Seven Churches (album)|Seven Churches]]''.{{sfn|Purcell|2003|p=53}} In an interview for ''[[Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal & Grindcore]]'', Possessed vocalist and bassist Jeff Becerra said he coined the term for a high school English class assignment, stating "I figured speed metal and black metal were already taken, so what the fuck? So I said death metal, because that word wasn't associated with Venom or anybody else. It wasn't even about redefining it. We were playing this music and we were trying to be the heaviest thing on the face of the planet. We wanted just to piss people off and send everybody home. And that can't be, like, flower metal."{{sfn|Ekeroth|2008|p=11}}