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Heavy Metal Thunder Stockholm Death Metal

Genres Heavy Metal Speed Metal Thrash Metal Death Metal Stockholm Death Metal

Stockholm Death Metal

One guitar pedal, turned all the way up, gave a whole city its sound. Thick, rotten and recognisable within about two seconds.

Active years
1988 – present
Origin
Sweden (Stockholm)
Family
Death Metal
Bands here
13

Before you press play

Explicit content

Graphic lyrics and artwork are a defining feature of this genre rather than an occasional accident — which of violence, gore or sex depends on the band. Worth knowing before you put it on in a room with other people in it.

Start here

Four records in order of how easy they are to get into — which is not the same as best first.

  1. Left Hand Path Entombed, 1990 The landmark

    The guitar tone that defined a city. One pedal, set to maximum, recorded by Tomas Skogsberg — and thirty-five years later bands still buy that pedal to sound like this record.

    Listen to Left Hand Path

  2. Like an Ever Flowing Stream Dismember, 1991

    The same chainsaw guitar as Entombed with actual melodies underneath it. The most immediately enjoyable record in the scene, and the one that proves the tone was a songwriting decision.

    Listen to Like an Ever Flowing Stream

  3. Into the Grave Grave, 1991

    The slowest and heaviest of the Stockholm records. Where Entombed roll, Grave trudge, and the effect is considerably more oppressive.

    Listen to Into the Grave

  4. Where No Life Dwells Unleashed, 1991

    Simpler than its neighbours and better for it. Viking subject matter years before anyone called that a genre, played with a punk's impatience for a second riff.

    Listen to Where No Life Dwells

What it sounds like

One guitar pedal, and you will know it within two seconds. A Boss HM-2 with every knob at maximum produces a buzzing, chainsaw distortion so thick it swallows the individual notes, and the entire Swedish scene ran through it. Tempos are mid-paced rather than fast, the riffing is simple and rolling, and the vocal is a deep unpitched growl. Nothing is melodic. Compared with Florida it is heavier but slower and less technical — this is about weight and texture rather than dexterity, and the sound is so distinctive that bands are still deliberately recreating it thirty years on. The riffs themselves owe as much to Discharge and hardcore punk as to Florida, which is why they roll rather than lurch.

  • Heaviness 5 out of 5
  • Speed 3 out of 5
  • Aggression 5 out of 5
  • Technicality 2 out of 5
  • Darkness 3 out of 5
  • Melody 1 out of 5

Where the name came from

Named for its geographic birthplace in Stockholm, Sweden, where bands like Nihilist and Entombed developed the style in 1987–89. The scene's defining characteristic — a crushing, chainsaw-like guitar tone — comes almost entirely from the Boss HM-2 pedal set to maximum gain, an approach pioneered at Sunlight Studio under producer Tomas Skogsberg. Sometimes called 'Swedish death metal' or the 'Sunlight sound.'

The bands

Hear these first

  • Entombed Sweden
  • Dismember Sweden
  • Grave Sweden
  • Unleashed Sweden
  • Nihilist Sweden

And 8 more

  • Carnage Sweden
  • Repugnant Sweden
  • Interment Sweden
  • Kaamos Sweden
  • Feral Sweden
  • Necrophobic Sweden
  • Tribulation Sweden
  • Bloodbath Sweden

Where it happened

Counting this genre and everything descended from it.

If you liked this

Closest in sound outside this family, leaning towards the similar or the gentler rather than straight into the deep end.