Behehmoth is Death Metal. You can call them Blackened Death Metal. Mastodon is not Death Metal. Maybe in vocal style they are sometimes but they don't have the death Metal riffs. They are Sludge.

Death Metal is like red wine. To the casual drinker basically all red wine tastes the same. However to a connoisseur who has invested years into it the subtleties of each wine and between each wine is vast. The same applies to Death Metal. When I first got into it it all basically sounded the same but after many years of collecting and diving deep the subtleties and differences and variety is huge. It’s an acquired taste. Not really for the casual.

John, you would probably like more Melodic Death Metal. I know you like later era Death. Later Hypocrisy is very melodic and has lyrics about aliens. In Flames old material is like Iron Maiden with Death Metal vocals. Jester Race, Whoracle, Colony are great albums. Lyrics about cosmos, spirituality and nature. Old Arch Enemy is good. Before the chick singer. Their album Burning Bridges is awesome. At The Gates- Slaughter of the Soul. I'm sure you are already familiar with some of these.

Mastodon was hipster Sludge. Real Death Metal is something else. Vocal delivery, riffs, drumming, its not for everybody but its its own thing. Love old school DM!

no Cookie Monster vox for this old man

It happens to me as well. After a couple of songs I get fatigue. I have better results with bands with a more mixed approach, with clean and growling vocals. Try Scar symmetry, it has sweet solos.

I used to think death metal vocals were absurd, but the gateway band that opened my ears to death metal was Opeth. Opeth are a band that its worth old school metal and hard rock fans- and prog fans- checking out. Listen to the song ‘Master’s Apprentice’ (in its entirety).

Huge death metal head myself.. I’ll say I wouldn’t really consider Mastodon dm, although the first album has some seasonings of it.. Behemoth is absolutely death metal though, no doubts there. I personally enjoy death metal for that pummeling jack-hammer nature of it.. I do like melody too, there’s a lot of good melodic death metal you may consider checking out like early In Flames, Edge of Sanity, At the Gates… Cheers!

Does Dark Fortress qualify? Love that band. Opeth and Scar Symmetry gave me reasons to try others.

Since you like atmospheric stuff I would suggest Ulcerate, check out Stare into Death and Be Still. From description of why your not really into Death Metal you'd probably like that album. Also Mastodon's early stuff is like a hybrid of Sludge, Metalcore and Prog. Most Sludge bands use harsh vocals similar to DM but there not "death growls". You would probably really enjoy Atmospheric Sludge Metal, bands like Isis, Neurosis, Cult of Luna, Pelican, Amenra, The Ocean etc.

Bands like Suffocation and Incantation I can't get into (because of the vocals) but yet I love Morbid Angel, Death and Entombed, Bolt Thrower. Gatecreeper have a catchy modern DM sound. Like all music it connects or it doesn't.

I'm with you mate. Personally, I hate it! And all the other "growling" vocal genres. I can do gothic (Fields Of The Nephilim for instance), but that's as far as I move away from traditional hard rock.

I think that it’s a genre that most people have to really want to get into. Sometimes I’ll hate an artist but if I keep listening to them I’ll start to understand and love it. Definitely check out Bolt Thrower and Asphyx btw, Asphyx are death doom and I’m making a big guess but you might like Reek of Putrefaction by Carcass (even though it’s super gory), not harsh and super atmospheric

When in doubt, check metal archives I guess. They make mistakes too and people will always be correcting and debating stuff but if it's a popular band and a release has a lot of reviews, that could also be a decent way to gauge a specific releases genre somewhat if you don't know what to call a broad sound that is more on the extreme side.

Must be the growling "cookie monster" vocals. At least the singers "growlers" don't really have to remember the exact words to the songs, unilke someone like Vince Neil who anyone can tell he's mumbling the words

Almost completely agree. I also never really got into Death/Black metal because of the vocals and lack of variation. And, you are the first person I've ever heard (besides myself) note the parallels between extreme metal and rap; the melody-less vocals are more like a part of the rhythm of the song (just like rap). Like you, there are exceptions - some death metal or black metal bands that I like - but they tend to be on the fringe...the kinds of bands where fans of those genres will say, "Oh, that's not real death/black metal". But, in the end, I think people just like the first thing they heard when they were growing up. And, for fans who started getting into metal in the late 80s and early/mid 90s, death metal was "it".

I agree with you wholly. For me Death is the one and only band in the genre I still like. They are different in lyrics and structure. When I was younger I liked some orher bands like Obituary and Decide but I really didn't stuck with them. I agree the music itself can be fatiguing. Where is the warmth and the groove? Also number one issue is the vocals. I love old school traditional metal, power metal, glam metal, thrash metal, doom metal ,NWOBHM, NWOTHM, some progressive metal.

What's the point of writing lyrics, just come up with growls that fit the music.

I initially thought of bands like Death, Obituary and Morbid Angel as just one of the logical next steps "beyond Slayer". Just like a yuckier version. The lyrics, imagery and vocals were the equivalent of 80s gore and slasher films evolving from the more atmospheric and sinister 70s horror.

Frozen Soul. I missed their set in Silver Spring. Was able to catch the end of corpse’s set an amon Amarth. They kicked ass.