Metal question!

[Helm]

Too late for me to be on topic but nevertheless... clasp did a decent job of explaining.

Death metal was basically thrash metal taken it it's extreme, at first. Possessed, Death, Onslaught were the first few proto-death metal bands to strive for this new sound. The progression from thrash to death metal can be easily heard in Slayer's Reign in Blood. Whereas Thrash was usually minor in fine rock tradition, death metal sought to achieve a much more chaotic sound by composing in chromatic or atonal scemes. The focus was on driving rhythmic brutality. Then came Suffocation and gave birth to technical death metal which is basically more of the same just with the difference of intent, obviously. The sound doesn't change much from generic brutal death metal, it's the technical precision that changes. Blastbeats everywhere, twisting guitar riffs, odd tempos and complex structures. And dudes that growled. The form of the music rather than the content of it has always been death metal's focus. It's also considered sort of a semi-sport, a test of endurance among musicians, to play such music because it's so demanding.

Black metal spawned from the disgust of some teenagers towards the fact that death metal became semi-trendy at some point in the early nineties. They claimed that for a genre called death metal, it sure wasn't about death enough. So they started playing sloppily, dischordantly and in a dronish fashion about hate and death and occasionally jesus getting fucked up the ass. The content was the focus, in contrast to death metal. And the intent was usually nihilistic but romantic. A sort of juvenile 'I hate everything' mentality put to music. Tremolo picking and an underplayed blastbeat usually were employed.

If you've heard Death and Suffocation, you've heard all you need to hear of death metal just so you can make the distinction... and I suppose Mayhem and Darkthrone epitomize the black metal sound.