The difference, by ear
Both are extremely technical and fast. Technical death metal is harmonically restless with growls; mathcore is rhythmically restless with screams, and comes from hardcore.
Both are growled or screamed and move at much the same pace, around 140 to 260 bpm. Songs run longer in technical death metal: usually 4 to 7 minutes, against 1½ to 4 minutes in mathcore. To hear the difference, play The Dillinger Escape Plan next to Death. Mathcore comes from the rock side of the tree and technical death metal from the metal side, and technical death metal came first, by two years. United States appears in the origins of both.
In figures
Mathcore
Where it sits
Rock › Punk rock › Hardcore punk › Post-hardcore › Mathcore
In short
Metalcore with its wiring torn out: meter changes every few seconds, dissonance and chaos controlled to the millimetre.
How it sounds
- Meter changes every few seconds, executed at maximum speed.
- Dissonant chords and minor-second intervals used as primary material.
- Jazz-level drum technique applied at grindcore intensity.
Key acts
- The Dillinger Escape Plan
- Converge
- Botch
- Car Bomb
Start here
The pickConverge - Jane Doe. Technically mathcore, emotionally something else entirely.
Full page →Technical death metal
Where it sits
Heavy metal › Death metal › Technical death metal
In short
Death metal with jazz harmony, tapping and impossible drumming. The more notes per second, the better.
How it sounds
- Jazz harmony, extended chords and frequent modulation.
- Fretless or slap bass treated as a lead instrument.
- Polyrhythmic drumming and varied blast beats at the edge of what is physically possible.
Key acts
- Death
- Atheist
- Cryptopsy
- Necrophagist
Start here
The pickDeath - Human. The moment the genre became music to study, not just to hear.
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