This chapter explores the impact of ‘subgenre qualifiers’ that modify a genre title and distinguish between, say, ‘melodic death metal’ and ‘progressive death metal’. Endemic within contemporary metal discourse, these qualifiers function both to describe and prescribe the specific focus of a given subgenre, affecting composition, production, performance and reception (among other areas). Focusing on technical death metal, the chapter investigates the prescriptive nature of creativity contained within a relatively precise definition of ‘technical’ developed through consistent usage by artists, reliable acknowledgement from audiences and continual reinforcement by critics. By examining discourse from critics and artists, we can observe how subgenre qualifiers are used creatively, sometimes cast as a conceptual constraint against which an artist struggles, sometimes interpreted as a challenge and an explicit focus for an artist’s musical endeavours. The chapter considers how artists and listeners navigate technical death metal’s delimited forms of expression as a case study of the ostensibly highly stratified nature of modern metal.

Metal music has been undergoing a remarkable sonic development. Pioneering releases of the early 1970s by Black Sabbath already contained all essential ingredients of metal’s sonic signature. The growing need for heavier sounds was afforded by a rapidly advancing recording technology, alongside the exploration of production techniques and aesthetics. This chapter traces significant developments in metal music production from the 1970s to the 1990s by looking at key artists, albums and audio professionals to outline how heaviness in recorded form developed in the genre. Many of the analysed engineering practices were adopted, improved and have become standard in contemporary metal production. In this process, production was brought to the fore, making it an increasingly fundamental element of the music, even an art form in itself. This development led to what has become metal’s standard hyper-real aesthetic, which will most likely be pushed further in the ongoing and genre-defining quest for greater heaviness.