OSDM
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OSDM (old-school death metal) is both the original early-'90s sound and, more commonly today, the 2010s+ revival that recreates it: cavernous, often deliberately murky production, HM-2 buzzsaw guitar tone or thick down-tuned chug, mid-tempo doom-death grooves broken by d-beats and blasts, and abyssal, reverb-soaked guttural vocals. The revival prizes riff worship, eerie minor melody, and rotten atmosphere over technical flash or Gothenburg melody, with caveman drumming and whammy-mad atonal leads. Tunings sit low (C, B, or drop tunings) and arrangements stay riff-driven rather than verse-chorus.
History
As a term, OSDM crystallized in the 2000s-2010s to distinguish the genre's primitive 1989-1994 roots (Death, Entombed, Dismember, Autopsy, Bolt Thrower) from technical, slam, and melodic offshoots, then attached to a wide retro revival. A new generation — Sweden's Bloodbath (a supergroup founded 1998 worshipping the Stockholm sound), Arizona's Gatecreeper, Toronto's Tomb Mold, and Sweden's LIK — rebuilt the Sunlight/Morrisound aesthetic for labels like 20 Buck Spin, Dark Descent, and Relapse. The 2010s underground boom made OSDM one of extreme metal's most active scenes, with festivals and reissue culture cementing the originals as canon while new bands kept the buzzsaw alive.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Daniel Ekeroth, Swedish Death Metal
- Albert Mudrian, Choosing Death
- Bandcamp Daily features on the OSDM / HM-2 revival
- Encyclopaedia Metallum (Metal Archives)