Out of these bands, who's your favorite?

Not at all. Read the lyrics to bands like In Flames, Meshuggah, Soilwork, Fear Factory or Dark Tranquility. None of those bands regularly write angry lyrics. A lot of the lyrical content in death metal involves pretty interesting subjects. Fear Factory, for example, writes a lot of music dealing with the effect of technology on humanity. Meshuggah has a lot of songs dealing with human perspective and how our minds and opinions are distorted by everyday banality. In Flames frequently writes about a number of topics, from love to personal conquest. To label all death metal as being "hateful" is pretty narrow-minded. Granted, there are plenty of death metal bands that write about murder, violence and atrocity. But the best ones rarely do, or if they do, they write it in such a context that the message is deeper than just a story about death. The term "death metal" describes a style of music, not a style of message. Death metal bands are defined by the music, not the lyrics.

The name might give some parents a wrong interpretation, though. But considering most idiotic kids listen to rap (like chingy and 50 cent), the parents wouldn't necessarily care. Acknowledging that all rap is is how one gangsta is going to pop another gangsta or how many times they can say the N word in one CD, I'm almost positive most parents don't give a damn about what their kids listen to.

You see, I pretty much like all music besides country and rap (RUN DMC and some 80's rap is all right though). The reason I like all these bands is because they're all different. The Beatles and Led Zeppelin were good because none of their songs sounded the same. The Beatles, in my opinion, are somewhat different than Led Zeppelin and metal bands, but this is why I like them. They were very talented and their British accent made their music distinct. Some people will like them, some won't, but it's a fact that a lot of people do enjoy listening to them. (Over 30 #1 singles, around 165 million records sold which is a world record, 75 million people watched them when they were on the Ed Sullivan Show. The list could go on and on.) I know I can't just make you appreciate them, so I'm just going to stop here, but I do have a question. Out of all the Death Metal bands that you've listened to, which one is your favorite and why? I'll try to pick up a CD.

What does that have to do with the discussion at hand? So what if parents generalize things like that? Parents always have and always will. That will never change.

I edited my post.

To answer your question, my favorite death metal band would probably be either In Flames or Soilwork. If you're interested in In Flames, I'd recommend picking up their newest CD Soundtrack To Your Escape. It's plenty aggressive, and very melodic but still accessible enough for pretty much anyone to enjoy.

I would also strongly recommend checking out Soilwork. Pick up Figure Number Five or download the songs "Distortion Sleep" or "Rejection Role" for a sample of their music. I try to whore out Soilwork to as many people as possible, because the fact is they are impossible to not like. Everyone likes Soilwork, and that includes you. You just don't know it yet!