Out of these bands, who's your favorite?

Now that you've brought it up, isn't "death" metal just music which rages mindless hate against the world? Why don't they just call themselves heavy metal?

I'd have to go with Guns n Roses. They play them all the time at my football games.

Now that you've brought it up, isn't "death" metal just music which rages mindless hate against the world? Why don't they just call themselves heavy metal?

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.