Originally Posted by Seltzer

Blackened death metal is quite a valid genre - if you listen to enough death metal, the need for that label becomes instantly obvious. A blackened death metal band like Abominator sounds quite different to a melodeath band like Dark Tranquillity.


They only sound virtually identical to the bands you already like (i.e. Slayer) if you're not very familiar with the genre. I have a wide taste in music, but I know I'm a reggae noob, and that's why a good deal of reggae sounds mostly the same to me. If I made an effort to explore the genre and listen to it a bit more, it wouldn't be that way. When I first discovered metal, I probably thought that DM sounded fairly close to BM on the grand scale of things. Since I actively listen to metal, I find that clearly isn't the case.

That's quite a bold/cynical statement to say that all thrash/speed metal bands either try to sound like Slayer or sound nearly identical to them. As far as I'm concerned, there are bands in thrash which are better than Slayer. Bands might go for the thrash/speed metal sounds, but it doesn't mean they're trying to sound like Slayer - that's openly admitting to having no creative force. A progressive thrash band like Mekong Delta sounds quite different to Slayer which sounds quite different to a groove thrash band like Pantera, and that is why subsubgenres are necessary.