Extremity Retained

Extremity Retained: Notes From the Death Metal Underground is an exhaustive 480 page contribution to the oral history of death metal music and culture. The outcome of three years of research and over 100 interviews, Extremity Retained is intended to capture the experience and ethos of the international death metal scene from its origins in the late 1980s, through the successive incarnations and evolutions that made it the subcultural force it is today. Comprised entirely of first-hand stories, anecdotes and memories, the book reflects on such diverse areas as the early fanzine and tape trading culture, regional 'scene' reports, death metal performance and technique, the recording process, as well as life on tour, all in an effort to identify the vitality and unity that gives the underground its enduring spirit. Ultimately, the idea is to explore the scene through the voices of those who helped create it, in order to understand better how the death metal underground 'worked' in its early incarnations, how it has evolved, and where it is going.


Featuring original cover and section art by Matt "Putrid Gore" Carr, incidental art by Gary Ronaldson, with design and typography from Tilmann Benninghaus, and title page by Timo Ketola.


Contributors to Extremity Retained include (but are not limited to): Luc Lemay (Gorguts), Alex Webster (Cannibal Corpse), King Fowley (Deceased), Stephan Gebidi (Thanatos, Hail of Bullets), Dan Swanö (Edge of Sanity), Doug Cerrito (Suffocation), John McEntee (Incantation, Funerus), Marc Grewe (Morgoth), Ola Lindgren (Grave), Paul Ryan (Origin), Kam Lee (ex-Massacre, ex-Death), Tomas Lindberg (At the Gates, Lock Up), Travis Ryan (Cattle Decapitation), Robert Vigna and Ross Dolan (Immolation), Jacob Schmidt (Defeated Sanity), Esa Linden (Demigod), Dan Seagrave (Artist), Rick Rozz (ex-Death, Massacre), Steve Asheim (Deicide), Jim Morris (Morrisound Studios), Terry Butler (Obituary, Massacre, ex-Death), Mitch Harris (Napalm Death, Righteous Pigs), Scott Hull (Pig Destroyer), John Gallagher (Dying Fetus), Robin Mazen (Derketa, Demonomacy), George Fisher (Cannibal Corpse), Ed Warby (Gorefest, Hail of Bullets), Rob Barrett (Cannibal Corpse, ex-Solstice), Donald Tardy (Obituary), Moyses Kolesne (Krisiun), Takaaki Ohkuma (Necrophile), Paul Speckmann (Master, Abomination), Anders Jacobson (Nasum, Necrony), Carl Fulli (Epidemic), Matt Harvey (Exhumed), Steve Goldberg (Cephalic Carnage), Ben Falgoust (Soilent Green, Goatwhore), Phil Fasciana (Malevolent Creation), Tony Laureno (ex-Nile, ex-Angelcorpse), Alan Averill (Primordial, Twilight of the Gods), Jason Fuller (Blood Duster), Alex Okendo (Masacre), Dave Witte (Municipal Waste, Human Remains), Lee Harrison (Monstrosity) and many more.


About the author: Originally from Maryland, USA, Jason Netherton is a founding member of the band Misery Index, as well as a founding ex-member of the band Dying Fetus. Additionally, he is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. Additionally, he oversees the online metal fanzine archive Send Back My Stamps!.