i've been trying to get more into more heavier music. i got into brutal death metal then i started hearing about slam death metal but i thought they were the same because slamming brutal death metal is a thing. so is there a difference between slam and brutal death metal? and if there is can someone please tell me what it is and list some slam bands and brutal death metal bands

There is a difference, but there is a lot of overlap between the two sub-genres as you will likely see as you continue to explore.

For me, the presence of and/or frequency of slams tends to be a big differentiator between the two. While BDM will have some slams, the bands that end up being labeled slam death tend to make the slams the driving force in their music, with most/all songs having slams and sometimes little else. I feel like slam tends to be simpler, with less tempo changes and riffs in each song. BDM tends to have quite complex song structure with a variety of tempo changes and tons of riffs.

A few slam bands I enjoy:

Kraanium https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uayBFlC8cBM

Begging for Incest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-SeIcDZT6Q

Malodorous: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFLbQXzPF-w

And some brutal death

Defeated Sanity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uerMNmU8ukE

Disentomb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25M8pSFU0js

Decaying Purity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf6ov1MHKNc

Hope that helps

Slam death metal is basically a subdivision of brutal death metal in which a particular component of brutal death metal-- namely, slams-- are brought entirely to the forefront and made the primary ingredient of the riffing. So whereas brutal death metal can and often does employ a wide variety of different riffing styles, and also tends to be quite technical, slam death metal often is much simpler, and focuses on chunky, grooving low-end riffs. Slamming brutal death metal, I'm pretty sure, is just a dumb term some people use to refer to slam death metal.

Some examples of brutal death metal bands include Suffocation, Abnormality, Cryptopsy, Lykathea Aflame, and Nile. And a few examples of slam death metal include Devourment, Epicardiectomy, Cephalotripsy, Rest in Gore, and Coprocephalic. As you can tell, brutal death metal tends to be much more dynamic, but even given slam death metal's focus on slams as the primary riffing mode, there's a lot of room for bands to develop unique identities.

Hope that helps give you at least an idea of the differences!

That is a pretty good explanation of the noticeable difference in riffing and song structures. But what I do NOT get, and really have trouble appreciating, are the laughably stupid barnyard/creepy piggy "reee breee" vocals employed by the slam-death bands. Is that unique to slam death bands? It is not a genre which I listen to a great deal obviously. I always assumed brutal death metal vocals would be more guttural/growly than pig-like.

I wouldn't say it's unique to slam, though it certainly is a lot more common in that genre. That being said, a lot of brutal death metal vocalists do employ 'pig squeals' as well as gutturals and death growls. Suffice to say, whether or not you enjoy them is pretty much an individual matter, though they do tend to put a lot of people off slam and brutal death metal in general.

MutantClannfear has two posts that should basically be considered The Slam Noob's Bible. Here is the one detailing the difference between BDM and slam, and here is one that dissects the differences between breakdowns and slams.

Happy reading.