And by that I mean, the lyrics should not reference religion
at
all.
No anti religion, no pro religion, no satan, no buddhism, no nothing. Thats pretty much it, bonus points for anyone who can find a band like this that sounds somewhat brutal.

I don't recall Bolt Thrower making many, if any, references to religion, sooooo...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xqOf-KjdVY

Well thats a start, and not a bad band either.

Nile and Cannibal Corpse? Are they too obvious?

nile's lyrics are all about ancient egyptian religion

Deicide. . . oh wait

Im watching you

neuraxis' lyrics usually deal with matters of the mind and can be pretty hard to follow, but i'm pretty sure none (or at least very few) of them involve religion per se

Cynic - Focus, great progressive DM, philosophical lyrics. (later albums progressive rock/metal)

Carcass - Later album are just death metal with political and society related issues. (earlier albums are grindcore, with gore lyrics)

Napalm Death - Also political and society related lyrics (early albums are grindcore)

Plenty of great death metal bands don't have lyrics about religion - Autopsy and Gorefest have their wonderful themes of gore, Bolt Thrower and Hail of Bullets write about history and war, and some weird bands like Timeghoul write about science fiction and abstract things. Could you be a bit more specific as to what you're looking for? A few bands as a reference for the type of death metal you're looking for, since it's a pretty broad genre.

Most death metal bands don't write about religion, I'm pretty sure...

Musically, Im looking for stuff like Fleshgod Apocalypse, Dyscarnate, Vornagar, Behemoth, or Nile. Basically powerful riffs and extreme, blast oriented drumming. My dilemma is that most bands similar to those mentioned above are usually have lyrics more towards anti religion, which Im tired of hearing about.


TONS of bands write stuff about religion; so many in fact that I had to create this thread just to see if I could find a few that didnt.

given the type of quality DM you are looking for, the answer (to this and many other questions in life) is :

Origin.

They always struck me as implicitly anti-religious, in the same way Atheist is.

I would say the Finnish scene is where you want to set your sights. Bands like Demigod (despite their name) and Demilich focus more on conceptual and death-orientated subjects than your typical anti-religion themes.

i alwasy found the lyrics to be of a more universal / cosmic/ slightly scientific theme........

some are actualy kinda ambigous....but you may be right, coz its hard to tell