Death metal is an offshoot of thrash metal. Thrash metal is a genre of extremes; fast tempos, blaring distortion, yelled and/or shouted vocals, and unpredictable song structures. Thrash bands experimented with new techniques and ideas in order to push the genre further away from mainstream rock music. The most extreme of these thrash bands (most famously, Slayer) created a proto-death metal sound by playing a faster, heavier, and darker version of standard thrash.
