Brutal death metal (also called brutal death for short) is a term used to describe bands that focus on pushing the envelope on heaviness, speed, and aggressive delivery in the genre of death metal.

As the term brutal suggests, this sub-genre is pushing the ferocious and violent nature of death metal further into heavy territories such as compact song structures and loud, high speed riffing, death metal was taken to greater extremes. Brutal death metal tends to be drum-heavy and rhythm oriented leaving little room for melody and harmony. Typically, guitar riffs make use of fast tremolo picking, and heavy palm muting for a percussive effect. The drum lines are fast with predominant use of double bass and blast beats. Because of this, brutal death metal drummers must be able to coordinate their drumming with very high endurance and speed. Brutal death metal vocalists employ low-pitched grunts and the lyrics are often, but not always gore related.

Certain bands in brutal death metal, for example Nile and Spawn of Possession, have also been categorized as technical death metal. There is a sizable overlap between the two genres, as some bands not only focus on speed and aggression but also incorporate technical and progressive elements.