ALL METAL DOES NOT SOUND THE SAME! Part 2
"All metal music sounds the same!" - Countless uninformed fools
A few months back, I gave ye fine folks Part 1 in a dissertation about how all metal DOESN'T sound the same in spite of what many ill-informed "experts" would have you believe. If you were not a part of that first initial lecture, then I would suggest giving it a gander before we venture ever further into the increasingly darkening world of metal sub-genres, for doing so may leave you a touch confused as to what the hell I'm talking about. And for those who were there from the start and still hungry for me, then away we go...
We left off at the Swedish "Gothenburg Death Metal" genre, and from there we press on with a few more melodic styles that saw some focus here and there throughout the 90s...
GOTHIC METAL:
(MOONSPELL, TYPE O NEGATIVE, LACUNA COIL, (newer CRADLE OF FILTH))
The aspirations of black-fingernailed folk the world over, with multitudes of sophistication depending on the country of origin. Gothic metal bands take much of their cues from anything ranging from black metal to hardcore, creating a dark, dreary atmosphere with keyboards and melodic vocals while not forsaking its original heavy roots. The more popular gothic bands found solace in the Hot Topics of the world, while the darker acts were still accepted within their heavier contemporary groups.
POWER METAL:
(BLIND GUARDIAN, SONATA ARCTICA, STRATOVARIUS)
The ultimate European powerhouse, where the tempos of speed metal meet the melodic riffing and falsettos of old school heavy metal. Power metal knew no equal outside of itself, and each successive act tried to evoke the flight-and-fancy-free mythological approach that at times bordered on the excessive. Wild solos, air-raid-siren wails and the pitter-patter of double bass drums come together to get medieval on the asses of open-minded listeners the world over.
PROGRESSIVE METAL:
(DREAM THEATER, OPETH, AYREON, (later) NEVERMORE)
Taking the thinking man's approach to progressive rock, only heavier, progressive metal acts threw everything but the kitchen sink into their music. Ranging from basically every extreme in the musical spectrum, nothing was off limits; solos were calculated, time signatures were abused, and overall song structure was reinvented. Essentially anything considered different for the sake of being different, but not other-worldly, could be considered "progressive" (other-worldly acts are best left as "avant-garde"). Its scene would envelope elements of thrash, melodic death metal, and even the long-forgotten rock opera genre.
SYMPHONIC METAL:
(NIGHTWISH, RHAPSODY OF FIRE, TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA)
The at-times happier little brother of power metal, which took keyboards (and real orchestral instruments) and clean, even operatic, vocals at the forefront to create stunning, Hollywood-soundtrack-esque works. Power metal's riffs and speeds mostly existed, if not truncated into a much more sophisticated and analogous format. Hearkening to the beauty of seeing the Philharmonic in action, symphonic metal acts sung odes of mythological love and days of yore that tried its damnedest to mirror the sweet, heavy melodies contained therein.
FOLK METAL:
(ENSIFERUM, KORPIKLAANI, TURISAS, ELUVEITIE)
The newer folk metal movements took to speed and a jovial take on things versus the overtly-serious movements of their predecessors, though some would still take themselves seriously. Bouncy rhythms mixed with accordions, realistic orchestral instruments, symphonic keyboards, and harsh but melodic riff-work, orated by booming Viking choirs and black metal rasps into a party-hearty atmosphere of medieval battles, travels in wintry forests and the swinging of various beer steins. The heaviest upbeat musical style, and mostly Finnish in approach, the folk metal movement proved that even the most ardent of metalheads can have a little fun once in awhile.
But all was not so nice and flowery, for in other parts of the world (particularly the States), certain parts of the metal world were of a more shadowy and slower variety...
DOOM METAL:
(TROUBLE, CATHEDRAL, PENTAGRAM)
Nothing was slower, or for some, heavier, than doom metal. More akin to funereal dirges than rip-roarin' good times, doom metal acts seeked to depress instead of stimulate. Tempos that dipped to the double-digits took loud, ungainly guitar chords, rock beats and singing (or snarled) vocals into a sludge that was candy to some yet patience-killing for others. Doom metal is a beast in and of itself, relegated almost solely to its fan-base, where only rarely do doom acts break out of their shells and into the mainstream light.
DRONE:
(SUNN O))), TEETH OF LIONS RULE THE DIVINE, JESU)
Just when the public couldn't think the doom metal style could get any slower or less amorphous, along comes the drone scene. Taking doom metal and pushing every riff and drumline into a long, drawn-out, blurred wave of sound, drone bands test every shred of patience a modern metalhead possesses for the sake of seemingly nonsensical madness. Definitely an acquired taste, drone nonetheless exists in a crowd all its own.
SLUDGE/STONER ROCK/METAL:
(EYEHATEGOD, JERUSALEM, DOWN)
An odd little offshoot of doom metal, only more amorphous and trip-inducing. Dripping with black tar and weed smoke, the sludge and stoner acts took to the lower-end clubs like a second-hand hit from a PHISH fan, using overtly-distorted power chords, head-bashing percussion and acidic snarls to put society's ills to rest underneath blankets of sound. Stoner and sludge exist solely in their own world, by their means, with DOWN being the only band big enough to break through the haze of marijuana mist.
And as the millennium was about to unfold before us, a sort of urban sprawl took hold of a few distortionphiles; the realistic angst and dereliction of the streets replacing the fantastical and unholy in terms of both image and sound...
INDUSTRIAL:
(RAMMSTEIN, STATIC-X, ROB ZOMBIE, NINE INCH NAILS)
Heavy music made from computers, though merely rooted in techno. Synthesized effects, digital guitar work, and drum machine abuse create an artificial, futuristic world of metallic madness. Certain places in Europe paved the path, and America was quick to jump on board in its own way, where many acts take the angst of Cleopatra Records' discography and combine it with some good mechanized menace to become the soundtrack to smoky Goth clubs in various cities. A handful of industrial acts became big enough to venture out of their studios and into the world and live to tell the tale, even in this day and age.
NU METAL:
(KORN, LIMP BIZKIT, LINKIN PARK, SLIPKNOT)
The successful(?) combination of rap vocals, break beats, and metal riffs. Though rap was already introduced to the metal world by way of ANTHRAX and BIOHAZARD, the mid to late 90s saw this style become the next big thing for high school kids the country over. Adidas-clad, dread-locked white boys took a slow-paced, rhythmic dance beat of percussion and turntables and affixed watered-down thrash riffs that, for many of the "true metal" crowd, cheapened metal for the aimless masses to feed off to their hearts' content. An obvious rejection of evolution proved the style's eradication by the time the 21st century dawned, where only a few acts of its ilk survived, channeling other inspirational methods.
This ended up morphing into a style and sound more influenced by the European and American metalic days of yore from 2000 and beyond...
METALCORE:
(KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, SHADOWS FALL, LAMB OF GOD, ATREYU)
The watered-down, Americanized equivalent of the Gothenburg sound combined with hardcore breakdowns, created at the dawn of the new millennium. Hated plentifully by the metal elite, metalcore groups took to energetic, "Mmm-Bop"-inspired poppiness, played it through distorted twin guitar leads, newly-found double bass drums, and a combination of fanboy warbling and weak-kneed screams which, (un?)intentionally, thumbed the eyes of the metal underground. Metalcore acts would end up taking over the arena tours and Ozzfests of the world, being the heaviest groups throngs of Emo scene kids would admit to liking.
DEATHCORE:
(DESPISED ICON, WHITECHAPEL, (early) JOB FOR A COWBOY, OCEANO)
Spawned from the wastelands of the American southwest, this fusion of hardcore and death metal was made to be the ugly deterrence of the risen modern metalcore scene, and as a result, wasn't quite as popular as their swoop-haired brethren. Deathcore retained much of death metal's head-ripping heaviness, violent lyrics, blast beats, and growling vocals, but the influx (and at times overuse) of breakdowns and pig squeals made the style an ipecac for most well-to-do metal folk who saw this (and metalcore) as little more than the next big trends.
NEW WAVE OF AMERICAN THRASH METAL: (WARBRINGER, SKELETONWITCH, EVILE)
The new American thrash metal acts in the millennium came as a Janus-like beast; one side had original, enjoyable acts, while the other had bands trying their best to replicate their early 80s influences in hackneyed, almost rip-off fashions. Either way, most metal fans rejoiced at this new resurgence of old-school thrash, which paved the way for both newer bands to wet their feet, and give second-chance careers to some of the lesser known acts. EXODUS and TESTAMENT took to this like bats out of hell, gaining the exposure that always seemed to elude them.
But if you thought it was silent in the European union in terms of stylistic progression, well, you'd be kinda wrong...
ORTHODOX BLACK/DEATH METAL:
(FUNERAL MIST, OFERMOD, DEATHSPELL OMEGA, WATAIN)
One day, out of the blue, a group of Swedes and Frenchmen, seemingly fed up with the bastardization of black metal, decided to form a scene all their own. Looking to bring back the spiritual essence of black metal music long since dormant, the Orthodox Black Metal movement took the skin and bones of their genre and either stuck to it in a very “old school” way or infused a multitude of stranger musical approaches, creating dark, disturbing and virulently wicked hymns. Adolescent Satanic rants and garish images were cast aside in favor of blood-drenched, corpse-mimicking photo sacrilege and Biblically/Chaotically-inspired lyrics to generate a more heartfelt and genuine form of devil worship that provides more depth in one single song than an entire DIMMU BORGIR album’s whoreship.
DJENT:
(MESHUGGAH, ANIMALS AS LEADERS, VEIL OF MAYA, PERIPHERY) Supposedly taking its cues from progressive metal, and rung through a deathcore ringer, djent takes the single-note, downtuned, 7-8 string guitar riff to new depths of depravity. A relatively new style, and maligned like all other "trend" styles out there, djent has at least a good few years to make a name for itself, but if it's unable to move past its post -core roots, you can file this under "D" for "done".
And there you have it. From the primordial soup of Hendrix's use of distortion and Sabbath's "Devil's Tritone" in the 60s to the single-string noodlings of the current day, one cannot say that all metal music sounds the same, and in fact you'll find a rogue's gallery of differing hues, tones, views and ideals that may be heavy in scope but wholly different genre-by-genre, almost band by band! Where will the future of this fine musical style be and lead to? Who's to say? But I know that, one way or another, I'll be there to partake in and see if it's worth anyone's weight in spiked gauntlets, sharpened steel and leather coats. So until then…
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