My Essay on Death Metal

[josh949]

I wrote an essay on death metal with an emphasis on deathcore. Let me know what you think. This type of literature needs to circulate the internet and defend our honor. http://factoidz.com/the-new-musical-...h-metal-genre/

[Starchild132]

it seemed pretty good but it felt like it wasn't finished Alexi Laiho is one of the greatest guitarists i've ever heard hands down so i totally agree with you however i'm not really fond of black dahlia, i think suicide silence is a joke by the way being cruely compared to our music i know thats irrelevant to this but i just wanted to get that out there

[Death Aflame]

That was pretty terrible to be honest.

Your idea that musical sophistication has been lacking in the time span between Beethoven/Stravinsky and Born of Osiris is patently absurd (you even debunk your own argument by bringing up jazz and salsa as styles of music that you admit are technical, which for you seems to go hand-in-hand with 'musical sophistication', whatever that means).

I know you want to show your admiration for certain bands and styles, but you should find another way of praising artists you like without throwing the rest of modern music history under the bus, so to speak, in one big generalization. It is a poorly thought out idea that makes the reader doubt your credibility as a music critic.

[TheInsane]

Horrible article!

The way it is written makes me think that you just try to put a value in metal that isnt there:

Pioneering deathcore bands are the first to re-implement complex timings such as 3/4, 5/4 and 7/8 that haven’t been seen since the time of the famous Russian composer Stravinsky

Really? How much other music do you listen to? Come on - "complex timings" - "havent been seen [heard] since Stravinsky"! Seriously?

And wow polarythms. I bed no one thought of that in between beethoven and "veil of maya". And hey, "contrapuntal melodies" are somehow also made to look like something quite unique to death metal.

Im sorry, Im not trying to be an ass but the article is laughable. You obviously dont know what you are writing about.

[derek]

That's fairly bad, to be honest.

[fillipeano]

It was a decent essay at best. What kind of audience was it directed towards? If it was directed towards the general public, it is not that great of an essay. If it was directed at people already in the metal scene, then you did an okay job.

[Caligulan Blood]

lol Who likes breakdowns? VOM sucks ass. They don't use complex time signatures, they lack melody and are trying and failing to rip off Whitechapel's style. Breakdowns 3 or 4 times a song aren't metal and are not complex, in fact they are the opposite. Some bands can pull them off, most cannot.
COB is for faggots.
Josh949, you are an idiot.

[BlackMetalWhiteGuy]

You clearly have no idea that non-Western music even exists. Many cultures use much more complicated time signatures than 3/4, 5/4 or 7/8, which are really not even "complicated," to be honest. Some Balkan music has rhythms of 11/8, 13/8, 15/8, 18/8, 22/8, 25/8, etc.

The technicality of jazz is a result of the fusion of African tonal systems and rhythms with western music, as polyrhythms and eccentric tones have been a staple of African music for centuries. In fact, the inclusion of 7th, 9th, augmented and diminished chords in our tonal system is partly a result of African Americans attempting to immitate African tones on western instruments. Metal can't even be credited with reintroducing many of these Jazz techniques, since they've continued thriving in the African American community through hip hop and rap, even after Jazz lost its popularity.

Don't even get me started on Asia; some of their tonal systems divide the octave into as many as 49 separate notes. The difference in frequency between adjacent notes at that scale is so subtle that many westerners won't even know they're hearing two separate tones.

[nataSfOtsaeB]

That was so full of shit I don't know where to begin.

[Vossyrus]

I haven't laughed that hard in quite some time! I actually had to take a minute to calm down after I read the first paragraph. Just for bringing home the lulz, I'd give your essay an A+!

[BlackMetalWhiteGuy]

Bands such as The Faceless and The Black Dahlia Murder have successfully perfected the use of exotic scales such as the harmonic minor scale which sounds like a mix between major and minor and the diminished and augmented scales, which can sound eerie or communicate complex emotional feelings. The result sounds anything but foreign; in fact, you may wonder why these scales aren’t used more often, as the rare but familiar melodies widen your gaze for musical possibility.

Harmonic minor is one of the most common scales in almost any genre.

[Christgrinder666]

Your attitude towards the music does you credit, but honestly you need a more diverse background in popular music knowledge before making statements about Deathcore bands being the only musicians to use exotic scales & odd time since the romantic period.

I thought it was particularly naive of you to describe non 4/4 time as 'rare' & 'much forgotten'. I can think of dozens of non metal songs off the top of my head that have odd time, & polyrhythms. In fact, as Blackmetalwhiteguy pointed out, 3/4, 5/4 & 7/8 aren't especially strange. There have been non-metal, chart topping hit singles in time signatures like those.

Also, you have to realise that there is an art to using odd time. As a musician, its very easy to play 5/4 & have it sound like 4/4 with an awkward extra beat tacked on the end. The skill comes from being able to write music in odd time that flows naturally, & melodies that respect note groupings in odd time. Anyone can write a breakdown in 3/4, the much forgotten part is how to make it breathe, its a skill that you dont see all that much in metal bands that use odd time.

& harmonic minor is hardly exotic. If anything its over used within the context of metal.

Also death metal harmony is generally not very complex. I can think of comparitively few DM bands that use Chord extensions to the 7th & very few at all that use compound intervals.

Compared to something like Jazz, even the more basic forms of Jazz & Jazz influenced pop, metal is generally harmonically sparse.

Finally, I cant see any Deathcore bands having lyrics to compete with Byron & Keats. You can make a point about intelligent lyrics in metal without making such a hyperbolic statement Im sure.

Nice try dude, but being as polite & constructive as possible, your essay isnt especially well informed or objective.

[Caligulan Blood]

Originally Posted by Christgrinder666

Finally, I cant see any Deathcore bands having lyrics to compete with Byron & Keats. You can make a point about intelligent lyrics in metal without making such a hyperbolic statement Im sure.

Uh I disagree with this, Byron and Keats are hella boring, TBDM makes better rhymes than them.

[Christgrinder666]

*raises an eyebrow* Ill take your word for that one...

[BlackMetalWhiteGuy]

I caught the end of Rite of Spring on the radio last night and looked up Stravinsky a few minutes later, only to find out that this essay is even worse than originally thought.

Pioneering deathcore bands are the first to re-implement complex timings such as 3/4, 5/4 and 7/8 that haven’t been seen since the time of the famous Russian composer Stravinsky.

Stravinsky died in 1971, making him a contemporary of prog rock.