Kaosaur
Member
This is the thread that won't die.
I think that's a testament to the influence of BOTH of these bands.
I think that's a testament to the influence of BOTH of these bands.
Meshuggah Talks S*#% On Nightwish
- Thread starter Dolamite S. Biffle
- Start date
What? Please point me to the half naked photos you seem to be finding all over the place because I've never seen her with less than a tank top on. How skanky of her!
Or can we now be called skanky based on some caveman misogyny of what women should and should not look like?
rms
Active Member
Metalmilitia2000
UM's Resident Asshole
Wandrail
I'm your Huckleberry
I don't know, I find them kind of boring and I don't really get too much into their style. I find them boring because if you sit and listen to a Meshuggah album, it gets very repetitive and lacks many of the elements that pull me into any type of music. As a guitarist, I also just don't dig the guitar-as-percussion style. Finally, Meshuggah is to blame for the coining of the term "djent" in guitar-speak. That is a great offense.
But yeah, they have become pretty influential in certain areas of heavy music and particularly to a certain age group.
Kaosaur
Member
But that's exactly why they're so influential. Their albums are genre-defining. You're lucky to find 5 bands in a decade that can claim that in ANY genre of music (as in all of them put together).
The fact that the term "djent" exists from their sound is just confirmation of that. There are already dozens of bands today that cite Meshuggah as a primary influence and elements of their sound will be (are) creeping their way into other metal bands across genres. With the success they've been having, you can't pidgeonhole them by saying "certain areas of heavy music" or "particular age group". Meshuggah is influencing ALL new heavy music, whether it's deliberate or not or if the bands are even aware of it. ...and age is absolutely irrelevant.
As far as metal is concerned, they are well on the road to that "Legends In Their Own Lifetime" status. Leaps and bounds beyond nearly every band getting regular mention on this board.
The fact that the term "djent" exists from their sound is just confirmation of that. There are already dozens of bands today that cite Meshuggah as a primary influence and elements of their sound will be (are) creeping their way into other metal bands across genres. With the success they've been having, you can't pidgeonhole them by saying "certain areas of heavy music" or "particular age group". Meshuggah is influencing ALL new heavy music, whether it's deliberate or not or if the bands are even aware of it. ...and age is absolutely irrelevant.
As far as metal is concerned, they are well on the road to that "Legends In Their Own Lifetime" status. Leaps and bounds beyond nearly every band getting regular mention on this board.
Prog_Please
Member
I agree with the previous posts, Meshuggah, like them or not, are very influential and popular in the modern metal scene. As stated before, many bands site them as an influence. Also, their latest tour, dubbed the "Myspace Tour," was sponsored by Myspace simply because of the band's popularity. I'm sure many will disagree, but having Myspace sponsor your band to go on tour is a huge indication of the popularity and effect the band is having on the metal scene. On the other hand, Nightwish wasn't sponsored by Myspace to go on tour. I haven't actually gone to the two sites and personally tallied the play counts for each of the bands, but I think right now what Meshuggah is doing is more influential than what Nightwish is doing.
p.s. On a complete side note, did Nightwish come to CA recently? Their latest tour isn't very.... expansive.
p.s. On a complete side note, did Nightwish come to CA recently? Their latest tour isn't very.... expansive.
Kaosaur
Member
I believe that the main reason that Myspace sponsored Meshuggah's tour was because the band broke Myspace song download records when they put up the clips to promote Obzen. It's not just limited to metal.
rms
Active Member
Kaosaur
Member
AngraRULES
Member
rms
Active Member
Kaosaur
Member
rms
Active Member
Wandrail
I'm your Huckleberry
Well, Meshuggah is most popular and most influential among the younger age group of "metal" listeners and players. Its a lot of the same group that idolizes bands like Killswitch Engage, who is also immensely popular and also has no appeal to me. Many aspects of what I would consider Meshuggah's sound existed before them, namely the technical aspects, dissonance, and trying to refrain from typical chord progressions. That's all stuff that has been done for a long time, but Meshuggah did it in their own way and they have really benefited from carving their niche and defining one narrow sound and style. But it IS very narrow. That's why its boring to some people.
I don't hear all kinds of the bands I listen to incorporating elements I would link back to Meshuggah. But I do see lots of young guitar players enthralled with the band and trying to get that tone and copy that style, so there will be more and more bands trying to copy Meshuggah. The problem is that, just like with all forms of deliberately unorthodox, anti-melodic music, it gets redundant very quickly (who can listen to that 12-tone shit Schoenberg came up with, honestly?). There is only so much you can do with it. The human mind looks for patterns and is drawn in by things like identifiable melody and symmetry. Even though a band like, say, Spiral Architect's songs are not all the same, it doesn't matter because unless you are concentrating on it, there aren't enough elements in a song to provide distinct patterns and pull together the more random elements, so it all largely bleeds together. While Meshuggah is not a band doing that same exact type of all-technical, all-the-time music, its almost an entirely rhythm-driven sound, and there are only so many double bass patterns you can do with palm muted single notes that go into dissonant chords. I think they're at the limit of the number of strings you can add to a guitar before it turns into a bass as well, so there's nowhere left to go in that direction.
I'm not trying to trash them, they've become a huge band and its great that heavy music of any type is doing well again, but their fans tend to be a bit overzealous. Taken for what it is, Meshuggah is the peak of its form, but beyond that I don't see the reach or appeal. One thing that is for sure is that Meshuggah isn't the be all and end all of metal music anymore than anything else is. That's why Hagstrom's opinions about what is and isn't metal are kind of ridiculous. Who has the clout to honestly say shit like that? Maybe the guys from Priest, Sabbath and other bands that truly defined metal, but they probably wouldn't because they are old enough and have played long enough to know that its a dumb way of looking at music. Its just his opinion of course, but he still comes off like a fool, and he is unfortunately feeding his horde of trollish young fans with that kind of mentality. Its like "tr00 kvlt" and "only brutal underground!" shit all over again.
Wandrail
I'm your Huckleberry
Nightwish has inspired a lot of shitty bands too. Who cares. Like them, like their offspring, or don't. But confusing opinion with law... is a waste of time.
dcowboys311
Member
I really doubt Hagström was singling out Nightwish, too. It seems to me like he was talking about the entire female fronted symphonic stuff. Nightwish is just the most recognizable and well known out of those bands, so in order to reach the most amount of people he used them as an example.
rms
Active Member
noone is talking about the quality of bands inspired, and I dont really see any arrogance to assume someones opinion is the standard in this thread
Kaosaur
Member
I don't listen to Killswitch and I'm a HUGE Meshuggah fan.
I do. Regularly.
Actually there's only so much you can do with the tonal system we're used to. Stuff like that only expands on it. Not even Schoenberg stuck to his systems completely rigidly all the time. He had great instincts as a composer. As far as symmetry and identifiable melody, Meshuggah has both of those but maybe not a kind that you're comfortable listening to. Also keep in mind that symmetry can also be defined and accented simply by the deliberate (or in Meshuggah's case, seeming) lack of it. At the end of the day, most of Meshuggah's stuff is truly and honestly in 4/4.
I disagree. I don't think that's why most people I know who like Meshuggah listen to them either. All it is is the evolution of music. Our ears and what we like to listen to actually evolve over the generations. Some of the chords we're using today were considered dissonant and evil hundreds of years ago and in some countries in Europe, they'd cut your head off for even playing them.
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