Let's Slow Things Down a Bit

A common theme with most metal subgenres (Thrash, Death, and Power in particular) is their use of frantic speeds. Faster, however, does not always equate to heavier.

Most critics/aficionados agree that Heavy Metal was born with Black Sabbath's eponymous first album in 1970. Some argue that all heavy metal is simply sped up or slowed down variations on the rhythms and harmonies of Messrs Osbourne and company, particularly with their heavy use of the tri-tone sound. Whatev - it's all metal.

Though they didn't know it at the time, Sabbath was retroactively grouped into Doom Metal - slower, lower, and "heavier" than faster counterparts. Doom is the basis of all your slower varietals: experimental? Drone. Bit of Southern Rock? Sludge. Fuzzy and weed-inspired? Stoner.

Some examples:

Black Sabbath
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZaOmNT8iVE&feature=related

Crowbar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM2-iPAY2p4

Electric Wizard
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO7VP34n2Ps

Sunn O)))
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1HEiQJEmBg

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Prof. Organgrinder

South America: Sun, Sand, and Satan

First, let me get this out of the way, thank you Chile for giving us Tom Araya. We've never thank you properly. Tom and the rest of Slayer came out of the 80's Bay Area Thrash Scene, but as he was born Tomás Enrique Araya Díaz I'm including him here. SSSSSSSSSLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRR!

Now, with that notable exception, most of the metal coming from t'other side of the canal is Brazilian in origin. And most of the metal there that's worth a damn comes from Max Cavalera. The greatest of these, for me, is Sepultura (from the Portuguese for "grave"). Beginning with thrash in the late 80's and ultimately producing some of the sweetest groove metal by the early 90's, Sepultura was a real turning point in my young life when I picked up their Chaos A.D. and later Roots.

Max and his brother Igor (how metal a name is Igor?) left the band in 1996 due to some unfortunate hard feelings between Max and the other band members. Sepultura soldiers on but lost the magic. But Max also gave us Soulfly, which just released their seventh album in 2010, and Nailbomb, a one-shot industrial/thrash beauty.

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Prof. Chop Organgrinder

Regional Focus: France

Of France's many fine cultural exports - cheese, wine, cinema - popular music tends to be left behind. Seriously, name a popular artist from France. Celine Dion? Nope, Quebecois - a Francophone, to be sure, but not French, and all her hits are in English. French pop tanks outside of Francophone nations, probably because it's in goddamn French. Spanish doesn't have nearly as much trouble - Latin singers exist aplenty in the states rather than wallowing in relative obscurity/American scorn.

So some boys from Avignon decided they needed to get métal en tant que baise

The metal scene out of France is small but it's gaining rapidly. 2010 in particular was a great year for the French Black Metal Scene. Apparently they learned a little something from all those viking raids out of Norway and Sweden a few hundred years ago, ie, dress yourselves up in corpse-paint and scream over buzzsaw guitars and the vikings will think you're one of their own. I'm a fan of the following:

Gojira
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5By-5mLHk4

Alcest (art-house shoegaze metal)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dwrrLb-uJQ

Celestia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PwGSebQA70

Temple of Baal (one of my current favorites)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9B_EbkevFM

Blut Aus Nord
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRZyUmk7vsQ

Deathspell Omega
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIPSqcGj--I

\m/

Chop

Daily Grind

Drumming is a truly artistic endeavor, to be sure. Rhythm is the backbone of music, and the drummer sets the beat. But drumming is also hitting, and sometimes hitting is less about finesse and more about how fast and hard you hit something. Napalm Death didn't invent the Blast-Beat but they were the chrysalis that led to its apotheosis: Grindcore. Adam MacGregor, in a review of Grindcore giant Agoraphobic Nosebleed, offers this description: "The blast-beat generally comprises a repeated, sixteenth-note figure played at a very fast tempo, and divided uniformly among the kick drum, snare and ride, crash, or hi-hat cymbal." It's not exactly creating a beat you can dance to, but it does get your heart rate up.

Like hardcore punk (which lends the "-core" to both this and many other subgenres) Grindcore's lyrical content is largely political. Cattle Decapitation and Carcass both use the genre to point out what they consider despicable human behavior (Cattle Decapitation's members are all vegetarian, for example).

Not always though. Agoraphobic Nosebleed and Pig Destroyer (both fronted by Scott Hull) focus more on violence, gore, and otherwise "offensive" content. Cephalic Carnage are famous for piss-taking, usually at the expense of other genres.

Of course, they got nothin' on the AC. If Anal Cunt doesn't offend you, you're a fucking liar. But, that's sort of their thing.

R.I.P. Seth

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Prof. Organgrinder

Sleep=High on Fire + Om

Metalheads and weedheads shouldn't have much crossover. Metal trends towards loud, pissed, and action-oriented. Stoner rock wants to just, like, hang out...man...what? But, see, way back in the day on Master of Reality an Ozzy led Black Sabbath released Sweet Leaf. By the gods that's some heavy and weed-loving riffs.

Now, there's a great many Stoner Metal bands to choose from. Possibly slavishly devoted to the Sabbath riff is Electric Wizard. Can I have some more bass please? I didn't quite feel that vibration all the way up my rectum.

But, standing head and shoulders above all other Stoner Metal outfits are Sleep. That particular track is about a dragon that also happens to be an astronaut going to Mars. Also weed, I'm guessing.

Sleep's Magnum Opus, Dopesmoker, almost never saw the light of day. Apparently, short-sighted record execs felt a single hour long track was unmarketable. Pricks. The battle to see its release created strains on the band that led to their eventual break-up. It's last gasp was a live track packaged with the eventual release of Dopesmoker called Sonic Titan.

But, all is not lost. Soul-searching poet and bass player Al Cisneros re-emerged with Om - a unique blend of chanted vocals and heavy riffs - this is the Metal the Dalai Lama would listen to. Also, as a side project, the seriously awesome and wail-y Shrinebuilder.

Shirtless axe-wielding barbarian Matt Pike would go on to form the slightly heavier, sludgier High on Fire. Sweet Christ, Matt, don't ever fix those teeth - that's the heaviest mouth in metal.

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Prof. Organgrinder

Artist Feature: Ghost

Sweden's Ghost has the Tru Kvlt Black Metal community rather divided. Their debut album, Opus Eponymous, has an incredibly ear-worm-y quality; I haven't stopped spinning it since I picked it up. But as Black Metal goes, it's not exactly Mayhem. It's Black Metal with a, well, pop sensibility. But, shit, they sing about the Devil on every. single. track. One can understand the lyrics without having spent years developing an ear for deciphering the standard Black Metal Shriek - does that make it something else? Is it closer to Maroon 5 than Blut Aus Nord? I leave it to you.

Prof. Organgrinder

Thrash Basics

Thrash Metal is probably what you've heard of without realizing it. Characterized by speed and aggression, a common technique in Thrash is the palm-muted riff, which gives it its characteristic "chugging" sound. My first Thrash Metal album was Slayer's first full-length release Show No Mercy on cassette (yes cassette). It had a "Super-Saver" label slapped on it, which caused my father (Master Slaine Mac Roth Organgrinder, Esq.) to quip that it had "more chuck-a-chuck for your buck."

Differing from Death Metal (which Thrash predates by a few years), the vocals in Thrash are generally sung in a clear (though clearly angry) melodic shout. Chilean vocalist/ Tom Araya said of Slayer's most famous opus, Reign in Blood, that he wanted to sing clearly because the words were such an important part of the song for the audience to take away.

Slayer is my personal favorite of what's commonly called "The Big 4." Four American Thrash Metal Bands that have defined the genre.

Metallica

Megadeth

Anthrax

and once more, Slayer

There's a number of classics outside the big four, so be sure to check out Exodus and Testament if nothing else - I'm certain Professor Smythen-Wesson will have more to say on the subject.

Not to be outdone, Europe gave us their own epic shredders in the German 3.

Kreator

Sodom

Destruction

Noticing a trend? There's not as great a diversity of sound in Thrash as there is in Death or Doom - I'm not knocking it, mind you! But, unlike Doom which splinters into Sludge, Stoner, Drone, etc. and Death with can be Melodic or Technical or Doom/Death or Blackened Death (among others) diverge much from the Thrash formula and you're no longer listening to Thrash. Not sure why that is, it just is. All the bands highlighted here got started in the 80's and all of them are still touring and cutting albums - it's a formula that works. And there's still great new Thrashers emerging - here's a couple of greats that popped up in more recent years.

Municipal Waste

Warbringer

Enforcer

Gamma Bomb

Prof. Organgrinder

Let Paul Stanley get this off his hairy chest!

Good morning class, Professor Smythen-Wesson here. I want to start today's lesson by saying that my main focus in this course will tend to comprise the roots of heavy metal, leaving the more recent metal to my esteemed colleague Prof. Chop. As such, my first lesson will be on the brilliance of KISS frontman Paul Stanley's stayyyyge banter (!).

Now, whether or not you consider KISS to be early metal or merely a rock and/or roll band, their influence across the world of both metal and rock is unquestionable. Beyond the fire-breathing, the blood spitting, the bombast, the laser shooting guitars and a drummer who likes cats, there is one redeeming quality of KISS that is better than all of the aforementioned schtuff. Paul Stanley and his between-song stage patter. Something missing in today's music scene is the ability to make your audience feel like they are connecting with the band they paid to see. These pathetic excuses for rock stars come on stage, act like they're doing you a favor, say "thanks" at the end of the night and leave. Not Paul.

The best example of this ridiculosity is a bootleg disc credited to Paul called "People, Let Me Get This Off My Chest". 70 tracks of moronic brilliance that some KISS fanatic was patient enough to edit out all the music of a group of KISS shows and leave only the utterings of the Starchild. All Paul, all the time. Among some of these gems is Paul saying a few non-metal things like "yes indeed" and "oh my goodness" but there are also little bits of genius like him referring to his "uzi of ooze". Now, Paul knows how to play a crowd, like asking (before breaking into "Cold Gin") if they in the crowd like to drink "al-co-hol!" but it's kinda tiresome when he continues to ask "can you hear me?" At least he doesn't do the cliched "I can't hear you!", after all the show isn't about you, it's about Paul.

There are a few oddities like him asking "how many of you girls like to get liiiicked?" (before "Lick It Up"), makes sense for a man who claims to run a close second only to bandmate Gene Simmons in the clam department. But to ask "how many of you guys like to get liiiicked?"? That just doesn't seem to refute those pesky rumors that Starchild doesn't frequent the "Ladies Room" with his "Love Gun". But I digress.

The great/creepy thing about a KISS show is that, if you've seen one, you've seen them all. What you hear in KC one night is what they heard the previous night in Des Moines (Kung Fu Tap & Taco! whutwhut). So listening to this bit of verbal hedonism is a shared experience for KISS fans worldwide.

Hit me with a comment if you'd like the link as I can't seem to fully grasp the concept of this interweb google-machine nonsense.

Regional Focus - The Far East

A re-post for some of you, enhanced with commentary from Professor Nigel Smythen-Wesson.

In honor of Metal Skool's becoming a distance program with our Chinese affiliate, I wanted to focus on the metal stylings of China and Japan. This is also a really learning opportunity for me as I know close to nothing about the Chinese music scene. I also wish to welcome professors Nigel Smythen-Wesson and Holly Diver to Metal Skool.

China

Here's a real gap in my personal knowledge, which is odd as I'm familiar with most other aspects of Chinese culture; religion, history, film, philosophy - but musically it's a big blank spot.

So, China really came into the rock scene through a fellow named Cui Jian, who first introduced "Chinese shaking and rolling music." Also referred to occasionally by language, Cantorock and Mandorock, depending on the form sung by the performers.

Not really metal, per se, but Cui Jian can't be excluded from the conversation. Note that in the second one clip he dons a red blindfold - that's in protest of Tiananmen Square.

Tang Dynasty
These boys are a bit more metal, in a folk-prog kind of vein:

August and Spring

Ululate
Some nasty Black Metal

Japan

Here's a scene I was a bit more familiar with prior to, having given me two of my absolute favorites. Boris and Sigh.

Boris
These guys do a bit of everything. I mentioned them last week as being part of the "Hipster Metal" crowd, placed there largely because they're not exclusively metal - they branch out into pop, electro, and punk. That said, their album "Pink" is pretty crunchy.

here's a sweet collab they did with Sunn O)))

Sigh
Okay, so Black Metal's roots are in Viking lands, but Sigh really showed the West what the East was capable of.

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Prof. Organgrinder

Good morning class, as a new member of the teaching brood here at Metal Skool, allow me a quick introduction. My name is Professor Nigel Smythen-Wesson.

A bit of background on me, I am the product of superior breeding, parents of considerable means. During my youth as a fancy lad, I was assigned to the watch of a butler by the name of Handsome Anthony. He was a lazy, oafish man of such inferior lineage that he proved unable to perform even the most menial of tasks such as properly cleaning my sock garters or washing commoners tears from my finer dressing gowns. A quick anecdote from my days with Anthony, there was a Spring day where this boorish pig of a man had misplaced my Christening wig and attempted to replace it with an unacceptable knock-off. My punishment for Anthony was to force him to run rickshaw through the grounds of our compound with me and my friend Marquis Marque aboard the contraption...oh the times we had.

But I digress, this man may not have been completely worthy of being in my presence but he did spend our days together passing on his unequaled knowledge of the devil's song. These lessons are what I intend to pass to you, the students, the future. To be honest, I do not truly believe that you are the future; that distinction belongs to hovercraft technology. Now, on with the lessons...

I would like to post an addendum to what Professor Organgrinder has taught here today. Loudness could very easily be considered the most influential of the Japanese metal bands. Dating back over 30 years now, they took from American Glam metal but mixed it very liberally with NWOBHM. Here is their video for Crazy Nights from the Thunder in the East record (I had it on tape, showing my age).

Japanese metal fans have been very fervent and very specific about who they follow, turning bands such as Y&T and Tygers of Pan Tang into superstars in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Enjoy.

Prof. Smythen-Wesson

Jazz Odyssey

In "This is Spinal Tap", Jazz Odyssey is the epic meandering free-form jazz exploration piece written by the band's bass player Derek Smalls; Spinal Tap's lowest point is performing this song at a fair. For many this is the only perceived crossroads of jazz and metal, but Southern Technical Death Metal would be in a different place without jazz. The same spirit of technical virtuosity that drove the drum solo behind Dave Brubeck's Take Five also inspired the blazing guitar behind Necrophagist.

Death Metal, like all Metal, really, breaks down into a number of sub-sub-genres based on identifiable aesthetic qualities. Those bands focusing on the highest degree of competency in their instrumentation fall into what's generally called Progressive or Technical Death Metal. Check out Floridian Metal Giants Atheist. Then check them out again, because seriously.

But I thought we were talking about jazz, here? Well, savvy music theorists and critics have compared jazz to metal for some time, particularly (though not exclusively) Death Metal as they're both in many ways quite distant from standard pop. But don't take my word for it - Anus has been at this game much longer than I and breaks it down fantastically.

For a seriously sweet jazz-metal hybrid experience, check out musical collective Shining. Starting off as a jazz quartet in Norway, Shining has always been extremely experimental and careened into metal with their latest, Blackjazz.

No foray into Jazz Metal would be complete without Ihsahn. The former frontman of Emperor, Ihsahn has been compared to a number of classical composers. My favorite, though, has to be this track from After. Holy Hell, that's a metal saxophone!

For some clean vocals, have a look at Cynic's Traced in Air. There's something very mystical yet synthesized about Cynic to my ears. Like a robot and an elf had a baby and it started playing Prog-Metal, which I mean in the best possible way.

Finally, let's look at the Death Metal band with the most obvious name, Death. I envy you, if you've never heard 1,000 Eyes before, because I'd love to hear it for the first time again.

Prof. Organgrinder

A Vocal Styles Primer

Not intended as a complete overview of all styles of metal, but rather a quick look at metal singers and their various methods. Most metal vocalists, and by extension bands within particular subgenres, fall into one of two general camps - clean or growled. That said, variations on these themes exist. Here's a few examples:

Clean vocals:
Dragonforce (power metal)

Slayer (thrash metal)

One of the keys here with clean vocals is comprehensibility. Tom Araya of Slayer is certainly gruff and harsh in his singing, but his intention is for the lyrics to be as clearly comprehensible as he can. Well, that, and to be metal as fuck, which should go without saying. But, while Mr. Araya is meant for metal and nothing else, ZP Theart of Dragonforce has the chops to sing just about anything. Power Metal and Glam (or Hair) Metal are the subgenres which regularly feature powerful high sung vocals.

Then there's King Diamond.

Death Metal Growling:

Sometimes compared to Cookie Monster, Death Metal Growls are almost more of a vocal technique like yodeling or beatboxing than singing. Not a viewpoint I endorse, but I can understand it. The uninitiated won't be able to distinguish much difference between Death Metal vocalists, but to the trained ear it does become pretty distinct.

Morbid Angel

At the Gates

Arch Enemy (noteworthy here is that Angela Gossow is to my knowledge the only female vocalist to have mastered this style)

Demilich (seriously, this guy sounds like a croaking frog - there's nothing else like it!)

Black Metal Shrieks and Growls
For some, Black and Death metal sound almost identical, and in fact there's quite a bit of crossover, though they tend to vary greatly in tone and production. Black Metal has very little in the way of a formalized structure, so keep in mind that different bands will have a VERY different sound. Here's a couple of examples:

Xasthur
Please don't cut yourself listening to this one.

Windir

Beauty and the Beast:
A few bands, mostly Gothic Metal, have developed a style in which a clean, melodic female vocalist is paired with another vocalists nasty growls.

Theatre of Tragedy

\m/
Prof. Organgrinder

Metal Therapy

A recent study by the Legatum Institute once again rated 110 countries according to prosperity, or happiness. A difficult thing to measure. The top three were Norway, Denmark, and Finland, with Sweden, Switzerland, and the Netherlands as number 6, 8, and 9 (Rounding out the top ten were 4, Australia, 5, New Zealand, 7, Canada, and 10, the US, if your interested). Why do I bring this up? Scandinavia is the most metal place on the planet. So, obviously, \m/ = :)

While certain sub-genres of metal sprang up nearly simultaneously in different areas, the aforementioned happiest places on Earth are the birthplace of Death Metal and Black Metal, the crunchiest, loudest, and damn scariest music. Sweden generated the largest Death Metal following, largely in the cities of Stockholm and Gothenburg, which developed into their own sounds as well. Let's take a look at some examples.

"Stockholm" style:

Entombed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdL-wNwXPCg

Dismember:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0ZCAarIVSI

Bathory:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsHAS3aoK5k

"Gothenburg" style:

At the Gates:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF0U77bm9mc

Dark Tranquility:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZqfH1LQEOQ

In Flames:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyJzHttSQPo

Created in some ways as a response to the high level production and technical virtuosity of Death Metal, the Black Metal scene originated in Norway with low-fi recordings, buzzsaw guitars, and piercing shrieks, Black Metal is probably the hardest to get into. If you actually enjoy any of these on the first go round, we should hang out.

Darkthrone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBwu83RR6ZU

Carpathian Forest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYY2cFa2Qsw

Satyricon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD7bCRG3CG0

Mayhem
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J43DYzljG-k

These bands are technically from the "second wave" of Black Metal from the early 90's. A handful of Thrash bands, notably Venom, Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, and others experimented with a Black Metal sound in the 80's as well. But the second wave is where it really took off.

Also, just saying, these four bands and many others are from a nation currently listed as the happiest place on Earth. I'll let that process for a minute.

\m/
Prof. Organgrinder

Intro/Throwback Metal

Professor Chop Organgrinder Welcomes You!

Welcome to the first of the Metal Skööl blogposts! For my students who've been formally following these lessons via email correspondence, I hope this little format change doesn't turn you away. For newcomers, welcome! I hope you find this series informative. By way of an introduction, this little project began when two students approached me on my musical tastes and I desired to educate them on the soothing notes of rage. I believe in making the world more metal, which requires allowing young hipsters into the metal sandbox. As a people, metalheads have a strong tendency to exist on the societal fringe; as a result we often don't take too kindly to cool kids wanting to hang. The other Metal Faculty and I believe this is a great shame and offer this olive branch to those who can no longer subsist on indie-rock and dance-pop. Past lessons will be revamped and posted here for those who might be interested in previous discussions.

Throwback Metal

I first became aware of Throwback Metal when I stumbled across this little gem by White Wizzard:

Bassist and founder Jon Leon created the band as a response to what he felt was the overabundance of Metalcore and lack of more traditional metal in the current scene. It's a bit goofy in places, I'll admit, but goddamn I drive really fast listening to it! After Leon purged White Wizzard of its other founding members, many of them went on to form the similarly themed Holy Grail, whom I had the tremendous pleasure of seeing live in March.

A bit less tongue-in-cheek self-awareness, which is just fine with me. My son's two current favorites are these guys and Disturbed, which really goes to show that a traditional aesthetic can still resonate with a younger audience.

White Wizzard's video suggests they might just be pulling our leg a little bit. Steel Panther doesn't really hint so much hold up a sign reading "we're taking the piss here!" with their outrageous glam-metal styling and lyrics that cause me to blush to my bones. Don't listen to this at work or in front of your mom.

Finally, let's take a look at Sweden's tragic-laden glam-metallers Crashdïet. Stockholm is far more frequently the home of death-metal than hair, and it's easy to see a death-metal aesthetic in the video (bloody plastic-wrapped corpses, etc.) if not the lyrics.

It's like if Poison had a video directed by Eli Roth.

Upcoming posts will likely be redux for veteran skoolers, but new to those who stumble-upon us.

\m/
Prof. Organgrinder