Categorize the various Swano Projects

[Manbient]

I know i know... "what's the point in categorizeing, just enjoy the music" but i'm sorting through my MP3's and i want to sort them accxording to category, and some of the Swano stuff i don't know how to categorize... here's the obvious ones (well to me obvious)

Bloodbath (Death Metal)
Infestdead (Death Metal)
Edge Of Sanity (Melodic Death, Crimson being kinda progressive death)
Moontower (Prog Death)
Pan Thy Monium (Prog/Avante Guard death)
Karabrodjan (Same as above kinda)

Ok those are the ones i don't have a problem categorizing... now here's the one's i'm not so sure where to put them.

Odyssey (i dunno... almost doom metal?)
Nightingale (also kinda doom metal, but softer than Odyssey err... progressive?)
Unicorn (prog rock kinda... not too sure)
Steel (ok this stems from me not quite knowing what to categorize Manowar, Judas Priest as... Power Metal? thrash? it isn't quite either.. Rock? help me help help... hehe)


I think that is most of the projects anyway, at least that's the ones i have.

 

[Demonspell]

Odyssey - progressive metal
Nightingale - progressive rock with doom tendencies
Unicorn - more traditional prog rock
Steel - a satire on 80s metal, particularly the NWOBHM

 

[Manbient]

oh ok. Thanx I still dunno about Odyssey.. not relly that progressive, and Dan himself said he wanted to write "candlemass-ish heavy metal" and i think most people consider Candlemass doom metal. I don't know what i would call Candlemass hehe

 

[MacMoney]

Bloodbath - old school swedish death metal (the EP that is, dunno how the album will be)
Infestdead - death metal
Edge of Sanity - old ones are old schoo swedish death metal and the later ones moved on to melodic/progressive death metal.
Moontower - prog rock keys meet heavy metal + death vocals. Nothing death metally about this one.
Pan-Thy-Monium - weird
Odyssey - Haven't heard actually but from what I've gathered they're doom metal.
Nightingale - varying between progressive hard rock and prog rock
Unicorn - prog rock

Judas Priest and Manowar are classic metal/traditional metal/heavy metal. Whatever you want to call that genre.

 

[wardwarf]

Odyssey most definitely is not doom metal. I'd probably say slightly prog/power.

The whole term 'melodic death metal' makes no sense to me, since a staple rule of death metal is to be non-melodic/dissonant.

 

[lumen]

Odyssey doesn't really sound very doomy to me either.

I don't think that death metal is about being dissonant and non-melodic on the whole, although that is the direction some bands go in. Many death metal bands write very melodic songs.

 

[Metal88]

I notice that the vocals are what define music's genre in metal. Deep throat vocals like Dans on EOS make it "death metal" and of course you can add on stuff like "melodic death metal" obviously it's not "melodic black metal" as black metal singers have that screech in their vocals. Moontower has Death metal vocals so you'd have to name the music type "Trippy keyboard stuff and bombass guitars and uh...stuff" and then say "with death metal vocals" Hehe. Odyssey isn't doom metal. A good example of doom metal is old Amorphis, like The Karelian Isthmus and Tales form the Thousand Lakes. Though if you wanna get anal you could add "Doom with a hint of folk", metal. I try not to get too detailed tho, it gets ridiculous at some point. Below is a good way to categorize Dan's work:

Unicorn - "Emotionally remarkable" Rock
EOS - "Personification of Badass" Metal
Moontower - "Preeminent and Towering" Metal
Nightingale - "Extraordinarily outstanding" Metal
Pan Thy Monium - "Singularly rare bombass" Metal
Karaboudjan - "Remarkably customary" Metal

 

[Ormir]

A good example of doom metal is old Amorphis, like The Karelian Isthmus and Tales form the Thousand Lakes. Though if you wanna get anal you could add "Doom with a hint of folk", metal.

Hell no! I've never heard anything that's less doom than Amorphis. The music is death metal with folk and prog roack influences, but certainly not doom. Doom is characterised by slow melodies, plodding guitars, and music that is sad and opressed. Amorphis has some very groovy melodies and guitar riffs in Tales... and Karelian Isthmus is just normal death metal. A good example of doom would be early Anathema, My Dying Bride or Candlemass.

 

[KleptomaN]

I'd categorize the old Amorphis albums (before their music turned to 50% 70s prog rock) as black metal, rather than death metal. And I do believe they had a few doom tendancies back then.

As for Swano projects:
I'd say Nightingale is somwehere between goth rock (this element is strongest in The Breathing Shadow), prog rock (Closing Chronicles is mostly prog) and metal (I has a somewhat simple metal approach)

Edge of Sanity: old school death metal, melodic death metal, good ol' heavy metal and/or Manowar (just listen to Blood of my Enemies), prog death metal (Crimson)

Whoever said Moontower is progrock keys + death metal vocals + heavy metal was dead on

Unicorn - I don't rhink I'd classify this as progressive, and it isn't really metal either, so I'll say: rock.

 

[wardwarf]

Amorphis has never been doom in the slightest. When I think of doom, I think of Morgion, Esoteric, some Bethlehem... Slow, deep, depressing stuff. Though Esoteric is all psychadelic and whatnot. Prog doom? Hehe.

 

[MacMoney]

The type of vocals doesn't have anything to do with what kind of metal it is. You can have death vocals in metal or clean vocals in death metal.

 

[wardwarf]

Yeah, MacMoney, I totally agree. People think blackmetal is blackmetal because of the "screechy" vocals, but what makes blackmetal blackmetal is the lyrical content and the atmosphere the music provides. Death metal is inherently dissonant, melodic death metal is a contradiction in terms.. but I don't have a problem calling it that I suppose. Vocals are a part of a genre.. i.e. deathmetal, blackmetal, powermetal etc. usually have a certain vocal style, but the style doesn't make the genre what it is.

 

[TexasFriedCriminal]

I'd add that Odessey is probably best described as epic metal with slightly gothed vocals