DJENT METAL?

BKaz

BKaz

Unknown Lurker
Jul 17, 2008
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What is the overall opinion of this new wave of polyrhythmic, technical and groove-based "genre"? Do you guys even consider it a genre? Just wondering what the opinion of it is around these parts.

If any of you are interested, I like to post (HD) drum covers to youtube, some of which are covering djent metal bands... Any of you fans of Textures or The Contortionist?

http://youtu.be/4KGzDrEIS7M

[youtube]http://youtu.be/4KGzDrEIS7M[/youtube]

http://www.youtube.com/gisheagle
 
Djent is ehhh.

I like the fathers of the genre, Meshuggah, and the instrumental band Cloudkicker. Periphery is okay. I just don't like their vocalist.

That's as far as I went in regards to this sub-genre.
 
Yeah man. Totally understandable concerning Periphery's vocals. Meshuggah is definitely devastating, and Cloudkicker is also tight as hell.

I'd recommend a few different acts to maybe try out if you are in the mood:

Vildhjarta - Swedish band, incredible chops, and they have solid clean and harsh vocals (and don't sound emo or whiny...). Also, at 0:22, the breakdown is batshit crazy http://youtu.be/QGx8PCl_Bjw

Animals As Leaders - not really sure how comfortable I am lumping them into djent, but Tosin Abasi is probably one of the best technical guitar players in the world right now, and they are gaining a huge following. Instrumental tech/prog. http://youtu.be/xYbu9YRzD3Y
 
A couple bands are interesting. Most are boring-as-fuck Meshuggah clones.

I can't get into any genre where the "appeal" is on paper. Hooray, they're playing polyrhythms and compound time signatures, that doesn't mean it sounds good. Mozart wrote most of his shit in C-major and 4/4. Take a guess which people will be listening to in 200 years.
 
BKaz said:
Any of you fans of Textures
Click to expand...

That track you posted is horrible. HORRIBLE. Cheese factor eleventy million.

This is the problem with djent. Take a bland FM radio friendly bunch of shit and throw in a Meshuggah section and you've got djent. It's either that or just blatant Meshuggah rip-off bands. There is maybe room for the sub-genre to do good things but I'm not sure because it's saturated with Peripherys and the like. Vildhjarta were slightly less annoying but the cheese is still well and truly present.

Animals as Leaders are great because they are doing their own thing but their is nowhere near enough of that sort of thing going on in this sub-sub-kindagenre. It's annoying because I love Meshuggah and I'd like for there to be more good bands taking some influence from them and doing really good stuff.
 
The Fucking Champs are'nt that technical or groove based but they do progress within a song.From what I know practically all of their music is instrumental
 
I just checked out Cloudkicker since a few people mentioned it and I must say its pretty damn good.
But the cover art is really generic,they must be on a bugdet.I think if my band was called cloudkicker I would have the mightiest looking cloud on my merchandise.The one they have on their cd looks like something out of a Peanut's comic.
 
Satanstoenail said:
That track you posted is horrible. HORRIBLE. Cheese factor eleventy million.

This is the problem with djent. Take a bland FM radio friendly bunch of shit and throw in a Meshuggah section and you've got djent. It's either that or just blatant Meshuggah rip-off bands. There is maybe room for the sub-genre to do good things but I'm not sure because it's saturated with Peripherys and the like. Vildhjarta were slightly less annoying but the cheese is still well and truly present.

Animals as Leaders are great because they are doing their own thing but their is nowhere near enough of that sort of thing going on in this sub-sub-kindagenre. It's annoying because I love Meshuggah and I'd like for there to be more good bands taking some influence from them and doing really good stuff.
Click to expand...


Hey man... I'll just say each to his own. I've been through the gamut with metal, and I feel like one can spin anything around and call it cheese. You can take the most well-respected, talented metal band and somehow turn the conversation around by saying that they are esoteric and elitist and love the smell of their own farts. It's all preference.

Concerning the "FM radio" sound... just because it has singing and is slightly catchy and gets some widespread recognition doesn't make it worthless. It's not like it's Blind Guardian cheese, and the guy in Textures actually has a really good voice. Takes some getting used to, but it's like a combination of Soilwork and Devin Townsend vocals. Is it not brutal enough? Sometimes you just gotta stop holding onto your metal ego and just enjoy a catchy chord progression and vocal melody. I don't understand how a band could avoid this "cheese" you speak of... it really comes down to preference, again.

Concerning the Meshuggah influence, there are a ton of bands that utilize elements of Meshuggah and channel them into amazing new tunes... Meshuggah were pioneers, and bands like Periphery are simply taking things to the next level and allowing for it to branch off... There are poppier "djenty" bands like Periphery and Red Seas Fire, and there are heavier, less experimental ones like Uneven Structures, etc... A lot are complete Meshuggah rip-offs (which I agree are boring as fuck and bring nothing new to the table), but I feel like you'd shoot down anything you'd hear that has a "djent" tag because of your preconceived notions about the whole topic...

I also don't get why nu-metal is getting such a bad wrap... even certain -core is really respectable. I know i can't really encroach on people's music tastes, but I sense a lot of elitism... It's good to let go of the metal ego and listen to bands for the music. It's okay to like a band even if shitty 13 year olds like it too.
 
BKaz said:
Hey man... I'll just say each to his own. I've been through the gamut with metal, and I feel like one can spin anything around and call it cheese. You can take the most well-respected, talented metal band and somehow turn the conversation around by saying that they are esoteric and elitist and love the smell of their own farts. It's all preference.
Click to expand...

Yeah it's all subjective blah.

BKaz said:
Concerning the "FM radio" sound... just because it has singing and is slightly catchy and gets some widespread recognition doesn't make it worthless.
Click to expand...

It does when it sounds like it wouldn't be out of place on a Nickelback album. Seriously, that track you posted sounds like bland top 40 'modern alt rock' for the whole song except for the middle Meshuggah break, which sounds totally out of place and forced.

BKaz said:
Is it not brutal enough? Sometimes you just gotta stop holding onto your metal ego and just enjoy a catchy chord progression and vocal melody.
Click to expand...

Ugh. Should I start listening to Rihanna too?

BKaz said:
Concerning the Meshuggah influence, there are a ton of bands that utilize elements of Meshuggah and channel them into amazing new tunes... Meshuggah were pioneers, and bands like Periphery are simply taking things to the next level and allowing for it to branch off... There are poppier "djenty" bands like Periphery and Red Seas Fire, and there are heavier, less experimental ones like Uneven Structures, etc... A lot are complete Meshuggah rip-offs (which I agree are boring as fuck and bring nothing new to the table), but I feel like you'd shoot down anything you'd hear that has a "djent" tag because of your preconceived notions about the whole topic...
Click to expand...

How are Periphery taking the music that Meshuggah pioneered to the next level? By making it more commercial and accessible?

I've actually got nothing against the idea of djent; as I said, I love Meshuggah and I'd like to see more quality stuff being released by people who are influenced by them. My preconceived notions are only brought about by what I've heard so far. I'll keep checking stuff out and hope that it gets better. At this point I'd rather listen to blatant Meshuggah worship like In Exile than Tesseract or Textures.

BKaz said:
I also don't get why nu-metal is getting such a bad wrap... even certain -core is really respectable. I know i can't really encroach on people's music tastes, but I sense a lot of elitism... It's good to let go of the metal ego and listen to bands for the music. It's okay to like a band even if shitty 13 year olds like it too.
Click to expand...

Nu-metal gets a bad wrap around here because it was another fad that produced a whole lot of shit music. I happen to still quite like some of it, and I think some of the -core stuff is awesome.
 
There are many bands that are djent. But alot of people confuse deathcore to be djent when they have thier guitar tuned for the djent sound. They are not djent. They are deathcore. True djent bands are bands like Vildhjarta, meshuggah,and alot of underground bands. It is more of an aquired taste. I myself am a huge fan of technical death metal. After awhile i wanted a more chuggy, heavier sound with still a technical vibe. Djent just seemed to be the correct filler. Music is art. Djent is new art. It takes a view to see what the singer and band want to get across. Here is a much better song to get you in the groove to the subgenre. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e03DxWLkopE&feature=related[/ame] It is a mix of melodic soothing music and djent. Tell me what you think. Just becuase 1 band may suck out of the genre does not mean the whole genre is crap.
 
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