So, while reading and commenting in another thread on here, I started thinking about what bands have really influenced me to play and write the way I do. I started surfing around Youtube, looking for vintage videos and bootleg clips, etc. There's so much great stuff out there to see, thanks to Youtube. While I'm not a fan of illegal downloading of official cds and stuff, I think Youtube is awesome for viewing stuff like old live clips, or music videos you haven't seen in years and can't really find anywhere. Most of it is stuff that is not commercially available anywhere, anyhow. It kinda reminds me of the old tape trading days, actually. But I digress....
Well anyways, I started thinking about how there's alot of misconceptions amongst fans, detractors, critics, etc., regarding who our influences are. You've all heard me rant about my dislike for the Opeth and MDB "rip off" accusations, especially because they're so incorrect. I thought I would list here some of my personal influences that really inspired me to start playing this kind of music. This isn't necessarily representative of the rest of the guys in the band, just my own influences. Perhaps they'll join in on the topic and add their own two cents to this. Maybe the more astute people can look at the varied influences we have, and put it together to see how it creates the ND sound overall.
For starters, one huge influence on me to play this music is CANDLEMASS. I started listening to them around 1988 roughly, and I still to this day find inspiration in listening to them and trying to capture some of their "vibe". Lars' guitar solos were very influential to me....
http://youtube.com/watch?v=8th_3AoTm_E
And of course, there's TROUBLE, who we've waxed on ecstatically about in the past. Their use of harmony and their song structuring was a big influence for me.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=CSfUNTXacZY
Another doom-ish influence would be WINTER. I can still remember clear as day the first time I heard this band (late 1990) and aside from how astonishingly slow they were, the heaviness and yet catchiness of their riffs was amazing to me. I still LOVE the vocals. Guttural yet understandable. They only released one official album, to my knowledge, and to me it outshines almost everyone who tried copping this style afterwards.
(This video is just the song & album art...I chose to include this as opposed to the official "music video" because the album version of this song is superior to my ears)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0nObiYbbpv8
Autopsy were a really big influence on me, and to my ears, I hear their influence in the riffs I come up sometimes, and yet I've never seen nor heard anyone ever mention them when reviewing us. This band doesn't get nearly enough credit. Their first two albums were big for me at the time. Listen to their harmonies and heavy riffs that follow, and then think of "Collapse Of The Falling Throe". British doom my ass, LOL.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=w9Cfn7KKSCs
One British act that did have an impact on me in the early days, especially in terms of writing riffs that were drastically downtuned and yet thick and catchy was BoltThrower. I was able to see these guys a couple of times in the early '90s, it was fuckin' great.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=X9BZsOKPWkc
One band that I know the other guys in ND can most certainly agree with me about is Pestilence. I still to this day listen to Consuming Impulse with great frequency. When Martin Van Drunen (i.e. one of the best vocalists EVER) first announced he was joining BoltThrower years ago, I thought I'd about died and gone to heaven LOL Alas that didn't quite work out the way anyone had hoped. But anyhow, Pestilence was and still is a big influence. We've even discussed covering this band someday. You never know...
Anytime we put this cd on and cue this song up, that first fucking riff still blows us away and puts smiles on our faces.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=v7VsKobk7hY
Not to mention bands like Entombed, Grave, Dismember, Gorefest...all very influential to me, and it's still by far the "death metal" that I prefer over most of the DM thats come out in the past ten years or so.
Going back a bit further, my first main influence to try playing this style of music was probably Celtic Frost. Albums like To Mega Therion and especially Into The Pandemonium blew me away, and really made me see that there was a way to be extremely dark and heavy while also adding other elements like clean baritone vocals, female vocals, keyboards and violins, tympani, and even electronic sound effects, and make it work to create something unique. I still listen to these albums and am impressed, even though many many bands have taken and expanded on this stuff over the years, I still prefer the originators.
I wish there were some clips of Pandemonium-era stuff to post to more aptly show what I mean, but this song is great regardless...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=wx-HfWKxgBw
The next biggest old school influence next to CF, for me, is VOIVOD. Most people might be surprised to know what a massive influence they are/were on me and my writing, even now. Guys, there's Voivod influence all over the place on ND albums, I promise you LOL At least on the stuff I've written. Nunez is a big fan of them as well, so I have an ally there hehe Albums like Angel Rat, Outer Limits, & Nothingface in particular were very influential for me, especially in terms of the way Piggy used odd chord structures, and some of the song arrangements they would use.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=LDh6N26_MWc
A more recent band I can honestly say has been an influence on me over the years is Amorphis. I started listening to them back around 1992, one of the few bands who I can say I like every album they've done, some more than others though. I like their newest incarnation but I prefer the Pasi era, for sure. Tuonela & Am Universum were influential on me I think in terms of song structuring and melody. I was starting to write music in this vein when I heard Tuonela for the first time and thought "well they've nailed what I was going for!" I love the way the guitarists play off of each other, and the vocal melodies and structures are great. I think you can hear the influence on ND songs like Lost In A Day especially.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KE48yblrfJg
Of course there are other bands who I feel were quite important of an influence on me, such as Testament, Megadeth, Metallica...I don't really need to post links to their songs because, well if you aren't already quite familiar with them then I would like to know what rock you've been living under, LOL.
As for some big non-metal influences, one of the biggest is of course Pink Floyd. A huge amount of my influence when it comes to writing the more mellow, acoustic passages definitely is from David Gilmour. Though I realise I'm not even 1/1000th as talented as him! But regardless, his playing and melodic style come to mind often when I'm writing stuff like that. Songs like Echoes and Fearless are favorites of mine.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7my4eFuUs5o
I also draw alot of influence from stuff like Led Zeppelin, Simon & Garfunkel, David Bowie, The Cure, This Mortal Coil, The Doors, The Beatles, and many more. I'll be up all night writing this shit if I expound any further. Oops, too late, heh.
And one last significant influence I'd like to mention here, is the local band and underground legends Sindrome. I know many of you guys have never even heard of this band but they were a very influential band back in the late '80s, who I have heard being praised by members of Napalm Death, Dissection, Voivod, Sepultura, Slipknot, and many others. They were a major influence on me, especially being from Chicago of course. They never released an official cd, only two high quality demos Into the Halls of Extermination and Vaults of Inner Conscience. Their demos were better than many official albums that were released during that time! It's a slightly technical form of death/thrash. It might sound outdated nowadays but back then it was quite groundbreaking. You can listen to some of their songs (ripped at a somewhat lower quality from cassettes) at www.sindrome.net
Anyways, this might bore the fuck out of some of you, sorry. I just thought it'd be fun to share some stuff that I feel truly influenced me and that I enjoy alot. Check out the links I've posted if you're bored. Feel free to comment on this or ask questions, I don't care.
Well anyways, I started thinking about how there's alot of misconceptions amongst fans, detractors, critics, etc., regarding who our influences are. You've all heard me rant about my dislike for the Opeth and MDB "rip off" accusations, especially because they're so incorrect. I thought I would list here some of my personal influences that really inspired me to start playing this kind of music. This isn't necessarily representative of the rest of the guys in the band, just my own influences. Perhaps they'll join in on the topic and add their own two cents to this. Maybe the more astute people can look at the varied influences we have, and put it together to see how it creates the ND sound overall.
For starters, one huge influence on me to play this music is CANDLEMASS. I started listening to them around 1988 roughly, and I still to this day find inspiration in listening to them and trying to capture some of their "vibe". Lars' guitar solos were very influential to me....
http://youtube.com/watch?v=8th_3AoTm_E
And of course, there's TROUBLE, who we've waxed on ecstatically about in the past. Their use of harmony and their song structuring was a big influence for me.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=CSfUNTXacZY
Another doom-ish influence would be WINTER. I can still remember clear as day the first time I heard this band (late 1990) and aside from how astonishingly slow they were, the heaviness and yet catchiness of their riffs was amazing to me. I still LOVE the vocals. Guttural yet understandable. They only released one official album, to my knowledge, and to me it outshines almost everyone who tried copping this style afterwards.
(This video is just the song & album art...I chose to include this as opposed to the official "music video" because the album version of this song is superior to my ears)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0nObiYbbpv8
Autopsy were a really big influence on me, and to my ears, I hear their influence in the riffs I come up sometimes, and yet I've never seen nor heard anyone ever mention them when reviewing us. This band doesn't get nearly enough credit. Their first two albums were big for me at the time. Listen to their harmonies and heavy riffs that follow, and then think of "Collapse Of The Falling Throe". British doom my ass, LOL.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=w9Cfn7KKSCs
One British act that did have an impact on me in the early days, especially in terms of writing riffs that were drastically downtuned and yet thick and catchy was BoltThrower. I was able to see these guys a couple of times in the early '90s, it was fuckin' great.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=X9BZsOKPWkc
One band that I know the other guys in ND can most certainly agree with me about is Pestilence. I still to this day listen to Consuming Impulse with great frequency. When Martin Van Drunen (i.e. one of the best vocalists EVER) first announced he was joining BoltThrower years ago, I thought I'd about died and gone to heaven LOL Alas that didn't quite work out the way anyone had hoped. But anyhow, Pestilence was and still is a big influence. We've even discussed covering this band someday. You never know...
Anytime we put this cd on and cue this song up, that first fucking riff still blows us away and puts smiles on our faces.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=v7VsKobk7hY
Not to mention bands like Entombed, Grave, Dismember, Gorefest...all very influential to me, and it's still by far the "death metal" that I prefer over most of the DM thats come out in the past ten years or so.
Going back a bit further, my first main influence to try playing this style of music was probably Celtic Frost. Albums like To Mega Therion and especially Into The Pandemonium blew me away, and really made me see that there was a way to be extremely dark and heavy while also adding other elements like clean baritone vocals, female vocals, keyboards and violins, tympani, and even electronic sound effects, and make it work to create something unique. I still listen to these albums and am impressed, even though many many bands have taken and expanded on this stuff over the years, I still prefer the originators.
I wish there were some clips of Pandemonium-era stuff to post to more aptly show what I mean, but this song is great regardless...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=wx-HfWKxgBw
The next biggest old school influence next to CF, for me, is VOIVOD. Most people might be surprised to know what a massive influence they are/were on me and my writing, even now. Guys, there's Voivod influence all over the place on ND albums, I promise you LOL At least on the stuff I've written. Nunez is a big fan of them as well, so I have an ally there hehe Albums like Angel Rat, Outer Limits, & Nothingface in particular were very influential for me, especially in terms of the way Piggy used odd chord structures, and some of the song arrangements they would use.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=LDh6N26_MWc
A more recent band I can honestly say has been an influence on me over the years is Amorphis. I started listening to them back around 1992, one of the few bands who I can say I like every album they've done, some more than others though. I like their newest incarnation but I prefer the Pasi era, for sure. Tuonela & Am Universum were influential on me I think in terms of song structuring and melody. I was starting to write music in this vein when I heard Tuonela for the first time and thought "well they've nailed what I was going for!" I love the way the guitarists play off of each other, and the vocal melodies and structures are great. I think you can hear the influence on ND songs like Lost In A Day especially.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KE48yblrfJg
Of course there are other bands who I feel were quite important of an influence on me, such as Testament, Megadeth, Metallica...I don't really need to post links to their songs because, well if you aren't already quite familiar with them then I would like to know what rock you've been living under, LOL.
As for some big non-metal influences, one of the biggest is of course Pink Floyd. A huge amount of my influence when it comes to writing the more mellow, acoustic passages definitely is from David Gilmour. Though I realise I'm not even 1/1000th as talented as him! But regardless, his playing and melodic style come to mind often when I'm writing stuff like that. Songs like Echoes and Fearless are favorites of mine.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7my4eFuUs5o
I also draw alot of influence from stuff like Led Zeppelin, Simon & Garfunkel, David Bowie, The Cure, This Mortal Coil, The Doors, The Beatles, and many more. I'll be up all night writing this shit if I expound any further. Oops, too late, heh.
And one last significant influence I'd like to mention here, is the local band and underground legends Sindrome. I know many of you guys have never even heard of this band but they were a very influential band back in the late '80s, who I have heard being praised by members of Napalm Death, Dissection, Voivod, Sepultura, Slipknot, and many others. They were a major influence on me, especially being from Chicago of course. They never released an official cd, only two high quality demos Into the Halls of Extermination and Vaults of Inner Conscience. Their demos were better than many official albums that were released during that time! It's a slightly technical form of death/thrash. It might sound outdated nowadays but back then it was quite groundbreaking. You can listen to some of their songs (ripped at a somewhat lower quality from cassettes) at www.sindrome.net
Anyways, this might bore the fuck out of some of you, sorry. I just thought it'd be fun to share some stuff that I feel truly influenced me and that I enjoy alot. Check out the links I've posted if you're bored. Feel free to comment on this or ask questions, I don't care.
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