Metal Vs. Classical

anonymousnick2001 said:
All I know is, when a member of Kayo Dot drops in to tell you he's been in your shoes and, in essence, is on your side, you know you've got to do something.

I will do my best to show my teacher up. I'll probably end up doing my composition the way he wants, finish the semester, and then drop the course in the future. But I will still prove to him that metal is the sophisticated, structured, experimental music of today, and that his lack of understanding cannot malign or change that fact.

:kickass:
 
I don't know if your time is already over, but i'll mpost my thoughts:
I think you should perhaps not play some music only but do a presentation were you explain what metal is (and especially how today's metal is different to the biking-beer-drinking rock music of the past) and compare it to classical music.
(I don't know much about musical theory but you do and that knowledge together with some rhetorics might convince him!)
THEN you could play some song(s):
AS somebody said, he will not be impressed by any technicality or OPeth-like meandering and the like - you should use something that is about structure and songwriting.
It might sound strange but i suggest something from Darkthrone's Transsilvanian Hunger or by Burzum. He has to recoignize that this is no hedonist youth-culture idiot fun music...
 
I think u would be an idiot to present a prof. of composition a Dream Theater piece- surely he would laugh at their attempts to compose "songs", without indulging in unneeded and pointless showing off. It would be btter just to give him a Steve Vai cd if this is the course u wish to take, at least he is making no attempt to hide through idiotic meandering songs of Dt, that he is showing off his guitar capabilities. Furthermore, would the prof. even care about the technicality of their guitar and drum playing- when it is rarely in the context of a cohesive song?

Kayo Dot or Maudln are still the only bands worth playing to the prof, as they place great emphasis on not only experimentation but the music as a whole composition. Emperor is an interesting answer, but i think he would laugh it off.
 
Kayo Dot has been given compositional "legitimacy" by the contemporary avant-classical scene due to its label affiliations. If the music alone doesn't change his mind, at least that aspect should.
 
Not to offend, but I don't know if avant-garde style stuff will work. He'll probably call it a bunch of incoherent styles put in a blender, without realizing the brilliance motW and Kayo Dot have implemented to successfully intersperse the differing ideas.
 
Martyr have some definetly awesome songs.
Atheist in the Unquestionable Presence-era is just great too.
Arcturus is an great band too, maybe not as technical as the two others I suggested, but they are less heavier.
Electro Quarterstaff is a instrumental technical band that you could check out, it's provided by the band here :
ftp://robcrash.servebeer.com

Port: 21

Login/Pass: electro/quarterstaff

fOE is also an instrumental/technical act that's awesome ( http://www.cs.uu.nl/people/jur/reviews/samples/armyourselfwithclairvoyance1.mp3 , http://www.cs.uu.nl/people/jur/reviews/samples/armyourselfwithclairvoyance2.mp3 ), as is Behold... The Arctopus ( http://homepages.nyu.edu/%7Eml732/Alcoholocaust.mp3 )


Gorguts might also be good, even though they have crazy vocals. The main writer studied in classical music songwriting so... Obscura is insane, and on From Wisdom To Hate it's a bit more accessible, even though there's Martyr's guitarist, who studied classical music too.
Kralizec : http://www.maquiavelmusic.com/OceanoNox.mp3
Spastic Ink will blow his mind, that should do the trick too. They have songs that sound somewhat classical, I'm thinking of "To Counter and Groove in E minor" mainly.

Watchtower might also be good, Spastic Ink's guitarist played on their last album and it's good.

Have fun :)
 
For metal with minimum cheese or childishness...
Dream Theater and Savatage (Streets and post Streets) directly comes to mind.

Therion also has absolutely no detectable cheese. Most of the time you can't understand what the lyrics are about anyway.
Kamelot doesn't have alot of cheese either, especially not on their later albums. And the music is sooooo sweet!

I'm not sure I would call Evergrey a cheesefest either.
 
your professor is setting you up for failure. i'm sure he, like many, consider beethoven's 9th to be the greatest work of art in existence. how then could any metal compare to beethoven? even haydn could not compare, and he was the quintessential classical composer. the only way to win is to trick your professor. play for him james murphy's cover of "race with the devil on spanish highway" from the album "feeding the machine". its an al dimeola cover. al is a great jazz guitarist, and for him to criticize al would be to criticize all of jazz. i'm sure he wouldn't wittingly do so, but you can trap him into such a position.

if i were you i wouldn't expect to change your professor's mind. he gave you an assignment and you fufilled the terms. he simply disagreed with your style on arbitrary and subjective terms. i would refuse to work under such a disgrace of a professor.
 
Y...you just said that Dream Theater has minimal cheese?

I can expect someone misguidedly labeling Dream Theater as "technical wankery." I've seen it an innumerable amount of times from certain individuals, and it's a perfectly viable surmisal from their opinionated point of view, but I just can't fathom why anybody would consider them "cheesy." Enlighten me, if you will. Point out for me specifically which work of theirs is noteworthy of "cheese," because I must have missed it somehow.
 
DiscipleOfPlato said:
I can expect someone misguidedly labeling Dream Theater as "technical wankery." I've seen it an innumerable amount of times from certain individuals, and it's a perfectly viable surmisal from their opinionated point of view, but I just can't fathom why anybody would consider them "cheesy." Enlighten me, if you will. Point out for me specifically which work of theirs is noteworthy of "cheese," because I must have missed it somehow.

The power ballads on images and words...even though the rest of the album is pretty good. I think dt have really outgrown the cheese stage of their career, but they certainly HAVE been guilty of it in older albums.
 
the alumnus said:
your professor is setting you up for failure. i'm sure he, like many, consider beethoven's 9th to be the greatest work of art in existence. how then could any metal compare to beethoven? even haydn could not compare, and he was the quintessential classical composer. the only way to win is to trick your professor. play for him james murphy's cover of "race with the devil on spanish highway" from the album "feeding the machine". its an al dimeola cover. al is a great jazz guitarist, and for him to criticize al would be to criticize all of jazz. i'm sure he wouldn't wittingly do so, but you can trap him into such a position.

if i were you i wouldn't expect to change your professor's mind. he gave you an assignment and you fufilled the terms. he simply disagreed with your style on arbitrary and subjective terms. i would refuse to work under such a disgrace of a professor.

Great idea and point.
:)
 
anonymousnick2001 said:
I know, you guys. I just need to prove a point.

And Planetary Eulogy, you yourself said that metal at its best was better than jazz. Maybe that's all I need to prove...

Jazz at its best is a far cry from classical. Popular music is distinguished by its lack of an attention span, and while a few metal bands transcend this, little compares to Beethoven. Like no matter how hard he tries, Neil Gaiman will be inferior to Faulkner, etc.
 
The power ballads on images and words...even though the rest of the album is pretty good. I think dt have really outgrown the cheese stage of their career, but they certainly HAVE been guilty of it in older albums.

...there is not a single power ballad on Images and Words... :err:

In regards to the comment about Savatage, they have been known to convey "cheesyness" within the context of their past recordings(past meaning '87 and prior), but they've certainly evolved since then. Anything following but not including "Hall of the Mountain King" is nearly or completely devoid of this.
 
What about Another Day...

And to find a metal song better than jazz will be enough. This guy lives for jazz. I like it, too, but I still find it too confining. Metal is much more expressive. That is a fact.

With metal, you can write about alien abduction, growing old, getting wasted, getting laid, getting a life, politics, religion, pop culture, historical themes, anything.

Jazz at its best was nothing but improv. and weird chords.