The importance of a good hook- to a song.

speed

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It seems so many Death metal and black metal bands- are forgetting the importance of a good hook in a song. Is it totally wrong for a good death metal band - to put a little melodicism- or a little hook into a song?
 
I think it depends on the atmosphere the band is trying to create. Some bands need hooks, others are spoiled by their riffs being too catchy.
 
hooks - another way of wimping out

Why do songs need hooks? So the songs are easier to digest? Melody is overrated and for people who can't handle the brutal stuff.

sorry for the elitist-sounding comments, but I'm tired of these fucking pansy melody-laced bands)
 
I agree Speed - Death laced Leprosy with hooks and it was a great record, whereas The Sound Of Perseverance (and Symbolic to a lesser extent) was just too technical and had few, if any hooks (not including the incredible cover of Painkiller).
 
I wasn't saying they were. I was just using them as an example of a band that wrote catchy stuff that wasn't melodic. :)
 
i don't always like hooks in songs, sometimes i prefer listening to an album for the first time and just feeling a bit overwhelmed by ideas and music. the more and more i listen the more and more i begine to pick up things they are doing and saying. it's more fun and challenging listening ot music like that to me

of course i do like music with hooks and simpler stuff, but it can get boring after a while
 
Sometimes, hooks can ruin a song. Also, hooks can be subjective.

I think In Da Club by 50 Cent has an excellent hook in the beat, courtesy of Dr. Dre. Some say that the chorus is a hook in itself. I think 'fiddy's' voice, lyrics, and style, are total trash, so I find the chorus to be a gaggingly horrendous attempt at rap.

Hooks are subjective. Very few I know found the beat by De La Soul's Me Myself and I to be a hook, but I can't get enough of it.

The same applies to metal. Pro-Pain's Make War(Not Love) has an amzing hooky riff, IMO. A Britney Spears fan might not think so...
 
Im just trying to make a point that a hook doesnt kill a death metal song. In fact one of my favorite death metal records- Carcass's Heartwork, is chock full of them- and I think this is the reason so many death metal purists hate that album. The hooks on Fear Factory's Demanufacture are perfect. Anyway, I just get tired of overly technical death metal- so many bands I respect but it is hard to really get into their music- as they have no hooks- i just find i dont listen to those bands all that much.
 
Dreamlord said:
hooks - another way of wimping out

Why do songs need hooks? So the songs are easier to digest? Melody is overrated and for people who can't handle the brutal stuff.

sorry for the elitist-sounding comments, but I'm tired of these fucking pansy melody-laced bands)
IMO, it's quit the other way around, if anything, melody is underrated and brutality the way you put it is overrated. Anybody can sound brutal without any talent, the real trick is to add melody and still sound brutal.
 
hooks - another way of wimping out

Why do songs need hooks? So the songs are easier to digest? Melody is overrated and for people who can't handle the brutal stuff.

sorry for the elitist-sounding comments, but I'm tired of these fucking pansy melody-laced bands)
Hooks have nothing to do with melody or wimping out ... I think Burzum is not melodic at all for example yet most of their tracks are full of hooks.

I like something that drills itself into my head, a repetitive awesome riff or a vocal passage. The song might be easier to digest yes, but lets not forget that music is entertainment first ... all kinds of genres.

Check out Suffocation - Bloodchurn for a great guitar hook ... or my all time fave Decapitated - Spheres of Madness

Hooks and melody have nothing to do with wimping out ... it is how you use it that makes a difference.

There is definetelly need for more bands doing it that is for sure.