49 replies to this topic

[Erif]

So. Was thinking that a thread for general music discussion would be useful; opposed to those one-off threads that end up dying before they're actually conceived - those ones dedicated to particular bands, songs, or any other sort of wankery - I was hoping that all the discussion about anything relevant to music could be channeled here. Wanna talk about that new Thrice album? Thinking about how much little good rap there is nowadays? Interested in discussing the current state of the music industry? This is where you go. Basically, it should serve as a hub of sorts.

 

Subsequently, this thread will also serve as a space for music recommendations. If you are interested in listening to a particularly prolific artist and have no idea where to start, or want some good starting places for a genre or niche you want to delve into, or are curious as to what's popular nowadays since you're severely out of the loop, or just want a good music recommendation in general, this is your place. Alternatively, if you just found the next best thing since buttered toast and need to tell the world about it, we wouldn't mind hearing about it here either.

 

So, go wild.

[The Great Red Bear]

Hey Erin can I interest you in some soul devouring deathcore


Seriously though, this is actually a pretty great idea.

So I'm going to start off with saying that the new Periphery albums, Juggernaut Alpha and Omega, are quite good. I've only listened to a handful of songs, because I didn't realize it was out until Dave mentioned it over in the "What are You Listening To" thread.

Periphery II was one of my favorite "djent" style prog metal albums, but the following EP "Clear" was a bitter disappointment. So far I'm quite pleased with the newest tracks.

[Dave]

So I'm going to start off with saying that the new Periphery albums, Juggernaut Alpha and Omega, are quite good. I've only listened to a handful of songs, because I didn't realize it was out until Dave mentioned it over in the "What are You Listening To" thread.

Periphery II was one of my favorite "djent" style prog metal albums, but the following EP "Clear" was a bitter disappointment. So far I'm quite pleased with the newest tracks.

 

The albums are better than quite good, this is some of the best prog metal I've heard in a while. Much better than Periphery II as a whole, imo. They get a lot of crap from "metalheads" for the poppy vocal melodies not being br00tull enough, but I think that's one of the reasons I like them so much, and the vocals have undeniably improved considerably (listen to a song like Scarlet and tell me the guy can't sing). In fact, the "djent" parts are by far my least favourite.

 

And they can play their shit live. liek srsly, saw them at the start of last year with Animals As Leaders, and they slayed. Ragnarok is a monster of a song live.

 

 

At first I thought Omega was far stronger (Priestess, Omega & Stranger Things are easily among their best songs), but Alpha also has it's standout moments. just some good shit allround. 

[The Great Red Bear]

The albums are better than quite good, this is some of the best prog metal I've heard in a while. Much better than Periphery II as a whole, imo. They get a lot of crap from "metalheads" for the poppy vocal melodies not being br00tull enough, but I think that's one of the reasons I like them so much, and the vocals have undeniably improved considerably (listen to a song like Scarlet and tell me the guy can't sing). In fact, the "djent" parts are by far my least favourite.

 

Like I said, I've only listened to about half of the songs so far, but yeah. Definitely an improvement from P2.

 

The metal community isn't even about metal anymore, it pisses me off. If a song is anything other than single chord breakdowns and deathgrowling obscenities it's "Poppy" and "not brutal".

 

As for vocals, Spencer is a monster, man.

 

I hate using the term "djent", but unfortunately it's what they're identified as by most of the world. I don't think djent qualifies as a genre, it's just people replicating Fredrik Thordendal's guitar tone. But then bands like Born of Osiris and Veil of Maya had to take it and make it this big dumb deal.

 

So far my favorite song is Graveless, and what I'd consider to be the weakest song is The Bad Thing. But I'll have a better opinion once I listen to everything.

[Dave]

The Bad Thing is great man, there's that awesome riff + solo at 3:22, and the vocal hooks are pretty catchy.

 

 

 

it's all good though, BTBAM are back to save metal again this year.

[Erif]

"djent" style prog metal albums

Explain.

[The Great Red Bear]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djent

 

Basically, it's an onomatopoeic representation of the sound made by the guitar. For some reason, it caught on and people started calling any kind of metal that uses that sound "Djent".

 

They're really just a progressive metal band, but yeah.

[Moonstruck Timberwolf]

Listening to Periphery as a first-timer, I could do with a greater share of "clean" vocals, personally. Growling/screaming like they do works well for emphasis, but I don't think it holds up as a staple vocal style.

In my own listening, my girlfriend had me take her to a Boris concert this past summer, and one of the openers was this oddball doom band from SLC called Subrosa. What made them unique was the inclusion of alto vocals and violins, which really nicely fills out the upper range in a style that usually lists way disproportionately toward the low end.

[The Great Red Bear]

Listening to Periphery as a first-timer, I could do with a greater share of "clean" vocals, personally. Growling/screaming like they do works well for emphasis, but I don't think it holds up as a staple vocal style.

 

There are hundreds of groups where the growling and screaming are the only vocals they employ, and they do quite well.

 

See:

https://www.youtube....h?v=qc98u-eGzlc

 

or even:

https://www.youtube....h?v=mdgGZFFEp1w

 

But, it is very much an aquired taste, harsh vocals are not for everyone I understand.

 

 

In my own listening, my girlfriend had me take her to a Boris concert this past summer

 

How Kawaii.

[Moonstruck Timberwolf]

How Kawaii.

Yeah, it was sort of an eclectic lineup. The other opener had a more typical modern American metal sound. Didn't care for them because of my aforementioned hang-up with screaming.

For me, it's not so much the harshness as the tendency to obscure the text. I don't mind groups like Slayer that have clearer diction.

[The Great Red Bear]

For me, it's not so much the harshness as the tendency to obscure the text. I don't mind groups like Slayer that have clearer diction.

 

Now this I get. When I was first introduced to metal as a whole (I believe it was SlipKnot, and even though I don't like them anymore, I still think that Corey Taylor is an amazing vocalist), my initial complaint was "how do you even understand what anyone is saying?" But as I listened to it more and more, I just got used to picking out the words despite the distortion.

 

Once I got into learning how to do harsh vocals myself, pronunciation of words started to make a whole lot more sense. Some words just don't work while trying to maintain a certain tone, so you have to learn to work around it.

 

Best example being, any word that starts with a vowel is essentially impossible to scream, becasue you have to dip into a word to get the scream right. So it'll always come out sounding like you put a "y" or an "n" before that word.

[Dave]

Listening to Periphery as a first-timer, I could do with a greater share of "clean" vocals, personally. Growling/screaming like they do works well for emphasis, but I don't think it holds up as a staple vocal style.

 
Mm, there are quite a few bands like Skyharbor who play a similar "djent" style of prog metal with solely clean vocals. Works well too.
 

Now this I get. When I was first introduced to metal as a whole (I believe it was SlipKnot, and even though I don't like them anymore, I still think that Corey Taylor is an amazing vocalist), my initial complaint was "how do you even understand what anyone is saying?" But as I listened to it more and more, I just got used to picking out the words despite the distortion.
 
Once I got into learning how to do harsh vocals myself, pronunciation of words started to make a whole lot more sense. Some words just don't work while trying to maintain a certain tone, so you have to learn to work around it.
 
Best example being, any word that starts with a vowel is essentially impossible to scream, becasue you have to dip into a word to get the scream right. So it'll always come out sounding like you put a "y" or an "n" before that word.

I've found it also really depends a lot on the vocalist. Some guys like Karl Schubach from Misery Signals just have a really clear delivery, while most tend to sound messier. But then again, his vocals are guttural as fuck, which makes things slightly easier to understand.


And Corey Taylor should stick to singing, he has a pretty unique voice compared to his harsher vocals which are average IMO.

[Krevin]

Yooooo everyone check this out, Ghostface Killa and MF Doom did a song together and Badbadnotgood did the instrumentals and it's really good
https://m.youtube.co...h?v=6YW_RqTuZMw

[The Great Red Bear]

 
Mm, there are quite a few bands like Skyharbor who play a similar "djent" style of prog metal with solely clean vocals. Works well too.
 
I've found it also really depends a lot on the vocalist. Some guys like Karl Schubach from Misery Signals just have a really clear delivery, while most tend to sound messier. But then again, his vocals are guttural as fuck, which makes things slightly easier to understand.


And Corey Taylor should stick to singing, he has a pretty unique voice compared to his harsher vocals which are average IMO.

 

I miss Misery Signals. :/

 

I also prefer Corey Taylor's clean vocals, which is why I prefer Stone Sour over SlipKnot. House of Gold and Bones was stellar.

 

 

Yooooo everyone check this out, Ghostface Killa and MF Doom did a song together and Badbadnotgood did the instrumentals and it's really good
https://m.youtube.co...h?v=6YW_RqTuZMw

 

Interesting. I'm not a big fan of Ghostface Killa, but this song is pretty sweet. The instrumentals are on point.

 

 

Also, I'm curious to see what everyone thinks. This is a band called Hey Rosetta!, they're from my home province of Newfoundland. Personally I think they're tops, but it might just be patriotism talking.

 

https://www.youtube....6XKoNXAROjxW9sw

https://www.youtube....jxW9sw&index=44

 

Also, the female backing vocalist is a cutie.

[Moonstruck Timberwolf]

Also, I'm curious to see what everyone thinks. This is a band called Hey Rosetta!, they're from my home province of Newfoundland. Personally I think they're tops, but it might just be patriotism talking.
 
https://www.youtube....6XKoNXAROjxW9sw
https://www.youtube....jxW9sw&index=44
 
Also, the female backing vocalist is a cutie.

They're on a higher level of musicianship than most groups doing that sort of U2-inspired acoustic indie style. I rather like it.

Good example song for the Subrosa group I mentioned: https://www.youtube....h?v=7wenNqTd5hU

[The Great Red Bear]

Good example song for the Subrosa group I mentioned: https://www.youtube....h?v=7wenNqTd5hU

 

The intro was excellent, very atmospheric. But it all just kinda falls apart after that. And I hate crapping on bands for production value because it has so much to do with fame and money, but the production of this song is very mediocre.

 

Also, there's a difference between calculated and technical dissonance, and whatever their guitarist was doing there.

[Krevin]

Interesting. I'm not a big fan of Ghostface Killa, but this song is pretty sweet. The instrumentals are on point.

Those instrumentals are by a band called Badbadnotgood. Despite their name, they're actually really good.

https://www.youtube....h?v=WZ3XrlMQYDc

https://www.youtube....h?v=bl6EomECg2Q

https://www.youtube....h?v=JCHTX_pgw6A

[Erif]

Yooooo everyone check this out, Ghostface Killa and MF Doom did a song together and Badbadnotgood did the instrumentals and it's really good
https://m.youtube.co...h?v=6YW_RqTuZMw

Holy fuck that's good. the production is dope as fuck. don't know badbadnotgood gonna have to check him out.

 

WAIT FUCK KREV!so does that mean that DOOMSTARKS is finally going to be a thing? Like after almost ten years now, definitely thought it would never come to light. if so color me /excite

 

Edit: ninja'd by krev. gonna check all of those out.

 

Also, I'm curious to see what everyone thinks. This is a band called Hey Rosetta!, they're from my home province of Newfoundland. Personally I think they're tops, but it might just be patriotism talking.

 

https://www.youtube....6XKoNXAROjxW9sw

https://www.youtube....jxW9sw&index=44

That was really nice, was expecting some head-bashing face-melting br00tal shite so color me surprised they have a very polished indie sound that isn't super complex are anything but nice to listen to. Nice melodies and harmonies and whatnot. Actually, I kinda take back what I said about it not being too complex, there's a lot of cool stuff going on especially with all the instruments thrown in there, always refreshing to see instruments you don't generally see used in pop utilized well. Particularly the percussion in the second song, you got three different percussive instruments in there which is cool.

 

For me, it's not so much the harshness as the tendency to obscure the text. I don't mind groups like Slayer that have clearer diction.

See I'm the exact opposite. I don't really care about it being unintelligible, I'm not heavy listener of lyrics anyway. I also wouldn't necessarily it's the harshness that puts me off either, but I just do not like the sound of screaming, it honestly does nothing for me. It's one of the few sounds in music that completely turns me off.

[The Great Red Bear]

That was really nice, was expecting some head-bashing face-melting br00tal shite so color me surprised they have a very polished indie sound that isn't super complex are anything but nice to listen to. Nice melodies and harmonies and whatnot. Actually, I kinda take back what I said about it not being too complex, there's a lot of cool stuff going on especially with all the instruments thrown in there, always refreshing to see instruments you don't generally see used in pop utilized well. Particularly the percussion in the second song, you got three different percussive instruments in there which is cool.

 

"Br00tal shite" is actually a small portion of what I listen to. The majority falls into similar categories as this.

Glad to hear people actually like it.

 

 

See I'm the exact opposite. I don't really care about it being unintelligible, I'm not heavy listener of lyrics anyway. I also wouldn't necessarily it's the harshness that puts me off either, but I just do not like the sound of screaming, it honestly does nothing for me. It's one of the few sounds in music that completely turns me off.

 

I think the reason I enjoy it so much has to do with that vicarious adrenaline rush that comes with screaming. There's something emotionally intense about harsh vocals too.

[Yosh]

MF DOOM + RZA = Biochemical equation, great fookin song.

This one just adds credence to the theory that MF DOOM is a wu member separated at birth.