scumble on 20/3/2014 at 12:30
I hesitate to use the term "metal", because I am far from a "metalhead". I find most of it to be dull and unimaginative.
So to give a more specific context, these are "heavy" albums that I listen to, ranging from extreme metal to heavy rock:
Meshuggah - Chaosphere, Nothing, Obzen, Koloss
Vildjharta - Masstaden
Opeth - Blackwater Park (I've tried other Opeth albums but they are patchy)
Animals as Leaders - mainly because Tosin Abasi is a stunning guitar player and he uses unusual time signatures (7/8, 9/4 etc.)
Soundgarden - Superunknown (again, unusual time signatures - 6/4 7/8 5/4 12/8...)
Don Caballero - What Burns Never Returns
Steve Stevens - Memory Crash
Dillinger Escape Plan - Option Paralysis
Cog - Sharing Space
I've found that the likes of Steve Vai and Joe Satriani don't do much for me, despite their godlike guitar chops.
So you can perhaps tell I have eclectic tastes. The more rhythmically unconventional something is, the better. It might just be interesting to see if anyone listens to the same albums as me...
PigLick on 20/3/2014 at 12:45
12/8 is not an "unusual" time signature. In fact most of these can be broken down into groups of 2,3 and 4 anyway. 7/4 is just 4 +3 right? What I find more interesting is music that will set a steady tempo then break into an odd time, say 3 bars of 4/4 then a bar of 5/4. Funnily enough Metallica used to do this quite a bit, though I am not their greatest fan.
The mention of Steve Stevens absolves all though, that guy was awesome.
Vai + Satriani are incredibly dated these days, but unless you were a muso/guitarist back then, you have no idea how much they changed the whole scene, how influential they were.
these things are not really rhythmically unconventional, its purely a gimmick passed down from the prog-rock of the 70s. Try playing a 7/4 time over a 4/4 tempo, now thats where its really at.
btw this is not a criticism of your musical taste
scumble on 20/3/2014 at 13:58
Quote Posted by PigLick
these things are not really rhythmically unconventional, its purely a gimmick passed down from the prog-rock of the 70s. Try playing a 7/4 time over a 4/4 tempo, now thats where its really at.
That's what Meshuggah do quite a lot. In one case 6/8, 7/8 and 4/4 is combined. I think for me there are a lot of cases where a song doesn't have enough that isn't 4/4, I think Dream Theater do this with longer songs, apart from one - Dance of Eternity I think which changes time constantly. There's a video of Mike Portnoy (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwkcRTNMsWs) following all the changes in the studio.
scumble on 20/3/2014 at 14:17
It's on the edge of grindcore (as I understand it). I heard some blast beats in there somewhere.
Nicker on 20/3/2014 at 22:57
Not sure if this fits the bill but it's worth a go. (
http://www.univers-zero.com/) Universe Zero, some of the granddaddies of dark music.
Here they pay tribute to Jack The Ripper.
[video=youtube;GIIyw6Wgs24]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIIyw6Wgs24[/video].
