Archive for July, 2009

Book review – The Aeneid

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009

Among the superb examples of classic literature produced by the once rich and productive european culture; amidst the works of a fecund civilization that have left a permanent mark on the subsequent generations, proving their relevance in all eras of human history; touching topics that are so eternal and defining of our humanity, such as the neverending strife for life on all levels; among all those works, very few pieces of writing (and art) can reach the heights of Virgil’s masterwork, the culmination of a lifetime of work and self-improving in the field of the written word.

The intention with this review, less than providing a synthesis of the book’s argument, which can be found anywhere else on the Internet, is to give the reader what we believe is the central message of such a story in a short and concise manner so you can pick the book and explore the depths of its message for yourself.

The main subject of the story is the overcoming of difficulties and the strife for better conditions of living, or a better future. In the example of a group of survivors from the destruction of the legendary Troy, them lead by the fearless and noble warrior Aeneas, as they go through a series of awful calamities one after the other, with nothing but the promise of a bright future that the mentioned group of people won’t even see for themselves, but which will be enjoyed by their descendants, the future patricians that would build the greatest civilization known to man, Virgil gives us the best example of the glory and the rewards of reaching new heights by conquering difficulties.

It is this argument that best reflects that condition of human life that modern people try so hard to hide or run away from: the unescapable fact that, if we want the good things in life, we need to make some effort to get them. Not just some meager effort, but a serious one, since calamities, the only sure things in life, and the ones that come most easily, will get in the way of our dreams. Such calamities may come in many forms: the death of a close one, the sabotage made on us by envious people, the crash of the financial market, or a meteor falling through your roof and into your room – it doesn’t matter. They are as real as the air you breath (”only death is real”, indeed) and you will need to face and go through many of them if you want to get some of the sweet fruits that the tree of life offers.

Despite the universality of its message, I feel this book applies specially to hessians and the hard path in life they choose to take. As modern warriors, wandering as misunderstood entities in the maelstrom of modern life, the analogy with the wandering trojans is self-evident. So, even thought this story doesn’t depict long haired dudes with beer guts, it fits the metalhead persona like a glove.

Grab this and learn the joy of surviving the brutal game of life, the hessian way.

Sturgeon’s Law

Sunday, July 26th, 2009

In 1958, science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon made a remark on the general state of the SF genre that would live on through the years as an axiom applicable to all human endeavours. The remark will be infamously known as “Sturgeon’s Revelation” or, more familiarly, “Sturgeon’s Law”:

The first reference I can find in his oeuve appears in the March 1958 issue of Venture Science Fiction, where he wrote:

“I repeat Sturgeon’s Revelation, which was wrung out of me after twenty years of wearying defense of science fiction against attacks of people who used the worst examples of the field for ammunition, and whose conclusion was that ninety percent of sf is crud.

“The Revelation: Ninety percent of everything is crud.

“Corallary 1: The existence of immense quantities of trash in science fiction is admitted and if is regrettable; but it is no more unnatural than the existence of trash anywhere.

“Corallary 2: The best science fiction is as good as the best fiction in any field.”

The Theodore Sturgeon FAQ

Sturgeon’s Law is applicable to all fields of human creation, including metal music and its different subgenres.

- NWOBHM: for every cool band arising from the genre such as Angelwitch, Diamond Head, Pagan Altar and the like, there were hundreds of bands mixing mostly early 60s rock with some half-assed, early-Judas Priest rip-off attempt. Mediocre acts such as Tygers of Pan Tang, Praying Mantis, Mythra, Def Leppard and the like were the norm back when the movement exploded in popularity.

- Speed Metal: there was only one Metallica, one Kreator, one Sodom, and many, many Kublai Khans, Evil Deads, Xentrixes, D.A.M.s and Atrophies pouring out uninspired, pussified drivel to bores us to death.

- Death Metal: story repeats itself here. For every masterpiece of the subgenre such as “Like an Ever Flowing Stream”, there was either a lot of wannabe brutal crap or randomly pasted bad speed metal riffs with death growls on top that drowned the genre into irrelevance.

- Black Metal: oh shit, where do we begin here? Let’s just say that the genre was at its most brilliant creative phase when only a handful of bands scattered on different parts of the world such as Norway, Greece, Switzerland, the US and certain south american localities made the most powerful and influential works of the genre. Now, it takes only a small game of “I know one who knows another” to easily link you to any of the thousand wannabe garage black metal bands expecting to be the next legend in the subgenre. And where are the exceptional works of our time? Eeehhh…

Most of the mediocre stuff that plagued each of the metal genres from speed metal downwards have thankfully dissapeared with the years, but some were revived by the shouts of the hipsters demanding 4 LP “die hard” collector versions of the reissues. We can thank them for that.

But don’t despair. As in Sci-Fi, the metal genre may have way too much fat on it, but that doesn’t mean that it’s dying. Rather, the current downfall of the genre is caused by our excessive tolerance of run-of-the-mill music with no intent, passion and spirit on it. That brings us to another point: the fact that metal needs to be fresh again in order to pursue new creative heights. A genre of art, whether it is science fiction or metal music, is defined by the quality of the few acts that can pull the task off, not by the total number of bands.

What should we support, then: the crud, or the good?

Metal needs to be fresh again

Friday, July 24th, 2009

Those of you who regularly check the blog posts written here have surely noticed that we at the Hessian Studies Center care a lot about the future of underground metal music. And right now, that future is uncertain: the scene produces hundred of releases and most of them are considered decent enough for consideration or even to shell out some bucks, but none inspiring and essential like the undisputed classics of the genre. When confronted with that truth (and many in the scene would readily admit that), they will say that metal was crafted and totally perfected in the “classic era” (late 70s to early 90s). The limit was reached and it was up to us and all subsequent generations to “keep the flame going” by releasing more material following the blueprint given by the old bands to the note.

Such an excuse must have sounded good at first. After all, how far can metal get? It seemed like it stretched out and reached a creative breaking point at the end of the black metal movements forged in Scandinavia, Greece and the US, and it was up to the “hardcore dudes” from the scene to keep the tradition forged by our forefathers and to shy the center of attention away from the “false ones” trying to soften metal by adding progressive self-indulgence or soft vocals on top of a pseudo-symphonic incoherent mess.

The illusion couldn’t last enough though. The guys on the scene did have a point, though: we probably have reached the end of the aesthetical evolution of metal with the culmination of death and black metal technical development. The mistake was believing that technique and style are all the requirements needed for creating quality metal music.

If we choose not to become conformists so we can keep producing album after album of safe, gutless material, we will try to be as creative and demanding on ourselves and release music of the best quality possible, completely unconcerned whether if the scene will dig it or not. It will be honest music, because it will appeal to the standards of the songwriter, and it will be music reaching out to its potential listener since it will encompass an idea common to the whole of humanity and even beyond it and not merely cincunscribed to the ideals of a local scene or group of friends with the naive and limited vision of life of a teenager.

But to accomplish that we need to understand what made the composers of the classic-era of metal so determined to pour their creativity to the maximum on their music. Comparing both eras of metal (the “classic” one and our current times) we can reach, after some pondering, to the one requirement needed to burn the old flame back: the fact that metal needs to be fresh again.

When each of the metal subgenres first arose, it offered a wide spectrum of exploration in concept and development for the craft and gave the musicians involved big creative possibilities. And those horizons were initially given by small additions to a finished subgenre. That way, NWOBHM mixed with hardcore punk spawned speed metal, speed metal with an extra dose of Discharge and the inclusion of morbid concepts and elements created death metal, and so on. Those additions certainly didn’t made the subgenre on its entirety, but gave the initial push required for relentless creativity to finish the job: they gave a feeling of freshness to a genre that was stagnated.

Fast forward to our current time, and we see the same thing happening now: metal is stagnated, and what we need right now is to have the balls to think outside of the box and put our creativity first and social intentions second, while having respect for the history of the genre as determined by its classics. In the process, we would not deny the importance of all the previous eras in metal and we would not try to drastically reinvent the genre, keeping the growth in accordance with the natural evolution of the genre. Darkthrone is easily associable with Bathory, which in turn is easily associable with Motörhead, and the future acts will keep that lineage intact. We are stepping on firm ground. It is only a matter of either sitting there, get lazy, and accumulate fat, or use its firmness to impel ourselves and jump to newer creative heights.

We asserted early on this post that the innovation required would probably not come in the form of technical advancements, but who knows? In any case, the most plausible step towards the future is expanding the conceptual, and therefore, compositional scope of the genre, making longer and more complex songs dealing with universally human topics (the dychotomy between life and death being just one of those topics), in the vein of what composers of the Romantic era did. Black metal did had its influence from electronica. Maybe the future will come with a more newer, fresher creative infusion from classical music.

Motifs and leitmotifs in metal

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

The use of motifs and leitmotifs is very frequent in the musical genres of classical and opera, but we can also find some examples of their use in that furious contemporary “classical” brand of sound making we known as heavy metal. Here we’ll explain what they are and their application in metal music.

The Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary defines “leitmotif” as follows:

Leitmotif
(LITE-moe-teef)
[Ger., leading motif]

A recurring motif in a composition (usually an opera) which represents a specific person, idea, or emotion. This term was first applied to the operas of Richard Wagner.

(…)

Motif
(moe-TEEF)
[Fr.]

A short tune or musical figure that characterizes and unifies a composition. It can be of any length, but is usually only a few notes long. A motif can be a melodic, harmonic or rhythmic pattern that is easily recognizable throughout the composition.

Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary

A motif (without the “leit-” attached ot it) can be either melodic, rhythmic or harmonic, it doesn’t matter. It must be short in duration, though, and it must contain some importance for the structure of the composition, if not providing the backbone itself. It is not just a casual riff, but a memorable mini-tune around which parts or the whole of the composition depend on.

Motifs have been used in metal music for all of its existence. In fact, the first motif in the history of the genre is the universally recognizable three-note sequence which is the main riff of the song “Black Sabbath” by the band of the same name. What would the rest of the song be without it? Like this trascendental example, motifs are the norm, rather than the exception, in metal.

Leitmotifs, on the other hand, are motifs that are recurrent in an entire composition or album, and serve to return our minds to a particular feeling or idea. As such, these are not restricted to a single song, but frequently reappear on an album or entire work to reminds us of the object the motif evokes. An entire composition structured around leitmotifs is, then, rather than a collection of individual songs, a unit, or a large song composed itself of songs.

Leitmotifs are famously associated with opera composer Richard Wagner. Its use in metal isn’t much of a recurring happening, nor its full potential been exploited so far, but I can name a few examples of its use that will immediately ring the bell of any devoted hessian:

- The acoustic short piece used as both intro and outro of Iron Maiden’s “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son” album.

Listen to the album’s intro on mp3:

Listen to the album’s outro on mp3:

Notice that both differ solely on interpretation. The piece as the outro to the album is played slower and in a more tired fashion compared to the intro. Leitmotifs don’t have to reappear on a composition at exactly the same way all the time – rather the subtle variation between them can create a contrast, which in turn give the listener a feeling that a narration is taking place. Iron Maiden’s 1988 album is a concept work which tells the life of a clairvoyant from birth to death and it makes sense that the outro, with its more dragging mood represents the end of the life of such person.

Another example from the same album are the intro sequences to the title track and the last track. Both are strikingly similar, except that the first is slower and ominous while the second is more upbeat. Notice that the lyrics on the last track of the album show a man resigned to his fate and happy despite of it, so the altered use of the riff from the title track (which could very well be the seventh son’s main motif) makes sense from this standpoint.

Listen to the intro riff to “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son” on mp3:

Listen to the intro riff to “Only the Good Die Young” on mp3:

- Bathory, in its viking era, used a number of leitmotifs in its music and particularly in the “Twilight of the Gods” album. Here is but one example:

Listen to the intro sequence of “Through Blood by Thunder” on mp3:

Listen to the intro sequence of “Blood and Iron” on mp3:

Two different intros with the same motif attached to them. If you have the album, you can also notice how the intro to “Blood and Iron” further develops until it turns into the main motif of the song, which carries it to its end. It is not unusual to slowly turn one motif into another – Wagner did that on his operas, particularly in the transition between scenes 1 and 2 of “Das Rheingold”.

Listen to the previous motif developing into the main motif of “Blood and Iron” on mp3:

- A small example of an implied leitmotif that gets displayed on its full extension later on the album is to be found on Rotting Christ’s “Non Serviam”.

Listen to an excerpt from “Mephesis Of Black Crystal” on mp3 (the implied leitmotif):

Listen to an excerpt from “Saturn Unlock Avey’s Son” on mp3 (the full leitmotif):

These were only a few examples. Notice that the use of leitmotifs isn’t just restricted to concept albums. See how many more you can find on your CDs.

To learn more about leitmotifs, visit this excellent link: Leitmotifs in Der Ring des Nibelungen – an introduction.

The ugly side of life is pure beauty for the hessian

Monday, July 20th, 2009

There’s a very nice short story from the booklet of Burzum’s album Filosofem that reminds me a lot of the misunderstood path that the hessian chooses as life:

Creeping And Crawling, Rustling And Fluttering

“There are two natural lights in this world, the sun and the moon. The first distorts the appearance of the other, often until it is unrecognizable. The sun gives us colour, warmth and clarity, while the moon gives us no colour, coldness and unclarity. We live in the sunlight, and we make artificial sunlight, after Arvakr and Alsvinnr, send by Sol, have drawn down the sun in sea in the West, because we like colour, warmth and clarity. The starting-point of our reality lies in this light; when Naglfaris’ wife, Night, comes, our world disappears in a certain way. She is illuminated by a light, that we don’t like, the colourless, cold and indistinct moonlight. Strange beings show themselves in the woods and the people draw back into their reliable, small houses. Out there, only the forces of darkness reign, yes, in the most true meaning of the word. The world becomes a total different one, for some the world becomes a place worth living. For those, who want to challenge these giants, who are brought to us by the moon in the shape of uncontrollable powers of nature, the world finally becomes a place really worth living in.”

Burzum.org english translation from norwegian – booklet of Filosofem.

We live in a world where light and darkness interact with each other to conform the whole of the universe with both its living and inanimated elements.

Most people in our modern era would like to see only the light and forget about the other side of the coin. In this way, humans become self-centered and irresponsible as we mentally split from any notion that would seem scary or unconfortable. Hell, we don’t even watch the killing that takes place to put steaks on our table. Hence, most of us fail to see any connection(s) between our actions and the ensuing negative consequences towards our world. Ever wondered why human society is so fucked up, like the lyrics of Napalm Death, Morbid Angel, Slayer and countless other acts have been telling us throughout the years? Because society is essentially an undifferentiated mass of people that agree on very few things, many of them childish and self-destructive, like this mentality.

That’s what metal sought to fight by offering a morbid, depressing and yet very real view of the negative side that our enlightened, yet pussified society tries so pathetically to hide from: war, plague, death, blood, guts, natural selection, Satan, witchcraft, environmental death, stupid religions, stupid secular beliefs and so on and on, the purpose of it impeled by this one thought: that the only way to live sanely is to recognize both sides of the coin and embrace them as equal parts of existence.

That’s a perspective that has been from the very beginning of the metal genre. Even its forefathers had this very death metal view of life:

We’ve all got this opinion about the world today, you see. We’re aware that, at some time, a big change is going to come. With SAD WINGS OF DESTINY, we’re telling people to enjoy life, but at the same time be prepared for something that could happen. Tracks like ‘Genocide’, ‘Tyrant’, ‘Epitaph’ and ‘Prelude’ seem to us to follow this idea through – they act as possible preludes to this change…

(…)

We don’t want to be set up as prophets or disciples; we’re just five aware guys stuck in the middle of a lot of complacent people. Now everybody enjoys life, but we think it should be brought to people’s attention that, at any moment, we could all be wiped out… We’re far from being pessimists.

Judas Priest’s interview with Sounds Magazine, May 8, 1976. Quoted from the Judas Priest Info Pages

Like the music they love, hessians firmly believe on the crude realities of individual mortality and the potential collective doom that could be triggered by our stupidity, irresponsibility and delusional beliefs: these are the strange beings that show themselves in the woods at night. Only instead of retreating to our comfy houses and pretend they don’t exist, we choose to face them.

It’s for this reason that hessians like to live their lives on the edge of things, sometimes by doing a lot of reckless behaviour, but mostly by having beliefs that are considered taboo by the majority of people. We embrace those taboos joyfully because they give life their meaning. Denying them is to deny life itself, and in this process we kill our souls and become faceless drones fighting for political power, money and other delusions given by the shadows cast by the fire in the chimneys of our warm, small and reliable houses.

Varg gets out of the can – our views and thoughts

Saturday, July 18th, 2009

The release of Burzum’s mastermind Varg Vikernes from jail after fulfilling his sentence for the killing of his former friend and band partner Øystein Aarseth has raised a literal thunderstorm on the ethereal world of the net. The aforementioned phenomenon is not unusual if one knows the Internet and the people who frequent it, and was therefore easily predicted.

After all, the profile of someone like Varg – a convicted murderer (killing another human being is always bad, kids, remember that) with extreme political and racial views that don’t make him the most likeable person, at least for most people, and who gave many bogus declarations in the past (the ratio of truth vs. bullshit being relative depending on whether you’re talking with an admirer or a detractor) – is not the most favorable for a person with the truest intention to be left alone, but makes for great talking on message boards.

The thing about all the talking and bloviating is that, save for a small few who either don’t care or outright hate Varg’s music, most detractors will readily admit that the works under the Burzum moniker are worthy of consideration, and even of admiration. It’s like people still have a problem separating the person from his works.

But I’ll leave that well alone. The man’s release still needs to be commented because of the newest declarations made by Vikernes. Apparently, he will not completely shut himself from the world and will try to rekindle his music and writing careers.

After the years of continuous reunions from older, legendary bands being most of them complete flops and dissapointments, yours truly had virtually lost all faith in this phenomenon, until certain albums by certain bands like Celtic Frost and Beherit showed that reunions weren’t just mere vehicles to regain a fame and name that should have been better kept under wraps. The aforementioned acts actually showed a concern for metal’s artistic decadence and came back to prove how it’s really done (the tag of most reunions out there, but this time they really accomplished that).

Like Beherit’s, Burzum’s musical comeback should be taken with initial skepticism – after all, reunions and the like haven’t lost their essentially gimmicky nature -, but I really hope, having faith on the man’s talent and how it has maintained itself through the years, that he will be able to make an artistically honest effort that would contribute bringing metal back to life like Engram was.

In any case, one should also expect much on his future writing career, a topic that isn’t much talked about since Varg isn’t really famous for being a writer, having his music and all of the norwegian soap opera taken the forefront. It’s unfair, really, given that, despite the fact that Vikernes wasn’t a born writer, like his clumsy early essays prove, he has, throughout the years, developed an engaging style and it will be worthwhile to see what it results from that. That said, a book elaborating on scandinavian and related mythos, expanding on the short stories of Filosofem, for example, could be quite something. But, like life roughly teaches us, we should not get ahead of things and instead wait patiently.

A new Burzum album and one or two books worth considering is what’s on the future for Mr. Vikernes and the ones who might care. Oh, and there’s also a movie, but we won’t get into that…

Kraftwerk, Celtic Frost and Burzum – the method of not sticking to one style or sound

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

As a humble attempt to bring some ideas to the table in order to reverse the current backwards trend that plagues the underground, we’ll present to you an approach at music making that was tried by few bands in metal, and, because of the possibilities it offers, it can become a more than viable pathway to follow for metal to keep evolving.

Known by many open minded hessians as one of the few electronic acts that isn’t grating on the nerves, Kraftwerk, one of the leading acts in the genre, made a bright musical career by pasting synthetised and computer-generated sounds into melodically sensitive compositions that mixed simplicity with complexity in an effortless way, providing a soundscape in which emotion and technology interacted as easily as hydrogen and oxygen do to form water. Their way of pasting sounds (and what is music but an elaborate way of doing just that?) was influenced by the concept they had in mind at the moment of making the album, so coldness in sound and rhythmical monotony went hand-in-hand with the concept of dehumanization presented in their “The Man Machine” album, while, on the other hand, “Trans-Europe Express’” classically influenced melodies and introspective style melds well with the journey of self-discovery and pride for european culture the musicians attempted to portray.

With all of that said, you might be asking what does that band have to do with metal? Many things: the shaping of concept, the narrative approach and the human-nature-society topics presented have much in common with the way of making metal. Particularly, Kraftwerk went on to influence two of the biggest names in the genre: Celtic Frost and Burzum.

Celtic Frost’s members well documented obsession with history, legend and esoteric themes gave them an approach towards creating music that was more about describing a mood around which certain lyrics, as mini-narrations, enhanced the atmosphere presented. And, like Kraftwerk, each album differed from each other in the concepts it portrayed and the adjustment of style towards that goal, from the primitive, rapid bursting of anger in “Morbid Tales”, to the mythical and barbarian otherwordly scenery of “To Mega Therion” , to the hedonist, self-punishing operatic drama of “Into the Pandemonium” (some detractors might even say that this album is punishing on its own merit, but I think that, while not perfect, it is a respectable effort).

Burzum, like the previous act, also made his albums with the idea in mind that each of them should have a very distinctive identity, even though various moods interacted in a single album and the whole Burzum concept had more of a a unity behind it than Celtic Frost’s. Still, the difference in style for each release is self-apparent and we hear Varg adapting his playing, production values and even vocal style towards the emotions he wanted to display for each particular release.

One of the things we need to do in order to keep furthering the craft of metal is to leave behind our obsession with style and instead worry of taking each album we pursue as a fresh chance to start over. Otherwise, musicians easily lose ideas as they quickly run out of them if those are constructed around a single theme. We can learn from the aforementioned acts and demand more of our craft and of ourselves in order to reach a brilliant future for the genre.

All of the talk aside, we should study the aforementioned bands to really understand the idea presented here. Kraftwerk’s best works are (chronologically) “Radioactivity” (1975), “Trans-Europe Express” (1977), “The Man Machine” (1978) and “Computer World” (1981). Those should be listened to in that order. In doing so, observe how difficult is to point the similarities between the albums beyond the most basic musical elements, such as vocal styles and rhythms used. Even the sounds and synth patches went through tremendous changes in time and the outfit took their time to develop a voice of their own, starting rather timidly and displaying more confidence with the years (not surprisingly, the electronic genre was developing at the time and was quite fresh – as an exercise, and for fun, compare this rundown of albums with Black Sabbath’s first four LPs and its transition from blues to metal).

The rundown for Celtic Frost should be “Morbid Tales”, “Emperor’s Return” (as separate albums, in order to have a clear idea of the evolution taking place), “To Megatherion” and “Into the Pandemonium” (without “Mexican Radio” if you prefer so ;) ). Burzum’s as follows: “Det Som Engang Var”, “Hvis Lyset Tar Oss” and “Filosofem”. Notice that these aren’t “best ofs”, but a selection to further the comprehension of what has been said here.

Also notice the similarities between Burzum’s “Hvis..” and Kraftwerk’s “The Man Machine”: a simple rhythm track providing the backbone for endlessly repeating sequences (riffs) and the patient development of the songs by adding layers of more riffs on top of the basic ones.

This simple exercise should hopefully help you comprehend what’s been said here. It’s not all, though. The next step – the understanding of motifs and how do they relate with concept and unity in music making – will be explained on a post on its own. Stay tuned.

The rise and (eventual, hopeful) fall of the retro-trend

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

Once the initial downslope of metal, following the black explosion of the early 90s, spawned genericism by the ton in the form of symphonic pseudo-black metal, wimpy brutal death metal for high school jocks and related abominations, foreboding the birth of metalcore, the devoted bangers of the old guard, along with a new crop of underground warriors high on old acts from the 80s in the heavy, speed and thrash subgenres of metal reacted by attempting to bring the old school sound back. This new movement, brought with the best of intentions, would eventually become a trend of it own. You know what they say about Hell and good intentions leading to it. I can’t think of any better example on our favorite music genre than this one.

The new movement, sometimes pejoratively, sometimes appealingly and even at times flatteringly (for some bands) dubbed as “retro”, attempted to reverse the previous stage in the devolution of metal by trying to rescue the essence of what made the classic sound superior, mimicking the style, production values and imagery of the bands caught in the “classic era” (mid 80s initially, early 90s afterwards and 70s/early 80s following) to the absurd point of even recycling riffs of well-known acts in such an obvious manner that it was ridiculous even to point out the ripping off taking place (only it wasn’t that, it was a “tribute” to the band members’ musical preferences).

The retro trend, while making sense as a form of transition from a state of complete flop to something that sucked far less, failed in its attempt because it tried to catch a sound, not an essence or a state of mind. It knew the meal that tastes good, but not the proper way to obtain the materials and cook them. It’s the musical equivalent of a Tv dinner. It failed (and continues to do so) because of the lack of realization that spirit, motivation, mentality and drive make the sound, and you can’t obtain the former from the latter, no matter how much you try.

It would be tempting to say that this created the obsession with form over substance that currently curses metal, but it didn’t . It did contribute, though, to create the present fixation with style, “trueness” and the mix of the two that currently gives the underground scene the character of a carriage stuck in the mud, unable to keep going.

And we’re really stuck here, and the only choice for us is to find an alternative. But there are really many out there and what one needs is to think outside of the box. Photocopying the past to exhaustion didn’t really improve things, but adding random aesthetical novelty won’t give metal new life either, as it was proved many times already. What needs to be done is to go back to the drawing board and think more as songwriters and musicians rather than as fans. Because fanboy-ism, like the kind pervading retro bands, won’t give metal back its glory.

Pedal design can open future posibilities for composition in metal

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

Guitar distortion is a fundamental asset of metal music. Yet it also has a great disadvantage that represents a big limitation to musical composition: it doesn’t give much of a dynamic range, like an acoustic instrument or an electric guitar on the clean channel do, which doesn’t open possibilities for a greater range of expression and subtlety.

For those unfamiliar with sound theory or musical concepts, dynamic range means variations in volume and emphasis in sound. In developed musical genres, such as classical, the concept can make a difference in the expression of a certain piece: for example, a nice melody played “piano”, or soft, can sound sweet, while another played “fortissimo”, or really loud, can sound powerful and bombastic. It is really a means to drive the point across, to enhance what a certain piece tries to express.

Thinking about this problem while surfing the Internet, I ran into this: Hicks Engineering – Electric guitar distortion box.

This device restores the dynamic range which is lost when an electric guitar is played through a distortion box. It employs precision analog multiplier circuitry which samples the raw guitar input and varies the distortion box output accordingly

Probably not an optimally functional design, but the idea itself is very good and, if perfected, can open a whole new future for the modern music world and to metal specially, giving the style brand new fields to explore and expand. Instead of constant, all-out aggression, metal musicians could be allowed to explore subtlety and different moods, giving metal more emotional range. The possibilities are quite interesting if one thinks about them.