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Sunday, March 29, 2009

A Death Metal Sabbatical

I will soon temporarily leave the world of Prog in the very capable hands of my colleagues here at Progulus and Progrockin'. Over the course of my musical exploits in the past few months (years, even), I've grown tremendously as a musician, even just as a guitarist. My rhythm technique and soloing have especially improved, and my improvisation continues to impress even myself in say, an acoustic folk-blues setting, or melodic vocal harmonies. But in the past few weeks, I've gotten back into metal in a big way. If anybody reading this has a Facebook, they can find me as a fairly prominent member of the groups "Lifer: A Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Forum", "Metal Heads", and "DO NOT USE THE HORNS UNLESS YOU ARE METAL". Really thrusting myself back into the internet metal community has sort of given me a new perspective on prog, and it's weird to listen to bands without keyboards again, haha.

I've come to realize that my musical ability to write metal has grossly stagnated. I really don't know how to write a good riff anymore, and this saddens me deeply. I was given a stong dosage of death metal, tech-death, black metal, and a little folk, old and new: Atheist, Death, Lykathaea Aflame, Agalloch, Gorguts, Desultory, Incantation, Immolation, Immortal, and many more. I've put them all in a massive playlist on shuffle, and so far have gotten way back in the swings. Tonight I am enjoying my last night of prog with some Kaipa before I enter a "death metal sabbatical". I will listen and enjoy death metal again for the first time in years. I love what I've heard so far, and really, it's not as bonecrushingly brutal as I remember. I get the same feeling from something like the extremes of jazz-fusion as I do this. It's actually kind of a nice, comforting feeling, simple and agressive and straightforward in its aggression. I love it.

To kick off the festivites, I spun Atheist's "Unquestionable Presence" today and wondered why I ever left metal. Don't worry guys, I am a progger first and foremost, and will always be. But sometimes, it's just nice to go home.

8 comments :

Sean Gill said...

Ah, you'll be back.

I'm wondering why you feel like you need to leave prog for a while? Genesis, Megadeth, John Coltrane and Edvard Greig all in one day is not unusual for me.

T-Bo said...

Oh, of course not. But I think to get the full impact and bring my songwriting to the next level, I gotta immerse myself in it.

Sean Gill said...

I see. You're going on a death metal quest. You're gone walkabout in the metal outback, if you will.

stringray said...

Go ahead, run riot! Explore your skills and come back once it bores you. Focussing on else territories for a while is something everybody should do some here and now.

MAVIII said...

Well T,

You know what I feel about Death, Thrash and Tech-Thrash, it will always be there for me, but you have to get through all the "Niche" Metal that MTV likes to play on Headbangers Bore- The "Screamo/Metal-Core", the sometimes interesting time change passages with Vox that "All sound the same!".

Beowulf (or "Chris") turned me onto last years Ishahn's "angL"...WOW.
The riffage and melodies he had come up with are astounding (and you got Spiral Architect's "Asgier" on Drums!).
But I too want to grab some of the new guys out there like Obscura, Arsis, The Faceless and the like, but these guys come close to Prog by way of being "Math-Death/Metal".

Plus, I am more picky nowadays with my Thrash and Death Metal. That's what "Prog" did to my ears ;).
And that Athiest album is great, it's too bad that it is "not allowed" on Progulus as it should be (and "Elements", which was on for a time).

I'll save the Thrash talk for my next Essay's when it hit our shores (from abroad and domestic), but thats 1 or 2 Chapters down the road.

Have fun on your quest! :D
"look around, see what you like"

Sean Gill said...

I have a low threshold for death vocals but I have been totally hooked on Scar Symmetry lately. Very melodic while being super heavy. A nice balance of singing and growling. Stellar production, too. I have to say there is a lot of older music in many genres I have a hard time listing too because of poor production.

BG said...

Good luck on your quest.

Remember to keep us updated on how it's progressing :)

MAVIII said...

Another "Invitation" T ;)

Please tell us how it went and tell us (even add Links) what you learned and what stood out :) I've been dying to read a new Post from someone :D
(where'd everybody go?) . . .