Groove metal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Groove metal | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins: | Thrash metal |
| Cultural origins: | Late 1980s, Early 1990s United States and Brazil |
| Typical instruments: | Guitar – Bass guitar – Drums |
| Mainstream popularity: | Moderate in the early-mid 1990s, slightly more popular ever since |
| Derivative forms: | Groove rock – Nu metal |
| Regional scenes | |
| United States – Brazil | |
Groove metal, also called neo-thrash, half-thrash, or post-thrash, is a subgenre of thrash metal which took its current form during the early 1990s. Groove metal is a blend of several genres from the 80s, including traditional heavy metal, hardcore punk, thrash metal, and death metal. Albums such as Exhorder's Slaughter in the Vatican, Sepultura's Arise, and Artillery's We Are the Dead incorporated groovish melodies to thrash metal; however, it wasn't until albums like Exhorder's The Law, Pantera's Vulgar Display of Power, Sepultura's Chaos A.D., White Zombie's La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol. 1, and Machine Head's Burn My Eyes that groove metal truly took its musical form.
Unlike thrash metal and many of the other heavy metal subgenres, groove metal is not as riff-oriented, and is more minimalistic. Artists of the genre tend to have a style influenced heavily by mid-tempo thrash riffs, accentuated with down-tuned power chords (drop D or D standard tuning), syncopated chord patterns, mid-paced guitar solos, and dissonant bridges or breakdowns. Groove metal bass typically follows the guitar riffs but is sometimes used as a fill when the guitar riffs are not played or go clean and is somewhat more audible than other metal genres. Vocals usually consist of thrash metal styled shouts, hardcore styled barks, and clean singing. Lyrics are usually about social and political issues. It is a popular belief that nu metal spawned from this genre of metal, due to both genres utilizing strong usage of down-tuned power chords and similar lyrical subject matter. However, groove metal never reached the commercial heights nu metal achieved and is generally more respected by groups of heavy metal fans instead of nu metal. It should also be noted that groove metal is not considered to be thrash by some despite the fact that it originated from it. Groove metal also hasn't always received a very favorable opinion from some thrash metal fans.
Some consider the works done by later-era Anthrax, Annihilator, Death Angel, Exodus, Kreator, Meshuggah, Overkill, and Testament to be groove metal as well. This is due to some of the bands playing slower tempos and less riff based music, incorporating a more groove-oriented sound.
Groove Metal is the middle point between Thrash Metal and Sludge Metal, and are all closely related, many United States groove metal bands drawing influence from sludge metal bands and vice versa, and sometimes being involved with projects with one another. The major difference, however, is that sludge is notably much slower than groove, whereas groove tends to be mid-tempo.
[edit] Key artists
- 2 Ton Predator
- A Perfect Murder (band)
- A.N.I.M.A.L.
- Byzantine
- Chimaira[1]
- Damageplan[2]
- Disciple
- Exhorder[3]
- Fear Factory (Demanufacture and later)
- Helmet
- Hell Yeah
- Lamb of God[4]
- Machine Head (Burn My Eyes, The More Things Change, and Through the Ashes of Empires)[5]
- Pantera (Cowboys from Hell and later)[6][7][8]
- Pissing Razors[9]
- Prong (Cleansing and later)
- Pro-Pain[10]
- Sepultura (Chaos A.D. and later)
- Skinlab
- White Zombie
[edit] References
- ^ Chimaira entry. Rockdetector. Retrieved on November 3, 2006.
- ^ Damageplan entry. Rockdetector. Retrieved on November 3, 2006.
- ^
- ^ Lamb of God entry. Rockdetector. Retrieved on November 3, 2006.
- ^ Machine Head entry. Rockdetector. Retrieved on November 3, 2006.
- ^
- ^
- ^ Pantera entry. Rockdetector. Retrieved on November 3, 2006.
- ^ Pissing Razors entry. Rockdetector. Retrieved on November 3, 2006.
- ^ Pro-Pain entry. Rockdetector. Retrieved on November 3, 2006.
