Post-metal

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Post-metal
Stylistic origins: Post-rock, Heavy metal music, Minimalism, Ambient, Sludge metal, Industrial music, Art rock, and Doom metal
Cultural origins: Early 2000s, United States, Sweden.
Typical instruments: Guitar – Bass – Drums – Synthesizer – Other less common instruments, such as cello, minimal use of vocals.
Mainstream popularity: Limited, exists mostly within the metal scene.
Regional scenes
California, Chicago, Illinois, and Umeå, Sweden

Post-metal is a music genre describable as a mixture between the genres of post-rock and metal, with its roots in progressive rock and industrial music. It is broadly characterized by distorted guitar, heavy atmospherics, gradual evolution of song structure, and a minimal emphasis on vocals.

Post-metal is a closely related to the larger and older genre that is art metal, as post-metal bands often name art metal groups as influences.[1] Hydrahead Records owner and Isis frontman Aaron Turner originally termed the genre "thinking man's metal", demonstrating the link with art metal and the avant garde, by trying to move away from common metal conventions[1]. "Post-metal" is the favoured name for a growing genre, one also referred to as "instro-metal",[2] "postcore" and a great range of others.

Contents

[edit] History

According to Turner, experimental bands such as Flying Luttenbachers, The Melvins, Godflesh and Neurosis "laid the groundwork for us [...] we're part of a recognizable lineage".[1] Although Neurosis and Godflesh appeared earlier and display elements befitting post-metal, Isis are often credited with laying down the conventions and definition of the genre in less nebulous terms, with their release of Oceanic in 2002.[3]

Helmet's albums Meantime (1992) and Betty (1994) are cited as having "eschewed the traditional concept of heavy music" and having "trademarked the drop-d power-groove in 5/4." They may be considered "definitive texts in post-metal."[4]

[edit] Characteristics

Cover art to Isis' post-metal album Panopticon
Cover art to Isis' post-metal album Panopticon

The simplest way to define post-metal is as a mix of post-rock and metal. This indicates the interplay of light and dark - taking the distorted guitars and guttural vocals of metal and post-hardcore and setting that against the clean instrumentalism of post-rock. Pieces tend to be at a slow- to mid-tempo, focussing on chord changes and barrages of sound rather than lead guitar riffing and shredding, and usually eschewing guitar solos. Post-metal tends not to feature the discordance present in a lot of modern hardcore and metal; a feature present in music by contemporaries such as Converge and Dillinger Escape Plan. This indicates that post-metal is more closely related to post-rock than to metal - in terms of sound, as opposed to lineage.

Isis' Panopticon (2004) is a prime example of post-metal, and post-rock elements are clearly evident in the contrast between calm melodic passages and aggressive distortion-driven climactic sequences. Similar musical structuring can be heard in Pelican's 2005 sophomore album, The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw, again with a focus on gradual evolution of structure.

[edit] Instrumentation

A typical post-metal set-up includes two or three guitars, a bass guitar, synths, a drumkit and a vocalist.[5][6] There are a number of completely instrumental post-metal bands, such as Pelican. Orchestral passages are not uncommon, especially in the work of Cult of Luna; Kayo Dot and Boris have music strongly influenced by jazz.

The overall sound is generally very low, with guitars being detuned sometimes to as low as B,[7] the equivalent of a 7-string guitar. Production is usually very tight, and there is little "garage band" feel to the music. This allows for pervasive or minimalist sections, as in clean guitars or synth, to come through more clearly.

[edit] Vocals and lyrics

The general philosophy behind post-metal production is that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, so each instrument is usually given about equal presence. Vocals are often not particularly high in the mix, and in most cases are in the style of hardcore or metal, i.e. guttural and shouted, rather than clean or shrieked as in emo, or growled in death metal. Lyrics cover a broad spectrum of issues, usually somewhat metaphysical, existentialist or macroscopic, as opposed to deeply personal or directly allegorical. Themes often include political dissatisfaction, or criticism of herd mentality.[8][9][10]

[edit] Structure

Post-metal is also defined by structure, which leans far more towards that of post-rock than metal: songs tend to 'evolve' to a crescendo or climax (or multiple ones within a song), building upon a repeated theme or chord shift, whereas metal, however, often adheres to verse-chorus-verse conventions of song structure. As Aaron Turner of Isis states, "the standard song format of verse-chorus-verse-chorus is something that has been done and redone, and it seems pointless to adhere to that structure when there are so many other avenues to explore".[7] The result of this is often long songs, commonly in the range of six to eleven minutes.[11] Therefore a typical post-metal track is not generally suitable for radio play, nor is it commercially viable. Similarly, albums are often created as quasi-conceptual, creating the greatest impact when listened to as a whole. Likewise, it is not uncommon to see literary influences on albums, such as Red Sparowes' At the Soundless Dawn or Mastodon's Leviathan. This is arguably what makes the genre such an element of the avant-garde. It draws upon the ideas of contemporary classical music and minimalism in the vein of Steve Reich (i.e. repetition and expansion of a theme) and John Cage, at the same time as the metal scene.

A typical post-metal piece might start with a lone guitar, but eventually build to six-plus members playing simultaneously, as shown in songs like "Genesis" from The Beyond by Cult of Luna. Likewise, a post-metal song may leap "head-first" into the music, with distortion and aggression evident from the start, in a nod to the inescapable metal element of the genre. Songs like this challenge the definition of the genre, but the majority of them will contain clean interludes or lulls, usually as parts of a build-up in themselves. Relevant examples include "False Light" from Oceanic by Isis, "Australasia" from Australasia by Pelican, or "Monstrously Low Tide" from "Leaving Your Body Map" by maudlin of the Well.

Elements of post-metal can also be found in metal, metalcore and hardcore, even in releases by otherwise convention-following bands. For example, on Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child, Norma Jean have two songs as good examples of post-metal: "Pretty Soon, I Don't Know What, but Something Is Going to Happen", and "Organized Beyond Recognition". Other hardcore bands such as Envy ("Chain Wandering Deeply"), Eden Maine ("Disformasiya"), and Converge ("Jane Doe") all give nods to the genre in some pieces, largely in their structuring. Many bands include one or two "epic" songs in an album; it is those which are comparable to post-metal.

[edit] Live performance

Post-metal as a genre has been considered "an inherently boring one from a live perspective."[12] Some bands can be seen "playing the same chords over and over and over again,"[12] omitting atmospheric layers found in studio recordings. However, other bands are able to create live energy and even induce momentary mosh pits.

[edit] Criticism

Since this genre is relatively new and is only represented by a small number of artists, the need for an entirely independent classification of music has occasionally been questioned by music reviewers and listeners. As a label, some see "post-metal" as redundant, since some bands listed as post-metal contain many elements similar to doom metal, progressive metal, sludge metal, and stoner metal. Others, however, argue that these elements have been combined and altered in ways that go beyond the boundaries of those respective genres, creating the need for a single, distinguishing label.

Pelican's Trevor de Brauw said, "I have an affinity or metal, but I don't think of Pelican as a metal band. So when people call us 'instrumetal', or post-metal, or metalcore or whatever, I can see why they say that, but it's not something that I feel a close connection with... I feel our [music] has more in common with punk and hardcore."[13]

[edit] List of notable post-metal bands

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Caraminica, Jon. The alchemy of art-world heavy metal. The New York Times. Retrieved on September 20, 2005.
  2. ^ An Interview with Donny, Rob, Benny, and Augie of Tides.... StonerRock.com. Retrieved on September 20, 2006.
  3. ^ Thompson, Ed. Review of In the Absence of Truth. IGN. Retrieved on December 18, 2006.
  4. ^ HELMET Rediscovery. X-Press Online (2007-03-28). Retrieved on 2007-03-31.
  5. ^ Cult of Luna#Members
  6. ^ Callisto offical biography
  7. ^ a b Porosky, Pamela. Aaron Turner and Michael Gallagher interview. Guitar Player. Retrieved on September 6, 2006.
  8. ^ Cult of Luna lyrics (see Salvation)
  9. ^ Isis lyrics (see Panopticon)
  10. ^ Callisto lyrics
  11. ^ The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw
  12. ^ a b Shehzaad Jiwani (2007-03-20). LIVE: Isis Take Fans On Sludgy Ride. ChartAttack. Retrieved on 2007-03-31.
  13. ^ Mike Diver (2007-03-27). Pelican: "We're neither trend setters nor trend followers". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved on 2007-03-29.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Heavy metal
Black metal - Classic metal - Death metal - Doom metal - Folk metal - Glam metal - Gothic metal - Grindcore - Industrial metal - Neo-classical metal - Nu metal - Post-metal - Power metal - Progressive metal - Speed metal - Symphonic metal - Thrash metal
Regional scenes
Scandinavian death metal - New Wave of British Heavy Metal - Bay Area thrash metal
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