Djent

Djent /ˈdʒɛnt/^[1] is a style of heavy metal music that developed as a spinoff of traditional progressive metal.^[2][3] The word "djent" is an onomatopoeia for the distinctive high-gain, distorted palm-muted guitar sound employed by bands like Meshuggah. The term was initially coined by their lead guitarist, Fredrik Thordendal. Typically, the word is used to refer to music that makes use of this sound, to the sound itself, or to the scene that revolves around it.^[4]

Development

The Swedish band Meshuggah and the British bands Sikth and Fellsilent are credited as the inspirations for the djent technique.^[4] The movement itself emerged from the solo recordings of Misha Mansoor of Periphery, with Periphery subsequently bringing djent "from the virtual world into the real one."^[4] Other pioneering bands are Animals as Leaders,^[3] TesseracT,^[5][6][7] and Textures.^[8] The scene has grown rapidly and has become a trend,^[9] as numerous bands emerged out of the scene in 2009 and 2010.^[4] Other bands that are labeled under the term include Sirens, After the Burial, A Life Once Lost,^[10] Veil of Maya, Glass Cloud, ^[11] Vildhjarta,^[12] and Xerath.^[13] The group Born of Osiris have also been described as being inspired by the movement.^[9][14]

Characteristics

Djent, in its original meaning, is a heavily digitally processed power chord, and is the name for an elastic, syncopated guitar riff.^[4] Djent as a style has been described as featuring heavily distorted, palm-muted guitar chords alongside virtuoso soloing,^[2] and is characterized by its progressive, rhythmic, and technical complexity, often interwoven with polyrhythms.^[7] Another common attribute of the style is the heavy use of computerized sounds and digital modelling.^[4]

Reception

Some members of the metal community have criticized the term 'djent', either treating it as a short-lived fad, openly condemning it, or questioning its validity as a genre. Post-metal band Rosetta said: "Maybe we should start calling doom metal 'DUNNN'."^[15] In response to a question about 'djent', Lamb of God vocalist Randy Blythe stated: "There is no such thing as 'djent,' it's not a genre."^[16] In an interview with Guitar Messenger, Periphery guitarist Misha Mansoor said:

I was looking for gear that was djenty. I was like: ‘Are these pickups djenty?’ For some reason it caught on, but completely in the wrong way, because people think it's a style of music and they think it's a style of music I play.^[17]

In a later interview with Freethinkers Blog, Misha Mansoor stated that he felt djent had become "this big umbrella term for any sort of progressive band and also any band that will [use] off-time chugs [...] You also get bands like Scale the Summit [who are referred to as] a djent band [when] eighty percent of their stuff sounds like clean channel and it's all beautiful and pretty, you know [...] In that way I think it's cool because it groups really cool bands together [...] We are surrounded by a lot of bands that I respect, but at the same time I don't think people know what djent is either [...] It's very unclear." Later in the interview he stated, "If you call us djent that's fine, I mean I would never self apply the term. But at the same time it's just so vague that I don't know what to make of it."^[18]

During an interview with got-djent.com, Sybreed guitarist Thomas "Drop" stated: "First, I don't really like the term 'djent'. It doesn't sound like 'djent-djdjdjent', more sounding like a mad duck, 'quack-quaquaquack'."^[19]

Tosin Abasi of Animals as Leaders also takes a more lenient view of the term, stating that there are specific characteristics that are common to "djent" bands, therefore implying legitimate use of the term as a genre. Whilst stating that he personally strives not to prescribe to genres, he makes the point that a genre is defined by the ability to associate common features between different artists. In this way, it is possible to view djent as a genre describing a particular niche of modern, progressive metal.^[20]

References

External links

• got-djent.com

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