Post-Metal

It's no secret that the metal community tends to create microcosms. Sounds that a handful of bands begin to do, trying to break away from conventions and monotonies of the status quo, end up catching on and becoming entire waves or even subgenres of their own. Some of these styles, to the beginner or untrained ear, can be hard to truly encapsulate with words as to what makes them a distinct thing. Maybe it's how eclectic the style can be, or maybe it's a particular playing method... in the case of post-metal, it's about the atmosphere.

Post-metal doesn't have any one unified sound, per se. Instead, it aims to play metal that's ascended from the formulas that other metal styles may be boxed into. Long, drawn out crescendos of songs, often with minimal or nonexistent vocals reminiscent of post-rock, washy, reverb-laden instrumentation often seen in shoegaze... but with the grit, honesty, and distortion of a metal band. "Post-" as a descriptor, often means something along the lines of "new," "experimental," or "atmospheric," when in reality post-metal aims to be all three.

The genre was first applicable to bands from the early nineties branching out of sludge metal. Sometimes post-metal bands are referred to as "atmospheric sludge metal," though post-metal has since grown into its own animal, with atmosludge serving as a meeting point between the post-metal and sludge metal rivers. Among these '90s atmospheric sludge metal bands were post-metal's progenitors: Neurosis, Nada, Godflesh, Lvmen, Dirge, Red Harvest, nd Gigandhi. This first wave of bands was still very much a sludge metal movement, so the aggression and hardcore punk-esque attitude was still present in their works.

Recommended '90s post-metal listening:
1. Gigandhi - Rafflesia (1996)
2. Red Harvest - Hybreed (1996)
3. Neurosis - Through Silver in Blood (1996)
4. Lvmen - Lvmen (1998)
5. Dirge - Down, Last Level (1998)

In the 2000s, post-metal took on a whole new level of meaning. The term now became an applicable label to almost any sort of band that was pushing boundaries in ways almost polar opposite to that of progressive metal bands. Post-metal was slower, more drawn out, more wishy washy and dreamlike, opting to experiment through textures in a manner most similar to ambient artists. The genre still held its ties to sludge metal, with the massive success of bands such as Isis, Cult of Luna, Pelican, Minsk, Rosetta, Amenra, Ghost Brigade, and The Ocean. However, post-metal extended its limbs surely and effectively to other branches of metal: from the folk metal and atmospheric black metal of Agalloch, to the shoegaze of Jesu and Alcest, to the drone metal of Boris and The Angelic Process, and to the strange avant-garde metal of Kayo Dot. Post-metal was an underlying theme in the development of many major metal movements.

Recommended '00s post-metal listening:
1. Kayo Dot - Choirs of the Eye (2003)
2. Isis - Panopticon (2004)
3. Rosetta - The Galilean Satellites (2005)
4. Cult of Luna - Somewhere Along the Highway (2006)
5. Agalloch - Ashes Against the Grain (2006)

What the 2010s did for post-metal, perhaps most notably, was led to its connection to blackgaze, a subgenre of atmospheric black metal. In the aforementioned developments with bands like Jesu and Alcest, black metal began to creep more and more into the post-metal world, having the binding threads of huge, distant-sounding walls of guitar strums and focus on atmosphere. Bands like Deafheaven, Altar of Plagues, Furia, Oathbreaker, and Blut aus Nord among others would all create a wave known to some as post-black metal. That's not to say that the other post-metal offshoots died off, quite the contrary. Sludge metal-rooted post-metal still reigns as well, with bands such as Blindead, Sólstafir, Thou, Obscure Sphinx, Old Man Gloom, and Waste of Space Orchestra releasing incredible works. Heavyweights like Neurosis and Dirge would continue as strong as ever as well. Not to mention the groundbreaking collaboration between Cult of Luna and Julie Christmas, Mariner. Even post-death metal is in the works at this point, thanks to the band Ulcerate. Post-rock and shoegaze remain as strong as ever in these bands as well, with Russian Circles, Holy Fawn, Toundra, Year of No Light, and This Will Destroy You.

Recommended '10s post-metal listening:
1. Alcest - Écailles de lune (2010)
2. Ulcerate - The Destroyers of All (2011)
3. The Ocean - Pelagial (2013)
4. Deafheaven - Sunbather (2013)
5. Cult of Luna and Julie Christmas - Mariner (2016)

Post-metal defies explanation in the greatest of ways. It pokes its head into as many facets of metal as it can, and leaves its mark. The mark of post-metal is shrouding the listener in impenetrable and dreamlike atmosphere, cloaking the metal machismo with the hypnotic walls of sound we've come to know and love. And it will continue to leave its mark for as long as there are musicians welcoming textures and soundscapes where simple traditional note selection and structuring cannot scratch the itch.