Drone Metal

Drone metal is a pinnacle of acquired taste. Characterized by fuzzy chords being held out for full minutes, laden with feedback and reverb, sometimes at paces too slow to warrant percussive instruments... drone metal is not for everybody. Behind drone metal's visage of being a seemingly impenetrable niche of near-music, however, lies a booming counterculture stuck somewhere between doom metal, ambient, and post-rock. So let's check it out.

Drone metal, as its name would imply, takes its notes from drone music. Drone is a subgenre of experimental music focusing on long, sustained tones and the repetition of singular notes. Many types of classical and regional music make usage of a single continuous drone as a backbone for melody and rhythm, but drone as a genre focuses on the drone alone, creating a hypnotic, dreamlike atmosphere. Also influential on the genre's foundations are ambient and noise. Ambient music places its focus on sound over structure, with both conventional and unconventional methods of creating minimalist, moody soundscapes. Dark ambient is particularly influential on drone metal. Noise music, on the other hand, is exactly what it would sound like: experimental music that strays from all conventions of what counts as "music," preferring to assemble sounds in a thick, harsh wall. Combining these three experimental styles with doom metal birthed the microcosm that is drone metal.

In the early 1990s, a band called Earth arrived onto the scene with a few demos that would shape the drone metal scene at large. The sludge metal band Melvins would soon create a masterwork of the whole genre, their 1992 record Lysol. Alongside these two, other bands would have similar ideas: Naked City, Black Mayonnaise, Circle, Boris, Thrones, and Corrupted would all contribute to the growing drone metal sound over the course of the decade. Lo-fi compilations such as The Way of Nihilism were made early on in the style's development too, mirroring the underground boom of the noise rock and No Wave movements of the late 1970s. Though, from a metal perspective, drone metal was drawing primarily from doom metal, the genre would combine with a plethora of others over the timeline of its existence, most notably crossovers within sludge metal, post-metal, black metal, and avant-garde metal (to which drone metal owes a lot of its fundamental ideas). 

Recommended '90s drone metal listening:

1. Melvins - Lysol (1992)

2. Naked City - Leng Tch'e (1992)

3. Earth - Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version (1993)

4. Corrupted - Paso inferior (1997)

5. Boris - Amplifier Worship (1998)

In the 2000s, the lines between drone metal and post-metal were blurred even further, leading to the beginning of a wave of music with many names. Some call it metalgaze or doomgaze, alluding to the washy, reverby subgenre of alternative rock known as shoegaze, while others call it post-doom or simply atmospheric metal. Whatever the name, bands like Jesu, The Angelic Process, Nadja, and Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine all encapsulated this new sound. Drone metal as a whole flourished in its own niche sort of way, with the addition of the genre's biggest claim to fame: a band called Sunn O))). Alongside them were other more "traditional" drone metal bands such as Black Boned Angel and Khanate. Bands like Boris and Corrupted continue strong into the decade, where others like Earth and Melvins would go on to pursue a multitude of other genres (post-rock and stoner metal, respectively).

Recommended '00s drone metal listening:

1. Boris - Boris at Last: Feedbacker (2003)

2. Jesu - Jesu (2004)

3. Nadja - Touched (2007)

4. The Angelic Process - Weighing Souls With Sand (2007)

5. Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions (2009)

The 2010s brought a renaissance of heavy drone metal into the fray, with sludgy, funeral doom metal-influenced bands such as Bismuth, Conan, Drowning Horse, Bongripper, and Hell rearing their unforgiving brand onto the populace. Other genre combinations began to flourish, such as the introduction of post-industrial music into the drone metal formula. Bands such as Author & Punisher, The Body, and Khost would introduce elements of death industrial and power electronics, creating an even bleaker, colder atmosphere. Other bands stuck to the ambient/post-rock side of things such as Wolvserpent, Wrekmeister Harmonies, and Big Brave. Others still would push the boundaries even further, such as the unlikely blend of drone metal and psychedelic rock seen in the releases of Bong.

Recommended '10s drone metal listening:

1. Bong - Mana-Yood-Sushai (2012)

2. Hell - Hell III (2012)

3. The Body - I Shall Die Here (2014)

4. Bismuth - The Slow Dying of the Great Barrier Reef (2018)

5. Big Brave - A Gaze Among Them (2019)

As a whole, drone metal remains a small but consistent slice of the metal pie. As specific of a niche as it serves to fill, drone metal does so with the utmost ability to push its own limits, just as the experimental music it takes from as influences. Drone metal, despite being all about long, sustained notes (not unlikely to last for hours on end!), will never get stale as long as there are musicians willing to look beyond the narrow, confining conventions of "music."

Stoner Metal

Of all the metal subgenres that Black Sabbath created, stoner metal often pales in comparison to its predecessors heavy metal and doom metal. But in 1971, with the release of Sabbath's masterpiece Master of Reality, one song shaped an entire genre: "Sweet Leaf." The fuzzy, blues-injected riffage, the plodding, midtempo feel, and of course the subject of recreational marijuana usage all led down a singular path: the path to stoner metal.

So what constitutes as stoner metal? Is it just metal music that centers itself around pot? Not exactly, it has a very distinct sound and style to it, just as much as any other subgenre I've covered here before. It takes the slow doom metal blueprint and lines it with influences from blues rock, psychedelic rock, and eventually (naturally) stoner rock, an offshoot of hard rock mentioned in my very first post. Stoner metal aims to bring the blues back into the metal formula. The genre is very closely linked to sludge metal, sometimes to the point of the genre terms being used interchangeably, but stoner metal has a much more carefree, less aggressive air to it that sets it apart fairly distinctly.

Though "Sweet Leaf" was released all the way back in 1971, stoner metal as a whole didn't begin to take form until the early 1990s. Early stoner rock bands like Monster Magnet and Fu Manchu didn't precede the metal counterpart by much, and often would blur the lines between rock and metal from song to song. The early '90s saw the arrival of bands that would remain hugely prevalent forces throughout the genre's entire existence, solidifying themselves as forerunners and trailblazers, such as Sleep, Corrosion of Conformity, Down, Melvins, Kyuss, Earth, Blood Farmers, Motorpsycho, and Clutch. Also prevalent were traditional doom metal bands that took more and more psychedelic influence such as Trouble, Saint Vitus, and Cathedral. The later '90s brought more bands to the fray such as Spiritual Beggars, Acrimony, Orange Goblin, Electric Wizard, Spirit Caravan, Goatsnake, the Atomic Bitchwax, and Sons of Otis.

Recommended '90s stoner metal listening:
1. Sleep - Holy Mountain (1992)
2. Kyuss - Welcome to Sky Valley (1994)
3. Melvins - Stoner Witch (1994)
4. Down - NOLA (1995)
5. Electric Wizard - Come My Fanatics... (1997)

In the 2000s, stoner metal continued strong with both already-established bands just as much as newcomers. Stoner juggernauts like Sleep and Electric Wizard both released their magnum opuses (Dopesmoker and Dopethone, respectively) in the first few years of the decade. The 2000s saw the sludge-stoner crossover take full effect, with the arrival of bands like High on Fire, Kylesa, Ufomammut, Big Business, and Boris (being a particularly interesting crossover of drone metal and noise rock as well). Other bands still such as Solace, Om, YOB, The Hidden Hand, Church of Misery, and The Sword continued the style teetering on the edge of one thing or another, whether between stoner and doom metal, or between stoner rock and metal.

Recommended '00s stoner metal listening:
1. Electric Wizard - Dopethrone (2000)
2. Sleep - Dopesmoker (2003)
3. Boris - Pink (2005)
4. High on Fire - Death is This Communion (2007)
5. Kylesa - Static Tensions (2009)

The 2010s saw a continuation of the 2000s, where bands both new and old would continue strong doing the tried and tested stoner metal formula. High on Fire holds the reigns in many ways, leading the charge of the new wave of stoner bands. Sleep makes a phenomenal comeback after 15 years of silence with 2018's The Sciences. A new wave of progressive metal-tinged stoner bands arrive, such as Mastodon and Baroness, who have both moved away from their previous sludge metal sounds. New bands like Elder, Stoned Jesus, Mutoid Man, Alunah, Spaceslug, Khemmis, and Turbowolf all release respectable additions to the genre's repertoire, alongside other reigning giants from decades prior like The Sword, Church of Misery, Electric Wizard, Kylesa, and Solace. Even notorious independent garage rock/psychedelic rock band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard tried their hand at the stoner metal sound (incredibly, if I may add) with their 2019 record Infest the Rats' Nest.

Recommended '10s stoner metal listening:
1. The Sword - Warp Riders (2010)
2. Elder - Dead Roots Stirring (2011)
3. High on Fire - De vermis mysteriis (2012)
4. Sleep - The Sciences (2018)
5. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Infest the Rats' Nest (2019)

It's genres like this that aim to show how far a simple idea can go. Of course the binding thread between these bands is a mutual love for marijuana and doom metal, but such a simple yet specific concept should have, for all intents and purposes, fallen flat on its face within five years of surfacing. But thanks to the creativity, ingenuity, and passion that bands continue to breathe into the genre's style, stoner metal prevails as strongly as ever.

Metalcore

Metalcore is an incredibly misunderstood genre term, and goes forever unappreciated by many "true metal" elitists due to its connotation to be whiny, "too poppy," or whatever else people use to describe the scene that appeared in the genre in the mid- to late-2000s. What I aim to do here is to shed some light on the origins and history of the genre, and hopefully draw in new fans from both in and outside of the metal community.

Metalcore, or "metallic hardcore" as some will hear it described, is exactly what the namesake would suggest: a combination of metal music and hardcore punk. If you're a repeated reader of these genre timelines, then you'll know that this is not the first time this combination has been attempted (see: thrash metal and grindcore), but what differentiates metalcore from these prior styles really lies in one fundamental: the breakdown. Metalcore focuses heavily on the hardcore side of things, injecting metal's technicality and/or tone into what by all accounts would simply be an energetic hardcore band. The breakdown is a point in a track, usually towards the middle, where the tempo slows and riffs emerge that are meant to initiate moshing as a form of crowd participation. Moshing can be found in nearly every metal genre, but metalcore aims to make it a staple.

Metalcore saw its first wave in the early 1990s. Hardcore punk bands like Integrity, Rorschach, Earth Crisis, Starkweather, Merauder, Converge, and Deadguy were among the first to produce the metalcore sound. The death metal and thrash metal influence shows clearly in a lot of these bands, despite the framework of their material being relatively textbook hardcore. Anywhere from Black Sabbath to Joy Division to Celtic Frost could have some sort of contributing factor to the metalcore ideal. Some of these bands, like Merauder, even took influence from early groove metal and the booming New York hardcore scene. As the 1990s went on, more and more bands began to gain traction, including Hatebreed, Shai Hulud, Catharsis, Poison the Well, Acme, Cave In, and Zao. Bands like this, with a massive influx of unified would, would be the ones to carve the niche that defines and codifies metalcore as it is today.

Recommended '90s metalcore listening:
1. Integrity - Those Who Fear Tomorrow (1991)
2. Earth Crisis - Destroy the Machines (1995)
3. Hatebreed - Satisfaction is the Death of Desire (1997)
4. Zao - Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest (1998)
5. Poison the Well - The Opposite of December (1999)

A subgenre development nearly as old as the genre itself but taking a much more chaotic track is called mathcore. What mathcore does as a style is takes the already raw, aggressive and spastic metalcore and injects it with dissonant, angular riffing, unconventional and constantly shifting time signatures, and an unparalleled sense of compositional incomprehensibility. Made popular by bands such as Deadguy, Botch, Converge, and of course the ever-popular The Dillinger Escape Plan, the 1990s saw incredible artistic merit in the subgenre. Linked closely to grindcore, the 2000s saw bands such as Ion Dissonance, Gaza, Daughters, The Number Twelve Looks Like You, and Car Bomb, among others. The style is still prevalent and boundary-pushing today.

Recommended mathcore listening:
1. Deadguy - Fixation on a Coworker (1995)
2. The Dillinger Escape Plan - Calculating Infinity (1999)
3. Botch - We Are the Romans (1999)
4. Converge - Jane Doe (2001)
5. Gaza - I Don't Care Where I Go When I Die (2006)

Metalcore thrived in the 2000s, and its style began to take a drastic shift away from what had previously existed. Obviously, metallic hardcore bands continued strong: Converge, Shai Hulud, Poison the Well, Integrity, and Hatebreed all continued strong well into the decade. New metallic hardcore bands would pop up left and right, with releases from bands like Cursed, Every Time I Die, Skycamefalling, Hopesfall, Norma Jean, Terror, Nostromo, and Kickback. However, some metalcore bands would often inject more and more clean-sung, melodic death metal-inspired accentuations to the genre, resulting indirectly in the creation of melodic metalcore (which I will give its own entry in the future). Among these bands were Misery Signals, 7 Angels 7 Plagues, August Burns Red, Underoath, and Undying. This would eventually lead to genre speciation, with bands like Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, and All That Remains holding the helm of melodic metalcore, an evolutionary offshoot of metallic hardcore, and often receiving the brunt of criticisms from "true metal" communities. Progressive metalcore began to show up as well, taking technical and avant-garde aspects of progressive metal and breathing new life into the very formula that metalcore had ridden on for a decade now. Bands like SikTh, Between the Buried and Me, Burst, and (arguably) early-career Mastodon all contributed to this sound distinct but reminiscent of mathcore.

Recommended '00s metalcore listening:
1. 7 Angels 7 Plagues - Jhazmyne's Lullaby (2001)
2. Norma Jean - Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child (2002)
3. Between the Buried and Me - Colors (2007)
4. Misery Signals - Controller (2008)
5. Converge - Axe to Fall (2009)

Let's backtrack a bit. Also in the 1990s arose a subgenre that, in my personal opinion, has done nothing but improve with time: deathcore. Though it didn't gain widespread attention or traction until the early and mid-2000s (explaining its placement in the timeline), deathcore aimed to combine the existing metalcore sound with the growled vocals and blast beats of death metal. The first handful of bands to use this sound, such as Damaged, Day of Suffering, Deformity, and Abnegation, often took elements of deathgrind as well, making the sound far more inaccessible than standard metalcore. As the style began to solidify into more of its now-recognizable sound though, bands like Animosity, The Red Chord, Despised Icon, and Job for a Cowboy aided it in eventually sweeping the world of MySpace. Big bands appeared in the late-2000s, among them Whitechapel, All Shall Perish, Chelsea Grin, Suicide Silence, Carnifex, Oceano, Impending Doom, After the Burial, and Winds of Plague. The subgenre was often held to a very low standard, as the gimmicks of the genre eventually became pitfalls, and the whole movement seemed to be very follow-the-leader. Since this wave of popularity though, there have been bands like Fit for an Autopsy, Thy Art is Murder, and Shadow of Intent that continue to breathe new and amazing life into the deathcore world. Also there's a bunch of "fake slam death metal" bands out there like Within Destruction that have created their own microcosm in the style.

Recommended deathcore listening:
1. Deformity - Murder Within Sin (1999)
2. The Red Chord - Fused Together in Revolving Doors (2002)
3. Whitechapel - This is Exile (2008)
4. Thy Art is Murder - Hate (2012)
5. Shadow of Intent - Melancholy (2019)

2010s metalcore still manages to take the forefront of both metal and punk scenes. Converge, Every Time I Die, and The Dillinger Escape Plan are still as strong as ever, if not stronger. Bands from the metallic hardcore style are coming back in a huge way, in what I've sometimes seen labeled as the "Entombedcore" movement; referencing the muddy, sludgy tone of the legendary Swedish death metal band Entombed. Bands like Code Orange, Knocked Loose, Jesus Piece, Vein, and early Oathbreaker all contributed greatly to the style's success. Atmospheric metalcore has begun to take a huge hold on the scene as well, with bands like Architects and Silent Planet carving a niche in the already booming progressive metalcore/djent scene (fronted by bands like Erra, Currents, and Northlane). Huge strides are being made with melodic metalcore-infused metalcore, further blurring the lines between the two, with bands such as Fit for a King, Oh Sleeper, Counterparts (also melodic hardcore, a genre of hardcore punk often wrongly-attributed to more traditional-sounding metalcore bands), and While She Sleeps. This isn't to say that classic metallic hardcore bands aren't as prevalent though, as new life is breathed into the genre every day with releases from bands like All Pigs Must Die, Rise of the Northstar, Incendiary, Ithaca, and Employed to Serve, among others. Also, RIP The Chariot, amirite?

Recommended '10s metalcore listening:
1. The Chariot - Long Live (2010)
2. Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind (2012)
3. Erra - Augment (2013)
4. Architects - Lost Forever // Lost Together (2014)
5. Every Time I Die - Low Teens (2016)

Overall, metalcore is one of my personal favorite genres of metal. It's incredibly diverse; so many facets can be discovered and explored because of how flexible the idea of 'metal+hardcore' can be. Converge, Misery Signals, and Knocked Loose all sound so different from each other, but all exist under the same idea. That's the brilliance of a simple concept: the pieces fit together like it was meant to be. I trust that with these new, refreshing bands appearing so frequently, and the genre's rich history, metalcore will remain a strong and prevalent force in metal for years to come.

Note: Sorry for not getting an entry out last week, this whole self-quarantine thing has taken quite a toll on my work ethic, admittedly. It's not going to be very fun, but with so much extra time it's allowed me to not only discover more music, but even take more time to write some of my own. Just remember to stay safe, stay healthy, and wash your hands. Thank you for reading!

Groove Metal

Groove metal, sometimes referred to as post-thrash metal, is an oft-overlooked subgenre of metal that developed in the late 1980s. Taking the unrelentingly fast, aggressive, hardcore punk-tinged formula of thrash metal and focusing it more on groovy syncopation and heaviness rather than outright speed, groove metal sits firmly as an underlying '90s offshoot of metal that never really skyrocketed to stardom like its contemporaries in nu metal, but remains an interesting and vital chunk of metal history.

Though Brazil's Sepultura undoubtedly set the stage that groove metal would eventually inherit, pretty much the only bands in the 1980s playing legitimately groove metal were Biohazard and the early works of White Zombie. Biohazard took elements of crossover thrash and pushed into odd alternative metal territory, creating a fairly sturdy prototype of the groove metal sound. White Zombie on the other hand fused industrial metal with more sludgy, midtempo riffage, something that would become a trademark of the genre as a whole. The 1990s saw an influx of new breath into the style, and no other band represented this new scene quite as well and as wholeheartedly as Pantera.

Pantera was in a league of its own. Having started in the 1980s as an odd blend of glam metal and speed metal, the turn of the decade saw the band shifting so drastically in tone and style, that they were hardly recognizable as the same entity. Part of what made this band so iconic and unique was the dual power of the Abbott brothers, whose stage names were Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul. Pantera released five albums in its career, and each defined a particular era in the groove metal scene, and solidified Pantera's role as the codifiers of the genre. Their 1990 debut, Cowboys from Hell, was particularly influential. Borrowing riffs that wouldn't seem out of place on a Metallica record but also interjecting aspects of Southern rock and even hardcore breakdowns... groove metal was here to stay. In 1992, the sophomore record Vulgar Display of Power did even more to make Pantera's mark not just on groove metal, but on metal music as a whole. To this day, Pantera is acclaimed as one of the greatest metal bands of all time.

Aside from Pantera, the 1990s brought in plenty of new interesting bands to the groove metal world. Among these were thrash metal and crossover veterans that decided to take a detour through this new scene, such as Sepultura, Anthrax, Exhorder, Coroner, Overkill, and Prong, as well as newer bands like Machine Head and Grip Inc. fusing the styles. There was also considerable overlap with alternative metal, significantly funk metal, with bands like Infectious Grooves and 24-7 Spyz crossing into groove metal territory. Straight groove metal came in the form of bands such as 2 Ton Predator, Pissing Razors, and Dearly Beheaded. Metalcore fusion bands also arrived pretty heavily on the scene, such as Merauder, Vision of Disorder, and Earth Crisis.

Recommended '90s groove metal listening:
1. Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power (1992)
2. Sepultura - Chaos A.D. (1993)
3. Prong - Cleansing (1994)
4. Machine Head - Burn My Eyes (1994)
5. White Zombie - Astro-Creep: 2000 (1995)

In the 2000s, groove metal was very closely tied to metalcore. The leading bands in the scene were actually often mistaken for metalcore bands, or at the very least would tour alongside them frequently, often blurring the lines between the two styles and leading to the umbrella term "New Wave of American Heavy Metal," often shortened to NWOAHM (paying homage to the NWOBHM of the 1980s). Bands like Lamb of God, DevilDriver, Chimaira, Five Finger Death Punch, Black Label Society, and Soulfly would appear in this era, many of which have become huge names in the overall metal scene. Machine Head in particular would release some of the genre's greatest works in this decade as well, namely 2007's The Blackening. Many underrated bands showed up as well, such as Trepalium (combining groove metal with technical death metal), Biomechanical, Byzantine, Mnemic, and Raging Speedhorn. Dimebag Darrell also tragically passed away in this time, while playing for the band Damageplan after Pantera's disbanding.

Recommended '00s groove metal listening:
1. Black Label Society - 1919 Eternal (2002)
2. Lamb of God - Ashes of the Wake (2004)
3. DevilDriver - The Fury of Our Maker's Hand (2005)
4. Soulfly - Dark Ages (2005)
5. Machine Head - The Blackening (2007)

In the 2010s, groove metal admittedly waned a bit in popularity. The bigger bands in the scene would handle this change in different ways: Lamb of God continued strong, Five Finger Death Punch moved into a more commercially-accessible alternative metal sound, and Machine Head would... well, release some really cool albums and then nearly fall off the face of the earth with the release of the near-universally hated Catharsis. Unto the Locust was pretty cool though, right? Anyway, the rest of the newcoming groove metal bands in the 2010s often combined groove metal with other metal styles, such as Dyscarnate (groovy death metal?), Rise of the Northstar and Kublai Khan (tough guy beatdown hardcore/metalcore + groove metal), Gojira (progressive metal), Minushuman and System Divide (melodic death metal), Body Count (rap metal), and The Offering (power metal), to name a few.

Recommended '10s groove metal listening:
1. Machine Head - Unto the Locust (2011)
2. Lamb of God - VII: Sturm und Drang (2015)
3. Gojira - Magma (2016)
4. Dyscarnate - With All Their Might (2017)
5. Kublai Khan - Nomad (2017)

Groove metal as a whole has often fallen by the wayside in light of other, more popular genres of metal. Despite this, the bands that do get big (Pantera, Lamb of God, Five Finger Death Punch) often lead new metal listeners into more and more great music. This stations groove metal at a very integral part of the metal listener's journey: the gateway into heavier, darker, and more obscure music. And it serves this job well. Here's to groove metal always shifting, and always introducing.

Note: Hey all! I'm currently on Spring break. I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy out there given the current circumstances. Be sure to be conscious and aware; all it really takes is washing your hands. Thanks so much for reading, and stay tuned for next week!

Viking Metal

Gonna knock this one out right off the bat: Amon Amarth is not Viking metal. I still love them, but that's not what this entry is about.

Viking metal is a style of metal that originated at the very beginning of the 1990s, and finds its stylistic origins in black metal and Nordic folk music. Being an abrasive yet atmospheric offshoot of the tremolo-picked, occult-obsessed world of black metal does not mean that it falls into the same pitfalls however, as Viking metal shifts its thematic focus to, you guessed it, Vikings and folklore. A direct precursor to folk metal (which we will discuss later), Viking metal was a logical progression even from early hard rock and heavy metal, with Nordic and Pagan themes being found anywhere from Led Zeppelin to Yngwie Malmsteen. But why does metal have such a fascination with Nordic folklore, and why is simply singing about the conquest of Vikings (as in the case of Amon Amarth) not enough to justify the genre tag?

It is generally agreed upon that the initial scene of Viking metal bands owe their prominence to Bathory. Already a driving force in the first wave of black metal, Bathory (and its iconic frontman Quorthon) took a turn for the Vikings in 1990 with the release of the genre's first true album: Hammerheart. Along with other bands at the time such as Pagan Rites, Twin Obscenity, Hades, and Mithotyn, Viking metal took its first steps. It wasn't until the middle of the decade, however, that the genre began to flourish. With the oncoming arrival of names such as Storm, Falkenbach, Vintersorg, Thyrfing, Einherjer, Graveland, Borknagar, and the mighty Enslaved, Viking metal was quickly catching on, and linking heavily to the subsequent folk metal movement in the mid- to late-'90s.

Recommended '90s Viking metal listening:
1. Bathory - Hammerheart (1990)
2. Enslaved - Frost (1994)
3. Borknagar - The Olden Domain (1997)
4. Falkenbach - Magni Blandinn Ok Megintiri... (1998)
5. Vintersorg - Till fjälls (1998)

Into the 2000s, Viking metal continued strong, losing (in my opinion) none of the momentum it had created. One of the most major players in the genre's timeline, Moonsorrow, released phenomenal records throughout the decade. The ties with folk metal became closer and closer, until to most casual fans the genres became inseparable. Albums from Ensiferum, Falkenbach, Equilibrium, Turisas, Týr, and Månegarm all combine the styles seamlessly and naturally, as the thematic elements of folk music and folklore are intended hand in hand. The style became much more grand and epic in its instrumentation and presentation, something that folk metal had inspired. Despite this overtake and overlap, Viking metal remained a prominent force of its own, separate from folk metal and truer to its black metal roots with bands such as Galar, Forefather, Thyrfing, and Sorgsvart keeping the flame alive.

Recommended '00s Viking metal listening:
1. Ensiferum - Ensiferum (2001)
2. Moonsorrow - Kivenkantaja (2003)
3. Månegarm - Vredens tid (2005)
4. Falkenbach - Heralding: The Fireblade (2005)
5. Equilibrium - Sagas (2008)

As we entered the 2010s, Viking metal saw a mixture of mostly older bands continuing to reign strong, with every once in a while a new band arriving and pulling something great and unexpected out of their pockets. Falkenbach, Finsterforst, and Vintersorg all continued to write phenomenally, even after their contemporaries either shied away from the genre entirely (ie, Enslaved) or had long been broken up (ie, Bathory). Bands rearing their heads for the first time either in the later portion of the 2000s or completely in the new decade included King of Asgard, Nothgard, Ereb Altor, Draugnim, Voluspaa, and Svartsot, among others.

Recommended '10s Viking metal listening:
1. Ereb Altor - The End (2010)
2. King of Asgard - Fi'mbulvintr (2010)
3. Nothgard - Warhorns of Midgard (2011)
4. Finsterforst - Rastlos (2012)
5. Falkenbach - Asa (2013)

So why the fascination with such old-fashioned themes? Is it for the sake of metal guys feeling cool? Doubtful, though it certainly is cool in my personal opinion. Is it the lust for aggression, or for feeling the honor that a battle brings? Is it the pride for the rich European heritage from which most of these key figures hail? Or is it the surprisingly consistent overlap between metal fans and history buffs? It could be any combination of these things, but one thing is for certain: Viking metal has cranked out some of the most fantastic metal records of the last three decades, and the genre shows no signs of slowing.

Note: Hey y'all! Sorry it's a bit of a shorter entry today. I know I've been behind on things, it's time for midterms here at my university, so free time has been a little tight. In other news, I'm going to see the great Devin Townsend live with his all-new all-star Empath band! I hope you've enjoyed keeping up with these entries, and I'll do my darnedest to have a new one out on the regular weekly schedule again. Thanks!

Gothic Metal

With so much of underground and alternative music in the 1990s being so drenched in angst and disenchantment with everyday life, it only makes sense that metal would be a main player in this collective loathing somnambulation. "Gothic" is a term that has existed to mean many things over the course of centuries. Originating as an ethnonym for a group of East Germanic tribes in the third century AD, 'goth' has come to represent anything from architecture to literature to a subculture of middle schoolers. As so many bands and genres did before it, gothic metal relies heavily on the proto-doom metal of Black Sabbath with its plodding tempos and harrowing subject matter. Gothic metal combines this with gothic rock, which was an offshoot of post-punk that rose to prominence in the mid- to late-1980s with bands such as The Cure, Bauhaus, and Siouxsie and the Banshees. Combining romantic and dreamy content of the goth rock bands with the ever-depressive doom metal sound and aesthetic, early gothic metal bands took their first steps.

Gothic metal found itself culminating in northern England with the "Peaceville Three" credited for creating death doom metal: Paradise Lost, Anathema and My Dying Bride. All of these bands showed significant input to the developing gothic metal genre, with their romantic, poetic lyricism and direct references to many gothic art forms prior to the metal offshoot. Not all bands were rooted in death metal though, as bands like Type O Negative, Tiamat, and Saviour Machine reared their heads towards the middle of the decade, drawing influence anywhere from progressive metal to heavy metal to alternative metal and even ethereal wave. Gothic black metal also saw a potential future with bands like Moonspell also arriving onto the scene.

Towards the end of the '90s, gothic metal began to solidify itself into something different than from what it had initially been raised. Bands like the Gathering, the Sins of Thy Beloved, Tristania, Lacrimosa, and many others began to incorporate what is now known as the "Beauty and the Beast" vocal style, which often showcases an operatic female lead vocalist juxtaposed against a more gruff male backing vocalist. This became a trademark aspect of gothic and symphonic metal to the point of where it's the genre's main stereotype.

Recommended '90s gothic metal listening:
1. Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (1993)
2. Tiamat - Wildhoney (1994)
3. Moonspell - Wolfheart (1995)
4. Paradise Lost - Draconian Times (1995)
5. The Gathering - Mandylion (1995)

There were points in the 2000s where gothic metal's symphonic, operatic side became more and more angled towards the mainstream, taking in more and more influence from alternative metal until bands like Within Temptation, Lacuna Coil, and even Evanescence were being associated with the genre, despite the former two bands drifting away from gothic metal fairly early in their careers, and the latter having nearly nothing to do with the genre aside from some aspects of imagery. The doom metal-oriented sound, however, took flight in a most spectacular of ways. New releases from bands like My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost and Moonspell continued to be wonderful, as well as bands such as Draconian, Virgin Black, Novembre, and Sentenced making their names heard. That's not to say that the symphonic metal style was failing in terms of artistic value however, as bands like Sirenia and After Forever released landmark albums in the genre in this time frame as well.

Recommended '00s gothic metal listening:
1. My Dying Bride - The Dreadful Hours (2001)
2. Sentenced - The Cold White Light (2002)
3. Sirenia - At Sixes and Sevens (2002)
4. Draconian - Arcane Rain Fell (2005)
5. Virgin Black - Requiem: Mezzo Forte (2007)

In the 2010s, gothic metal mostly remained in the hands of the classics; Paradise Lost, Moonspell, Draconian, Swallow the Sun, and Novembre held the genre up with their dreary cloaks opened to the night. Newcomers like Tribulation (which initially began as an experimental death metal group), Woods of Ypres, Idle Hands, Lethian Dreams, Pantheist, the Foreshadowing, Before the Dawn (an interesting case combining gothic metal with melodic death metal), Ava Inferi, and the Vision Bleak would all submit major contributions to the genre's history in the 2010s too, however.

Recommended '10s gothic metal listening:
1. Woods of Ypres - Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light (2012)
2. Tribulation - The Children of the Night (2015)
3. Paradise Lost - The Plague Within (2015)
4. Swallow the Sun - Songs from the North I, II & III (2015)
5. Idle Hands - Mana (2019)

Though album releases from gothic metal bands rarely make waves in the way that more prominent genres may, it is nevertheless essential to look to gothic metal as a guiding light to underrated and underappreciated masterpieces. I once heard this genre referred to as "doom metal for theater kids," and in some ways that's a fairly accurate description. Always full of flair and oft-rivaling power metal in grandiosity, gothic metal remains a powerful and inspirational niche in the metal family tree.

Note: Hey guys! Sorry for not posting an entry last week, I was away for the weekend. I saw Periphery (with Plini and Arch Echo) on Friday and Thrice (with mewithoutYou, Drug Church and Holy Fawn) on Saturday. Both shows were phenomenal and every band gave their all. Tomorrow I'll also be going up to the Apollo Theater in New York City to see the one and only Opeth (with support from Graveyard), so I'm super stoked on that. Thanks for reading!

Avant-Garde Metal

In honor of the newly-reunited Mr. Bungle playing their first shows in 20 years, I felt it was only necessary to pay homage to one of my personal favorite subgenres of metal music: avant-garde metal. Originating from the French word for 'vanguard,' what makes avant-garde metal (and experimental music in general) is how undefinable it can be. Hell, the very terminology for the genre implies less of a unified sound, but rather just 'these bands don't go in any other category. Lump all the weirdos together.' In doing so, metal's wackiest, zaniest, and most experimental genre came to be.

Some styles of music are considered experimental or avant-garde when they first rear their heads in the scene, but will eventually become more standardized and commonplace as the trend catches on, thus rendering their application of the avant-garde term obsolete. This happens a lot, particularly in such a forward-thinking genre as metal, so the degree to which something I discuss here is considered 'avant-garde' may be variable. Take that into consideration when reading.

Avant-garde metal took its first steps in the late 1980s with a trifecta of bands who were doing things differently: Warning, Celtic Frost, and Old (then-stylized as O.L.D.). Old was an odd bunch of folks playing industrial metal-tinged grindcore with a healthy dash of experimental rock. Celtic Frost was a legendary thrash metal band that decided to take a turn for the weirder with their 1987 opus Into the Pandemonium. Warning was arguably the first band to be classified as avant-garde metal, with a very odd blend of progressive electronic music and doom metal. Also in the 1980s was the creation of the legendary Mr. Bungle. Though the collective only released a handful of demos and EPs that were in much more of a conventional thrash metal/death metal style, Mr. Bungle would soon become one of the most prominent figures in the entire genre.

As humanity entered the 1990s, avant-garde metal really got the opportunity to spread its wings. Collaborations of unconventional sounds, structures, and instrumentation began to pop up in seemingly every facet of the metal community in spurts of vanguard weirdness. Black metal and symphonic metal bands like Ved Buens Ende, Arcturus, Sigh, and Graal began to flourish. Avant-garde death metal such as Gorguts, Pan.Thy.Monium, and Pestilence began to arrive based out of more boundary-pushing offshoots of technical death metal. Bands like Naked City and PainKiller delved into dark ambient and avant-garde jazz territory in their works. Even stranger still was the introduction of funk rock and alternative metal into the fray, most notably showcased on Mr. Bungle's self-titled debut record.

Most prominent within the scene was the overlap with progressive metal. Progressive metal, being a genre focused similarly around pushing the envelope and watching it bend, tends to overlap with a lot of avant-garde metal. However, I find that the key distinguishing feature between the two can be summed up with 'weirdness.' Progressive metal bands like Dream Theater, Between the Buried and Me, and Opeth all take the metal formula and push it beyond its established limits to create something more forward-focused, as do experimental metal bands. However, say where a progressive metal band would tend to use elements of Western classical music to add textures or layers, an avant-metal band would potentially incorporate purely chamber music-based instrumentals underneath harsh death or doom metal vocals and lyricism. Where progressive music focuses on technicality, musicality, and virtuosity of its players, experimental music relies far more on how far they can take the music in any one direction at a time. Key bands from the '90s that showcased this overlap include maudlin of the Well, In the Woods..., Solefald, and Thought Industry.

Recommended '90s avant-garde metal listening (plus one '80s album):
1. Celtic Frost - Into the Pandemonium (1987)
2. Mr. Bungle - Mr. Bungle (1991)
3. Ved Buens Ende - Written in Waters (1995)
4. Arcturus - La masquerade infernale (1997)
5. Gorguts - Obscura (1998)

Once the 2000s hit, avant-metal began to really boom. Major players began to take shape, such as the monumental 2001 releases Bath and Leaving Your Body Map from maudlin of the Well, Toby Driver's subsequent act Kayo Dot, noisecore-forerunners Today is the Day, Mike Patton of Mr. Bungle's new project Fantômas, Dir en Grey, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Thy Catafalque, Dog Fashion Disco, Ephel Duath, Diablo Swing Orchestra, Stolen Babies, Unexpect, and phenomenal new works from established acts such as Arcturus, Solefald, and Sigh. New waves of zany, chaotic avant-garde metal known more specifically as 'circus metal' started to take form, which has inadvertently caused many folks nowadays to label any metal with circus sounds, vibes or themes as avant-garde.

Recommended '00s avant-garde metal listening:
1. Fantômas - The Director's Cut (2001)
2. Sigh - Imaginary Sonicscape (2001)
3. maudlin of the Well - Bath / Leaving Your Body Map (2001)
4. Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors (2002)
5. Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - Of Natural History (2004)

In the 2010s, some progressive metal acts began to incorporate more and more avant-garde elements into their sound, as seen primarily in some works by the great Devin Townsend. Other fusions between the two were carried by the Norwegian band Shining, Ex Eye, and the usual releases from Thy Catafalque, Dir en Grey, Kayo Dot (which now dabbles mostly in art rock and avant-prog), and Diablo Swing Orchestra. Avant-garde black metal still burns strong, with newcomers to the genre coming out of the atmospheric black metal woodworks like Blut aus Nord, A Forest of Stars, Liturgy, Imperial Triumphant, Hail Spirit Noir (combining avant-black metal with psychedelic rock), Schammasch, and Howls of Ebb. Multi-instrumentalist Igorrr has led a recent surge in breakcore-inspired metal music. Odder still is the relative mainstream success of Zeal & Ardor, a band which combines avant-garde black metal with slave spirituals.

Recommended '10s avant-garde metal listening:
1. Devin Townsend Project - Deconstruction (2011)
2. Thy Catafalque - Rengeteg (2011)
3. Diablo Swing Orchestra - Pandora's Piñata (2012)
4. Blut aus Nord - 777: Cosmosophy (2012)
5. Kayo Dot - Hubardo (2013)

If there were ever to be a metal genre that had an inexhaustible pool of creativity, it would have to be avant-garde metal. Simply by nature, avant-garde metal cannot move forward if it conforms. Individual bands may get snippets of recognition or (in very rare cases) even airplay, but things will never stay stagnant for long, lest the bands be swept into a more grounded genre and lose what made them experimental, artful, and so avant-garde in the first place. A genre term built purely around incomprehensible genre tagging, genre hopping, and genre defying artists... it's pretty much an oxymoron. And a glorious one, at that.