This week on “Into the Pit: A Metal Blog” we are going to delve further into the underground realm of heavy metal music by discussing the stoner metal subgenre. Stoner metal is simply a more intense version of stoner rock music, and is a combination of heavy metal, psychedelic rock, and blues rock.
Stoner metal is in many ways very similar to both stoner rock and sludge metal, and bands that are given one label are frequently given the others as well. Sludge metal usually tends to avoid the heavy use of psychedelia though, which is very prominent in stoner metal.
Musically, stoner metal is characterized by its use of guitars that make use of psychedelic effects, such as feedback, wah wah, and fuzzboxes. The guitar sound is also almost always heavily distorted. Song structures are usually very complicated and often consist of unusual time signatures, extended instrumental jams, as well as drone sections.
Several bands such as Hawkwind, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and The Blue Oyster Cult helped to set the tone for the development of stoner metal. The biggest precursor to stoner rock though was the band, Blue Cheer. Blue Cheer was prominent during the 1960s and 1970s, and with their monumental debut, Vincebus Eruptum, they managed to really influence the onset of the stoner rock/metal movement of the 1990s.
Many metalheads around the world consider the first real stoner metal album to be Blues for the Red Sun by the band, Kyuss. Kyuss came out of the Palm Desert scene and shocked the world with their innovative sound. Kyuss put out several other legendary stoner metal albums such as Welcome to Sky Valley and …And The Circus Leaves Town. The band was led by guitarist, Josh Homme, who is now the frontman of the extremely successful hard rock band, Queens of the Stone Age. Homme has also recently participated in the band, Them Crooked Vultures, with Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters and John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin. Kyuss has recently reformed without Homme and is touring under the name, Kyuss Lives!
Another major force during the 1990s stoner metal scene was the San Jose metal band, Sleep. Sleep was more heavily rooted in doom metal than Kyuss, and they are highly regarded for their very influential albums such as Sleep’s Holy Mountain, Jerusalem and Dopesmoker. Sleep eventually broke up and their guitarist, Matt Pike, received the most post-Sleep success with his highly acclaimed sludge metal band, High on Fire. In 2010, Sleep reunited and have played several shows since.
Stoner metal remained popular during the 1990s with other bands such as Monster Magnet, Goatsnake, and Orange Goblin building off of the success of Kyuss and Sleep. Today, stoner metal remains a very prolific scene, but has a large following of many devoted fans.
Showing posts with label justin silk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label justin silk. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Black Metal (Part 1)
Over the past couple of weeks, “Into the Pit: A Metal Blog” has casually mentioned the black metal subgenre when talking about the band, Venom. For the next two weeks, we are going to take an in-depth look at the subgenre and its dark history. This week we will focus on the first wave of black metal bands to arise.
The black metal subgenre really did all begin with Venom. Their album titled Black Metal is where the genre received its name. Venom was a large mixture of subgenres though, and later bands would further cement the genre into existence.
Black metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is primarily characterized by high-pitched guitar tones that feature strong distortion. The music is usually very fast, using dissonance to create dark and "scary"-sounding tones. Bass is usually very minimal within black metal music, and drumming is characterized as being very fast and using blast-beats. Black metal vocals usually consist of shrieking, growling, and other experimental styles. The production of black metal music is also commonly very raw and lo-fi.
Black metal also contains unique and dark imagery. Many black metal bands have very theatrically vicious stage performances. Throughout the history of black metal, many extremely controversial and disturbing acts have occurred during concerts, particularly by the musicians themselves. Impaled animal heads, mock crucifixions and the covering of the musicians in animal blood have all been parts of black metal performances in the past, particularly during the second wave of black metal in Norway. Today, black metal performances are much tamer and less controversial than they used to be.
It is also common for black metal performances to be very atmospheric and grim. Corpse paint is commonly worn to try to make the musicians seem more cold and emotionless. Many black metal musicians furthermore choose to create pseudonyms in order to appear mysterious.
One of the earliest pioneers of the black metal genre was a band called Bathory. Bathory was essentially the one man project of Tomas Forsberg, more commonly known as, Quorthon. Bathory had a revolving line-up of other musicians until its demise in 2004 that coincided with Quorthon’s death.
Bathory’s debut self-titled album is known by many as the first true black metal album. However, Bathory’s most famous album is undeniably Under the Sign of the Black Mark, which would become a massively influential record on all subsequent albums within the black metal genre. Bathory eventually started to dabble heavily in viking metal, and never managed to return to their black metal roots.
Hellhammer is also an important early black metal band. Hellhammer only released one EP, but that EP titled Apocalyptic Raids would prove to be influential in the development of black metal.
After Hellhammer disbanded, several of the members went on to form Celtic Frost, which would prove to be an influential and successful black metal band as well. Albums such as Morbid Tales and To Mega Therion are considered very significant black metal records.
Recently, Celtic Frost permanently disbanded while frontman Tom Gabriel Fischer went on to start a new band known as Triptykon.
Venom, Bathory, Hellhammer, and Celtic Frost were the most noteworthy bands of this first wave of black metal.
Next week will be the darkest and most disturbing post on “Into the Pit: A Metal Blog;” as, we will discuss the second wave of black metal. Stay tuned!
The black metal subgenre really did all begin with Venom. Their album titled Black Metal is where the genre received its name. Venom was a large mixture of subgenres though, and later bands would further cement the genre into existence.
Black metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is primarily characterized by high-pitched guitar tones that feature strong distortion. The music is usually very fast, using dissonance to create dark and "scary"-sounding tones. Bass is usually very minimal within black metal music, and drumming is characterized as being very fast and using blast-beats. Black metal vocals usually consist of shrieking, growling, and other experimental styles. The production of black metal music is also commonly very raw and lo-fi.
Black metal also contains unique and dark imagery. Many black metal bands have very theatrically vicious stage performances. Throughout the history of black metal, many extremely controversial and disturbing acts have occurred during concerts, particularly by the musicians themselves. Impaled animal heads, mock crucifixions and the covering of the musicians in animal blood have all been parts of black metal performances in the past, particularly during the second wave of black metal in Norway. Today, black metal performances are much tamer and less controversial than they used to be.
It is also common for black metal performances to be very atmospheric and grim. Corpse paint is commonly worn to try to make the musicians seem more cold and emotionless. Many black metal musicians furthermore choose to create pseudonyms in order to appear mysterious.
One of the earliest pioneers of the black metal genre was a band called Bathory. Bathory was essentially the one man project of Tomas Forsberg, more commonly known as, Quorthon. Bathory had a revolving line-up of other musicians until its demise in 2004 that coincided with Quorthon’s death.
Bathory’s debut self-titled album is known by many as the first true black metal album. However, Bathory’s most famous album is undeniably Under the Sign of the Black Mark, which would become a massively influential record on all subsequent albums within the black metal genre. Bathory eventually started to dabble heavily in viking metal, and never managed to return to their black metal roots.
Hellhammer is also an important early black metal band. Hellhammer only released one EP, but that EP titled Apocalyptic Raids would prove to be influential in the development of black metal.
After Hellhammer disbanded, several of the members went on to form Celtic Frost, which would prove to be an influential and successful black metal band as well. Albums such as Morbid Tales and To Mega Therion are considered very significant black metal records.
Recently, Celtic Frost permanently disbanded while frontman Tom Gabriel Fischer went on to start a new band known as Triptykon.
Venom, Bathory, Hellhammer, and Celtic Frost were the most noteworthy bands of this first wave of black metal.
Next week will be the darkest and most disturbing post on “Into the Pit: A Metal Blog;” as, we will discuss the second wave of black metal. Stay tuned!
Friday, February 17, 2012
Speed Metal and Thrash Metal
Over the past couple of weeks, “Into the Pit: A Metal Blog” has covered the earliest subgenres of heavy metal music. These subgenres were the early beginnings of this heavier style of rock music, and they helped lay the foundation for what was to come in the 1980s.
During the 1980s, heavy metal music started to get faster and more aggressive than ever. New metal bands of the time were all trying to be more vicious than the next. That resulted in the rise of speed metal and thrash metal.
We have already briefly mentioned speed metal in the past few weeks when discussing bands such as Motörhead, Accept and Venom. Speed metal was developed during the 1970s, and it eventually evolved into thrash metal music.
There is some debate amongst heavy metal listeners as to whether speed metal is a legitimate subgenre. The people who argue that it is tend to say that speed metal is generally cleaner and more intricate than thrash metal music, which relies more heavily on long, wrenching rhythmic breaks. Personally, I do consider speed metal to be a legitimate subgenre of heavy metal music, though I believe it soon became indistinguishable from thrash.
Thrash metal is generally characterized by its fast tempos, double bass drumming, low-register vocals, intricate guitar riffs, and high register guitar solos. Thrash metal also usually consists of melodic singing or shouting vocals. The genre is heavily influenced by the NWOBHM and speed metal bands of the 1970s.
There were many “proto-thrash” songs of the 1970s, such as Diamond Head’s “Am I Evil?,” Judas Priest’s “Rapid Fire,” and even Queen’s “Stone Cold Crazy,” but the first real thrash metal bands were formed in the early 1980s. The most notable thrash metal bands in the US were known as “The Big Four” bands of thrash metal, and they consisted of Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax. These bands were the initial pioneers of thrash, and they are four of the most popular and prominent metal bands of all time.
Metallica was the first of the four bands to be formed, and are without a doubt the most popular metal band in the world today. Their first album, Kill ‘Em All, was released in 1983 and was one of the first real thrash metal albums.
One of Metallica’s most legendary albums was its third release, Master of Puppets, which has been hailed by some critics as the best metal album of all time.
The band really became a worldwide phenomenon, though, when they released their fifth album, titled The Black Album (also known as their self-titled release). It has been certified 15 times platinum in the US and is one of the most successful rock albums of all time. Since the album’s release, Metallica’s popularity has just kept growing, and today they are considered to be the most commercially successful metal band of all time.
It’s easy to spend three blog posts just talking about the significance of Metallica, but there are many other important thrash metal bands that deserve to be addressed here.
Megadeth, the second out of the “Big Four,” was formed by ex-Metallica guitarist, Dave Mustaine. Megadeth is the second most successful band of "The Big Four,” releasing landmark metal albums such as Peace Sells…But Who's Buying?, Rust in Peace, and Countdown to Extinction.
The last two bands of “The Big Four” are Slayer and Anthrax.
Slayer is the most inaccessible out of the four bands because of their controversial lyrical topics, intense speed and their vocalist’s harsh shouting vocals. Slayer has strongly influenced the development of death metal, and other underground metal subgenres. The band is most well known for their highly successful album, Reign in Blood; however, they have several other very highly acclaimed albums, such as Hell Awaits, South of Heaven, and Seasons in the Abyss.
Anthrax is the least successful of “The Big Four” but they still have a solid and devoted fanbase. They are the most musically consistent out of the four bands, and are known for their more melodic vocals. Anthrax’s most famous albums are Spreading the Disease, Among the Living and Sound of White Noise.
In the US during the 1980s, the San Francisco Bay Area was a very popular region for up and coming thrash metal bands. Several very popular thrash metal bands from this area include Testament, Exodus, Vio-lence, Forbidden and Death Angel. This blog is actually named after Testament’s song “Into the Pit.” Similarly, on the east coast there was also a strong thrash metal scene that led to the formation of Overkill, Whiplash, and Storm Troopers of Death.
Thrash metal also became popular worldwide. Germany was notable for their Teutonic thrash metal scene that sprouted many very popular thrash metal bands. The “three kings” of Teutonic thrash metal are Kreator, Sodom, and Destruction, as they were the most well known bands to come out of this scene. These bands heavily influenced the pioneering of death metal that was to come later in the decade.
One final thrash metal band that is extremely necessary to mention is Sepultura, who is from the Brazilian thrash metal scene. Led by the Cavalera brothers, Sepultura became one of the most popular thrash metal bands around the world for their albums, Beneath the Remains, Arise, Chaos A.D. and Roots.
Similarly to Slayer and the “three kings” of Teutonic thrash, Sepultura heavily influenced the development of death metal. The Cavalera brothers eventually left Sepultura during the 1990s, and now the band is led by long time guitarist Andreas Kisser, and longtime bassist Paolo Jr.
In the mid-1990s, grunge started to take over, and thrash metal became an exhausted genre of music. Many famous thrash metal bands changed their sound or experienced radical line-up changes. In particular, Metallica has been accused of having sold out around this time, as their style transformed into commercial hard rock.
Since then, thrash metal has seen a slight resurgence in popularity, which was fueled by newly-created thrash metal acts such as Municipal Waste, Warbringer, Lazarus A.D, Evile, and Skeletonwitch. Many famous thrash metal bands have also seen line-up reunions, and have reverted to their old musical habits of the 1980s. Recently, “The Big Four” played together for the first time ever, and have since done several subsequent shows together.
Thrash metal has been revived for now, and will hopefully stay popular during times to come.
During the 1980s, heavy metal music started to get faster and more aggressive than ever. New metal bands of the time were all trying to be more vicious than the next. That resulted in the rise of speed metal and thrash metal.
We have already briefly mentioned speed metal in the past few weeks when discussing bands such as Motörhead, Accept and Venom. Speed metal was developed during the 1970s, and it eventually evolved into thrash metal music.
There is some debate amongst heavy metal listeners as to whether speed metal is a legitimate subgenre. The people who argue that it is tend to say that speed metal is generally cleaner and more intricate than thrash metal music, which relies more heavily on long, wrenching rhythmic breaks. Personally, I do consider speed metal to be a legitimate subgenre of heavy metal music, though I believe it soon became indistinguishable from thrash.
Thrash metal is generally characterized by its fast tempos, double bass drumming, low-register vocals, intricate guitar riffs, and high register guitar solos. Thrash metal also usually consists of melodic singing or shouting vocals. The genre is heavily influenced by the NWOBHM and speed metal bands of the 1970s.
There were many “proto-thrash” songs of the 1970s, such as Diamond Head’s “Am I Evil?,” Judas Priest’s “Rapid Fire,” and even Queen’s “Stone Cold Crazy,” but the first real thrash metal bands were formed in the early 1980s. The most notable thrash metal bands in the US were known as “The Big Four” bands of thrash metal, and they consisted of Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax. These bands were the initial pioneers of thrash, and they are four of the most popular and prominent metal bands of all time.
Metallica was the first of the four bands to be formed, and are without a doubt the most popular metal band in the world today. Their first album, Kill ‘Em All, was released in 1983 and was one of the first real thrash metal albums.
One of Metallica’s most legendary albums was its third release, Master of Puppets, which has been hailed by some critics as the best metal album of all time.
The band really became a worldwide phenomenon, though, when they released their fifth album, titled The Black Album (also known as their self-titled release). It has been certified 15 times platinum in the US and is one of the most successful rock albums of all time. Since the album’s release, Metallica’s popularity has just kept growing, and today they are considered to be the most commercially successful metal band of all time.
It’s easy to spend three blog posts just talking about the significance of Metallica, but there are many other important thrash metal bands that deserve to be addressed here.
Megadeth, the second out of the “Big Four,” was formed by ex-Metallica guitarist, Dave Mustaine. Megadeth is the second most successful band of "The Big Four,” releasing landmark metal albums such as Peace Sells…But Who's Buying?, Rust in Peace, and Countdown to Extinction.
The last two bands of “The Big Four” are Slayer and Anthrax.
Slayer is the most inaccessible out of the four bands because of their controversial lyrical topics, intense speed and their vocalist’s harsh shouting vocals. Slayer has strongly influenced the development of death metal, and other underground metal subgenres. The band is most well known for their highly successful album, Reign in Blood; however, they have several other very highly acclaimed albums, such as Hell Awaits, South of Heaven, and Seasons in the Abyss.
Anthrax is the least successful of “The Big Four” but they still have a solid and devoted fanbase. They are the most musically consistent out of the four bands, and are known for their more melodic vocals. Anthrax’s most famous albums are Spreading the Disease, Among the Living and Sound of White Noise.
In the US during the 1980s, the San Francisco Bay Area was a very popular region for up and coming thrash metal bands. Several very popular thrash metal bands from this area include Testament, Exodus, Vio-lence, Forbidden and Death Angel. This blog is actually named after Testament’s song “Into the Pit.” Similarly, on the east coast there was also a strong thrash metal scene that led to the formation of Overkill, Whiplash, and Storm Troopers of Death.
Thrash metal also became popular worldwide. Germany was notable for their Teutonic thrash metal scene that sprouted many very popular thrash metal bands. The “three kings” of Teutonic thrash metal are Kreator, Sodom, and Destruction, as they were the most well known bands to come out of this scene. These bands heavily influenced the pioneering of death metal that was to come later in the decade.
One final thrash metal band that is extremely necessary to mention is Sepultura, who is from the Brazilian thrash metal scene. Led by the Cavalera brothers, Sepultura became one of the most popular thrash metal bands around the world for their albums, Beneath the Remains, Arise, Chaos A.D. and Roots.
Similarly to Slayer and the “three kings” of Teutonic thrash, Sepultura heavily influenced the development of death metal. The Cavalera brothers eventually left Sepultura during the 1990s, and now the band is led by long time guitarist Andreas Kisser, and longtime bassist Paolo Jr.
In the mid-1990s, grunge started to take over, and thrash metal became an exhausted genre of music. Many famous thrash metal bands changed their sound or experienced radical line-up changes. In particular, Metallica has been accused of having sold out around this time, as their style transformed into commercial hard rock.
Since then, thrash metal has seen a slight resurgence in popularity, which was fueled by newly-created thrash metal acts such as Municipal Waste, Warbringer, Lazarus A.D, Evile, and Skeletonwitch. Many famous thrash metal bands have also seen line-up reunions, and have reverted to their old musical habits of the 1980s. Recently, “The Big Four” played together for the first time ever, and have since done several subsequent shows together.
Thrash metal has been revived for now, and will hopefully stay popular during times to come.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Traditional Heavy Metal (Part 2): Mid 1970s-Present
Alright metalheads, it’s time to continue our discussion from last week about traditional heavy metal music. This week we will talk about traditional heavy metal from the mid '70s to present day. Normally “Into the Pit: A Metal Blog” will not take two days to discuss one subgenre of heavy metal, but with traditional heavy metal there is a lot of material to cover; as, it is the foundation for every other heavy metal subgenre.
In the mid-to-late 1970s, punk rock began to emerge. Punk rock was essential in the development of heavy metal; as, it helped to inspire the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (which we will discuss in depth next week), as well as many other traditional heavy metal acts.
One of the most important traditional heavy metal acts of this time was Motörhead. Formed in the mid-70s, Motörhead carried the rebellious spirit of punk music over to heavy metal. Motörhead was also a significantly faster band than nearly every heavy metal band around at the time, and because of that, they became the first speed metal band.
Around the time of Motörhead, both Iron Maiden and Diamond Head were formed. Both bands would have a tremendous influence on heavy metal throughout the 1980s and were leaders of both traditional heavy metal as well as the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.
At the very end of the 1970s, Ozzy Osbourne left Black Sabbath. That lead to the band's hiring Ronnie James Dio as their new lead singer. Dio had previously been involved with bands such as Elf and Rainbow, and had become a very prominent name in hard rock. With the addition of Dio, Black Sabbath’s sound evolved even further. Dio had a wider vocal range than Osbourne, and he would soon become a heavy metal icon. Dio is frequently credited as having invented the “devil horns” hand gesture that is popular among heavy metal fans today.
During the 1980s, traditional heavy metal continued to be very popular. Dio left Black Sabbath in the early '80s and went on to form a new band with Vinny Appice that was named after himself, Dio. Dio would prove to be a very successful band and continue Dio’s legacy.
Meanwhile, Ozzy Osbourne had also decided to form a solo band when left Black Sabbath during the late 1970s, and he released Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman in the early 80s with his legendary guitarist, Randy Rhodes. Those albums are legendary heavy metal releases and are heavy metal classics to this day.
Apart from Dio and Osbourne, the important traditional heavy metal bands of the 1980s were Iron Maiden, Diamond Head, Accept, W.A.S.P., and Mercyful Fate. Each of these bands blossomed during the 1980s and influenced countless other metal bands.
Accept helped to develop the speed metal subgenre and were notable as being one of the big early heavy metal bands to come from Germany.
W.A.S.P. was an important band that blurred the lines between shock rock and heavy metal, and they gained immense popularity.
Mercyful Fate influenced the development of numerous other heavy metal subgenres such as black metal, thrash metal, power metal, and progressive metal. Furthermore, their iconic frontman, King Diamond, would become legendary among heavy metal fans for his impressive vocal range as well as his notorious solo career.
Traditional heavy metal declined during the 1990s. Many of the bands that were prominent throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s began to experience major line-up changes and break-ups. Furthermore, the quality of the material that the bands put out began to decline as well.
During the early 2000s, and continuing on to present day, many traditional heavy metal bands have had reunions of classic line-ups that have performed and put out new material together.
Some notable modern traditional heavy metal albums are Iron Maiden’s Final Frontier, Judas Priest’s Nostradamus, Heaven and Hell’s The Devil You Know, and King Diamond’s Give Me Your Soul…Please.
Recently, Black Sabbath announced that their original line-up would record a new album together for the first time since the 1970s. Traditional heavy metal is alive today, and remains a popular subgenre of heavy metal music.
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