Funk Metal

It’s difficult to determine how the funk metal subgenre was created. Some critics argue that the style of music dates all the way back to the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ work in the mid to late 1980s. The band certainly dabbled in metal territories, but at its core, RHCP has always been more of a funk rock band. The lines between funk rock and funk metal have always been blurry, but there is definitely some key differences between the two styles of music.

Funk metal is the combination of alternative metal and funk rock. It is much heavier than funk rock and contains a bit more of an edge to it. Funk metal definitely originated with RHCP, but the group never fully became immersed in the style. Groups and artists such as Primus, Faith No More, Rage Against the Machine, Suicidal Tendencies and Living Colour really brought the subgenre to life, and have helped it to gain a following. 

When the term “funk metal” is used, Primus is usually the band that is most frequently associated with it. Primus set the standard for how funk metal should sound as a pure subgenre. Their style of music blended heavy metal and funk rock so purely, and they became notorious for their experimental funky compositions. Les Claypool and Larry LeLonde (the latter of whom was a veteran death metal musician) led the group to achieve an enormous amount of mainstream success. 

Living Colour, alongside Primus, also focused on a purely distinct funk metal style. Living Colour immediately set themselves apart in the heavy metal scene by being an all African American rock group. The band then gained further attention for their experimental mixture of funk rock and heavy metal. Living Colour achieved the most success with their single “Cult of Personality,” which is still popular today. 

While funk metal was the primary focus of Primus and Living Colour, for other groups it was just a style to experiment with. Faith No More and Rage Against the Machine were both bands that were primarily rooted in funk metal, but combined it with a few other styles of music to form unique musical identities. Meanwhile, Suicidal Tendencies changed their style temporarily to funk metal, only to eventually return to crossover thrash metal. The funk metal style of Suicidal Tendencies has been continued through Infectious Grooves, which contains members of the band.

Today funk metal remains popular, but new funk metal bands have struggled to find any success. The legends of the subgenre keep it alive, and the style of music remains just as exciting as ever. 

Symphonic Metal

For those who have read my blog on a weekly basis, it has probably become pretty obvious by now that musicians love to fuse heavy metal with just about every other style of music on the planet. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that there are bands that frequently enjoy combining heavy metal with orchestral symphonic music, thereby practicing a subgenre of heavy metal commonly known as symphonic metal.

In its most basic form, symphonic metal consists of a metal band with an operatic singer alongside the addition of a keyboardist. Symphonic metal bands may get more complicated than that, though. It is common to find symphonic metal bands with more orchestral instrumentation. Acoustic guitars are also prominent amongst symphonic metal bands. 

Compositionally speaking, symphonic metal places a heavy emphasis on keyboards. Many keyboard parts are uncommonly technical and are brought out in the mix of the music. Symphonic metal also makes use of catchy, upbeat melodies that are usually determined by the soaring vocals and/or the “epic” guitar parts. 

Hints of symphonic metal can be found in the heavy metal music of the 1980s and early 1990s, but Therion was the first band to really pioneer the style in the mid-1990s. Therion began as a death metal band, but began experimenting with symphonic elements, and eventually their style of music completely changed. 

Nightwish and Within Temptation soon followed Therion’s lead, with both bands releasing their first albums in 1997. With the release of these records, symphonic metal was really brought to life. The subgenre became popular quickly, particularly in Europe. Nightwish has since become arguably the most successful and popular symphonic metal group of all time. 

In the early 2000s, more symphonic metal groups rapidly emerged, and the subgenre’s popularity grew quickly in the US. Some of the groups that became successful around this time are Epica, Delain, After Forever and Leaves Eyes.

Since the early 2000s, symphonic metal has rapidly evolved. Nowadays, the subgenre is more often combined with other subgenres such as gothic metal, power metal and black metal in an attempt to innovate and create multi-faceted material. In a later week, we will talk about symphonic metal’s hybrid with black metal much more thoroughly, as it has taken on an identity of its own. Symphonic metal remains popular, particularly in Europe, and many bands that perform it have proven to be very successful. 

                                                     

Crust Punk

Despite having the word “punk” in its name, crust punk is often considered to be a subgenre of heavy metal. Many grindcore, sludge metal and black metal bands frequently choose to meddle with crust punk music, so it has become more associated with heavy metal than with hardcore punk.

By definition, crust punk is the combination of anarcho-punk, hardcore punk and extreme metal. The style began in the 1980s in England, and is known for its dirty musical nature. Crust punk is usually very bass-heavy and fast, though some bands have been known to make it slower and sludgy. The vocals of the subgenre consist of shrieks, shouts, grunts and growls. The lyrics of the subgenre are similar to those of anarcho-punk, which are usually politically motivated.

The first crust punk bands were based out of England. The leaders of this first movement were Amebix, Antisect, Hellbastard, Doom and Extreme Noise Terror. Hellbastard coined the term “crust” with its demo, Ripper Crust, which was released in 1986. Several of these initial crust punk bands eventually moved on to help pioneer grindcore. Toward the late 1980s, crust punk made its way to the US. Nausea, Disrupt, Destroy and Neurosis (the latter of whom later served to be instrumental in developing sludge, post and modern doom metal) helped to bring crust punk from the UK to the US. 

In the 1990s, crust punk reached its height of popularity. In the US, the scene became associated with powerviolence, which helped create a crossover between fans. Meanwhile, the subgenre began to gain popularity in more of Europe than just England. The scene particularly gained momentum in Sweden. Aus Rotten, Dystopia, Disfear and His Hero Is Gone were some of the popular crust punk groups at this time.

Today, crust punk is alive and well, but it is frequently combined with other heavy metal subgenres. Notably, Darkthrone, who is an extremely influential Norwegian black metal group, changed its style from black metal to crust punk and released Circle of Wagons in 2010 to major critical acclaim. There are also plenty of grindcore bands that currently incorporate crust punk influences into their sound. In fact, the band Early Graves, who was recently in Athens to support Skeletonwitch in a show at The Union, has become one of the most notable current grindcore bands to take major influence from crust punk. Crust punk is a dirty and aggressive subgenre that has certainly managed to stand the test of time.