The Final Post

Alright metalheads, this is the final post of “Into the Pit.” It has been a fucking killer past couple of years, but it is time to lay this blog to rest. So what was the point? Why did I do this in the first place? Well, let me explain.

I wanted this blog to serve as a guide for all things metal for the readers and writers of ACRN. The early posts of this blog were really focused on defining the sub-genres of heavy metal. Those posts should be used by readers and writers as a means to figure out exactly what kind of metal they are listening to.

Beyond that, I wanted this blog to serve as a modern commentary on the state of heavy metal. I live and breathe this genre of music. I have an encyclopedic knowledge of heavy metal. It’s my passion and I wanted to share my expertise with you, the readers.

Before I put this blog to rest for good, I thought I would make one final top five list. These are the five songs that I consider to be the HEAVIEST OF ALL TIME. Not necessarily the best, just the heaviest. Thank you, readers, for checking out my blog over the past few years. It has been real. Now here we fucking go!

Honorable Mention: Meshuggah - "Bleed"
No one forgets the first time they hear “Bleed.” The technical precision of the track is astounding. Beyond that, there is so much power behind the song. Meshuggah are out for blood and ready to fucking kill. The song is dark and comes from a real pit of despair. This is one of Meshuggah’s finest moments and absolutely one of their heaviest.  

5. Bloodbath - "Eaten"
Everything about this song screams “HEAVY!” The band’s name, the cover art for the record it’s on, the song’s name and its subject matter all make it unbelievably fucking powerful. The song is about getting eaten by a cannibal. Gore, blood and guts are the centerpiece of the song's lyrics. The music that compliments the lyrics and is just brutal. Peter Tagtgren and pals simply nail the delivery of "Eaten," and the song’s final moments are jaw-dropping. Stop what you are doing right now and check out this absolutely monstrous tune! 

4. At the Gates - "Slaughter of the Soul"
The first riff of "Slaughter of the Soul" is bloodcurdling. It’s so powerful and so intense. The song just builds from there. Tomas Lindberg’s terrifying shrieks and poetically deadly lyrics make this song an absolute monster. "Slaughter of the Soul" is timeless and a masterpiece of heavy metal.  

3. Behemoth - "Lucifer"
This song is from another world. It thrusts listeners into the depths of hell where they await their final judgment. It’s the little touches that make this song so thrilling and so captivating. The atmosphere is so immersive and so intricately crafted. Everything about this song is built around the world the band creates. "Lucifer" is a brutal song that will terrify even the toughest of listeners. 

2. Gojira - "The Heaviest Matter of the Universe"
This song could not be more appropriately named. Gojira understand what it takes to create a heavy song. They understand this more than any other band and that is why this tune is just so blisteringly powerful. This song just takes control of its listeners and forces them to mosh. Joe Duplantier leads listeners into madness from the stage as the song calls for a pit. This song has a groove that is so intense that it is hard not to lose control. Rock out to "The Heaviest Matter of the Universe" and just try not to lose yourself in the pure fucking metal! 

1. Strapping Young Lad - "Oh My Fucking God"
Do I even need to explain why this song is the HEAVIEST OF ALL TIME? Devin Townsend and his crew are fucking mad men. This is a song that is just pure passion. It’s controlled chaos in the finest of ways. Even the song’s chorus is heavy as hell. If you have never listened to "Oh My Fucking God" before, do yourself a favor and just take a moment to get annihilated by its ferocity.

Five Actors/Actresses Who Are Also Metalheads

Famous people like heavy metal. It’s true. I have proof! Here are five actors and actresses who you may not know are actually metalheads.

1. Jack Black
It’s fairly common knowledge that Jack Black is a metalhead, but I still had to include him on this list. Black and his goofy pal, Kyle Gas, started a very notorious comedy metal group called Tenacious D. In case you have been living in a bubble, some of Tenacious D’s badass music is down below.

2. Nicholas Cage
Most people don’t know that Cage’s son was the singer of a black metal band called Eyes of Noctum. They aren’t a very good group, but Cage was always very supportive of his son’s musical endeavors. Cage has never talked about being a metalhead in public, but it’s natural to assume that he is one, right? Man, I hope so.

3. Jim Carrey
Who could forget the classic moment when Cannibal Corpse popped up in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective? Most people don’t realize that Carey himself actually organized the band’s appearance in the film. He was a fan and wanted to give the band some exposure. If that’s not super awesome, then I don’t know what is. Mad props go out to Mr. Carrey.

4. Jada Pinkett Smith
Yeah, so around the time that nu metal was cool, Mrs. Smith thought it would be a great idea to start a metal band. Apparently she had been a fan of the genre and felt it was time to declare her taste for it to the world. Her band, Wicked Wisdom, wasn’t very good, but Smith definitely made a decent metal vocalist. She took control of the stage and went on a few tours, where she wasn’t booed off of it. So that’s an achievement, right? Anyways, recently Wicked Wisdom has shown signs of further activity by releasing a new song. My guess is that there is more to come from the band so be on the lookout for a new album or tour or something.

5. Danielle Fishel
I’m going to be honest with you all--this entire post was inspired by the girl who played Topanga on Boy Meets World. Fishel was recently spotted wearing a Lamb of God shirt. That’s right--Lamb of God. That’s a heavy band right there. Pictures also indicate that Fishel is also a Slipknot fan. With all of this evidence, one must conclude that the crush of every boy growing up in the 1990s is indeed a metalhead. How cool is that?

Fan Subculture

This week, let’s talk about the most important members of the heavy metal community: the fans. Metalheads come in many different varieties. There are the angsty teenagers who listen to bands that just “understand” them like Emmure and Suicide Silence. Then there are the big bearded men who seem intimidating but are real softies--they listen to bands like Amon Amarth and Lamb of God. And then you have the social recluses who worship Wolves in the Throne Room and Ihsahn, but have hardly ever been outside into the daylight to get some fresh air. There are tons of different types of heavy metal fans, however they all have more similarities than differences.

All metalheads tend to enjoy their favorite bands by jumping into mosh pits or headbanging in a crowded room. Heavy metal tours actually do surprisingly well due to the fans’ strong appreciation of live music. Metal is a genre that needs to be experienced in person. A lot of times, listening to a record simply doesn’t cut it.

When metalheads go to their favorite concerts, they tend to wear their favorite metal t-shirts. Fans wear metal shirts (at concerts and in public) as a way of showing off their good taste in music. Wearing metal shirts also shows that someone is active in the metal community. It is important for fans to buy merchandise at concerts because for a lot of bands, it is the only way they make significant money. Wearing a metal shirt means that a fan has liked a band enough to proudly wear their shirt and support their future musical endeavors. Additionally, wearing metal shirts can be a major unifying experience for fans, as it is a way for metalheads to identify each other in public and form an unspoken bond. 

It is common for metalheads to use the devil horns hand sign at concerts and in public. It’s a sign of respect amongst metalheads. At concerts, horns will be raised in the air, as a sign of appreciation for the music that is being played. 

Beyond those things, there is one other quality that is common amongst many metalheads. Heavy metal fans have a reputation for being intolerant of other musical genres. This can be frustrating for many bands who wish to step outside the boundaries of heavy metal music. Personally, I don’t like the stereotype that metalheads are intolerant of other types of music, although at times it can seem to be true. Still, I think everyone has their favorite genre of music, and it’s hard not to primarily support the musical genre that one is passionate about.

Metalheads are a passionate group of music lovers and appreciators. A lot of fans would die for their favorite metal group. Heavy metal fans form a strong community through their enthusiasm and similarities. This has kept a generally inaccessible genre of music alive for several decades. Heavy metal has a bright future ahead, and it is all thanks to the genre’s wonderfully devoted fans.

Selling Out

Back in the 1990s, grunge basically destroyed mainstream heavy metal. Tons of popular thrash metal bands and glam metal groups got thrown to the wayside in favor of this new angst-ridden style of rock music.

While glam metal bands all did fairly different things to survive, thrash metal bands were left with two options: sell out and get less extreme, or go underground and get heavier. Death metal and black metal gained underground followings that were devoted, yet not necessarily very large. A few thrash metal bands, most notably Testament, were able to switch over to a death metal style successfully. But a lot of other groups were left with no other choice but to sell out.

Selling out was seen as treason by metalheads across the world, who wanted their favorite groups to get heavier, not less intense. However, for thrash metal bands in particular, it was a business decision. Bands such as Metallica and Megadeth made the best of changing trends and managed to put out legendary rock records. Other bands didn’t have as flexible of an identity, and ended up forcing out terrible records.

Selling out is the worst form of sin that a metal band can commit. Getting less heavy to make money instead of staying true to one’s roots is seen as a terrible idea. For Metallica and Megadeth, it was more of a musical progression, even though a ton of fans still didn’t see it that way. Those musicians were getting old and they adapted to keep themselves comfortable and to keep their music close to their hearts. 

To me, selling out is when a band loses its identity and tries to force out records to make more money. Sure, Metallica and Megadeth wanted to make tons of cash, but they didn’t force anything out. It all came naturally, and that was fine. 

Nowadays, the term “selling out” isn’t really used anymore. It’s just not really necessary. With the invention of the Internet, music has become much more niche-based. Because of this, records don’t sell well and becoming popular is much more difficult. Furthermore, heavier and heavier bands keep gaining more mainstream exposure due to constantly growing Internet-based followings. For example, The Dillinger Escape Plan and Gojira are two bands that are signed to some of the best heavy metal labels and are headlining major tours, yet they are both extremely heavy groups. 

Mainstream metal has just changed. The tolerance of music lovers for less accessible styles is increasing. Furthermore, touring metal bands (even legendary ones) aren’t doing as well as they used to. Concerts aren’t selling quite like they once did. The economy is tight and people don’t have the money to throw away going to huge concerts anymore.

Does this mean heavy metal music is dying? Of course not, but there is no money in it anymore. At least, there isn't a large sum of money like there used to be. Bands have no need to sell out because it does nothing for them. By making one’s music more accessible, it just simultaneously isolates and welcomes in different listeners. It’s a pretty even trade off. 

So can the term “selling out” be used at all anymore? I think so. I think the term is changing meaning, though. Now getting less heavy is more of an artistic decision than it is a business one. Therefore, I don’t think the term can be applied in that context anymore. 

I think selling out is now when a band takes too much influence from other bands and starts adapting its signature style in order to sound like someone else.  For example, last year Avenged Sevenfold and Trivium both sold out in my eyes. Avenged Sevenfold’s newest record took influence from just a ton of different classic metal artists, which is fine to an extent. However, Hail to the King really didn’t sound that much like an Avenged Sevenfold record to me, and that’s how I think the line was crossed. Meanwhile, Trivium’s newest record sounds like a Disturbed album. The band didn’t mean for it to come out that way, but after hiring Disturbed’s lead singer to produce, the band should have been more self-conscious. 

So yeah, that is how I think the term “selling out” is starting to change. What do you think, metalheads? Is the term “selling out” changing its meaning? It’s all up for debate, but I think it’s a pertinent topic in metal to discuss. I urge you all to go to your favorite metal forum and discuss the topic because it’s an interesting one and something that is very relevant now in the heavy metal community.

The World Wide Web of Metal

Exploring the world of heavy metal online can be difficult. There are a lot of terrible heavy metal news sites out there, and many awful places to look for heavy metal album reviews. Through this blog post, I hope to direct readers to some really great heavy metal websites that will help them keep up with their favorite heavy metal acts.

There are a lot of good places to go for heavy metal news, and likewise a lot of bad places. The most notable heavy metal news site around is Blabbermouth. Blabbermouth is basically the online CNN for heavy metal and every metalhead knows about it. The site is a fairly objective news source and focuses on what is going on with popular heavy metal acts.

If metalheads go to one place on the internet for heavy metal news, Blabbermouth should probably be it. The site is filled with many garbage interviews that no one really cares about, but after sifting through the uninformative interviews and news stories, there ends up being a lot of simple, objective articles that get information across efficiently. The site does a good job at reporting about upcoming album releases and tours, and is a good place for fans of less obscure heavy metal bands to go. 

The album reviews on Blabbermouth are pretty hit and miss. The site frequently overrates albums, and is often misleading in terms of describing album quality. I have observed that the site does a better job rating albums by more underground bands than they do with mainstream metal groups. The reviews are always well written, though, despite the fact that sometimes they aren’t that thorough. All in all, read the album reviews for fun if you want, but don’t take them seriously.

For those who want a more comical news source, MetalSucks is a great place to go, and is the home of frequently mocked writers, Axl Rosenberg and Vince Neilstein.  They do a great job of making heavy metal news funny, and often provide great commentaries to ridiculous stories. All of the writers on MetalSucks are very opinionated, and they aren’t afraid to make that known, however the site posts about bands of all types. MetalSucks is actually my favorite news source. I find their articles to be entertaining, and they cover a pretty wide spectrum of bands. 

For those who want objective news like Blabbermouth, MetalStorm, Metal Injection and Metal Hammer are also good places to go. I particularly find myself being constantly redirected to Metal Injection to check out album reviews and song/album streams. 

The only other site I frequently return to is Gun Shy Assassin, a metal news site run by Chris Harris, who has written for many other bigger music news sites. GSA is a good news site, covering a fairly wide spectrum of bands. The site also has some blogs that are run by really excellent musicians. The only major problem I have with GSA is that Harris often provides inconsistent commentaries within news stories. Sometimes Harris is really funny and has great things to say. Other times he comes off as being really whiney. That being said, he is usually more funny than whiney, and his stories about getting into fights with various mainstream metal musicians are often pretty great. He is very opinionated, but his site is all in good fun, and is certainly worth following.

For those who are trying to keep up with a specific, more obscure heavy metal band, the best place to follow them is probably on Facebook. Also, becoming a fan on Facebook of specific record labels (no matter how obscure) is a great way to keep up with bands. Checking the websites of those labels for press releases is similarly a good idea.

For those who are looking for good heavy metal review sites, I personally recommend MetalSucks, Metal Injection and Angry Metal Guy. Angry Metal Guy is really opinionated and often disagrees with what the majority of heavy metal critics have to say. His reviews are very well written, and he is a fairly well recognized reviewer online. What he has to say is always insightful and of good character, and his reviews are a pleasure to read. MetalSucks and Metal Injection tend to agree more with what the majority of critics have to say.

General music sites are also really good for heavy metal reviews. Allmusic, Sputnikmusic, and Spin particularly do a good job of reviewing heavy metal albums when they choose to. Pitchfork is more hit or miss. Never expect a good thrash or death metal review from Pitchfork, but good black metal, sludge metal, doom metal, post metal and stoner metal reviews are common and worth reading.

One final site that is important to mention is The Metal Archives. The Metal Archives has a file on almost every heavy metal band out there that has gotten their feet off the ground. It’s a great site to look for band information. The user album reviews on the site are also often very good and worth reading. The Metal Archives is an extremely important heavy metal website and has a lot of information when explored in depth. For information about specific metal bands, such as band histories and current activities, I recommend visiting their personal Facebook, Bandcamp and Wikipedia pages along with The Metal Archives.

There is no one website that is particularly good for heavy metal information. However, when using a good combination of reliable metal news sites, review sites and informative sites, it is very easy to keep up with the heavy metal genre of music.

Djent

This week it’s time to talk about the most recently created subgenre of heavy metal, which is simply called djent. The word “djent” was coined by Fredrik Thordendal of Meshuggah, and is actually an onomatopoeia for a distinct guitar sound that he commonly uses in Meshuggah’s music. This sound is a distinctly distorted palm-muted guitar tone, and was made popular by Thordendal and Misha Mansoor from the band Periphery. Djent as a subgenre revolves around combining the aforementioned guitar tone with progressive metal music.

Meshuggah is often given credit for creating djent, and the band definitely shares similarities with other bands in the subgenre, but Meshuggah is notably and distinctly different from almost all of the other djent groups. Meshuggah is an extreme metal band at its core, whereas most other djent groups are more rooted in progressive metal and deathcore collectively. Meshuggah formed nearly two decades before any of the contemporary djent bands and released their genre-defying, legendary second album, Destroy Erase Improve, over ten years before anyone even began to think about capitalizing on their success. 

The albums that really started to get musicians thinking about taking greater influence from Meshuggah were Catch Thirtythree (released in 2005) and Obzen (released in 2008). These two experimental records achieved a great amount of success and attracted new legions of modern heavy metal fans. 

Among those heavy metal fans was Misha Mansoor of the band Periphery. Mansoor released solo tracks online around 2005, which attracted a very strong following. Mansoor’s tracks were more progressive than Meshuggah’s work and were praised for their very high production values. Mansoor eventually decided to form Periphery in order to release his material through a more concentrated outlet. 

Periphery’s music set the standards for all other djent bands by including incredibly technical virtuoso guitar solos, intricate progressive polyrhythms, computerized electronic sounds and the signature guitar tone of the djent subgenre. Periphery really capitalized on SiKTH’s progressive and technical insanity and combined it with Meshuggah’s extreme nature in order to create a completely unique musical style. Fans of Mansoor’s solo work immediately became immersed in Periphery’s debut self-titled album, and the group’s popularity greatly spread, encouraging the entire djent scene to form. Just this year, Periphery released their second album, Periphery II: This Time It's Personal, which has received much critical acclaim and can be streamed below.

After the release of Periphery’s debut record in 2010, many deathcore bands took interest in the group. Bands such as Born of Osiris, Veil of Maya and After the Burial completely switched styles, changing from being deathcore bands to djent bands. 

Meanwhile, there were still many new djent bands starting up. These bands included acts such as Animals As Leaders, The Contortionist, Tesseract and Vildhjarta. 

Djent has received a mixed reception among traditional heavy metal fans. Some praised the subgenre for its technicality and complexity. Meanwhile, others thought of the subgenre as a fad, and considered djent to just be a part of progressive metal. Many people also condemn the usage of the term “djent” due to the fact that the term describes a simple guitar tone. 

Nevertheless, the djent subgenre has created a large scene of loyal fans and it has become a movement that is very distinct in nature. It’s hard to deny that djent really has become its own metal subgenre, and it is currently one of the most popular mainstream subgenres of heavy metal.