Heavy Metal and Electronica

I also feel that metal doesn't really need to "adapt" anymore than any other form of guitar music.

I feel like electronic and new age music are things that can work well with digital recording and reproduction and so it's interesting to see metal leaning in the electronic direction or in the new age direction (if you consider all the folk elements coming through black/Viking metal, etc. to be related to new age music).

But maybe Scott's right that metal has been able to work with digital recording and CD technology on its own terms, too.

http://cdbaby.com/cd/savagerocksyou2

Not saying that it would have to adapt to electronic music just to stay stylisitically relevant, but that its tendency to become more like electronic music maybe has to do with making the music work as product in the digital medium.

x-posts: yeah, obv. something like Ulver is more like electronic music than Black Sabbath or Blue Cheer

x-post: Scott, yeah I know, but Chuck just laid down a ton of other metal/electronic crossover examples. Chuck, not disputing that metal has always been about technology, but still wondering about people's thoughts about how well it works in the digital medium.

Dagoba
What Hell Is About
Season of Mist

Shawter on vocals and “machines.” Izakar on guitar. Werther on bass. And Franky on drums. Franky on drums? I hate to break it to France’s Dagoba, but hell ain’t about a drummer named Franky. From now on, I’m calling Franky “The Putrefactor”!

The band more than makes up for this nomenclatural oversight, however, by providing, in the song “Die Tomorrow (… What if You Should?)” what has to be my all-time favorite electronically created dinosaur sound effect EVER! Everything is moving along nicely and Dagoba are doing what Dagoba-types do: playing finely tuned industrial thrash à la Fear Factory and churning up a mosh-pittable frenzy for Anselmo-loving tough guy Shawter to rail against. Ace drummer the Putrefactor is kicking up dust with his fancy double bass footwork. And then, out of nowhere—“OOOWHAAAR!” Like an ancient clarion call from a... pterodactyl? I’m not big on dinosaurs, so I don’t have a clue. All I know is that it’s the coolest sound on earth. There is a great break toward the end of the song where all the instruments pull back and you only hear the sound of a gently plinked piano and that lil’ dino. Heartbreaking, really. Hell, I don’t know—maybe it’s not a dinosaur. Maybe it’s supposed to be a piece of futuristic machinery on the fritz. Whatever it is, it’s memorable. And the rest of the album ain’t half bad either!

http://cdbaby.com/cd/hollistunes

"voivod sound great on tape."

I believe you have hit the nail on the head! Never owned Angel Rat - I should get it on tape.

do digitally recorded metal albums sound like the grand opening of the newest level of HELL?

do metalkids now listen to sonically inferior mp3s etc?

-- Tim Ellison

Ahahaha I believe that one was the new album by Aborym, 'Generator'. It was an extremely funny review.

-- scott seward (skotro...), April 1st, 2006.

otm!

http://www.decibelmagazine.com/reviews/april2006/aboryum.aspx

Aborym's approach represents another healthy stab at making synthetic/electronic heavy metal.

Oh, and Ulver. You heard the last album? Blood Inside? If you liked that you might want to seek out the mind-boggling *Themes From William Blake's The Marriage Of Heaven & Hell*, but it's a lot to chew on. Or pick up the more recent *A Quick Fix Of Melancholy* ep for something easy to chew on. Or buy some of their recent soundtrack work like *Lyckantropen Themes* or *Svidd Neger*. *Lyckantropen Themes* is pretty minimal and electronic, just so you know. The recent remix album is good too if you dig the electronica aspect of Ulver, as is their album *Perdition City* and their *Metamorphosis* ep. If you like really noodly prog keyboard solos, you might like Arcturus's *Sham Mirrors* album as well (features Garm of Ulver). I would say go for thr William Blake epic or maybe the *Svidd Neger* soundtrack for sheer aural whatthefuck? splendour.

-- scott seward (skotro...), March 15th, 2006. (scott seward)

I'm sure you're right. So what are some metal records that sound great? Where the drums sound like drums (i.e. more to them than just attack, and not compressed and flattened into unrecognizability pop/nu metal-style?) and the guitars let the bass do its thing?

Are these boxes you use for putting guitar direct into a board, George?

http://www.theberzerker.com/sounds.htm

nothing from the new album up though.

No, they're essentially a discrete computer -- they have a couple chips in them -- and they emulate a variety of amps. You plug your guitar in them, then they have a series of options. You can run them
into your own guitar amp -- not such a good idea, a run them straight into an unopinionated clean power amp driving speakers.

You select the amp you want, anything from small Fenders to full Marshall or Boogie stacks. The Adrenalinn, which I use frequently, has over 20 amps modelled. Then it can put on top of that around 70
more discrete effects and sequencer options.

The best way to use them though is through their digital or analog outs direct into the mixing board when tracking. I would bet that well over 50 percent of the guitar tracks in all styles that you
hear on recordings -- pro and amateur -- come out of these boxes rather than classicly miked amps.

The trend got going decades ago with Scholz's invention of the Rockman which was an analog device, using LEDs as tube substitutes.
The exponentional rise in computing power and the commensurate
drop in prices drove the invention of these devices.

The Adrenalinn's two chips, for example, cost -- at best -- thirty
dollars. One is the ROM memory for the amp software, the other is the processor that allows it to do its thing.

If you read the guitar rags, there's never an issue where some
pro isn't giving up his studio secrets, which generally include some type of emulator of this nature.

Of course, old amps are still used but the digitization of them has made it much easier to get the sound recorded because you can
always have a great sounding example of a particular model and it
will be consistant everytime you plug in.

I had no idea. Surely indie rock (and whatever indie crosses over as popular alternative rock) is some kind of bastion of people still miking guitar amps?

In terms of getting a good recording, it simply makes sense to use the more well-defined technology instead of real tube amps which are like the weather.

As for the digital aspect and electronica, the Adrenalinn basically exists to combine classic vintage heavy rock guitar tone with rhythmic sequencing. One of the first things I used it for was to make a joke tune of Arnold Schwarzenegger rapping a few words over a hard rock backing which featured a few sequences. About the only thing that didn't come from the Adrenalinn were the Arnold vocal samples which were taken from "Kindergarten Cop" I think.