For anyone else out there who’s kinda been curious about this whole “rock” genre (note: rock is a complete understatement to what I listen to) and wanted to at least try and like it, this post should help you.
Getting Started - The Matrix
First, I think it best you get into the right mindset. Go watch The Matrix again, and come back to this post. No, I’m serious… I don’t mean “remember it” and continue, I mean literally go watch it and come back.
So, good movie? Got that action sense in your mind? Good. Turn your volume up. No seriously, I’m not saying that for comedic effect, I mean literally turn your volume up. You can’t even begin to understand nor respect metal without the volume. Make sure you don’t turn it up so loud that there’s any distortion in the sound… Just loud enough to enjoy it and hear every intricacy. Your first artist you need to listen to is thus: Lunatic Calm. I’ll place every song name in brackets from here on in. You never know if the link I post still works in the future, so it at least allows you to google the song. The song is [Leave You Far Behind].
Still got that action vibe, and some pretty heavy percussion. We still wanna fuck shit up. Now, we’re going to get a little heavier and a little darker: Rob Zombie [Dragula (Si Non Oscillas, Noli Tintinnare Mix)]
Both of these tracks were heard in the movie. Now it’s a little heavier, and you’re feeling a bit more powerful. You went from whippin’ and flippin’ karate kicks and dance moves, and now we’ve got a soldier suit on and we’re killing zombies with much efficiency.
Still hangin’ in the matrix, let’s grab a track from the ending credits that you probably didn’t even bother to hear.
That’s right, Marilyn Manson. This is the guy who caused 2 kids to shoot up a school! (note: this is a total fabrication, and I said it for sarcastic cynical effect). [Rock is Dead]
This one’s more “rock” than techno, but it’s still kinda dance-y. The genres you have been listening to are industrial metal and industrial rock.
Alright, let’s dial it up a bit. Make it a bit heavier, and a bit darker yet again.
Moving to Straight Metal - Disturbed
The next band is Disturbed, and we’ll stay in Disturbed land for a while with a couple songs. Disturbed was the first heavy metal band I ever followed seriously. [The Game]
Alright… we need to calm down the fast-paced action, because it’s getting a bit tired. Now, let’s just focus on good old-fashioned headbanging to a rap-style beat. We’re still with Disturbed. [Stupify]
This will now be your first introduction to a new genre: Nu Metal. Low-tuned guitars, rap beat, and aggressive vocals (sometimes rapped vocals, but not a requirement). This is where we sorta leave “industrial metal” behind, and move to “alternative metal”.
Let’s keep going with this vibe with another Disturbed song, a cover of Shout. [Shout 2000]
The Journey into Darkness
Now, let’s take a break from Disturbed… This is where we really get dark… And we’ll have to take a small vacation from metal in order to do this. Now we’re going to straight gangster rap. Don’t freak out, because it’s an artist you’re already familiar with.
The point of this is to warp your mind. All your tame songs about life, love, dancing, and happiness come to an end here. Why? Because as they said in the matrix, our lives are defined by pain and suffering. It’s time to pop your musical cherry, and hear some tracks that will make you feel warped. Note: for those that are already messed up, this step isn’t necessary. I’m taking people down this path to sort of break them and make them a bit callous.
When I first heard this artist, I remember feeling all innocence disappear from me. I was shocked and speechless… and yet, for some reason, I wanted more. An obsession with the macabre and morbid.
[Kill You]
Yes, welcome to the world of anger and aggression. Welcome to hate, fury, and avarice.
And now we’re going to get even darker, and more hateful.
With another eminem song. [Kim]
… ok, take a few minutes and recover. this was by far the harshest thing I ever listened to at the time. Nobody else was doing this, or if they were, it wasn’t as easily accessible. “bleed bitch bleed”… This song still kinda gives me chills, as desensitized as I am.
You just went through some seriously fucked up shit…
Yeah, well, that’ll about set the mood for what’s about to come next.
Back to Disturbed. [Down With the Sickness]
Note at about the 3:26 mark… the whole violent bit against his mother (which as I read later was really all metaphor for how society treats the individual).
Still here? Haven’t been driven away yet by all that’s warped with the world? Good… because now this song will be the most disturbing thing you’ll ever hear in your life… The previous songs were shocking, angry, and macabre just for the sake of being so… This song here isn’t about that.
The lyrics and subject material is technically more tame than what you’ve heard already, but what makes this song the darkest song ever is the emotional attachment the singer has with it, and how he breaks down crying (literally) by the end of it.
This is a song about a boy being molested, and his family (mostly centered around his mother) not caring or doing anything about it. The one place we all know instinctively as a sanctuary to go… And it’s not there. Mommy’s there, but she’s not there for you. You’re all alone… And Mommy doesn’t care about you anymore.
This is by Korn. [Daddy] If this link is dead, be sure to find one with the lyrics, because this singer is hard to understand.
The Worst is Over, Now Welcome to Korn-land
If any of you are still here after all the hell you’ve just been put through, then I’m here to reward you. No more twisted disturbing shit anymore. That was it… the epitome of darkness. These are songs I don’t listen to anymore (with the exception of down with the sickness, since the fucked up part of that song is pretty small).
Let us continue…
We’ve now got that “nu metal” genre in our minds… it’s ferocious, unrelenting, and aggressive… and it’s emotionally stimulating (clearly… those tears in that last song were real).
Korn is my favorite band by far, and all because of that one song (a song I almost never listen to, ironically enough). I’d never heard a singer do that before, and it never occurred to me that music could be an outlet like that.
So, let’s stay in Korn-land a bit.
Let’s grab something a bit more light-hearted to come down off that horrible trip…
[Got the Life]
Alright, heavy, dancy, and cool. This was the late 90s that I remember. Hey, let’s grab another Korn song that’s a bit more dark-themed, yet cool and awesome all at the same time.
[Freak on a Leash]
Heheheh… creepy!
And now, let’s get a little depressed. Can’t always be on an up-note. This song’s actually about wanting to die because life keeps stopping you from being happy.
The video, however, is about escaping an abusive household…
[Falling Away From Me]
So sad… but wait, this is metal! we wanna get hyped up! We wanna get angry and break shit!
[Y’all Want a Single] (be sure to find the official video)
That was a song off my favorite Korn album, since it’s by far the heaviest and most aggressive of all their albums.
Leaving Korn-land - Entering the Final Phase
Alright, let’s leave Korn-land, because we don’t wanna get burned out. Great band. Get all their albums.
Let’s journey back into industrial metal again. This time with Static-X. [Push It]
Wooo! what a ride!
Alright… we’ve had nothing but hate and darkness for a while… so let’s go with something positive. It doesn’t get more positive than P.O.D. Yes, back to Nu Metal.
[Alive]
Hmmm… what’s next… ah yes… Let’s leave Nu Metal behind a bit, and move towards “Alternative Metal”. Funny fact, Nu Metal is actually a subgenre of Alternative Metal. And after hearing this song, perhaps you’ll see the difference between nu metal and alternative metal.
This is by Sevendust, perhaps the textbook example of alternative metal. [Praise]
Heh, I know what you’re all thinking…
“Is that lead singer a black guy?!”
Yes. Yes it is. That’s Lajon Witherspoon, and he’s freakin amazing. One of my all-time favorite vocalists.
Now, what makes this different from nu metal? First, it’s lacking hip-hop influence. Second, while the song’s heavy and aggressive, its groove isn’t one designed to elicit an angry emotional response of any kind. In fact, it’s devoid of any real emotional response at all. You just wanna nod your head and enjoy it.
Alright, we want our anger back. Let’s get truly aggressive again. This time: Slipknot. Slipknot you have to give to me in small doses, because too many Slipknot songs is just too overpowering. They’re like the curry spice of metal. Yeah, it’s tasty, but too much spoils the meal.
[Eyeless]
Heh, as a joke, someone attempted to “interpret” this song. It’s really funny.
[Interpretation of Slipknot - Paranoidave]
Totally optional, of course.
Let’s roll with one more Slipknot song.
[Wait and Bleed]
That last song is about a guy who’s just slit his wrists while sitting in the bathroom waiting to die. Everything in the song is just what’s running through his head until he dies.
Dark.
Not as dark as the journey through darkness we took earlier, but still pretty dark.
See, aren’t you glad you took that journey in a way? Now nothing shocks you anymore.
Hell look back at this whole journey… look how far we’ve come. We went from aggro-dance music all the way up to freakin Slipknot!
Hmm… let’s calm down a bit before moving into other heavy genres.
This one’s by Coal Chamber. You can’t talk about nu metal without mentioning this band. They’re the ones that coined the genre.
[Loco]
Ah let’s go with one more coal chamber song…
[Sway]
The Journey is Complete
You’ve pretty much reached the end of alternative metal. There are tons of other bands out there, and due to this journey, you can now at least appreciate them to a certain level.
Some of my other favorites are:
In This Moment [Blood]:
Five Finger Death Punch [Dot Your Eyes]:
Otep [My Confession]:
System of a Down[BYOB]:
Drowning Pool [Bodies] you’ve heard this song a thousand times:
Ill Nino [How Can I Live]:
Journeying Beyond
Hahahaha. Alright… I could post bands all day long, but let’s journey outside the bounds of alternative. At this point, you now have an appreciation for modern metal, so let’s see what other stuff’s out there.
Symphonic Metal
This is a genre that uses a symphony with metal. It’s usually “Opera Metal”. I know this band didn’t create the genre, but damned if they didn’t make it popular: Nightwish.
This is the first song I ever heard by them, and it was just awesome [End of All Hope]:
Unfortunately, they like to change vocalists recently, so I’ll post one more by them.
[7 Days to the Wolves]:
Another band that I’m sure by now we all know is Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
[Wizards in Winter]:
Next is a cello-metal band. Yes, it’s a cello quartet that plugged their cellos into distortion pedals and made awesome. They usually do instrumentals, but they’ve used different vocalists for a variety of different songs.
[Hope]:
Hmm… what other band can I mention here… Meh, I dunno. I’ll throw one more to ya: Edenbridge. I have a lot more research to do in this genre.
[Terra Nova]:
Had the hardest time finding this song on youtube, so I’m posting a link from my personal collection instead.
Progressive Metal
Progressive Metal can probably be best described as “the new hair metal”. It uses more modern technologies for musical instruments besides the old 80s keyboards and synthesizers. The guitar technicals are also almost always amazing (awesome alliteration! C-C-C-C-Combo breaker!!!!)
The first band to note is Dream Theater, because they’re just freakin awesome.
[Pull Me Under]:
Next, Dragonforce. My only problem with Dragonforce is that once you’ve heard one song, you’ve heard ‘em all. Each song is a giant guitar-playing frenzy, and after a while they all start to run together.
The one everyone’s most familiar with is this one.
[Through the Fire and the Flames]:
The last band here I like a lot more than Dragonforce. Don’t let the opening of the song and the picture fool you… it’s not a bunch of harsh grunts and growls…
This band is Adagio.
[Vamphryi]:
Industrial Metal
We’ve listened to some industrial metal here already, but these are the heavier ones.
The first band I want to mention is a band I don’t think receives nearly enough attention. Sybreed.
[Emma 0]:
Next, Amaranthe. Not to be confused with the Nightwish song, this band has not two but three vocalists. They combine progressive and industrial metal into an awesome mix. The vocalists take influence from pop, metalcore, and progressive.
[The Nexus]:
[Electroheart]:
This next one is one that I really wish got more exposure. The artist is Klayton, but his project/band is called Celldweller. This is by far the best industrial metal I’ve ever heard.
[Switchback]:
[Birthright]:
Alongside Celldweller is Blue Stahli. They make similar music, but Klayton now does a lot of electronic/dubstep styled stuff. Blue Stahli sticks with that alternative industrial sound that I love so much.
[Ultranumb]:
[Down in Flames]:
One cannot talk about industrial metal without mentioning Nine Inch Nails (NIN).
[Closer]:
[Head Like a Hole]:
[The Hand That Feeds]:
And now for the other dark side of industrial metal: Germany
This is the side called “Neue Deutsch Harte”.
First, Rammstein.
[Du Hast] (english: you have):
And finally Eisbrecher.
[Vergissmeinnicht] (english: forget me not):
Djent
This is the last genre of metal that I’ll talk about. First, what the hell is Djent? This British kid describes it perfectly.
Update: Not sure who that kid was, nor where he went… all of his videos seem to be suspiciously missing… so instead, I’ll leave you with a video about djent from Stevie T:
Note that computerized distortion to the guitar tone over the traditional guitar distortion you’ve heard. The cool thing about most djent songs is that they’re usually just instrumentals.
Djent is not actually a “genre”, rather it’s a playing style that’s actually found in all sorts of genres now.
Here’s an example of djent being used in industrial metal. The band is called Tyrant of Death.
[Degrade]:
There is, of course, the band that came up with Djent in the first place, Meshuggah. They’re genre is known as “extreme metal”. I like the djenty sounds, but never liked the constant growled vocals.
[Break Those Bones Whose Sinews Gave it Motion] (jeez, could you have found a longer song name?):
In talking about djent, you cannot fail to mention the band Periphery. This was the band that was completely instrumental in getting djent out there in the first place. Meshuggah may have created the sound, but Periphery brought the sound to bands to use everywhere. Their genre is metalcore/mathcore, which I’ve never really enjoyed.
[Letter Experiment - Instrumental]:
Another band that’s been taking the world by storm in the metal community is TesseracT. This band does more of a progressive and ambient style of metal.
[Deception, Concealing Fate Part 2]:
One artist I tend to see a lot when searching for Djent is JFoBTQ. This guy pretty much started out improvising metal in his bedroom with his guitar plugged into his laptop. He does a sort of progressive and alternative style of metal.
[Broken and Beat]:
My favorite Djent artist by far is Anup Sastry (yeah, good luck saying that aloud, let alone telling your friends about it). Anup Sastry does crazy technicals with djent, and really knows how to wail. The best part is their music is all free on bandcamp. I say free and I really mean you pay what you want, which includes paying nothing. When I have money, I’m buying their album for like $50. Their music is just amazing.
[Limitless]:
I could go on about djent, but honestly, whatever I say now will be obsolete in like 3 months since so many underground artists are emerging. I recommend going to http://got-djent.com/ and checking all the bands they post if you really like djent.
Final Words
The Positive Beat
I want to take the time to mention one final artist here that changed my perspective on music forever. Even in projects that I’m in, lyrically I’ll forever respect and utilize what this artist brought to the table. As we all know, metal is a way of outletting aggression, pain, depression, hate, despair, and a myriad of other negative words. What this artist did was use it to outlet what I believe to be the strongest emotion of all: relief.
I speak of Brian “Head” Welch, or his band Love and Death. What I love about their approach is that they present the negative just as metal has done before, but then they show a positive light at the end. Every song, no matter how negative, always has a positive message.
[Re-bel]:
[Chemicals]:
[Flush]:
[Empty]:
In Conclusion
Well, we’ve reached the end here folks… that’s all I have. As new bands come out, I’ll be sure and mention them if I have time, but I feel that the point of my post has been made. This was literally the journey that I took to get to where I am now, and I have absolutely no regrets about it.
Dope [No Regrets]: