My Plunge Into 8 Strings

 Hello all! I decided I am going to do something a bit different, rather than reviewing, ranting or raving I thought I would give you all some background info on how I got into metal. It may be boring to some of you but to other people I hope that this inspires you to keep and open mind about music as a whole and not to instantly reject some genres, some music is a lot more unique and different and may take some time to get used to it but you may find your perfect genre.


 So, before I initially got into metal, the only music I really listened to was whatever my Dad put on my old MP3 player, yup not pretty. It wasn't all bad mind, AC/DC, Scorpions, Green Day, Eagles ya know! Back in the day i thought that music was the bee's knees I loved but that is when wonderful high school happened. I was walking home with an old friend of mine, Joe and he used to play music on his phone as we walked home. Most of the time everyone told him "ugh Joe turn that emo crap off ugh blergh" but when they went I said "go on stick it on then" jokingly. He stuck on the famous Freak on a Leash by KoRn and after a while I thought, what the hell are they on about this is great! So we chatted a while, told me who it was and some songs I should check out and there my descent into madness I mean metal began. I became a nu metal kid in a matter of weeks and just like that, Static-X, System of a Down, Disturbed, Papa Roach, Slipknot all of them were on repeat on my iPod. I was well happy!

 After a while I can't remember how but I started to find other metal bands that Joe didn't like and neither did I at one point I was "ugh screamo is rubbish" guy but eventually, I learnt that A. Screamo is a term used for people who don't know what they are on about and B. I liked it. At this point I thpough Asking Laexandria (don't judge) were the heaviest in town but I soon found out they were the tip of the iceberg. I learnt that other metalheads though AA were "gay" and stuff. Confused at the can of worms I had opened of the online metal forums, I left quickly and went straight back to nu metal xD

 Sometime before that AA mess, I was watching Scuzz (Kerrang basically) and I caught the end of this music video and I was amazed! There was a slap bass bit, a man dressed as a news reporter, fire everything and I thought I need to find this! After sticking Scuzz on again I found out it was Enter Shikari - Arguing with Thermometers. I had to buy the album, listen more everything, metal and dubstep blew my poor mind! I then listened to there earlier stuff and fell in love more, trance and metal as my jam. 

 On the related videos section on YouTube on an Enter Shikari video, the name "The Algorithm" kept coming up and one day I thought go on then. This was what I was looking for, Trance, Dubstep, Dance, Ambience, Trap and Djent (dun dun dun) from there on I looked at Djent, polyrhythms, Math Metal all of it. Eventually through all this digging I found Meshuggah. 8 strings! Djent! Double Bass! Omg! Then it only got heavier, Rings of Saturn, Periphery, Whitechapel and this where I am today, what metalheads call real heavy music as AA and stuff are not considered real metal. Not my view don't shout at me xD

 So that is rough outline of how I got to my music taste today, from classic 80s stuff to falling asleep to Cannibal Corpse, I'm not joking it actually happened. Don't get me wrong I still love 80s music, Genesis, Pete Gabriel, Motley Crue I still have a soft spot but I have changed a lot. Hope this wasn't too boring but I hoped this encouraged you to open your ears to thing you won't normally listen to, you may be surprised. 

Thanks for reading!

Sean :') 

Djenty Djenty Djent

Djent?

 So for this post, I will be discussing the metal sub genre, Djent. To kick off this argument, I will give my own personal view on what I think Djent is and I will discuss why some people think Djent is purely a matter if guitar tone.

My view

Okay before I start I want to say that this is my OPINION, an OPINION can't be wrong because they are completely subjective so I don't want any rubbish in the comments "you're wrong merrrrhhhh". You can disagree with me and if you do post why but don't say I'm wrong but no one is wrong... unless you don't like metal xD I joke! So, in my opinion Djent is a genre which is influenced and dependent on many different factors. I think I will get the main one explained which is where the term "Djent" comes from. The term is meant to be onomatopoeic (pwoarh big word) which means it was meant to be used to describe the sound. The Djent sound comes from the guitars, which is made by a combination of heavy palm muting but the style of palm muting give the guitars a more unique, sharp and metallic sound which resembles "Djent".  The term was first used by the band Meshuggah. Meshuggah are to Djent what Brian Cox is to Physics! So that is the first factor of Djent, a distinctive palm muted style of playing.

 Right the next factor isn't as straight forward so bare with me! The second factor is Djent is the use of poly rhythms and technical song structures. Now for musicians such as myself or for people with a good music theory understanding this one is easy to explain. Most songs are usually written 4/4 time signature, which is 4 crotchet beats to a bar, which is known as a simple time signature. 2/2, 2/4, or 3/4 as also simple time signatures. Easy peasy! Djent unfortunately is not easy to play (damn) as it uses complex and compound time signatures such as 5/8, 5/4 or even 15/16. An example of the 15/16 time signature is the song The Demon's Name Is Surveillance by Meshuggah. Poly Rhythms are much easier to explain and well easy to break down. Poly meaning "many" and rhythm meaning, well rhythm so it is just many syncopated rhythms, such as having the bass drum playing a 3/4 and the hands playing a 4/4 pattern!

  The third factor of Djent is the technical side of it, which refers to the song structure. Djent songs are usually written with a very odd structure, they are usually through composed, which means they don't have a chorus it is a list of verses. They can have a verse and chorus but it is hard to explain, The Dillinger Escape Plan use a lot of technical song structures to if you want more clarity I highly recommend them.

 The final factor is the vocal style. This is where a lot of the arguments lie in the Djent genre so I'll explain that in a min! So, for Djent, as it is a heavy genre of music and metal, screaming is kind of needed. Bands like, I'll use them again, Meshuggah and FellSilent  have this vocal still, FellSilent vocal can be compared to some Death metal bands like Thy Art is Murder but it still counts as Djent vocals.

 So that is my view on Djent, many different factors that can be linked to other metal genres all mashed together to create a truly unique sound and it is an amazing listen. Think I made my point xD I will now get into the nitty gritty and say why people may have some arguments about my ideas!


Arguments

Right let's get this done, one way people may argue is by the vocal style as some Djent style band use melodic style of singing. This is usually also followed with light or clean guitar parts, is this is the case, such as with the band Monuments or Periphery, this is then in my opinion Progressive Metalcore. At times FellSilent do this but in my opinion not as often as Monuments so they are still Djent.

 People may also say if a band has all of the factors but not the Djent sound then are they Djent? In my opinion no again they may be Progressive Metalcore or even Technical Death Metal. It is picky I know but that is the world of music.

I could do more but idk what else to say so I'm sure the comments will give me something to think about xD thanks for reading and thank you for the patience yet more technical problems (haha metal puns) over here but all good now! See you in the next post and thanks again!

                                                                          Sean :')