Death metal!

Darkest Hour—"Undoing ruin"

                                                   

           As I have mentioned before my Pandora playlist ranges from Classical to Punk music with indie and rock thrown in. I can usually get behind the beat of heavy rock; it can be very cathartic and energizing at the same time. Death metal is one of those genres that I haven’t really listened to because the subject is an uncomfortable genre for me. As a person who does not like to get yelled at period, listening to music that has a basis in screaming can be a bit jarring for me. While I have listened to certain types of metals with my friends, and have a heavy metal playlist on Pandora for working out, I do not believe that I have truly listened the music from the death metal genre. I am going to start out looking into the past of death metal,as well as typically heavy metal culture. I will then look into the band that I will be mainly looking at, then review the album "Undoing ruin." 

About death metal:

Death metal is an extreme form of heavy metal that was born in the 1980s, that commonly centers around death motifs and symbols. The influence from thrash bands like Slayer and Venom are what brought it to light but, d metal took it a step beyond heavy with certain sonic changes. Guitar distortion, double blast beat drums and various abrupt tempo changes, all added with the deep growling of the vocals are the basics to being a death metal band. As well as the common themes of death metal, which can include:

                                                               i.  Hyper-violence

                                                              ii.  Horror

                                                             iii.  Murder

                                                             iv.  Satanism

                                                              v.  Mysticism

                                                             vi.  Anti-religion

                                                            vii.  Politics

It is believed that death metal came from early thrash metal in the 80s and 70s. Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal, one of the extreme subgrenes that is characterized by high speed riffing, aggression, and lyrics which attempt an “objective critique of society” ( http://www.spirit-of-metal.com/liste_groupe-indexStyle-Thrash_Metal-l-en.html). Similar topics behind the lyrics are often found with in popular death metal music, so it is not hard to see this as one origin of death metal. There are four large and very popular bands,they are known as Slayer, Megadeth, Metallica, and Anthrax. (All these titles are very fitting for this genre and topics.) This genre is generally traced to the 1970s but was mostly popularized in the early 80s by these four bands.

Some believe that the first death metal band was one called Possessed, with its 1984 demo which actually included a track called Death metal. Jeff Becerrra, Possessed's lead singer, claims to have invented it for a high school paper. They released their first full length album in 1985 called “Seven Churches” and another in 1986 called "Beyond the gates." They were also one of the first bands to meld thrash metal with brutal styles that is now considered death metal. Although there are some who argue that the band Death was the founder of death metal (interesting). The band released their debut album in 1987, it was called “Scream Bloody Gore.” Though in the 90s they started to branch off into more “progressive death metal” and strayed from their original fiercer death metal material.    

        
         The fans of heavy metal music are known as metalheads or headbangers. And they have a very specific culture that usually an onlooker is able to notice that they are a part of this ‘anti-conform’ society. The death metal subculture has fashion with a lot of death motifs and mostly dark colors, like black. There can be heavy face makeup; white base coat and black skullish designs drawn over it. Leather coats, ripped clothes, large piercings, and many rivets and spikes. Although parts of the overall style have changed from the 70s there are still the key elements that are still held true;

                                                              1.      Long hair

                                                              2.      Leather jackets

                                                              3.      And of course the black clothes.

                                              
      The main fashion comes from the inspiration of biker, rocker, and leather cultures, they just made them more ‘metal’. In the 70’s when heavy metal was making an appearance, the fashion started to evolve.  The band tees for the death metal genre also typically are adorned with gory pictures and offensive words. Another staple of the death metal fashion are the large, typically black, combat boots with thick buckles and straps.

Intro to the band:

                                 

           Darkest hour was formed in 1995 with their early sound being more of a dark metallic style of hardcore punk. Their first demo was in 1996 and it was named after the band, “Darkest hour.” Although on their first full length album they added a bit of melodic death metal to their sound. The album I will be looking at is known to be the album that is evidence that he core sound has evolved to melodic death metal. While that was in 2005 with “undoing ruin”, in 2011 they moved back into metalcore while still keeping their melodic noise. The members of Darkest hour during the time of the albums release were:

1.      Mike Scheilbaum-guitar

2.      Paul Burnette-bass guitar

3.      Ryan Parrish

4.      John Henry-vocals

5.      Kris Norris-guitar

The band says that they got a lot of their influence from Swedish death metal, and that they could probably name every Scandinavian bands.

Album review;

          Now I will review a few of the songs from “Undoing ruin”; the first and last along with two songs from the middle that during my initial listen through really stuck out to me. The album was produced by Devin Townsend through Greenhouse Studios in Vancouver Canada. Through this album the band made it to the Billboard 200 chats, and was at 138. I was recommended this album from a coworker of my brother, whom I thought listened to death metal, but he did ask his friend for help. The guy said this would be a good album for people with not too much experience with this type of music.

1. With a thousand words to say but one

                                In the beginning there is a building of tension when all the music is coming together and then there is a drop. immediately there is a cacophony of guitars and drums, which I kind of like. I cannot hear everything that the lead vocal artist is saying but that does coincide with the death genre. The growling vocals match well with the deep playing of the bass and guitar. There is a slow point in the song that allows the listener to have a moment before the music picks back up. Being the first album the artists were smart not opening up to screaming and growling right away. It gives the listener a chance to get into the album.

11. Tranquil

                                This is the last song on the album, and this title seems a bit funny to me for being on a death metal album. And it actually starts out not at all tranquil like I thought it would have. Right off the bat there is a loud bass and drums, followed by a deep growl. As a fan of heavy metal on certain occasions I do really like the angry beat behind the vocals, it truly makes me want to head bang. Even though there is not a ‘tranquil’ beat or sound I do feel a bit of a cathartic release during the song.

5. Pathos

                                I decided to review this album because during my initial listening there was something that really stuck out to me; it never got aggressive. Now from what I have read metal music is all about getting out your aggression abut society, capitalism, a break up, your parents, and really anything. But this song as a calm guitar and drum, and not just ‘calmer’ like this is something I might call soft rock kind of vibe. This is also only a little over a minute long. There are also no vocals at all, it is all basic guitar; and it darn near brings me to tears it is just such a touching beat. Which that makes sense, because it is named after a “quality that brings pity or sadness.” Now the song before is a pretty dark track itself, and has just as much ‘screamo’ as the next song. So it is quite jarring when the next song is a very calm and less ‘metal’. Although it would make sense to put this style of song basically right in the middle of a death album, even if you love death metal, it is probably good to have a kind of mental break.

8. District divided

                                The first second is filled with angry guitar and loud growling vocals. These vocals are more of the screaming and growling noises than the other three songs above, they seem to make the least amount of sense. These sound the most just like growling noises than words. I am not hating on the death metal, but I am having the most trouble understanding these lyrics. Although the riffing of the guitar in the back creates a great sonic undertone, I find myself getting just as angry as this one guy is. But then at the end of the song there is this silence where no music can be heard but there is a faint static; either intentional or just my speaker/headphones.

         I actually forget that I am listening to a more growling genre when the vocals are taking a break. I just think I am listening to a metal song, or just a heavy rock until I hear the gravely vocal and screaming. But I do understand where the fan base could come from on this genre, I did find myself head banging to practically every song. There are two songs that have no lyrics and are the shortest on the album; Pathos, and Ethos. Ethos comes fright before the very angry and loud track number eight, “District Divided,” and Pathos before Low. According to Dictionary.com Ethos means, “Sociology. the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a group or society; dominant assumptions of a people.” This could be a set up before track 8, since the past two songs were a bit softer than the rest, and the song would have to in a way prepare you for the aggression of District divided. Or it could be a way of saying that the band was about to get into some societal issues and you should listen to the lyrics closely.

       Overall this is a good album to start with, in my opinion, with the death metal genre. Every song has the growling voices, but there is still a unique sound for every track. The vocals are not even as harsh as other death metal, they are still pretty understandable and are not as ‘scary’. I do also like the break tracks, the ones without lyrics, they gave me a break from the growling and screaming when I was listening straight through. This album was great pick, especially when looking at the different way death metal can be recorded. It may not have been a straight hardcore death metal album, but if I had started with that style I may not have been able to get all the way through. I can only listen to angry music so long before I just need a happy and upbeat song.

       I really did enjoy doing this project, I learned a lot about the metal scene. Although I probably won’t be listening to death metal on a daily basis in the future if I find myself mad, I may start up a Pandora station. Sad love songs are not what you should be listening to if your heart is broken, I believe that either death or heavy metal is the way to feel better. (my mom second that motion) Even if you are not as passionate about the typical themes behind the metal genres, when one is stressed listening to some loud music that is just as angry as you is a great cathartic release.