Morning Metal – Metal Rant #2: Djent
Rockso Rants:
Ladies & Djentlemen…
The word “djent” is starting to pop up everywhere in the metal scene all over the world… Especially bands whose guitarists have more than six strings. The term “djent” refers to the sound the guitar makes when it is played, effectively making all songs sound like “djent-de-djent-de-djent-djent-de-djent”. It came about from what I will call the Djent Overlords, Meshuggah. Notorious for only using the low E, in their case Drop Z, Meshuggah has inspired an overwhelming amount of metal bands (not that that’s a bad thing!) to use one string to write an album.
Meshuggah – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc98u-eGzlc
Don’t label me as a music snob, because I have my own fair share of loveable classics like… Every song from Periphery. Keep in mind, that band is ridiculous in songwriting and have even been called a pioneer of the term. My problem with this “djent” trend is that bands who may not have the skills that these guitarists hold, are playing one string. For every song. They don’t hide it either, they are more than happy to have four hundred breakdowns per song. I myself love breakdowns when executed properly and not having just djent-de-djent going on, i.e, a ridiculous shreddy solo. It works and it sounds cool as hell. It has gotten to the point that people form bands with the only intention of playing that string to death.
If your guitar looks like this, you need to take up piano.
Metal is getting stale due to the nonstop addition of guitar strings. Did you know they’re working on a 10 string model? Yes, you read that right. If you thought 9 was getting out of hand, wait until they introduce the new Schecter Monsterneck 15 string in 2030. Djent will forever be transformed into Whomp.
Periphery guitarist Misha Mansoor said in an interview: “I was looking for gear that was djenty. I was like: ‘Are these pickups djenty?’ For some reason it caught on, but completely in the wrong way, because people think it’s a style of music and they think it’s a style of music I play.” You can blame Misha for this term becoming popular, although he himself doesn’t even agree with the term. Personally I love “djent” music, but I will call it for what it actually is: progressive metal. After all, that is where it evolved from, and that is what Mr. Mansoor says Periphery is.
Periphery – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfOnq-zXXBw
My next point is to anyone who tries to justify playing “djent” by saying it is difficult and that you have to have rhythm, timing and excellent palm-muting abilities, I disagree. You don’t need to be a guitar virtuoso to have decent timing to write one of these songs. When you argue the point that “proper djent”, which by itself is an absurd statement, is when you have fast, syncopated riffs along with educated solos – THAT is where I will agree with you. Animals As Leaders have insane songwriting, technical ability and talent out the ying-yang, and they would be labeled djent because they have chugging in their songs. The main difference in being djent and being a lame ripoff is that Tosin Abasi can outplay any guitarist you throw at him – not just relying on that dreaded string.
Animals As Leaders – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmfzWpp0hMc
A tip for all you up and coming bands, if your song starts out with “dun dun dun”, it’s going out the window. I refuse to listen or advertise music that a five year old could write. I do not mean to sound like a metal elitist as I mentioned in my last rant, but honestly, would you listen to a band that sounds like the same as the next one? Originality, people. A word that is unfortunately difficult to introduce to music nowadays because all genres have been covered, as of now. A band that embodies the very idea of “unoriginal”, “boring”, “repetitive”, amongst other wonderful terms: Emmure.
Emmure –https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dj9QcGn6EtE
Not only are these guys one of the most hated metal bands, mainly because they released a song called “Bring A Gun To School” and their singer, Frankie Palmeri. Having not actually met the guy, he could be one of the nicest dudes in the world – but after hearing such negative comments and watching his interviews, I’d say not. While Emmure might not be 100% associated with the djent term, they are titled as a “deathcore” band. Deathcore, a combination of death metal and hardcore. That is madness.
Let us peek into this “deathcore”, shall we? Here are a few more bands.
Whitechapel – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVI6c0TlM2g
Upon A Burning Body –https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcnISrjDdb4
Suicide Silence –https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-uqrYLIzXI
Born of Osiris – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLdlw46Ru9I
I Declare War – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Liq3kYiy_Sc
Bring Me The Horizon (early) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWggPLXeOkU
Chelsea Grin – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khmVnxtN4ZM
Oceano – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGS8vvQKg14
Betraying The Martyrs – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyWocPrUogQ
And for those of you that are into crazy, obnoxious, extraterrestrial-influenced “wtf” music, here you go:
Rings of Saturn – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgtUHHk30uc
Let’s be real, my opinion may differ from the mass majority of musicians that do indeed play this type of music – but I’m not wrong. Here are a few bands that would be considered “djent”, but are actually pretty good:
(C) – Canadian content
(C) Dreamer/Deceiver – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEdJkUX5UZk
(C) Of Reverie – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hH-k-AkFsE
Glass Cloud – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43jYAdA5iXg
(C) Skynet – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjrD0yzkSxk
My conclusion: “Djent” is a combination of progressive metal and deathcore. Djent-de-djent and growls. Not long now before “progresscore” becomes a thing, amongst other ridiculous titles. Now that I have identified this genre that has stifled the lives of so many… What will come next?
Final thoughts: Slipknot had better release that damn song next week, those teasers are driving me insane.
Check out their website for updates and scary images – http://negative.slipknot1.com/
James Rockso – Host of CKCU 93.1 FM’s Morning Metal.