Groove metal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Groove metal | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins: | Thrash metal, Groove (music) |
| Cultural origins: | Late 1980s, Early 1990s United States and Brazil |
| Typical instruments: | Guitar, Bass guitar, Drums |
| Mainstream popularity: | Moderate in the early-mid 1990s to today |
| Derivative forms: | Nu metal |
Groove metal, also called neo-thrash, half-thrash, or post-thrash, is a term sometimes used to describe a derivative of thrash metal which took its current form during the early 1990s. Groove metal is a blend of several genres from the '80s, including traditional heavy metal, hardcore punk, and thrash metal. Albums such as Exhorder's Slaughter in the Vatican, Pantera's Cowboys from Hell, Sepultura's Arise, and Artillery's We Are the Dead first incorporated coherent groove-based melodies to thrash metal. However, it wasn't until later albums like Exhorder's The Law, Pantera's Vulgar Display of Power, Sepultura's Chaos A.D., White Zombie's La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol. 1, and Machine Head's Burn My Eyes that Groove Metal took its true form.
Groove Metal bands gained popularity in the early to mid nineties, as they filled a gap between the dying popularity of hair and traditional metal, and the rising popularity of Rap and Grunge. Suburban teenagers who watched Beavis and Butthead noticed that these bands were not glammy like the 80's hair metal bands, were enjoyable to headbang to, and were more accessible than death or black metal bands. It fit the cultural zeitgeist also because of the topics discussed, which teenagers often related to.
Contents |
[edit] Musical traits
Compared to thrash and other heavy metal subgenres, groove metal is not as riff-oriented, and is more minimalistic in musical nature. Artists of the genre tend to have a style influenced by mid-tempo thrash riffs, accentuated with down-tuned power chords (drop D or D standard tuning, Drop C#, or as low as Drop C), syncopated chord patterns, mid-paced guitar solos, and dissonant bridges. Many artists utilize such scales as blues minor hexatonic/blues pentatonic, natural minor, and chromatic scale for heavier based riffs, accentuating riffs usually with heavily palm muted power chords. Soloing scales vary from artist to artist, although most have used the blues minor.[citation needed] Like most other heavy metal bass styles, groove metal bass lines typically follow the rhythm guitar riffs but are sometimes used as a fill when the guitar riffs are de-emphasized or when the guitarists choose the riffs to be played clean and is somewhat more audible than in other metal subgenres. Bass distortion is also common to add a musical texture. Vocals usually consist of thrash metal-styled shouts, hardcore-styled barks, and regular singing. Rarely are growls as low as death grunts are utilized. Groove Metal drums typically use double-bass drumming, which rather than blast beats alone like many other extreme styles, puts emphasis on using the double bass drum in waves, and blast beats are usually used sparingly in favor of flowing double bass drumming which usually comes in waves of triplets. Odd timing changes are typical for some bands and songs as well for drumming and guitar work, putting heavy emphasis on the changing beat. Groove Metal typically follows in a medium tempo that ranges anywhere from between 90 to 175 beats per minute, but can vary from band to band or song to song.
[edit] Similar stylings and offshoots
In the early to mid nineties, groove metal bands were still in vogue among a certain segment of metalheads, despite the metal genre as a whole not being as popular as it once had been. The groove bands rejected some of the more theatrical trappings of 80's metal (mostly from hair metal) and put a more "streetwise" image and approach (which probably paved the way for bands incorporating more rap influenced vocals in their songs). Some groove metal bands had influence on nu metal bands and some took many elements of groove metal, including its down-tuned power chords and lyrical attitudes. Also, bands such as Machine Head can be seen as a "direct link" to later Nu-Metal bands, with their hardcore-derived vocals, and more staccato riff patterns.
Machine Head, Fear Factory, and Sepultura experimented with nu metal briefly during the late 1990s and early 2000s but abandoned the style on their latest offerings after being unsatisfied with the results later in their careers and from mixed fan opinions, mostly from those who favored the more heavy metal aesthetical approaches.
A number of thrash metal bands became inspired by the original wave of groove metal and began taking up groove-oriented directions in their later careers. This is most notable in Overkill, Annihilator, Sepultura, Testament, Slayer, and Anthrax. The reaction from thrash metal fans has been largely mixed. The direction technical post-thrash band, Meshuggah, have undertaken on their last few offerings has been largely groove-oriented.
Many so-called "sludge metal" bands are also said to resemble groove metal, since many make use of down-tuned power chords and mid-tempo or slow rhythms and song structures, although sludge metal is generally slower in tempo and more minimalistic than groove metal. However, sludge metal formed earlier than groove metal and most sludge bands have a more distinct hardcore punk influence than thrash metal.
The riffing style of many current metalcore bands also has some similarity to groove metal and certain bands, such as Lamb of God and Chimaira are considered to be both metalcore and groove metal. Both bands released albums at the time metalcore reached mainstream popularity in the early 2000's, and prominently feature hardcore or even death metal style vocals, yet their musical style and guitar riffs more closely resemble groove metal than the majority of metalcore bands.
[edit] Key artists
- A.N.I.M.A.L.
- Chimaira
- Cock and Ball Torture (Sadochismo and Egoleech)
- Damageplan
- Exhorder[1]
- Fear Factory (Demanufacture and later)
- Grip Inc.
- Lamb of God
- Machine Head
- Nevermore
- Pantera (Cowboys From Hell and later)[2][3][4]
- Pissing Razors
- Prong (Beg to Differ, Cleansing)
- Pro-Pain[5]
- Sepultura (Chaos A.D. and later)
- Skinlab
- Soulfly
- White Zombie
[edit] References
- ^
- ^
- ^
- ^ Pantera entry. Rockdetector. Retrieved on November 3, 2006.
- ^ Pro-Pain entry. Rockdetector. Retrieved on November 3, 2006.
| Heavy metal |
|---|
| Black metal - Classic metal - Death metal - Doom metal - Folk metal - Glam metal - Gothic metal - Grindcore - Industrial metal - Neo-classical metal - Nu metal - Post-metal - Power metal - Progressive metal - Speed metal - Symphonic metal - Thrash metal |
| Regional scenes |
| Scandinavian death metal - New Wave of British Heavy Metal - Bay Area thrash metal |
| Other topics |
| Fashion - Bands - Umlaut - Slang |
