If I’ve managed to make a dent of an impression through my collective IO writings, I hope it’s that I unconditionally love all forms of music, metal or not. Nothing warms my ears more than versatility and nothing catches my attention more quickly than a versatile hessian, since metal will always be my genre of highest influence. This standard allows me to believe in a universe similar to my own, where professional metalheads lounge around listening to John Coltrane or John Fahey before heading off to record or perform. I’d like to believe that there are a slew of secret shredders that have shoeboxes full of covert experimental jams but consciously choose metal as their primary means of articulation. This rounded appreciation for music then reassures the listener that a mountain of influence pours into those somewhat singular blasts that could tumble into tedium without a pinch of something other than heavy. That said, there’s also nothing more disappointing than watching a thrasher step outside of his/her comfort zone and fail attempting something different.
As a budding teenage bassist in the mid-’90s interested in all forms of music, nobody appealed to my sprouting interests by breaching genre gaps quite like Steve Digiorgio (of Sadus and Death). From his fusion technique to his fretless tone, Digiorgio reinvented the role of bass in extreme music and debatably still owns the throne. It appeared obvious that he applied a wealth of musical knowledge in his performance that travelled far beyond root notes, allowing compositions to take on new dimensions, and empowering a generation of bassists to play a more active role in metal songwriting. Motivated to learn the solos at the end of “The Philosopher”, I began an email correspondence with him, asking all sorts of embarrassing questions regarding technique and tablature. Through those exchanges, I received an early demo from his jazz-fusion project Dark Hall that, outside of minor tones, contained no metal moments whatsoever. It was an impressive product that with time has come to carry increased personal meaning due to both its connection to metal and its unabashed experimentation. It represented a challenge to his audience that disregarded the glass ceiling limiting his instrument’s behavior.
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Dark Hall – “Changing Weather”
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Outside of that microcosm, how many metal musicians have strayed completely outside of thrashdom and created music that bears no resemblance to the genre that bore them relative fame? Furthermore, how many of them were convincing? Two other examples that immediately come to mind are Xploding Plastix, a Norwegian electronic duo who played in the brilliant black metal group Kvist before their transition, and Gorguts/Dysrhythmia guitarist Kevin Hufnagel, who has released some tremendous solo albums worthy of praise. But I now ask you, dear reader, who else has successfully crossed that bridge from metal into parts unknown and inspired you to expand your musical vocabulary?
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Xploding Plastix – “Tintinnamputation”
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Kevin Hufnagel – “Hunter/Hunted”
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Steve Digorgio’s website
Xploding Plastix website
Kevin Hufnagel’s Bandcamp
Wonderful article! Thanks for posting it.
I’m an old fart; so my metal history goes back a ways, but… Listening to Black Sabbath and Led Zep. definitely opened my mind to the blues.
And listening to Metallica turned me on to a lot of great classical music out there (especially Holst). More recently, Rollins’ radio show has turned me on to a lot of new (to me at least) sounds from Herbie Hancock to Kraut rock like Can and Faust.
Add them all together, and it deepens my appreciation for what a band like Sunn O))) is aiming for each time out. Wow!
Mark Schaffer was the drummer in Burmese, and is now a nerdcore rapper. But he just re-enforces my metal / hip-hop bridge, started with Anthrax (“I’m the Man”), Run-DMC & Aerosmith (“Walk This Way”), and Anthrax & Public Enemy (“Bring The Noise”). Danzig’s Black Aria certainly helped my appreciation for classical music.
Wino.
Alex Skolnick.
Steve Von Till and Erik Wunder, definitely. That dark Americana vibe now takes up probably 25% of my listening time, with 5% classical, 5% random punk-related stuff (e.g. Killing Joke, Misfits), and 65% metal.
Neige and early Alcest for attempting to seek out true Shoegaze and Post-Rock (I believe Alcest’s debut was Post-Rock, definitely not Shoegaze.) Amesoeur’s Bonheur Ampute for broadening my interest in Post-Punk. Without those two, Deafheaven would be non-existent among the many “Post-Black Metal” bands.
I thought post-rock and shoegaze were the same thing?
There’s some crossover, but they’re different. For post-rock, think Slint, Tortoise, Trans Am, Mono, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Russian Circles, etc. For shoegaze, think My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Slowdive, recent Boris, Marriages, and so on.
For the record, while I like a lot of the bands in that first list, I think “post-rock” is a stupid term (though not as stupid as “post-metal”).
Russian Circles is the only one of those post-rock bands I’ve heard (and did not care for it). Recent Boris is the only one of those shoegaze bands I’ve heard, but I honestly have no idea what you mean by recent Boris, considering how prolific and wildly experimental they are. Surely you don’t mean the newer Heavy Rocks . . . .
Good call. More _Attention Please_ than _Heavy Rocks_. Shoegaze has layers of shimmering, gauzy guitars and etheral, often indicpherable vocals. Post-rock is often marked by mathy time signatures, lots of repeated figures (w/ slight variations), quiet-loud dynamics, prominent bass guitar (which often carries the melody), and spoken-sung vocals (or no vocals at all). King Crimson is a big influence on post-rock. Isis is a metal(ish) band that draws from the post-rock well, as is Tool. Of course, these definitions are reductive and no doubt subject to debate, but, as someone who spent much of my teens and twenties listening to a lot of these kinds of bands, that’s my take on it.
I guess all of those characteristics got wrapped up in the idea of post-metal, which was my starting point for reverse-engineering my understanding of post-rock and shoegaze, from the little of those I’ve heard. It seems like they’re sometimes used interchangeably, too, but maybe that’s because I haven’t been paying close enough attention.
Or maybe I just like classifying things. Anyway, thanks for giving me an opportunity to be annoyingly pedantic.
Ulver
Would I be missing the boat entirely to suggest Tribes of Neurot?
I like Wardruna quite a bit, too, and I don’t think the album I play has any real metal soundscape on it.
And there’s the former Burning Witch guy’s project, Asva:
http://www.invisibleoranges.com/2011/08/interview-asva/
though I haven’t heard anything beyond the piece on that post.
Wow, I had no idea the guys from Xploding Plastix used to do black metal! I’ve been listening to them for a long time too.
I definitely dig a lot of Ulver’s later non-black metal stuff. Manes’ “Vilosophe” album is also great. Mick Harris (ex Napalm Death) has a downtempo electronic project called Scorn which is appropriately dark coming from a metal guy.
years back there was a band called Superhighway Carfire that brings to mind 90s AmRep / Man’s Ruin era sounds. Noise rock, metal, hardcore…etc. They never really struck a chord with me but after dissolving members went on to play in the entirely un-heavy Americana / country / folk rock band Slacks who are friggin’ AWESOME.
Thos Niles and Ayal Naor both played in grind/hardcore band Anodyne and also played in one of my favorite laid back alt-rock bands 27.
65daysofstatic – Instrumental post rock with electronic elements. Their album “We Were Exploding Anyway” is an impressive amalgam of mathy post rock with IDM percussion.
Grails – Though aligned heavily with the metal community due to their releases on Neurot Recordings and dark tone, these guys have developed into masters at crafting psychedelic, sonic journeys.
Mew – Indie pop with math rock sensibilities. The first half of the album “And the Glass Handed Kites” is borderline genius.
Mahavishnu Orchestra – Not that they need any introduction here, and there’s no doubt that their early work influenced a lot of modern technical metal, but these guys were (in my opinion) the ultimate jazz fusion band.
The Mars Volta – Frantic, frenetic, and proggy but not metal. “Deloused in the Comatorium” is one of my all time favorite albums.
Ben Frost – Dark, minimalist electronic music. Again, not metal by any standard but perhaps darker and more disturbing than many metal bands, particularly on “By The Throat.”
I totally misread the question and thought it was about good, non-metal bands in general. That’s what I get for skimming at work.
So, my updated list would be:
Terminal Sound System – s.klein from Halo. Glitch, minimal, drum and bass, post-rock; a mixture of different electronic elements. Great soundscapes that have an almost visual quality to them.
Toby Driver – As himself, with Tartar Lamb, or even, arguably, with Kayo Dot. He composes a great variety of challenging yet genuinely compelling music.
Yakuza is a great gateway band to avant garde jazz artists such as Sun Ra and Albert Ayler. Yakuza is one of the very few bands that bridged the gap between avant garde jazz and metal, besides John Zorn and his seminal projects Painkiller and Naked City.
I remember Yakuza shared the stage with a band called Zu from Italy 4 years ago at the Empty Bottle. I’ve only seen an ad of theirs in Decibel but haven’t checked them out prior to the show. I went with a friend who was in town for a few months during the 2008 Obama campaign and he always wanted to see Yakuza. The night before he left, we went to see them at the Empty Bottle and Zu happened to be headlining that night. My mind was blown that night. Hard. It also makes sense Zu are on Ipepac.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hun8GlxGYus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcZlKwbvgCE&NR=1&feature=endscreen
Albert Ayler:
Sorry about that hanging Albert Ayler bit right there. Copy paste fail on my part.
Anyway, I found a cool video of Zu collaborating with Dalek. Pack that pipe and enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APzKmW1qPrM&feature=related
Don’t forget Quorthon’s foray into grunge music
Though it probably had less effect on me than friends, i’d have to say Faith No More/Mike Patton.
(Of course its arguable if FNM were ‘metal’ as such) but in terms of a gateway band/performer, I can’t think of a better example of a band that exposed people who were deeply into metallica/slayer/etc to entire genres/musical concepts.
Whether those results were any good, is another issue (so many bad Mr Bungle worship bands/Mike Patton wannabes in the mid ’90s).
Agree with Patton. His collaboration in ‘Lovage: Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By’ led me to Dan the Automator, and from there to a range of great hip-hop and rap. I haven’t gotten as much into the Zorn/experimental stuff, although I really enjoy Kaada/Patton.
The Neptune Towers stuff from Fenriz was an awesome discovery for me…
but I’d have to say my favorite example of metallers veering off territory would actually be the reverse, namely a non-metal dude invoking metal, and that would be Mount Eerie. Phil of Mount Eerie manages to take the deep, meaningful part of black metal and use this, instead of the shallow, style element that most would tend to take.
I also agree with Carm on Naked City and Painkiller, and to that list would like to add the Flying Luttenbachers and most Weasel Walter projects, but honestly dude, Yakuza sucks.