Tech metal
From Free net encyclopedia
Tech metal, which is short for technical metal, is a term used to describe bands of certain heavy metal subgenres. Proper heavy metal subgenres that are types of tech metal include technical death metal (subgenre of Death metal) and technical metalcore (subgenre of Metalcore).
Tech metal is characterised by a show of skill, changeable time signatures, and often dissonant or atonal guitar riffs.
The creation of "technical death metal" started in the late 80's/early 90's when death metal bands started writing more complex song structures with an increasing number of drastic time signatures and tempo changes. This early implementation can be heard somewhat in older Morbid Angel albums, then later on in bands such as Suffocation, Monstrosity, and Vital Remains, and eventually to the mid 90's where it solidified as a stable subgenre of death metal. Most notably, Cryptopsy's 1996 release "None So Vile", laid the ground work for clear definitions of the subgenre.
While Cryptopsy displayed a natural progression of the technical nature of death metal, Cynic incoporated influences from jazz and fusion in their 1993 release. This influence divided the technical death metal subgenre into two distinct, yet equally technical styles. As a result, nearly all technical death metal bands are either influenced by the brutal technical death metal style of Cryptopsy's work, or influenced by the jazz style of Cynic's work.
A variant of tech metal is math metal, which is usually characterised by a greater emphasis on odd time signatures rather than technical riffs. Bands described by the term "math metal" are in the proper subgenre known as Mathcore (subgenre of Metalcore or Hardcore ["math metal" is used only to describe Metalcore/Mathcore bands, as the Mathcore/Hardcore bands are not related to heavy metal]). Generally, bands described by this term incorporate unorthodox rhythms / time signatures in their music. Math metal often makes use of polyrhythm and hemiola, two rhythmic phenomena in music, to achieve its complexity.
The terms "tech metal" and "math metal" by themselves are not seen as true metal genres, as many metalcore bands are classified as tech/math metal (Technical Metalcore, Mathcore) in addition to the technical death metal bands, which makes these terms 'cross-genre references'. Bands that play considerably more technical than what is necessary for their respective metal genre can be classified as tech metal. For instance, some progressive metal bands can be described as tech metal.
Bands
Some bands of this genre include:
- Aghora (progressive metal)
- Alarum (progressive metal)
- A Life Once Lost (technical metalcore)
- Anata (technical death metal)
- Atheist (death metal with prominent jazz/fusion elements)
- Behold... The Arctopus (progressive metal)
- Believer (progressive metal)
- Between the Buried and Me (Technical progressive metalcore)
- Botch (technical metalcore)
- Broken Hope (brutal death metal)
- Capharnaum (technical death metal)
- Cephalic Carnage (technical death/grind)
- Confessor (technical doom metal)
- Converge (technical metal)
- Cynic (progressive death metal with jazz/latin influences)
- Craw (industrial metal/metalcore)
- Cryptopsy (brutal technical death metal)
- Death (death metal, later progressive death metal)
- Deeds of Flesh (brutal death metal)
- Decapitated (technical death metal)
- Demilich (technical death metal)
- Dysrhythmia (progressive metal)
- Edge of Sanity (progressive death metal)
- Five Star Prison Cell (Technical Metal)
- Goats (progressive death metal)
- Gorguts (technical death metal)
- Hate Eternal (technical brutal death metal)
- Into The Moat (metalcore)
- Ion Dissonance (technical mathcore/metalcore)
- Lethargy (progressive thrash metal)
- Look What I Did (progressive Post Hardcore)
- Lykathea Aflame (technical death metal)
- Martyr (technical death metal)
- Meshuggah (technical thrash metal)
- Monstrosity (technical death metal)
- Necrophagist (technical brutal death metal)
- Neuraxis (technical death metal)
- Nile (brutal death metal)
- Origin (brutal technical death/grind)
- Opeth (progressive death metal)
- Protest the Hero (technical metalcore)
- Psycroptic (technical death metal)
- Quo Vadis (technical melodic death metal)
- Reflux (technical progressive metalcore)
- Spastic Ink (progressive metal)
- Spawn of Possession (brutal death metal)
- Suffocation (brutal death metal)
- Tetsuo (technical death metal/metalcore)
- The Amenta (technical death metal)
- The Dillinger Escape Plan (technical progressive metalcore)
- The End (technical metalcore/death metal)
- The Number Twelve Looks Like You (technical metalcore)
- The Red Chord (technical metalcore/death metal)
- Theory in Practice (technical progressive death metal)
- Visceral Bleeding (technical brutal death metal)
- Vital Remains (brutal death metal)
- Watchtower (progressive thrash metal)
- Zyklon (blackened death metal)