Avant-garde metal
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| Avant-garde metal | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins: | Black metal - Death metal - Progressive metal - Experimental rock |
| Cultural origins: | late 1980s-early to mid 1990s, Switzerland and Norway |
| Typical instruments: | Guitar – Bass guitar – Drums – Keyboard – Synthesizer – Sampling – Various string and wind instruments |
| Mainstream popularity: | |
| Subgenres | |
| Other topics | |
| Experimental music - Experimental rock | |
Avant-garde metal or experimental metal is generally regarded as a cross-genre reference to metal bands or more exactly as a stylistic adjunction with specific traits (just like progressive-, symphonic-, folk-). It is characterized by large amounts of experimentation and by non-standard sounds, instruments, and song structures. Some of the earliest instances of a band being classified as avant-garde lie with Celtic Frost, Master's Hammer, Fleurety and Ved Buens Ende.
Contents |
[edit] Characteristics
It should be noted that there is no common agreement yet within the metal world on the correct usage of the term avant-garde metal, though certain issues, such as the presence of experimentation, are agreed upon. Hence the fact some tend to argue that there is no unifying aesthetic of avant-garde metal, which is indeed the case but as Wesley D. Cray underlines:
"Avant-Garde Metal cannot be treated like other genres, such as Black, Death, Doom, Thrash, etc. Those genres are rooted in similar aesthetics and ideologies, leading to strong commonalities amongst bands united under one genre. With the Avant-Garde, on the other hand, there really is no common aesthetic or ideology. [1] The bands have to be taken on a one-by-one basis, evaluated individually rather than on genre aesthetics."[2]
Nevertheless technically speaking avant-garde metal statistically tends to be characterized by a certain number of common traits such as:
- Some use and research for unconventional arrangements in particular
- An emphasis on new timbre and sonorities
- Use of some unusual harmony (unusual and frequently dissonant chords, uncommon scales, obsessive and persistent ostinato, polytonality, bimodality and sometimes even atonality)
- Use of unconventional vocal or instrumental techniques
- Frequent loans from industrial metal, from contemporary classical music (also known as the avant-gardist classical music) and sometimes from jazz (most particularly free-jazz and/or avant-jazz), experimental rock and occasionally from other different genres.
But also sometimes (just like progressive metal)
- Use of unconventional song structure
- Use of unusual rhythm and time signature
Most of the artists that play avant-garde metal also have a strong focus on a generally dark atmosphere. The bands involved have often been associated with extreme metal (and most particularly black metal), and a number of avant-garde metal bands also have a black metal background, but it is worth noting that avant-garde metal is often looked down upon by black metal purists, who consider common elements from avant-garde metal, such as keyboards or excessive clean vocals, to be alienating elements which have nothing to do with "true" black metal[citation needed]. Though extreme metal generally seems to be the most implied in playing avant-garde metal, it is theoretically possible to be associated with any kind of metal sub-genre.
[edit] Difference with progressive metal
While progressive metal, like avant-garde metal, is also a genre which favours experimentation and non-standard ideas, there are rather large differences between the two forms (although, confusingly, there is also quite a bit of overlap between the two genres). One of the most striking differences is that the experimentation of progressive metal lies mostly in complex rhythms and song structures,[3] while the genre usually sticks to a more traditional instrumentation,[4] whereas in avant-garde metal the usage of unusual sounds plays usually a fundamental role.[5] In other words, Progressive is more orthodox in its use of unconventional structures and still refers to admitted western musical theories whereas Avant-garde is more iconoclast and is more instinctive in its experimentation.
For a better comprehension, Ethan Mittel suggests this analogy:
"Let's say there are two architects. For the sake of this discussion, their names are John Petrucci, who represents progressive metal, and Mike Patton, who represents avant garde metal. They are each trying to create a large mansion using their prior knowledge. Petrucci breaks out his rulebook and follows every guideline all the way down to the punctuation marks. Mike Patton, on the other hand, tosses the rulebook in the trash, and lets his imagination guide him through the construction. At the end of the day, both mansions are complete. John Petrucci has built a massive, elaborate mansion with winding corridors, but has a more traditional architecture. Mike Patton's mansion looks more like something from a Dr. Seuss book. There are eccentrically-shaped doors, rounded edges, decor of every form, and a great collection of other oddball detailing. Put simply, progressive metal and avant garde metal are about as different from each other as Earth is different from Venus." [6]
While Mittel's analogy may be useful and clearer for some, it is not entirely true. While avant garde indeed ignores many conventional habits and is less concerned by theoretical considerations they still refer intuitively to some basic principles of the tonal language (the common musical grammar almost all western music uses) even though they tend to deviate very much from it.
[edit] Difference with alternative
Avant-garde metal must also be distinguished from alternative metal on several traits: Even though alternative tends to use some innovative musical ideas, avant-garde metal is generally regarded as more adventurous in terms of musical language and aesthetic. Furthermore, Avant-garde metal tends to use unconventional structures and often unconventional instruments or sounds, while alternative tends to use more standard song structure and a more classic instrumentation. At the same time despite a large amount of eccentricities, unorthodox and unconventional traits, avant-garde still saves a certain number of specific traits of heavy metal (most particularly its specific groove) unlike alternative.
[edit] Origin and debates about the term
Though already existing before, the "avant-garde metal" term has begun to be commonly used in the early 2000s by some journalists specialized in metal and by fans.
But the term as defining some stylistic traits is sometimes still debated:
- because of its marginality, it doesn’t have yet a large mainstream audience (even among metalheads), so many still ignore its existence.
- because many confuse the specificity of avant-garde metal with progressive metal or with alternative
- because there is a common belief in the metal community that there is no unifying aesthetic of avant-garde metal, and that any metal band with extensive experimentation could be considered avant-garde, even if the bands don't sound anything alike.
- because there are often confusions about the fact some bands may be associated with several styles throughout their career (e.g Arcturus and Ulver were black metal before, Celtic Frost are first known for their thrash/proto-black orientation)
But during recent years the term has gained wider acceptance. And its specificity begins to be slowly recognized as such.
[edit] List of important avant-garde metal artists
[edit] References
- ^ This is by the way also the case of other avant-gardist music such as the contemporary music which has no unifying aesthetic and is characterized by countless different approaches whose only common traits is to reject some or most of the conventional and traditional habits of classical music
- ^ Wesley D. Cray, "The Avant-Garde", on Metal Observer
- ^ "Mittel Ethan, "The Avant Garde And How To Swing It" on Metal Storm" 2006.
- ^ "Mittel Ethan, "The Avant Garde And How To Swing It" on Metal Storm" 2006.
- ^ "Mittel Ethan, "The Avant Garde And How To Swing It" on Metal Storm" 2006.
- ^ "Mittel Ethan, "The Avant Garde And How To Swing It" on Metal Storm" 2006.
[edit] External links
- Ethan Mittel's article on Avant-garde Metal on Metal Storm
- Wesley D. Cray's article on Avant-garde Metalon Metal Observer
- Avantgarde-Metal.com Site dedicated exclusively to avant-garde metal
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