However, the music of Atheist is not so far from the traditions of metal. In addition to the fact that this band plays ordinary rock instruments, they draw on aspects of metal music created before it came to being. In the first place, these are harsh vocals. People usually associate metal with energy and power rather than melody, rhythm and technical skills, and this association rises mostly from growling and screaming vocals often used in metal. Overdriven guitar sound, the use of guitar as a rhythmic support, emphasis on fingerwork rather than liveliness typical for African American music - all of this is the legacy of "white", European heavy metal culture.
Combining the diversity of jazz and the power and technicality of metal, Atheist made up the new approach to making music. The style this band invented, jazz metal, might be interesting to a larger audience than the usual attenders of death metal shows. Jazz metal goes beyond the frames of cultural environment typical for heavy metal.
23.9.09
Atheist, part II. For me
The music of Atheist is, as I said before, a blend of jazz and death metal. One can recognize African American, Latin and European notes in their melodies and rhythms. All of this is mixed with the finest technical skills of playing instruments usually used in heavy metal - guitars, bass guitar and drums - and with the harsh growling vocals screaming out lyrics about corruption of nature and politics.
The jazz side of Atheist's works is reflected in such aspects as taste for improvisation and heavy emphasis on rhythm, including syncopation, polymeters and polyrhythms. As far as the improvisation is concerned, we can find it in the guitar interludes between the heavier parts of composition. Besides, Atheist tends to dilute the songs on their album with short, entertaining improvisational tracks, which have less of metal. Syncopation is also Atheist's eminent side - because was not an ordinary feature of heavy metal before they came into being.
Here I should mention the importance of bass in the teamwork of rhythm section. Bass guitar was used in rock music rather for sound support than for melody. It only started to play an important, sometimes even leading, role with the coming of progressive rock in the 70s. This is due to the fact that the enthusiasts of new styles started to incorporate in their music the material of jazz, funk and Latin. Bass guitar is also often used as a soloing insrument in progressive and technical metal, and Atheist here is not an exclusion.
Atheist pay a lot of attention to rhythm. One can find heavy and straight rock beats as well as polyrhythms and polymeters typical for jazz. It is considered that the most popular polyrhythm in technical metal is 6/8, simultaneously divided into 3 strong beats (played, for example, on the ride cymbal) and 2 strong beats (on the bass and snare drums). Polymeter establishes when two regular meters come together, for instance, 4/4 and 3/4 give 7/4 and these 7/4 can be broken up and played as a polyrhythm, etc.
http://www.metal-archives.com/
The jazz side of Atheist's works is reflected in such aspects as taste for improvisation and heavy emphasis on rhythm, including syncopation, polymeters and polyrhythms. As far as the improvisation is concerned, we can find it in the guitar interludes between the heavier parts of composition. Besides, Atheist tends to dilute the songs on their album with short, entertaining improvisational tracks, which have less of metal. Syncopation is also Atheist's eminent side - because was not an ordinary feature of heavy metal before they came into being.
Here I should mention the importance of bass in the teamwork of rhythm section. Bass guitar was used in rock music rather for sound support than for melody. It only started to play an important, sometimes even leading, role with the coming of progressive rock in the 70s. This is due to the fact that the enthusiasts of new styles started to incorporate in their music the material of jazz, funk and Latin. Bass guitar is also often used as a soloing insrument in progressive and technical metal, and Atheist here is not an exclusion.
Atheist pay a lot of attention to rhythm. One can find heavy and straight rock beats as well as polyrhythms and polymeters typical for jazz. It is considered that the most popular polyrhythm in technical metal is 6/8, simultaneously divided into 3 strong beats (played, for example, on the ride cymbal) and 2 strong beats (on the bass and snare drums). Polymeter establishes when two regular meters come together, for instance, 4/4 and 3/4 give 7/4 and these 7/4 can be broken up and played as a polyrhythm, etc.
http://www.metal-archives.com/
Atheist, part I and conclusion. For me
In this essay I'm going to tell about the music style called jazz metal. As we figure out from the name of this style, it combines features of jazz and metal, inheriting the complexity of rhythms and the tendency to improvise from jazz (especially modal jazz) and the sound and instruments of death metal music.
The pioneers in this field was the band Atheist, hailing from Florida. They were founded in 1984 by vocalist and guitarist Kelly Shaefer and drummer Steve Flynn and started as a typical thrash metal band. Their lineup shuffled several times until finally in 1988 they signed a contract with Mean Machine Records and recorded their first album, "Piece Of Time". When this record label bankrupted, Active Records picked up the rights for the album.
"Piece of Time" was a new word in the metal scene, and not all the critics came to understanding it. After the release, tours of America, Canada and Europe followed. When the band was returning from the tour in 1991, they suffered a horrible car crash, in which their bass player Roger Patterson died. This was a heavy struck for Atheist, but nevertheless they kept moving forward and recorded a follow-up featuring the bassist of technical metal band Cynic, Tony Choy. It was called "Unquestionable Presence" and could serve as a threnody for Patterson. With this album Atheist established a place for themselves in the American metal scene. Later Shaefer dedicated more of his time to his side project Neurotica. But according to the contract with Active Records, Atheist had to release one more album. So they recorded "Elements" in 1993, which serves as an appreciated jazz metal model even nowadays. After this, Atheist disbanded. Here I'm going to focus mostly on their last album because it represents the style better than the first two.
I left the most interesting fact about Atheist for the conclusion. After thirteen years, in 2006, the band regrouped to perform their old compositions live on several festivals. And later in August 2008, Shaefer announced that Atheist is going to record a new album. Nobody knows what will it sound like after a 16-year break. I hope Atheist won't follow the experience of their fellow technical metal band, Cynic, which had a similar biography. They released an album recently, and it doesn't sound like jazz metal at all.
Mike DaRonco, Ed Rivadavia. "Allmusic - Biography - Atheist". Allmusic. http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheist_%28band%29.
http://officialatheist.com
The pioneers in this field was the band Atheist, hailing from Florida. They were founded in 1984 by vocalist and guitarist Kelly Shaefer and drummer Steve Flynn and started as a typical thrash metal band. Their lineup shuffled several times until finally in 1988 they signed a contract with Mean Machine Records and recorded their first album, "Piece Of Time". When this record label bankrupted, Active Records picked up the rights for the album.
"Piece of Time" was a new word in the metal scene, and not all the critics came to understanding it. After the release, tours of America, Canada and Europe followed. When the band was returning from the tour in 1991, they suffered a horrible car crash, in which their bass player Roger Patterson died. This was a heavy struck for Atheist, but nevertheless they kept moving forward and recorded a follow-up featuring the bassist of technical metal band Cynic, Tony Choy. It was called "Unquestionable Presence" and could serve as a threnody for Patterson. With this album Atheist established a place for themselves in the American metal scene. Later Shaefer dedicated more of his time to his side project Neurotica. But according to the contract with Active Records, Atheist had to release one more album. So they recorded "Elements" in 1993, which serves as an appreciated jazz metal model even nowadays. After this, Atheist disbanded. Here I'm going to focus mostly on their last album because it represents the style better than the first two.
I left the most interesting fact about Atheist for the conclusion. After thirteen years, in 2006, the band regrouped to perform their old compositions live on several festivals. And later in August 2008, Shaefer announced that Atheist is going to record a new album. Nobody knows what will it sound like after a 16-year break. I hope Atheist won't follow the experience of their fellow technical metal band, Cynic, which had a similar biography. They released an album recently, and it doesn't sound like jazz metal at all.
Mike DaRonco, Ed Rivadavia. "Allmusic - Biography - Atheist". Allmusic. http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheist_%28band%29.
http://officialatheist.com
22.9.09
All work and no balls makes Asja a mess
The subject of this post has nothing in common with its content.
People of this world often confuse formality and sense.
People of this world often confuse formality and sense.
17.9.09
5.9.09
1.9.09
a simple truth
I was always the smallest girl in the class until high school. I also used to hang out a lot with my parents' friends. So I got used to think of myself as of a child, a little father's daughter.
A couple of hours ago I found out that I'm no more a child but a grown woman now. I'm turning twenty in September and I wonder how come that I didn't understand this simple fact before.
Finally when I'm alone in a foreign country, among strangers, plus living in a dorm for the first time in my life, I'm able to realize it. And I'm glad it happened. There must be people who remain little children until the end.
A couple of hours ago I found out that I'm no more a child but a grown woman now. I'm turning twenty in September and I wonder how come that I didn't understand this simple fact before.
Finally when I'm alone in a foreign country, among strangers, plus living in a dorm for the first time in my life, I'm able to realize it. And I'm glad it happened. There must be people who remain little children until the end.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)