Guest article by Fiello
This short article will focus on a specific style of songwriting that consists of the extensive use of melodic development to create an abrasive sound that is less the inheritance of commercially accessible acts, and more the ancestry of punk that seems to have left recessive alleles in certain bands. It is of note that this article does not refer to acts like Brutality or the black-metal-tinged style of Panzerchrist that extensively uses black metal phrasing. In the underground, it is not to be discarded that there is convergence between influences, but analysis here focuses on melodiousness as a necessary tool to maintain momentum in blasting death metal and grind.
The main referents of this style likely originated in the Canadian scene. Cryptopsy’s major-key progression in “Phobophile” is a clear exponent: the main three-note riff mutates into a riff that loops the first motif once, but once it returns to the root, the line ends with a major third rather than looping again. The main popularizer of this manic intensity is the album Sorcery, on which Kataklysm created a melodic grindcore/death metal hybrid that, to this listener, indicated unprecedented speed of the music, which juxtaposes the sheerness of the dissonant lines with a barrage of repetitive motifs. Other Canadian acts like Cephalectomy seem to have adopted this approach to an otherwise purely dissonant assault. Quality examples of how brutal death metal maintains its intensity precisely through the unique use of tonality are present in the catalogues of Nemesis Aeterna, Cephalectomy and Lykathea Aflame, bands who manage to transmit violent ecstasy.
If the groove applied by Brodequin in their song “Ambrosia” has been replicated by others to enhance the intentional aggression present in their music, Nemesis Aeterna design their rhythmic element as a complementary response for the blossoming melodies in the album Mindisorder. The song “Burn My Down” uses hardcore-derived drum beats along with syncopated chord progressions that invite minor-scale polyphony that accompanies the growled vocal delivery. With a drum machine, Cephalectomy delegate much of the rhythmic labour to an automated track, and the bass joins the guitar in soaring independent riffs. The last verse of “Feast of the Saints” is a good example of this. The opening track of Elvenefris welcomes the coexistence of complex melodic development and a bass counter that hearkens back to the repetitive kick present in gabber or industrial.
This unique playing exists across genres, styles and eras of metal music: perhaps it was Carcass who first identified the necessary contrast that needs to exist in order to evoke a certain mood through different means and contexts. Brutal death metal is by no means limited to the performance of aggression and ugliness; the landscape of this musical style cannot so easily be contained in this brief article. Herein is the hope that the reader can take time to listen to the elements that make heavy metal such an interesting and demanding creative endeavour that welcomes adaptation across a wide array of musicians.
