The Up and Comer

I recently had the pleasure of getting to interview Wes Cambron, an up and coming writer and reviewer for the Tampa Metal Music Examiner. He is only 20 and already making a name for himself among the underground metal scene all over Tampa Bay. I sat down and chit-chatted with him for a bit about what exactly his job entails.

So why don’t you tell me a little bit about yourself? How did you get into metal?

Well, I started writing short stories when I was in 4^th grade, and that is what made me want to start writing articles. I did not get into metal until I was 12, specifically death metal.

Really? Death metal at that early of an age?

Yeah, weird, isn’t it? Anyways, A friend of mine wrote comic book reviews for a living, and after I read a few, I thought “hey, this is awesome, I want to do this!” but I did not want to do it with comics, I wanted to do it with metal.

What exactly do you do in your job?

Well this job entails the three main parts of the heavy metal music scene: the bands, the fans, and the business. I listen to and review local bands records’s and typically give a brief background on the history of the genre of metal they are playing. I review concerts and attempt to get more metal fans out there and at the shows telling them which bands to see. I hang with those bands before and after shows getting to know them, interviewing them, and what their long term goals are in this business. A lot of the time I actually have to resort to using AOL instant messenger (AIM) to get the interview since a lot of these guys are so busy.

That is dedication to get an interview! Who have you interviewed? Anyone I know?

Well, my most famous interview is Sally Debauchery from psykill, who just recently opened for crossbreed.

For my Music in the United States Class (MUH 2632) our teacher wanted us to burn him a CD called a “desert Island mix” in which he wanted us to make a CD that, if stranded on a desert island, would contain 10 songs we could not live without. He intends on adding it to the lesson plan for a class next month. I, being the music junky that I am, could never narrow it down to such a small number, so I instead aimed for what I think he wanted, which was diversity in the music, specifically the metal genre. This is the breakdown I wrote him for the class, which I will now be adding a shit-ton (that’s a lot) of links to this for all reference purposes. These are my opinions and I am adding the links to certain things I am sure will make you say “huh?” to, which if there is not a link to something, you can simply leave a comment and I will get back to you.

I had intended on reviewing a CD for you guys this semester anyway, so this is kind of killing two birds with one stone. That being said, read and enjoy.

First and foremost, I found narrowing down the music I could not live without extremely difficult, seeing as how I live and die by it. I would also like to point out that I left off much of my music selection since you said you wanted “Our music” which I believe you meant more current artist as contrary to older bands that are greatly influential upon myself. I attempted to showcase as many of the main sub-genres of metal with this mix for you to get a taste of how diverse this one genre can be. That being said, here is my list:

1. Song: Immigrant Song

a. (Youtube Video)

b.Artist: Led Zeppelin

c. Genre: Classic Rock

d.Summary: A classic rock band (open to debate) that heavily influenced many metal bands of today. Robert Plant was one of the first great of what I like to call an epic vocalist, or vocalist consisting of such a powerful voice with the notes he hits that it sends a chill down your spine. Many pop divas also have this affect, difference being that divas make you feel relaxed and at ease after the chill, whereas an epic vocalist such as Plant would make you want to do something epic yourself, such as mosh, speed, fight, or head bang.

2. Song: Painkiller

a. (Youtube Video)

b.Artist: Judas Priest

c. Genre: Heavy Metal

d.Summary: In my opinion one of the greatest vocalist of our time. Rob Halford, the lead singer of Judas Priest, has a 4-octave range voice, which he portrays his ability in this song. Judas Priest is also one of the fore-fathers of the metal genre, and has influenced most of the genre (specifically the fashion and association of leather as stated by Gay for a Day) in the metal community. The reason I chose this song? Simple, I can’t help but sing the line “faster than a laser bullet” whenever it is said in the song.

3. Song: Deliverance

a. (Youtube Video) Video is cut short because youtube is stingy.

b.Artist: Opeth

c. Genre: Melodic Death Metal

d.Summary: This band has only a handful of songs that are less than six minutes long. I like this band solely because of the uniqueness of the vocalist, Mikael Åkerfeldt. Very few vocalist can actually sing and bellow, which makes him a dime a dozen. The song structure of this band is also very unique, changing tempo and beat at least three times in this song alone.

4. Song: End of All Hope

a. (Youtube Video)

b.Artist: Nightwish

c. Genre: Power Metal/Operatic metal

d.Summary: This is the sole song that got me into metal. I heard this and the beginning notes of Tarja’s (the lead singer) voice, and instantly fell in love. The melding of metal and opera is such an absurd thought that it works stupendously, as I am sure if you listen to this all the way through, you will not be disappointed.

5. Song: Wolf and Raven

a. (Youtube Video)

b.Artist: Sonata Arctica

c. Genre: Power Metal

d.Summary: What is fascinating about this band is their lead keyboardist (and the entire opening segment of this song) is played on a keytar. Yes, that’s right, the instrument they invented in the 80s in a sad attempt to make the keyboardist look cool. Fortunately for them, it took a decade for it to actually work.

6. Song: Rational Gaze

a. (Youtube Video) Awesome music video, might I add.

b.Artist: Meshuggah

c. Genre: Progressive Metal

d.Summary: at the UCF metal club we used to play songs and everyone got a turn. If you sucked at picking songs, typically you were heavily mocked. I was constantly mocked when I first attended. This was the first song I picked where the entire club was struck in awe that I had actually played this song and they all liked it.
The odd time signatures make conventional listening of this group nearly impossible. Many bands have tried to mimic this band (such as most Mathcore bands) and have failed miserably. I have found that anyone who has listened in-depth to music before generally falls in love with this band after the first few listens.

7. Song: Raining Blood (Explicit)

a. (Youtube Video)

b.Artist: Slayer

c. Genre: Thrash Metal

d.Summary: Slayer is known for causing massive controversy by bashing religion, promoting rape, and supporting Nazis. The ironic part about this? The lead singer, Tom Araya, is a devout Catholic and frequently attends mass. He has gone on record numerous times stating that it is just a job and pissing people off just helps to sell records, and anyone who takes them seriously are morons. Apparently, no one listens.
This is Thrash Metal, the same genre Metallica falls under by default. I say by default because after the first few albums they implemented slower drums and guitar to have a more mainstream sound. This is real thrash, the kind you will never hear on radio, and the kind that does as thrash was meant to do…make you violent!

8. Song: S.Y.L. (HIGHLY Explicit)

a. (Youtube Video)

b.Artist: Strapping Young Lad

c. Genre: Progressive Metal

d.Summary: This is my favorite metal band. The guy who originated the idea for the UCF metal club, Justin Gogas, showed me the “way of metal” with this band. They are extreme and the lead singer, Devin Townsend, is a musical genius. If you want to you can look up his solo stuff, it’s not near as angry and its almost as if a different person wrote it altogether (as he is heavily bi-polar).
This band falls under the progressive genre because they use so many variations on every song it is nearly impossible to throw them into any one genre. Use of choirs, orchestras, obscure time signatures, and an ice cream truck theme song (yes, an ice cream truck song) are just a few of them to name.

9. Song: Vredesbyrd (Not sure, but your safe, its in a foreign language)

a. (Youtube Video)

b.Artist: Dimmu Borgir

c. Genre: Black Metal/Symphonic Black Metal

d.Summary: This is Black Metal, one of the scariest genres of metal. Most black metal bands wear corpse paint (a mix of black and white face paint that looks demonic). It is very closely related with Death metal. One of the main differences is most black metal is very anti-Christianity in its lyrics, in fact there was a string of black metal bands in the mid-90s that burned down 200-year-old churches. One of the other key factors of black metal is the high pitched evil sounding vocals, which are followed by frequently switching with low bellowing, which adds a very nice evil sound to the music, which in itself is beautifully orchestrated.

10. Song: No Excuses

a. (Youtube Video)

b.Artist: Alice in Chains

c. Genre: Grunge Rock

d.Summary: This is the only non-metal song to make it on my list, and is one of my favorite bands. I consider Grunge Rock to more or less be the “teenage” years of metal as its going through puberty. Jerry Cantrell, the lead guitarist of Alice in Chains, is one of my favorite musicians and the brainchild of the band. Most of the music of my youth came out of the grunge genre, and it still has a special place in my heart…sniff…
The use of distortion and very drawn out, powerful notes is what I believe draws me to this. The vocals of Layne Staley (lead singer) and Cantrell are both around the same range, so when they both sing (instead of using a voice dubbing machine to just copy Staley’s vocals like most “musicians” nowadays) it adds a creepy, almost haunting chill to the music, which I love.

There you have it. I hope you enjoyed my insight to music and if you have any questions or want a copy of the CD, feel free to email me at wstone2@mail.usf.edu .

~Bane

Elitism: What Were Made of...

Unfortunately one of the biggest problems that occur within the metal community is the elitism that accompanies many metalheads. Just look at how people think the typical metal elitist really is. It doesn’t help that people also have an awful perception of the entire community and think it is nothing more then old 70 year old headbangers moshing to regain their youth as stated by porkchop1234. It was brought to my attention after reading this comment on one of my own blogs:

horioppo said...
This is the first post of your's I've read. The first thing that comes to mind is how much fun is lost by knowing something so well. I really enjoy music, but I don't know that much about it. I know what I like. Anytime I learn too much about something, I don't enjoy it as much. You obviously know a whole lot about metal and music(this is a musical strategy in this post), much more than I would want to know. If I knew as much as you, I would probably lose all passion for it.

Basically what horioppo is stating is that he thinks the music is ruined from being highly knowledgeable on the topic. Which granted to some extent it is for the more basic stuff, but it allows you to find and truly appreciate many more artists who are much more worthy of your time and admiration. Many metalheads argue all over the internet this over that exact reason.

The reason for this elitism is because metalheads have a keen ability to do what many classical composers were notorious for doing as well, picking songs apart. A metalhead can differentiate what songs are the bass, drums, guitar (lead and rhythm), and the keyboards. This explains why most death metal sounds like nothing but chaotic noise to the untrained ear, because most don’t comprehend what they are listening to.

I am not saying a non-metalhead can’t do this (hell my mother raised me in a sound booth while running a soundboard at church and that is where she taught me to do it). What I am saying is that many metalheads will snarl at you mentioning Britney Spears and how awesome, unique, and different her songwriting is (especially this guy), not only because the person saying that she is a great “artist” but also the fact that they were told that this is good music and to like it, and they listened.

Think about it,

Bane

Breakdowns: Too Much of a...Thing is a Bad Thing….

Now being the biased metalhead that I am, this topic comes up in debate rather often. The breakdown is something that is essential in many sub-genres of metal (in actuality they would not exist without them) and almost non-existent in others. The breakdown is basically where the song is slowed down so the guitarist can play more intricate notes and the drummer abuses the double-bass pedals, and maybe a repetitive one line chorus is yelled while this is happening, depending on how bad their parents beat them as children….supposedly.

The officer of Death Metal in the Heavy Metal Enthusiast Club at USF (insert shameless plug) had a good quote to explain this: “One single note for an entire riff = boring as hell. Filler content that serves only to kill any momentum the song has. In general they are clinically proven to SUCK ASS!” The whole basis of the breakdown is not for the music (obviously enough), it is for the show. It usually will whip the crowd into a giant frenzy and cause a couple of mosh pits or hardcore pits (see my last post, its scary) to break out. The breakdown is only really abused by -core bands (Metalcore, Hardcore, Mathcore, etc.), which are basically the sub-genres of metal that are formed from teens with angst of whom only their friends are fans.

Now not to be completely biased, there are a few good breakdowns, but they are few and far between, like this one (Starts at 3:15). This is the proper use of a breakdown (in my humble opinion) as its bringing the song to a close (something you would thing the name “breakdown” would generally imply) instead of doing it mid-song. A few metal artists also use it as a bridge, such as Nevermore’s “Final Product” which makes it very intriguing.

Overall its one of those things that is there for a musician to use if he gets desperate, especially when their career sucks anyway.

\m/

Bane

P.S. Thank you Joe and Clay for helping me out on this…and they make such a cute couple too….

Hardcore dancing vs. Moshing: When a Good Thing is Ruined

The origins of hardcore dancing and moshing are simple enough, being both descendants of punk-pogoing in England’s punk scene starting in the late 70s. Moshing has been around for almost four decades and is engrained into the metal community, and if your band cannot get a pit going, your band wont last. Hardcore dancing is a newer version of moshing, mostly full of younger fans of the metal genre who want to prove themselves as being “the tough guy” in the metal community.

The reason this is raising controversy is because the younger crowd is viewing moshing as the old metalheads way of moshing (which if you read this chicks version of why to hate it; you will get a pretty general consensus on what I am referring to, and laugh at her). Hardcore dancing was made for a certain brand of metal (entitled hardcore, hence the name, not the actions granting it the name), but has quickly been spreading to where it is not welcome. Hardcore bands and breakdowns have been on the rise in popularity among the younger crowd of teen metalheads, but for those of us who have been listening to it for more then just teenage angst; we are appalled and ashamed by it.

Moshing in its purest form is what happens when you are overwhelmed by the music. There have been many spin-off versions to moshing, but in its truest form it is just plain fun. A metalhead will get so worked up by the music that he will push the person in front of him, that person will push back, and before you know it, there is 30 of you in a giant circle doing it. One of the most fascinating things about this is when someone falls down, you will not be on the ground for more then 3 seconds, due to the 15 hands that grabbed you and pushed you up. It is a beautiful thing that helps to mold a sub-culture and let us all have fun. Hardcore dancing destroys this process, which is why no one over the age of 25 does it (and if they do….FAIL AT LIFE!).

These hardcore dancers do not even realize that what they are doing is destructive. They flail around with balled up fist swinging them everywhere and doing karate roundhouse kicks actually attempting to hurt people (or more popularly phrased as fighting “invisible ninjas”). This ruins the purity and the fun of moshing to begin with, since now you are paranoid about getting seriously injured. One of the worst parts about these dancers is that they attempt to defend it….keyword being attempt, might I add. At many of the metal shows I have been to I have seen these hardcore dancers come into mosh pits, hit someone, then get pummeled by 6 guys. If that is what they think metal is all about, I welcome them to do it. The world needs more punching bags to make the world a better place and relieve my stress….

Love,

Bane

For anyone who ever said metal is just mindless noise...

Just look at the complexity of this song...