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….
Previously, I had only heard of the breakdown discussed in terms of hip-hop. So its interesting to see it, a decade or so later, come up in metal. Over all, this seems to echo our discussion of the guitar solo. In the hands of the talented musician, the guitar solo can be transcendent. However, any musical convention [and notice even the word--conventional] will eventually become imitated by those less talented than the originator. In the case of the guitar solo, this often meant that better technical musicians created solos with far less artistic merit.
ReplyDeleteThis 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.
ReplyDeleteI *think* this is phenomenal work...but honestly, I have no idea. If this piece is to cater to to all walks of metal fans, I feel its a little too specific, in terms of the usage of metal jargon and technical terms. By no means am I asking you to dumb it down for tools like me who only mosh to the Jonas Brothers. However, if the overall voice of the blog is to be an intro course to metal, per say, I'd like too see the specific terms also explained in more lamens terms. I think this would broaden your audience 10 fold.
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