Avant-garde metal
Template:Short description Template:Redirect Template:Use dmy dates {{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template other{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox music genre with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| alt | caption | cultural_origins | current_year | current_year_override | current_year_title | derivatives | etymology | footnotes | fusiongenres | image | image_size | instruments | local_scenes | name | native_name | native_name_lang | other_names | other_topics | regional_scenes | stylistic_origins | subgenrelist | subgenres |showblankpositional=1}} Avant-garde metal (also known as avant-metal, experimental metal, art metal and experimetal) is a subgenre of heavy metal music loosely defined by use of experimentation and innovative, avant-garde elements, including non-standard and unconventional sounds, instruments, song structures, playing styles, and vocal techniques. Avant-garde metal is influenced by progressive rock and extreme metal, particularly death metal, and is closely related to progressive metal. Some local scenes include Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Boston, and Seattle in the United States, Oslo in Norway, and Tokyo in Japan.
CharacteristicsEdit
"Avant-garde metal" is interchangeable with "experimental metal"<ref name="bowar">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and "avant-metal",<ref name ="rs avant-metal"/><ref name="rollingstone schizoid2">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Avant-garde metal is related to progressive metal, but avant-garde metal often has more experimentation, while progressive metal usually has a tighter focus on traditional metal instrumentation and higher levels of technical complexity.<ref name=Freeborn>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Avant-garde metal also uses unusual sounds, breaks conventions, and often includes new elements.
The lyrics and visual presentation of the genre are eclectic as well.<ref name="Freeborn" /> According to Jeff Wagner in Mean Deviation, electronic percussion and drum machines see widespread use by avant-garde metal bands, along with female vocals and operatic elements, all of which he attributes to the influence of the band Celtic Frost.<ref name="commontechniques">Wagner 2010, pg. 124.</ref> The Canadian group Voivod also influenced future bands in the genre, pioneering technique such as robotic vocal effects, unusual time signatures, and fractured, dissonant, unorthodox guitar sounds.<ref name="commontechniques" />
HistoryEdit
According to Ian Christe, avant-garde metal emerged from death metal as a number of musicians "abandoned the tightly wound structure of the music and experimented with abstractions of its founding elements".<ref name=soundofbeast>Christe, Ian (2004). Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal. Harper Paperbacks. p. 253. Template:ISBN. Retrieved 6 August 2011.</ref> Progressive rock has also been cited as an influence.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Some early examples are the King Crimson releases Larks' Tongues in Aspic and Red in 1973 and 1974 respectively, with the latter album's title track defining an "avant-metal style" that Robert Fripp would revisit years later.<ref name ="rs avant-metal">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name=kingcrimson>Template:Cite book</ref> Another early example is the 1976 Led Zeppelin album Presence.<ref name=ledzeppelin>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Celtic Frost was an early pioneer of the genre;<ref name="pioneer">Wagner 2010, pg. 109, 117.</ref> the term "avant-garde metal" was coined to describe their 1987 release Into the Pandemonium.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Other pioneers of avant-garde metal include Gorguts, Boris,<ref name=headymetal/> Earth,<ref name=Earth>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Helmet,<ref name=helmet>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Mayhem,<ref>Wagner 2010, pg. 252.</ref> Maudlin of the Well,<ref name=maudlin>Wagner 2010, pg. 308.</ref> Neurosis,<ref name=Q&A>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Sunn O))),<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Mr. Bungle,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Today Is the Day, and Voivod.<ref name="pioneer" />
In the late 1990s, Misanthropy Records emerged as a promoter of Norwegian avant-garde metal until it folded in 2000,<ref name="avantgardelabels">Wagner 2010, pg. 124, 301-302.</ref> and, according to Jeff Wagner, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, a so-called "new wave of avant-garde metal" was spearheaded by The End Records.<ref name="avantgardelabels" /> Wagner states that "with the support of [Misanthropy and The End Records] and other specialty labels, metal's new avant-garde had arrived."<ref name="avantgardelabels" /> Some other record labels which promote avant-garde metal are Aurora Borealis,<ref name="aurora">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Flenser,<ref name="flenser">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Holy Records,<ref name="holy">Wagner 2010, pg. 344.</ref> Hydra Head Records,<ref name="hydra">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Ipecac Recordings,<ref name="ipecac">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Napalm Records,<ref name="draconian">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the Release Entertainment imprint of Relapse Records,<ref name="relapse">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Seventh Rule Recordings,<ref name="seventhrule">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Southern Lord Records.<ref name="southernlord">Template:Cite magazine</ref> In the United States, local avant-garde metal scenes have emerged in the San Francisco Bay Area with bands such as Giant Squid, Grayceon, and Ludicra,<ref name="bayarea">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}; {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and in Boston, with bands such as Isis, Kayo Dot, and Maudlin of the Well.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Some regional scenes that developed in the mid-1990s included the cities of Tokyo, Los Angeles, and Oslo.<ref name="headymetal">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
SourcesEdit
- Wagner, Jeff (2010). Mean Deviation. Bazillion Points Books. Template:ISBN.
External linksEdit
- Avantgarde-Metal.com – website for avant-garde metal
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