| My friends, get out your leather jackets and tight jeans, because 2005 is the year that heavy music decided to fight back and return to critical and commercial favour. In the first half of the year, veterans Corrosion of Conformity got back to their roots with In the Arms of God, Meshuggah proved they could pull off a 47-minute song with "Catch Thirty Three," High on Fire unleashed Blessed Black Wings and System of a Down released Mesmerize, the first part of an ambitious double album. Later in the year, Pelican released the moody (and instrumental) The Fire in our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw, System of a Down released the second part of their double album and some up-and-comers called Early Man stripped metal down to its bare essentials with their debut, Closing In.
These releases, as well as the emergence and popularity of groups like Mastodon show there is a change taking place in the world of heavy metal. There is a trend of newly emerging groups and established veterans alike taking an approach to metal that is both classic and forward thinking, taking elements of ’80s underground thrash and even ’70s blues-based metal and making a noise that’s entirely their own. These musicians revere their fathers (Motorhead, Slayer, early Metallica) and grandfathers (Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Alice Cooper) with equal devotion, but they’re still boldly taking the genre forward.
Pelican’s music shows the influence of experimental rockers such as Tortoise and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, making music that proves texture and ambience can be crushingly heavy. On the other end of the spectrum, Early Man prove that two men armed with a drum kit, a guitar and some seriously hairy knuckles can make an incredible amount of noise, and their stripped down sound flies in the face of the perceived excesses of the genre. For those willing to look, 2005 offered heavy music fans a selection of releases that was diverse and challenging while still kicking ass.
This can largely be inferred as a reaction to the so-called "Nu-Metal" genre that emerged in the mid ’90s. Although notable at the time for blending hip hop and skate punk sounds into metal, the genre has largely become stale and more concerned with making slick videos for MTV and prepping its members for magazine covers. Musically, the bands have been content to dole out the same old thing, essentially becoming parodies of themselves. But then what would you expect from a movement that made Fred Durst famous? The groups I mentioned earlier realize metal should not be playing while soccer moms shop for sweaters at The Gap.
Another interesting trend is the number of indie and alternative groups who are incorporating metallic elements into their sound. Although not metal per se, groups such as The Queens of the Stone Age, Muse and The Mars Volta are achieving a large level of success with a sound that owes a great deal to the genre. And for the most part, they’re getting that success the old-fashioned way – through relentless touring and word of mouth.
Other, smaller bands are doing this too, from the Slayer-meets-Oasis vibe of Burning Brides to acid rockers Dead Meadow, who reach all the way to the genre’s roots in late ’60s psychedelia. And Canada’s own Death From Above 1979 offer up distorted metallic riffs that your girlfriend can dance to.
The impact of this is two-fold – it shows headbangers that indie rock isn’t all warbled vocals and xylophones, and indie kids are learning the value of a pile-driving riff. What’s next, copies of Joy Division’s Closer sitting comfortably beside copies of Iron Maiden’s Powerslave? If this continues, 2006 may be the year that hipsters stop their aloof heads nodding at concerts, raise their devil horns into the air and indulge in the simple pleasures that can be gleaned by banging one’s head. |
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