What do you guys think?

[Ragman]

I'm wondering what most of the classic great guitarists out there think of these new math metal, and grind bands that seem to have a lot of neo classical and jazz influence. ie - beneath the massacre, anomalous, ion dissonance, crowpath, cryptopsy, psyopus, meshuggah etc etc

I kinda have a theory, i never looked into it, but i sortof feel like most of the great guitarists, and a lot of the people here at ibreathe look down upon these bands, like they are sortof wasted talent or seem to be giving metal a bad name.

Personally i think these bands are pretty innovative, like meshuggah for example have influenced so many with their unique style it almost seems to be taking over the metal scene. almost every band has them listed as influences or has parts in their songs that are meshuggahish.

as far as the death/grind sortof stuff im guessing its the vocals that really turn most guitarists away from it, at least most the guitarists who grew up on iron maiden, scorpions, van halen, white snake etc etc.

but i really think most of these bands get overlooked by a lot of great guitarists, its true the vocals are very prominant and the complete opposite of the bands most great guitarists grew up with.

i also grew up on most of those bands but over the years ive gotten farther into guitar and into different styles, i got bored of the same old classical pieces being played over and over by different guitarists. i think these newer bands really freshen the metal scene up a lot, and use really unique ways of doing it.

anyway i was wondering what you all thought of it too, the guitarists here at ibreathe. if you were thinking about checking some bands out and are open minded to different styles and just wanna hear something new then i suggest you check out some of those bands i mentioned in the beginning.

some links :
www.myspace.com/anomalousmetal
http://www.myspace.com/btm
www.myspace.com/sleepterror
www.myspace.com/meshuggah
www.myspace.com/psyopus - amazing jazz metal

[Poparad]

I'm probably more forward thinking than a lot of musicians, but I am trained in classical music and have college degrees in composition and jazz performance, so I suppose that makes me an 'academic.' I personally love Meshuggah and I recognized from the first time I heard them that the music is very interesting and innovative. My exact impression was something to the effect of "it's about time someone breathed some life and interest into this style and moved it in a new direction."

Some of the songs I've been writing lately have taken the polyrhythmic and aggressive slant of their music to heart. Some of my favorite musicians are also obvious fans of them.

My favorite guitarist, Ben Monder, who draws from very diverse classical and jazz styles, hasn't limited himself to just those domains. Here's a clip from his site from the tune "Rooms of Light" which is very Meshuggah inspired:

http://www.benmonder.com/oceana/roomsoflight.mp3


Another favorite group of mine is a "lungcore" band called Jerseyband (with the same drummer that's on the above Monder clip). They're like Meshuggah with a horn section instead of a singer, plus the humor and melodic sense of Frank Zappa. They have clips on their Myspace page:

http://www.myspace.com/jerseyband

And lastly, there's a guitarist my age from Sweden named Ludwig Goransson who I met on the Kurt Rosenwinkel forums. The first track on his page definitely borrows a bit of the rhythmic sense and aggressive attitude of metal and injects it into a jazz quintet.

http://www.myspace.com/fabulousfivemusic

[Ragman]

Poparad :

What are your thoughts on the more aggressive death metal bands that seem to use jazz and neo classical influence but in a more extreme way?

and what do you think of Psyopus, they experiment a lot with jazz and metal and its quite amazing how technical it is, while still remaining clean and musical?

[Poparad]

Poparad :

What are your thoughts on the more aggressive death metal bands that seem to use jazz and neo classical influence but in a more extreme way?

and what do you think of Psyopus, they experiment a lot with jazz and metal and its quite amazing how technical it is, while still remaining clean and musical?

I'm more listened with jazz than I am in metal, and I haven't heard any of those bands. I love the idea of blending things, but it's often been my experience that it's rare for a band to actually incorporate other styles into their primary style of music. Often when people show me a group and say the band is a fusion of metal and jazz or rock and jazz or this and that, I end up asking "where's the jazz?" That's why I had a thought of "finally" when I heard Meshuggah, because they actually do incorporate elements of jazz, progressive rock, and other idioms. But again, I haven't listened to the bands you've mentioned, so I could be in for another pleasent surprise.