Same thing other people say of all metal overall. Heck, that's what they say about all kinds of rock. It's a double case of observing things outside of the proverbial fishtank: even to most rock fans, Brutal Metal sounds like noise, instead of music. Vocals by themselves are an instrument as much as the guitar or the drums; they are crucial components of virtually any kind of music, from the beginning of time. Perhaps you're right in stating that the grunts should be perceived as part of the mood, the theme of the style of music, but that doesn't mean they'll be appreciated, because every person appreciates all instruments in a different way. While the grunts fit the mood, while those characterize the style of music, they don't seem to benefit them. You can't seem to find any melodical attunement between the grunts and the disparate chords, the kind you notice in most other bands.Originally Posted by Raider
Observe it this way:
For a rock band to be a rock band, you need a few things: guitar, bass guitar, drums. The style you represent depends greatly on what do you add, on where do you innovate...heck, even the speed of the riffs.
The lower ends of the rock spectrum would be roughly placed betwee pop rock and alternative. Alternative is very soft, melodical, usually adding acoustics instead of electronics. Pop rock is similar, but a bit more catchy, with a mood of party so to say.
Going up the spectrum, you find things such as the various cores, old-school rock and glam bands, all the way to metal ballads. You tend to feel the vibration coming from those instruments, and the voice of the singers often resides within high tones.
Then, comes metal. To be considered metal, it needs to comply with a set of requirements, most notably: faster riffs than other forms of rock, a variety of pedals to provide different kinds of riffs with purely electronic instruments, amongst others. Now, I ain't a music historian, but I'm sure you'll agree that generally metal sounds "faster" and "louder" than most kinds of rock.
Metal itself is subdivided into sub-genres:
--Speed/Thrash/Power. These bands usually deal with near-impossible riffs and drumbeats, focusing on speed of interpretation over the lyrical content. Metallica and Dragonforce lay on this group.
--Death/Black. If anyone's to blame for the bad rep of metal (speaking in terms of the huge amount of negative promotion; see to it that it works the way it intends), these are the responsibles. The themes of darkness and taboo permeate these groups, where the spectacle they provide and the lyrical content oft supersede the speed or the precise execution of the chords and beats.
Brutal Metal falls outside and in-between both. You can say they took the no-nonsense speed of the first genre, and the grunts and violence of the second, and attempted a revolution in sound; sadly, the end result is they took the wrong things or took things on the incorrect proportion.
Speed metal and power metal depend on execution, on timing. A bad chord, a chord plucked too early or too late ruins the general mood of the song. Brutal Metal sought to make that distortion their spearhead. Not good.
Black and Death Metal use grunts as part of the mood. If they are to interpret vicious and bloodthirsty berserkers, or demons of the lowest pits of Hell, grunts help to visualize that image. Grunts by themselves sound stupid and make no sense. Not good.
If they were to fix the distorted execution, they fall into Speed or Power Metal and the grunts will be seen out of place. To fall into Black or Death Metal, they need the image, and those bands seem to mock the imagery instead of embracing it.
There's nothing bad on listening the bands or trying to experiment: Metal was born out of experimentation. But, sometimes, trying to pull off success with something that might be rather considered a failure doesn't seem to aid the genre itself. The bands don't attempt to portray the image of an instrumental band, where even the vocal chords serve as an instrument and not as a lyrics provider. The grunts are meant to convey lyrics, and since those aren't understood, you can't truly enjoy the words and the song itself seems out of place. The bands try to portray an image of excessive violence, but even violence has a rhythm; the same rhythm they lack.
As a form of personal experience, I listen to metal while visualizing a battle. The battle isn't an actual, real-time speed battle, but one that fits thematically such oft-loved and even more hated series such as DBZ and the Matrix. Each beat signals a strike with a weapon or a technique; when the beats accelerate, trying to match each strike with a martial art strike helps you to visualize the rhythm. Each strum of the chords helps you to visualize the flow of each strike. Now, if you were to listen other bands, you'd see how easily it is to "observe" the rhythm of the music, of the song; hence realizing metal, and rock in general, isn't what some people think (noise) and more what they intend to exalt (music)
Try doing that with Brutal Metal. You fall out of rhythm so quickly, the flow of the imagined battle cuts abruptly.
To end this possibly needless and half-asleep-written rant, I'd like to point out something: if you listen to metal, you probably listen to it because of the rhythm. Humanity feels comfortable with rhythms and sequences; pure and unbridled, undistilled chaos is a concept few humans are capable of comprehending, let alone enjoy. That may be the reason why I feel uncomfortable with Brutal Metal; I don't find a rhythm in the songs. That also doesn't mean that you should feel discouraged to stop listening to it.
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