In this article i will be describing the musical genre 'metal' by writing about specific features commonly found in the writing process and song production. The features that i will cover include: Harmonic characteristics, melodic content, texture and timbre, subject matter and sonic characteristics.
Harmonic Characteristics
Firstly i will be describing the harmonic characteristics. Very often in metal music they use chromatic chord progressions to build very tense and a quite harsh sounding atmosphere. Metal music makes heavy use of pedal notes which is when they have a sustained note usually played by the bass. This is the basis for the harmonic structure of the song. Guitarists in metal very often use power chords because they sound very strong and fit into the genre very well. Also guitarists will down tune their guitars to make playing power chords easier and to make the music sound darker and heavier. Power chords consist of the root note then the 5th and then the third note in the chord will be an octave higher than the root note.
Melody
In regards to melody, metal can be one of the most melodic genres of music. However unfortunately most of the time it is completely devoid of this and relies on single note patterns with interesting rhythms. Very often in metal music the guitarist will play licks in between vocal lines, which are very similar to call and response which is often found in jazz and blues music. Metal mainly uses the Aeolian (the natural minor scale) and Phrygian modes to construct the harmonies, this is because they have very minor and dark sounds. Some of the melodies in metal music can be very complex mainly because of difficult guitar techniques that are used such as sweep picking and pinch harmonics etc.
Instrumentation and texture
Metal music usually has very unusual drum beats for example "Quantum flux" performed by Northlane (I believe this is in the time signature 6/8 mostly however I am unsure). More than often they will make use of double bass pedals which will play in unison with the rhythm of the guitars and bass. The guitarists will often down tune their guitars like i said earlier, to do this they will use thicker strings that can handle the lower tunings. The rhythm guitars will almost always be distorted whilst the lead guitarists would play clean melodies. These melodies can usually be very atmospheric and odd sounding in regards to most popular music.
Subject Matter
Metal doesn't have a set subject matter, but almost always is will incorporate a very powerful meaningful message. Sometimes this will be political or sometimes it will just be personal to the lyricist. For example the song "These colours don't run" by the Architects is about how the society we live in todays restricts us from so many different opportunities and experiences. Lyrically it is trying to tell us that we are being forced into a certain lifestyle and if we don't take risks then how will we expand and evolve as humans. Mixing colours sometimes makes dirty colours but occasionally it creates new beautiful ones. Another example could be "Anaesthetist" written by Enter Shikari. This song has a very political theme and is written about the possible privatisation of the NHS. Enter Shikari are trying to say that privatising the NHS would be an awful decision and that making money off of other peoples health is a crime. "Illness is not an indulgence which you should pay for, Nor is it a crime for which you should be punished".
Structure
Metal songs very often have similar structures, they would obviously start with the introduction and when the verse kicks in it will usually have the same melody with some chords chugged underneath and a powerful drumbeat. It will alternate between the verse and chorus a couple times until it comes to a bridge to change it up a bit, more than often the bridge will build up into a breakdown which is the heaviest part of the song which normally has a strange catchy rhythm to it and little to no vocals. Math metal makes heavy use of strange time signatures and would have a lot of breakdowns. This will either fade out or they will reuse the intro for the outro.
Technological/Production elements
Metal can be one of the more difficult genres of music to record because there is so much going on, it can be very difficult to balance everything out and make sure that every detailed is heard clearly.
For the drums there is no trend in microphone choice. However metal drummer use a lot of different symbols so recording each one can be tricky and time consuming. These symbols can be recorded in pairs as long as the volume between each is fairly balanced. Metal drummers also use a specialised symbol called a "china", these symbols are incredibly loud and should be recorded on their own.
Some metal drummers will use triggers which allow the drums to be at a constant volume, this is usually because when they use bass drum they press the pedal so fast that the loudness is very inconsistent. This would make the mixing process a lot easier.
When recording the bass it is common to both record it straight from the DI box and to put a microphone in front of the amp. This brings both the clarity from the DI box and the amp will provide the main body of the sound. Afterwards you can record the same bass section of the song with distortion and you can add as much of it as you like as it will not affect the clarity from the DI channel.
Recording the guitar is one of the simples parts of the recording process, getting a great tone is done by using the right pickups, amps and pedals, so once that is all set up all the producer has to do is hit record.
Most metal vocalists will use quality condenser mics to capture the aggressive shouting vocals. They will also often use a variety of different microphones to record the clean vocals, the high screams and the low growls. Pop shields are also used a lot to stop the sharp consonants from ruining the recording.
History
Metal first developed in the early 70s with influences from psychedelic rock and the blues. The first bands to be considered "metal" were the likes of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, however they were often insulted and critiqued poorly which has become somewhat of a trend throughout metals history. During the late 70s British metal became more popular and infused more punk rock themes. Metal music gained its commercial success during the 80s when huge bands like Metallica, Iron Maiden and Slayer became popular. After that slipknot gained popularity during the late 90s which inspired it to be as extreme as it is today.
3a - Links to songs mentioned
Northlane - Quantum Flux
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIajmLP46b4
Architects - These colours don't run
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHHJF2cUwyY
Enter Shikari - Anaesthetist "Illness is not an indulgence which you should pay for, Nor is it a crime for which you should be punished"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1OIxKYmdG0
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