Tuning Ears

The Headbanger

Doom. Thrash. Words which in seclusion can mean little but when applied to music can conjure images of hairy men headbanging to strange people wearing gas mask and making strange, strangled, guttural, noises. Music for me has always been connected closely to my emotional state. If I'm I want a catharsis. If I'm happy I want someone to agree with me and bolster my mood.

To enjoy music a basic understanding is often useful. Few people listen to music, many just hear it. For the majority of this article I will try to describe What I hear when I listen to song. Utilising the concurrent theme of  duality it seems reasonable to compare a couple of songs which can be considered to be from opposite ends of the spectrum of metal.  

The two songs that I have chosen are; Disciple by Slayer (from the album God Hates Us All 2001) and The Cry of Mankind by My Dying Bride (from The Angel and the Dark River 1995). Both of these songs, for me, gives a concise slice into two deep genres. I won't always give this much detail but if you start to properly listen to music you can get a lot more out of it.

Slayer, a band which has been around since 1981, they have been classed as one of the fabled BIG FOUR thrash metal bands (Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica and Slayer). These metal bands have been responsible for converting many a teenage ear onto the path of metal. The Album God Hates Us All was released in 2001 and has garnered much media attention for it's explicit album art (the picture on the left is merely the `nice` cover slip which was used to censor the original artwork in shops) as well as it's, sometimes, controversial lyrics. I advise you listen to the song as you read this to get an idea of what I'm talking about.

Disciple is the second track on the album, the first being an atmospheric build up which climaxes with an almost shocking abrupt stop-start phrase which heralds the beginning of the aforementioned song. This harsh short passage is then followed by some nice establishing guitar and double bass drum work from Hanneman, King and Bostaph (respectively) which sets up the main feel of the song and a sense of horseback movement, to be only emphasised by Araya's bass guitar doubles. This is broken down, flowing nicely into the verse via a quick guitar/drum passage, very typical of this genre. With a fast fire delivery Araya delivers harsh and fast lyrics like a leaking artery and Bostaph's drums, which are heavy on the tom work to begin with, give a distinct sense of urgency. Lyrics purveying an independent and aggressive attitude are a hallmark of Slayer and part of their appeal and very prominent in this song. The chorus consists of an almost breakdown like bass/guitar double with a discordant, high pitched guitar passage. This stark contrast between thick stark bass/guitar coordination and this high pitched guitar part helps to slow down the chorus whilst also keeping it's momentum. On top of this is placed the drawn out mantra which Araya screams like a demented Hari Krishna-  `God Hates Us All`. This caustic message is pounded into the listeners mind like a stun bolt at an abattoir. 

This breaks down into the familiar, fast and relentless guitar of the verse. Which after another chorus breaks into a surging guitar solo which sounds like an out of control centrifuge attached to a rotary organ. This ends before it has the opportunity to become guitar wank (thank god), allowing the band (and more importantly the listener) to gain a stable footing after the furious headbanging of the past 1m 30s slipping into a restful back-to-basics single guitar hi-hat combo with some glorious feedback overlayed for good measure progressing to a sharp wakeup double  from guitar and choked hi-hat. Back we are again, breakneck speed, we're thrust deep into the confines of thrash, loud, proud and fucking pissed off. This leads into a very progressive (not progressive metal but progressive in terms of movement in the song) with a very prominent snare drum on all the whole beats, leading to a climax only exemplified by Araya's long drawn out screams. Ending in a death throw like diminuendo. The song presents its true anger, slow and calculated, the song moves like a snake from here on, with deadly precision the guitars close off the artery and the song dies.

The next song I have chosen is, as previously mentioned, The Cry of Mankind by My Dying Bride. My Dying Bride are considered to be pretty staple in their position as funeral/doom metal tyrants. While thrash metals aggression is the prime emotion, the fueling emotion of doom metal is simply that, doom. This review/song breakdown will be in Part Two of Tuning Ears.

Thanks for reading guys.

Shai-hu-lud slithers on.