Metal Reviews

Death to 4/4? Why? Explain.

It's boring, everything is in 4/4...

Damn, I'm writing down that groove, it's just so awesome!

I bet you that a vast amount of the beats you hear that you think have obscure time sigs really are just creative 4/4's with the feel of another time sig. Tool likes to do that alot, for example. False 5/4's.

I can count. But I give you I like beats like that. Unfortunately, metal uses too much of the steady pulses (1/2/3/4/6/8/12/16 beats equally devided in the measures) that's what makes it boring too. Snare on just 2 and 4 is just gay.

You can count all right... YOU CAN COUNT ON ME WAITING FOR YOU IN THE PARKING LOT~! [/Golfmovie]

You can tell when someone's playing 4/4 and not 4/4? That's good. I really don't have the ear for drumming that I wish I did. I go off of my drum instructor's word 99% of the time.

I suck at counting out rhythms too

>___<

Just can't do it by ear... yet.

You come off as both an art fag and a homophobic bigot with that statement. I'm impressed!



But seriously, that way of thinking is just as limiting as just sticking to hitting the snare on 2 and 4.

And drums are just part of the equation. A lot of the BM you like (and a lot of other music) doesn't have very interesting drumming, (interesting from a drummer's viewpoint, that is) but the compositions as a whole are good.

I think all musicians have a tendency to focus too much on their own instrument sometimes. I know i tend to focus on the guitars too much when i listen to and analyze music.

Well in most black metal it is inevitable to focus more on the guitars than on the drums.

When i listen to most death metal though, i tend to focus a little more on the drums but in the end i try to listen to the song as a whole.

Hehe, exageration is a form of art too! I'm not meaning saying I don't want to play of hear any rhythm with the snare on just 2 and 4, but I would like to have a bit more fair a distribution. As long as it sounds good eh.
You're right at the musicians focus, I'm a wanker for minimalism too.

Haha, that's right. Everyone wants to be the talented musician... but in the end, who gives a fuck if the overall sound of the music sucks? Or if it's just the greatest drummer in the world doing a one man circus act?

People make a big deal out of Derek Roddy getting denied from Psyopus, but that guy KNOWS how to drive a song with his drums, and compliment solid guitar/bass work in a still growing style of music. How much more technical does he need to be? He's already found his niche!

GRANTED... There's always the personal enjoyment factor. What sucks is that everyone is their own worst critic, and that can be a stupid reason to play, but if you enjoy being engaged by a diverse blend of styles, counts, or improvisation (or the rush of messing up, but continuing anyhow, and picking up without losing count...), then power to you. I guess it just becomes a question of whether or not it's something you should do alone in your garage, or something that will actually fit your band.

Also the guy from Canvas Solaris is a really good drummer, and a totally cool guy because he's introduced me to all sorts of awesome music from obscure 70s prog to ambient to underground american metal bands.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=KdZUMor8LCA

Vern, first of all, Roddy is not so simple, he does some pretty awesome technical stuff on for example I Monarch, and there is even a vid somewhere of him showing a polyrhythm footpatern in 5/8 (or 7/8, can't remember) with different stuff on top. Secondly, something that is complex does not necessarily sound weird. Most latindrumming is pretty easy to listen to, but if you dissect it into the polyrhythms it's got, that sometimes sums up to a wholly interesting bunch. And there are also very easy paterns that sound really weird. It's not all back and white. A good drummer makes a complex groove sound just as groovy as a simple one. Filling a groove with a shitload of random notes in 4 over 3 does not mean it's complex, but it also means it's bad. Fitting something with the band is very hard, but easier for simple grooves, that's why it sometimes might sound better. I agree it does not always have to be complex, but I just want it to be interesting. Something new in my ears does the trick.

I never said he was a Neanderthal drummer. There's a reason they call him "one take." The guy DRIVES the best of death metal. He's so respected, there's even a rumour that he beat Flo in a drum off. He didn't fit Psyopus, but trivia cunts say it was cuz he was incapable of pleasing them. He just didn't fit. Just like Fenriz wouldn't fit Darkthrone's illustrious discog revealing all his talents, which he's known to have. He hasn't drummed to his full potential since Soulside.

I could care less even if drums are straight up ripped off, as long as they make the song flow, and add just the personality it needs... THEN THE JOB IS TEH DONE! : )

I agree with new = awesome, though, to the extent that it should satiate you the same way Trey from Morbid Angel is pleased with his own guitarwork. As long as it satisfies you at the core (and maybe boosts your ego a bit?), and it feels like an extension of yourself... w00t. Right? Trey's a bit different, because he gets off on tapping into the uncharted. But, the example is the same. Just get off.

I'm like four pages late, but:

Carl-Micheal Eide

He's my favorite

How can you write it down?! I can't reproduce simply by ear.

At least share it with the deaf ones.

Well, this groove is way beyond my ears as well, but I think I got somewhere in the near. Maybe people that have been drumming longer than a couple of months can tell me more about, hehe.
The basic rhythm in the beginning it this:

Easy enough, but then he adds the snare, in a Moeller whip of I think 3 over 2:

And at the same time the cowbell, also in 16th note triplets. Unfortunately, he varies a lot with this, and it's hard to get what he's really doing. Please help me out if your ear is better than mine.

That's amazing, Misha. Some = better than nothing. I'm gunna try it when I go home, and become familiar with these, then see how close you got when I watch Rodney again.