The Djent thread

I guess after finding Cloudkicker's music on their website, I have stumbled across the term "Djent", which I suppose is the term for the Meshuggah-inspired genre with all the polyrhythms and the low tuned 7 string esque chugs, except the onomatopoiea is better described as 'djent' now. This has described related bands like Textures, Tesseract, Periphery, Vildhjarta, etc.

Hell yeah, an actually new topic.
I hate the way the word djent is being bandied around to be honest.
Djent is a picking technique, not a goddamn genre, which isn't and never was exclusive to these math metal bands that frequently use the technique on the guitars.

Meshuggah these days are rocking 8 strings, tuned to F standard (from low to high, F, Bb, Eb, Ab, Dd, Gb, Bb and Eb), although Misha "Bulb" Mansoor actually still plays his 6 string a lot (he frequents one of the guitar forums I go to quite often, sevenstring.org), and rarely, if ever uses his 8 string.
Pretty much most of sevenstring.org's members are looking forward to Periphery's album release, myself included.
I believe his 6 strings are tuned to drop C.
I'm a big fan of Chimp Spanner's stuff too, he's also a regular at sevenstring.org.

I quite like how Bulb incorporates two handed/ right hand tapping into his licks. Meshuggah never really did that, so it's good to see someone who can come up with new ideas.

The thing about djent is that it ALREADY IS really popular among the metal guitar community and at various forum boards across the internet, there are thousands upon thousands (literally) of Meshuggah and Periphery inspired sound clips people have recorded and mixed.
The "Djent" (urgh that word again) scene is well under way and has been for a while now and so much of it sounds the same really.
It's gotten to the point where I rarely check the Recording forum of sevenstring.org now because I'm just sick of hearing the same old tired, cliche Meshuggah rip off song and I wish there were more death metal and just well, "normal" metal clips posted there instead.

As much as I love the music of Meshuggah and Periphery, I can't bring myself to ever writing a song in that style (despite the fact I do in fact play 7 string guitars and 5 string bass guitars exclusively) and I've realized as a a metal musician my heart lies more in playing tech death stuff

Also, a not on Periphery, they don't really use poly rhythms, most of it is actually just syncopated rhythms, which even Bulb himself admitted in an interview.
Technically Meshuggah use polymeters anyway, not polyrhythms. They aren't exactly the same thing


Edited by Petrovsk Mizinski - February 15 2010 at 08:58

Being Mr Pedantic-Pants, it's actually an increase of frequencies around 2-3KHz which increases that pick attack sound, which is technically the upper mid range and not treble :P
I'm aware Meshuggah use 4/4, but poly rhythms are still poly rhythms (well actually, technically, as I said, its' polymetric rhythms, not polyrhythms, they are two entirely different things and these "Djent" bands don't use poly rhythms, they use polymeters)
What I meant about Periphery is that they don't even use that many polymeters that much, it's mainly just a lot of syncopation.
Bulb himself said he just likes writing what comes out, and often it's just syncopated stuff

And it's not just me that feels that way about the word anyway, a very large portion of the guitar community doesn't like to refer to it that way.
If you hung around sevenstring.org as much as I did, you'd understand why the term annoys me so much because you get all these retard new members asking "GUIZE HOW DO TEH DJENTZ?" every week

Periphery lacking musical depth and creativity? I dunno man, Bulb is a VERY diverse guitar player  stylistically and the band themselves can do a lot of different.
Listen to "All New Materials" and then "Icarus Lives" and then tell me they aren't capable of really playing with totally different, diverse and creative stuff.
Hell, go to Bulb's soundclick page and listen to the cover version of "Black and White". That is easily the most creative cover of that song you'd ever hear.

I agree more people need to get behind this music.
It totally sh*ts on the current Dream Theater type prog metal for pure creativity.



Ultimately, what kind of music is it? It's mainly just a lot of groove metal at the end of the day, that's been tech'd up and more so driven by 7 and 8 string guitars.
It might be hard to understand how that works if you've come straight in Periphery and Textures and didn't really follow metal before that, but as someone who really knows metal from Sabbath, through to the NWOBHM, thrash metal, death metal, and the earliest groove metal, You really need to understand that lineage to see where bands like Meshuggah came from in the first place, otherwise I'd have to seriously call into question someone's knowledge of the metal genre as a whole if they see this "djent" thing as being entirely new.

Fact is, while it's an innovative take on it, it's not an entirely new genre, it's still at it's core as groove metal as Pantera and Machine Head were, but it's just taking groove metal in a more modern direction with a greater degree of instrumental prowess, compositional complexity.
This is not a bash on bands like Meshuggah, Periphery etc, I love the music these guys put out, but the music is still fundamentally groove metal in a lot of cases because it has that feel and that mid range tempo


Edit: Until bands release albums they can't be added to PA, hence why no Periphery and Tesseract yet.



Edited by Petrovsk Mizinski - February 16 2010 at 06:19

Petrovsk Mizinski wrote: Fact is, while it's an innovative take on it, it's not an entirely new genre, it's still at it's core as groove metal as Pantera and Machine Head were, but it's just taking groove metal in a more modern direction with a greater degree of instrumental prowess, compositional complexity. This is not a bash on bands like Meshuggah, Periphery etc, I love the music these guys put out, but the music is still fundamentally groove metal in a lot of cases because it has that feel and that mid range tempo

Hehe. Periphery's and Tesseract's debut album coming in April. Most technical djent is definitely Animals As Leaders.
Also need to mention Vildhjarta, Fellsilent and Uneven Structure (a new band).