Cult of Luna, Neurosis, Isis..'post-metal' in general

ok, so right off the bat I hate even using that term and feel embarrassed by the sheer lameness..post-metal, what? There is still rock and metal, there can't be post-rock and post-metal. Anyway. For the unfamiliar, post-rock is a mostly instrumental endeavor that borrows from shoegaze and drone, only with beefier and more varied instrumental sections, yet still tends to capture an atmosphere which is usually something morose, contemplative, etc. Some bands are very orthodox to the point of boredom.. like Explosions in the Sky... then there are groups which really take the ideas to the logical progressive potential the style has...like Godspeed You Black Emperor, even though I'm not much of a fan. So 'post-metal' basically takes all this and just adds heavy doom/classic metal riffs and growls or screams. Pretty simple.

So recently I've come to respect much of this stuff as yet another offshoot of progressive music and prog rock in general. There are bands who try to be very linear, but the style itself just naturally lends itself to an open field of sound and I think it's interesting that although a lot of this no doubt came from prog, it masks the direct influences so well.

Neurosis began a lot of this so far as I understand, but my favorite albums that have emerged are probably Cult of Luna - Somewhere Along the Highway, which is loosely based around male loneliness/isolation, and Isis - Panopticon, which seems to sort of revolve around the paranoia and restlessness of possibly existing in such a society.

I know there's probably people here who at least like Pelican, though my own knowledge doesn't extend past their second one yet...

I need to add Boris - Flood to the favorites list... Boris is typically a mix of stuff, but 'Flood' can definitely be put in this category, and is incredible.

Nothing?




Maybe an example or two..

Way too boringly prog for my tastes.

I normally stay out of threads about bands I don't like but hey, you asked.

well, my foot normally stays out of your butt, but..

I'm not a good measuring stick when it comes to stuff like this; I'm really picky and droning on and on with little to no melody for the first several minutes is not a plus in my book.

I've been slowly digging into quite a few of these bands, though I think there are many different styles being lumped under another stupid "corporate" umbrella term...

First thing I do is separate the instrumental bands out.

Pelican and Russian Circles are both instrumental. They both play long spacey jam type tunes with some metal riffs sprinkled in...they are also both from Chicago. Both bands are progressive in structure, but neither group really plays traditional solos, they layer on multiple melodic statements instead. So, you could say they are identical...but they're not.

Russian Circles is a 3-piece band where the guitarist creates soundscapes by layering multiple looped passages together. The bass player also contributes melodic sections by using a variety of effects to change the sound of the bass. So they are very aware of effects, technology and how to employ them to achieve their own sound.

Pelican on the other hand is a 4 piece band with 2 Guitarists. Their method is to build huge melodic statements by careful interplay between the two guitars and the bass which also plays complex melodic patterns. Their compositions are more linear and song based (at least on the later material) whereas Russian Circles tends to be a little more "ethereal".

I love both of these groups, but neither of them are "post-anything", if anything, that might be "pre-something new".

I call both of these bands "INSTRUMENTAL ROCK". That term is good enough for me.

I'll tackle my thoughts on some of the vocal bands later.

Here's a song from Russian Circles...



and a different clip from Pelican...



What I love about this Pelican song is the shift it goes through around the 2:30 mark. It goes from being a heavy, plodding number, to this gorgeous floating melody...great stuff.

I think the bands typically grouped under this do share influences at the very least, as I mentioned in the beginning post....A few bands that were listening to Mogwai, GYBE, and so forth...and then a few more bands that listened to THOSE bands...etc. The term itself is pretty stupid as I mentioned, but I can certainly see how it pertains to each band in the thread here so far..

The Russian Circles stuff is sounding cool.

What I'd like is for a band or bands to take this and just *go out into space* with it as well. When Herbie Hancock stretched jazz out, out popped the Mwandishi albums. I'm waiting for this sort of stuff to leave Earth.

Orion Crystal Ice wrote:

What I'd like is for a band or bands to take this and just *go out into space* with it as well. When Herbie Hancock stretched jazz out, out popped the Mwandishi albums. I'm waiting for this sort of stuff to leave Earth.

Exactly, beautifully put, I'm waiting for that as well.

I've actually been calling these bands "The New Fusion", because in a way, that's exactly what it is. But we're going to need some more adventurous improvisation of the form before they will truly earn that banner.