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Why do death metal bands use complex words

#61
^ That reminds me. I think the Iced Earth singer is (or was) the singer from Into Eternity (Stu Block?). Mass shred, cookie vocals in the verses but soaring vocals in the choruses. And they sound *exactly* like the album live, with him toggling between the gutteral bits and amazing sustained clean highs. Awesome vocalist. Check out "Timeless Winter" for a good example of his range at the 1:05 mark.

 
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#62
I haven't seen Into Eternity live, but Stu does a great job with Iced Earth. He even does admirable justice to some of their older songs with Matt Barlow. and he's young, so they can move forward with him.
 
#63
kleinenenten said:
Metalheads can write beautiful stuff!

As for the "book readin'", I actually did go to school as an English major and am a huge metal fan (of all varieties). A lot of metal has very interesting viewpoints/arguments/lyrical structures and bases. They deserve more credit than they get for lyrics! Vocals, are of course often in the way of understanding the lyrics, but I'm amazed at what I can understand when I try! Of course, I have years of experience understanding metal vocals, and on more than a few cases have looked up the lyrics.
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Indeed, I have a BA and MA in English, and I am in a metal band (though not death metal). Oddly enough my guitarist writes the lyrics as he is the vocalist, yet he is a chemical engineer. Though he does base his phrasing on Wordsworth poems so...
 
#64
Isn't a better question "why do pop songs write at a 4th grade level?" The average radio friendly song is so childishly predictable that I can sometimes guess what the next line will be without ever having heard the song before. There are probably a lot of malapropisms in death/grind when some guys get in over their heads lyrically, but as a song writer it's more fun to use the whole dictionary rather than just an elementary spelling book.
Plus trying to explain your hate for the world sometimes needs a few multisyllabic words.
 
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#67
I
Bloodhammer said:
Everyone knows that smart music is played on four chords in 4/4 timing with unsyncopated rhythms and lyrics written in first person dealing with the subject of falling in and/or losing love.

Duh.
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can't spell. Nope. It's true. I'm ok with that. I admit it. Caught red handed. But spelling and intelligence aren't the same thing ;). I love some metal. I'm not hating on it. I play. Rock, jazz, metal, punk..... What ever. Give me good liqueur or cheap beer and a solid drummer and I'm set!!
 
#70
2behead said:
I can't spell. Nope. It's true. I'm ok with that. I admit it. Caught red handed. But spelling and intelligence aren't the same thing ;). I love some metal. I'm not hating on it. I play. Rock, jazz, metal, punk..... What ever. Give me good liqueur or cheap beer and a solid drummer and I'm set!!
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Well there are more than one approaches to writing death metal. The "br00tal kids" tend to be geared more toward trying to out-technical each other with their music and subsequently have an audience of other br00tal kids who are scrutinizing and judging them intensely. You see a lot of them in local scenes, but they rarely go anywhere unless they come up with a gimmick or learn to play a measure more than one time (A hook! Oh my!). I think these are the types you were describing, but they're hardly the majority of death metal. When these kids mature, they often grow a sense of humor and develop their style into gore-grind or porn-grind - which is usually pretty fun to listen to.

I think most people who play death metal (or any music for that matter) simply play what they want to hear.

As for lyrics being smart or not, I think anything that deviates from the same old stuff about love, sex, dancing, promotion of the genre of music being played, or just plain pandering to teenagers is at least less trite if not necessarily more intelligent. ;)
 
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#75
Toptube said:
If you are looking for something like that, I think Iced Earth is the best modern band for that sort of thing. Unfortunately, their numerous lineup changes have likely prevented them from truly taking off as hugely popular band. But despite all of that, Jon Schaffer (founder/writer/rythm guitarist) has kept things remarkably solid.

Here's what is in my opinion, the absolute best song from their newest album. The second album with their third, newer singer, Stu Block. The song is classic Iced Earth structure. I saw them singe this live, last week. Stu's a good guy and a strong live singer:

Cthulhu


Here's a similarly structured song with their previous singer, Matt Barlow. One of the best metal singers of all time. Unfortunately, he's gotten old and can't hit it live like he used to:
Slave to The Dark (from an entire album about Todd McFarlane's Comic book character "Spawn")


check out "Alive In Athens" to hear Barlow live, in his prime.

they have tons of good music. I personally stared with the "Horror Show" album, where each song is about a classic horror movie monster. The crowning jewel being this duet:

Phantom Opera Ghost:
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They are seriously one of my favorite bands of all time! They will never be taken off my rotation. Also, to prove your point about having a revolving door membership, Stu Block is their 5th singer, not 3rd. Yeah, it's that many. Barlow, however, IS the voice of Iced Earth if you ask me. All of their albums are solid, and some are simply phenomenal. I'd recommend the entire discography!
 
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