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| Post-metal | |
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| Other names |
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| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | 1990s, United States and England |
| Typical instruments | |
| Derivative forms | Blackgaze |
| Other topics | |
Post-metal is a music genre rooted inheavy metal but exploring approaches beyond metal conventions. It emerged in the 1990s with bands such asNeurosis andGodflesh, who transformed metaltexture throughexperimental composition. In a way similar to the predecessor genrespost-rock andpost-hardcore, post-metal offsets the darkness and intensity ofextreme metal with an emphasis on atmosphere, emotion, and even "revelation", developing an expansive but introspective sound variously imbued with elements ofambient,noise,psychedelic,progressive, andclassical music, and oftenshoegaze andart rock. Songs are typically long, with loose and layered structures that discard theverse–chorus form in favor ofcrescendos and repeatingthemes. The sound centres on guitars (subjected to variouseffects) and drums, while any vocals are often but not alwaysscreamed orgrowled and resemble an additional instrument.
Post-metal is related to other experimental styles of metal:avant-garde metal,drone metal,progressive metal, andindustrial metal. It has also been calledmetalgaze[1] andart metal,[2] highlighting its connection toshoegaze (anindie music style related to post-rock) andart music, respectively. Contemporary post-metal, pioneered by diverse groups such asIsis,Agalloch,Boris,Pelican,Jesu,Wolves in the Throne Room, andRussian Circles, typically employs the deep heaviness ofdoom metal andsludge metal and/or the dark ferocity ofblack metal. The widespread acclaim ofDeafheaven, who succeededAlcest in combining black metal and shoegaze (a fusion nicknamedblackgaze), made this global post-metal underground more visible.
The groundwork for post-metal was laid in the 1980s and early 1990s by various artists (mostly in the US) combiningheavy metal andpunk rock sounds with an "avant-garde sensibility", such as theMelvins (particularly on 1991'sBullhead),[3]The Flying Luttenbachers,Justin Broadrick ofNapalm Death andGodflesh,[2]Swans,Gore,Last Exit,Glenn Branca,Rollins Band, andFugazi.[4]Helmet's albumsMeantime (1992) andBetty (1994) were also significant,[1] whileTool's music was described as post-metal as early as 1993.[5] Many of these artists emerged fromhardcore punk andpost-punk circles but their combination of sonic violence with experimentation andeclecticism made them difficult to categorize under any one genre.[2]
The termpost-rock was coined in 1994 and soon used to describe a diverse group of bands that shared "a penchant for drifting melodies and the desire to expand beyond establishedrock boundaries".[3] As this movement swelled, bands frompost-hardcore andexperimental backgrounds began to incorporate its tendencies of "ambience, offbeat experimentation, downcast melodies andpsychedelia" into metal.[3] The two genres further converged through the influence of post-rock bands such asMogwai,Godspeed You! Black Emperor, andLift to Experience who shared metal's emphasis on loudness.[4]
Neurosis' third albumSouls at Zero and Godflesh's second albumPure, both released in 1992, are often retrospectively considered the first post-metal records.[3] Godflesh had already pioneered "sluggish and tortured"industrial metal of their 1989 debutStreetcleaner, butPure showcased "more expansive structures and long stretches of billowingnoise", inspiring a number of subsequent bands to combine metal with "layered washes of sound".[3] Neurosis on the other hand were a hardcore band who embraceddoom metal, post-punk andindustrial influences, experimenting withtexture anddynamics.[3] They have since become recognized "for their pioneering post-metal efforts and unwavering dedication to expanding their artistic boundaries."[6] In 2010, guitaristSteve Von Till stated:[7]
We always knew there was something deep to Neurosis's music, but ... I thinkSouls at Zero was when the music became something else. It was taking that material out on the road and losing ourself in thetrance states induced by playinghypnotic, super-heavy loud music that we really figured out how to surrender to it. Then we said, OK – this is going to take us to where we wanna go: somewhere deeper, somewhere more emotional, somewhereelemental.
The band's 1996 fifth albumThrough Silver in Blood was credited byTerrorizer with "effectively invent[ing] the post-metal genre"[8] and named the best post-metal album of all time byFact.[4] The fluctuating 12-minute song "Purify" has been described as the album's "signature track".[3] Neurosis' work has also contributed the development of doom metal,sludge metal, anddrone metal, and these genres have been associated with post-metal since.[9] Similarly, drone metal pioneersEarth have been significant to post-metal ever since their 1991 debut releaseExtra-Capsular Extraction.[3]
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Furthermore,Fact writer Robin Jahdi highlights the late 1990s USnoisecore of bands such asBotch,Kiss It Goodbye,the Dillinger Escape Plan andCoalesce, who merged brutalmetallic hardcore withjazz into fast-and-complex compositions, as a fundamental influence on post-metal.[4] Writing forBandcamp Daily, Jon Wiederhorn also noted the significance of Botch andCave In,[3] whileConverge have been connected to post-metal through their longer songs since the closing track of their seminal 2001 albumJane Doe.[10] According to Jahdi, the genre emerged as "those young intellectuals decided to slow it down" and labels such asRelapse Records andHydra Head Records began releasing "slower, more bass-heavy and abstract" music more akin to post-rock.[4]
Hydra Head Records had been established in 1993 byAaron Turner. In 1997, Turner co-foundedIsis, a band which became central to an increasingly recognizable post-metal movement. In particular, their 2002 albumOceanic – which showcased "buzzing washes of multilayered sound that ebbed and flowed in intensity", combining the "barbed guitars" and "shouted vocals" of post-hardcore with "meandering, psychedelic progressions"[3] – has become regarded as a classic of the genre.[4] At the same time, Hydra Head signed further prominent bands, releasing the early records ofPelican andJesu.[2] While Pelican are aninstrumental quartet inspired as much by Neurosis and Godflesh as by Mogwai, Jesu was formed by Justin Broadrick after the breakup of Godflesh to explore "ambient guitar compositions", embracingshoegaze andslowcore influences.[3]
Asblack metal "spread beyond Scandinavia to infect the global underground", it joined shoegaze as a major factor in the evolution of post-metal.[3] Many bands employ the "speed and ferocity" of black metal in "contrast to slower, more ethereal compositions". This approach was pioneered byAgalloch, who formed in 1995 and also employed elements of doom metal,progressive rock,folk music, and post-hardcore.[3]Wolves in the Throne Room, who became a significant act for American black metal by the release of their 2007 albumTwo Hunters, were also inspired by Neurosis in combining "ambience and violence" to craft deeply melancholic music.[3]
While all aforementioned post-metal pioneers are either from the US (Neurosis, Isis, Pelican, Agalloch, and Wolves in the Throne Room) or the UK (Broadrick's Godflesh and Jesu), the genre soon spread internationally. The Japanese bandBoris, formed in 1992, "have always embraced the spirit and vitality of the vibrant movement" and some of their works, such as the 2005 albumsDronevil andPink, have become influential to it.[3] Boris often employ elements ofdrone music and have collaborated with prominentSeattle drone metal bandSunn O))),[3] who have also been associated with post-metal.[2] Several European bands also gained prominence within the genre, including:Cult of Luna from Sweden, whose sound is indebted to Isis'Oceanic;[9]Amenra from Belgium, who signed to Neurosis' labelNeurot Recordings and rival their predecessors in sheer spiritual intensity;[11] andYear of No Light from France, who have transitioned from a sludge-oriented sound to monumental instrumental compositions, "beautifully layered, but still dark and heavy".[3]
Back in the US, another instrumental band rose to prominence:Russian Circles, also strongly influenced byOceanic.[9] By contrast,True Widow, whose sound is rooted as much in 1990sindie rock andpsychedelic rock as in doom metal, offer a distinctive take, most impactfully on the 2013'sCircumambulation, by employing "male/female vocal interplay" and showcasing "vulnerability and restraint".[3] Meanwhile, the Melvins returned to the sound they themselves helped inspire, impacting it with the 2004 albumPigs of the Roman Empire, a collaboration with Welshdark ambient composerLustmord.[3]
Gradually, post-metal as a genre has achieved major critical acclaim.[9] This was reinforced by the "widely publicized" success of California bandDeafheaven,[3] whose second albumSunbather became one of the most celebrated releases of 2013. The band's successful fusion of caustic black metal with blissfull shoegaze in the vein ofMy Bloody Valentine andSlowdive,[3] although preceded by the French musicianNeige ofAlcest, was nicknamedblackgaze and met with controversy among fans of conventionalextreme metal. It has also inspired a new wave of bands such as:Ghost Bath from North Dakota, who use undistorted guitar melodies to develop unsettling atmospheres; Austria'sHarakiri for the Sky, whose despairing sound melds black metal and post-hardcore;[3] and the recent work ofOathbreaker, who are rooted in the Belgian dark hardcore scene of Amenra.
Post-metal is generally heavy, aggressive, and dark, but explores a variety of musical approaches alien to conventionalheavy metal andextreme metal.[3] It mirrorspost-rock andpost-hardcore in its emphasis on atmosphere and deep emotion and may be considered abstract,[4] introspective,[9] expansive,[12]hypnotic,[7]progressive,[12] layered,[3] or evenapocalyptic.[12] Jon Wiederhorn writes that though some post-metal bands "sought to break away from their raging roots by exploring less bombastic and more dynamic musical techniques" and others "sought to remain raw and corrosive", their music shares a "heavy-lidded yet eye-opening" effect.[3]The New York Times associated the term with a "wave of bands using metal as a jumping-off point for a range ofexperimental styles, dabbling infree jazz,minimalist post-rock,noise and evenmodern classical music."[2] Contemporary post-metal bands incorporate influences ranging throughdoom metal,black metal,shoegaze,progressive rock,folk music, andclassical music.[3]
Writing forSlate in 2009,Simon Reynolds reflected:
Post-rock doesn't have the same temporal aspect thatpost-disco orpost-punk have; it's not about the ripples set in motion by a galvanizing "event." Rather, it evokes a sense of "going beyond" the structures of a genre of music without completely abandoning its legacy of attitudes and assumptions. For similar reasons, the term post-metal seems increasingly useful to describe the vast and variegated swath of genres (the thousand flavors of doom/black/death/grind/drone/sludge/etc., ad infinitum) that emerged from the early '90s onward. Sometimes beat-free andambient, increasingly the work of home-studio loners rather than performing bands, post-metal of the kind released by US labels likeHydra Head often seems to have barely any connection to metal as understood by, say,VH1 Classic doc-makers. The continuity is less sonic but attitudinal: the penchant formorbidity and darkness taken to a sometimes hokey degree; the somber clothing and the long hair; the harrowed, indecipherablygrowled vocals; the bombastically verbose lyrics/song titles/band names. It's that aesthetic rather than a way of riffing or a palette of guitar sounds that ties post-metal back toJudas Priest andBlack Sabbath.[13]
Fact writer Robin Jahdi notes that "the bestNeurosis albums don't sound anything like the best offerings fromIsis" and that the genre cannot be readily distinguished from doom metal, modern black metal, andprogressive metal, "taking in all of these elements without being entirely any one of them".[4] Contemporary post-metal is often seen as combining "elements of doom metal, sludge, and/or black metal with elements of post-rock and shoegaze", being more "peaceful" than metal but retaining its dark theming andharsh vocal style.[9] As with post-rock, however, many bands areinstrumental and when vocals are used, they often "resemble another accompanying instrument" rather than actual words.[9] Songs are typically long and employcrescendos, gradually building upon repeatedthemes;Aaron Turner of Isis stated that "the standard song format ofverse-chorus-verse-chorus is something that has been done and redone, and it seems pointless to adhere to that structure when there are so many other avenues to explore".[14]
Noting the divergence from typicalmetal fashion,The New York Times described a 2005Pelican show at theKnitting Factory inNew York City: "Instead of long hair and all-black outfits, the crowd was displaying the trappings of brainy, slightly nerdyindie rock. Young men wore artistically cropped hair andtight-legged jeans, and there was even a smattering of young women in librarian glasses and worn-outChuck Taylor sneakers."[2] Jon Wiederhorn describes the post-metal scene as a "global community of artists" positioned on the "fringes of theunderground."[3] Pelican's Trevor de Brauw stated in 2007:[15]
I have an affinity [f]or metal, but I don't think of Pelican as a metal band. So when people call us 'instrumental', or post-metal, ormetalcore or whatever, I can see why they say that, but it's not something that I feel a close connection with. I feel we're part of a community with some bands –Mono are good friends of ours, but I don't feel that we're that similar musically. Their music is more similar to classical music, whereas I feel ours has more in common withpunk andhardcore.
Tool's vicious, post-metal attack is one of the more intense offerings of the day ...
