Information on SikTh and the origin of djent?

[8stringalchemy]

Hi all,

This may seem like an odd request, but can anyone point me towards any resources (interviews, articles, etc.) on SikTh and their influence on the djent movement? I'm trying to do some research on proto-djent and info on SikTh in particular is pretty scarce. Thanks in advance.

 

[sakeido]

There's a chance there isn't any good material out because they all took that time away from music. Sikth dropped Death of a Dead Day then promptly broke up and skipped all the years where djent was building up. Judging by what they put out when they got back together, maybe they thought they were progressive nu-metal the whole time and have no association with djent at all.

I'd see if Nolly wouldn't answer questions about their role instead because, from what I recall, of all the djent OGs he was the first one who really seemed to dig Sikth.

 

[Randy]

My interpretation of Sikth's sound, it comes across as some DEP/Bungle, and obviously bits of Meshuggah with, surprisingly, bits of nu-metal (like the scat vox next to John Davis, the groove etc). Meshuggah would really be the absolute pinpoint origin of djent but Sikth is when it took on the chaotic cross-genre sound it had in early acts.

I think Meshuggah and even Sikth were a very raw interpretation of djent. Some of the very early Bulb tracks had kind of a sharp line in them where they were 50% Sikth worship and 50% ambient electronic stuff heavily drawn on game and cinematic soundtrack. Fellsilent and Tesseract were two bands kinda feeling their way out in the new format as well, arguably establishing legitimate gigging bands in the djent format sooner than Periphery officially did. Cloudkicker and Cyclaman get a nod for the early work as well, IMO.

Bulb and Periphery still a huge component in that scene, especially as the bands that came out of it used more and more of the ambient elements mashed up with the chaotic programmed polyrhythmic stuff and mid-spikey guitar tone that was a hallmark of Bulbs solo stuff and early Periphery. I think that style that was easy to do with VST and drum sample/programmers was where things really took off.

 

[DLG]

Meshuggah and Sikth are easily the two bands most responsible for djent in the sense that they were the two bands that the first generation (Bulb/Periphery, Fellsilent, Monuments, etc) ripped off the most.

 

[USMarine75]

True origin of Djent:

Misha went back in time 12 Monkeys style and fathered Fredrik Thordendal and Dan Weller.

 

[Seabeast2000]

True origin of Djent:

Misha went back in time 12 Monkeys style and fathered Fredrik Thordendal and Dan Weller.

I thought Dime overscooped the AJFA tone and proto-djented all over the back of leftover 80's hair metal, and despite his caution, still spawned djent.

I wasn't paying attention but its my best theory.

 

[wankerness]

The first I remember hearing “Meshuggah with melody” was with a couple Chimpspanner tracks way back in the day on some now-defunct precursor to soundcloud. Bulb was doing stuff at the same time, but Chimpspanner definitely was one of the first and I don’t see him mentioned much anymore, probably for obvious reasons of he didn’t go on to be in one of the main bands of the genre!

“Clarity in Chaos” was one of his first really polished tracks, but he had earlier stuff too.

 

[Randy]

Chimpspanner

Ah yeah, thats the guy I forgot. Should've been him, not Cloudkicker.

 

[Lorcan Ward]

I wasn't on the Meshuggah forums or maybe it was the Petrucci page but I've talked to a few guys who said there was a poster there who was doing early djent style music before Misha started posting. I don't think it was Chimpsanner cause the poster stopped making music and posting. He influenced a lot of guys to buy Pods and get recording whoever he was.

 

[wankerness]

I wasn't on the Meshuggah forums or maybe it was the Petrucci page but I've talked to a few guys who said there was a poster there who was doing early djent style music before Misha started posting. I don't think it was Chimpsanner cause the poster stopped making music and posting. He influenced a lot of guys to buy Pods and get recording whoever he was.

It was almost definitely him. I don't remember where I heard of him, but I spent a lot of time on the Opeth/Meshuggah/SSMT boards back ~2004 when him and Bulb were posting songs on that site. I wish I remembered what it was called! Was it soundclick?

The only thing I remember specifically by Bulb was that he had a lot of originals and then a cover of Meshuggah - Elastic. I remember thinking it was too spazzy for me, while I liked the smoother, prog/fusion thing Chimp Spanner had going on. Bulb was definitely the flashier guitarist of the two, though, and obviously has gone on to great things!

I remember talking to Paul Ortiz, trying to get recording advice/preset files through some forum at some point when I was also trying to do some recording experiments in my dorm. I remember he used some crappy old amp modeler VST called "Amplitube" for Clarity in Chaos or Spirals, and then upgraded to a Line6 Pod for the 3 Terminus songs that released later. I listened to those 5 tracks a whole lot. Never really got into what he did after, and most of the earlier stuff was not that great either. But, damn. He was a few years too early to really hit it big, I guess.

 

[aesthyrian]

I wish I remembered what it was called! Was it soundclick?

Pretty sure that's the one. This is Misha's page, back when we all knew him as Bulb. https://www.soundclick.com/artist/default.cfm?bandID=147108&content=songs

 

[Lorcan Ward]

It was almost definitely him. I don't remember where I heard of him, but I spent a lot of time on the Opeth/Meshuggah/SSMT boards back ~2004 when him and Bulb were posting songs on that site. I wish I remembered what it was called! Was it soundclick?

The only thing I remember specifically by Bulb was that he had a lot of originals and then a cover of Meshuggah - Elastic. I remember thinking it was too spazzy for me, while I liked the smoother, prog/fusion thing Chimp Spanner had going on. Bulb was definitely the flashier guitarist of the two, though, and obviously has gone on to great things!

I remember talking to Paul Ortiz, trying to get recording advice/preset files through some forum at some point when I was also trying to do some recording experiments in my dorm. I remember he used some crappy old amp modeler VST called "Amplitube" for Clarity in Chaos or Spirals, and then upgraded to a Line6 Pod for the 3 Terminus songs that released later. I listened to those 5 tracks a whole lot. Never really got into what he did after, and most of the earlier stuff was not that great either. But, damn. He was a few years too early to really hit it big, I guess.

It must have been him so. My mate is a huge fan so I'll ask him next time I see him.

 

[wankerness]

Pretty sure that's the one. This is Misha's page, back when we all knew him as Bulb. https://www.soundclick.com/artist/default.cfm?bandID=147108&content=songs

Ah, yeah. I looked at Chimpspanner's and there's nothing on it anymore so I wasn't sure. The interface is different but the same stuff is still up there with the old upload dates (ex, that Elastic cover was from 2006)

 

[Lozek]

I wasn't on the Meshuggah forums or maybe it was the Petrucci page but I've talked to a few guys who said there was a poster there who was doing early djent style music before Misha started posting. I don't think it was Chimpsanner cause the poster stopped making music and posting. He influenced a lot of guys to buy Pods and get recording whoever he was.

That was Acle from Tesseract, it took him a long time to put the band together from being known on the Meshuggah forum.

I can probably give a bit of perspective to the OP, although I haven't necessarily kept up with Djent. I got put forward to audition for Sikth on bass back in 2001, I think by the guitarist from Eden Maine who was my housemate at the time. At that point Dan Ford had just joined and they were actively seeking a second vocalist (eventually Justin Hill). Their previous line-up had a vocalist I only remember as being called Tristan and I didn't know of the bassist, the bassist was let go as he only followed the guitars and they wanted somebody to do more, same with the vocalist being a bog standard metal guy who they felt wasn't bringing enough diversity to the table (this was the era of double vocalists, one clean and one aggressive).

The band at that time was slightly more metal (as you can hear on 'Let the transmitting Begin') Influence wise, yes there was a lot of Meshuggah going on, but also Cryptopsy and Slipknot (again, this was the era before they became a bit 'Kiddy metal' and put their name on lunchboxes). After the first EP, they then got hugely influenced by Dillinger, I saw them supporting American Head Charge in 2002 and was kinda glad I didn't get the job, but then they reigned that back in a bit by the time of 'The Trees' and I wished I'd have got it again.

Couple of other interesting things, the day I auditioned was the day Mikee figured out he could make that weird sound where he lets his jaw go loose that he uses in Hold my Finger. Also his use of electronics on his voice that you hear on 'When will the forest speak' came from a guy who was hanging around with them who's name escapes me, but he was at the audition as well and I remember them messing about with Mikee vocals into processing unit.

I think the advent of Meshuggah as an influence is a really interesting one. A lot of metal guys in the early 2000's (myself included) had been listening since Destroy Erase Improve and were definitely copping the low string side of things, but in my memory there feels like really distinct gaps between Meshuggah, then Sikth, then the rest of the Meshuggah clones who also rolled Sikth into things. It's like both bands were kind of out on their own for a few years before people caught up with them.

 

[Dwellingers]

I would say a lot of the stuff where kickdrums follow one-note riffs wss also spawned with early Fear Factory, Mnemic, Scamp, Soilwork ...

 

[DLG]

I would say a lot of the stuff where kickdrums follow one-note riffs wss also spawned with early Fear Factory, Mnemic, Scamp, Soilwork ...

ever heard Metallica - One?

 

[gunch]

damn this is sick

 

[Dwellingers]

ever heard Metallica - One?

No - do they Djent?


Year but thats "one" section in one song in their career - whereas its its more or less bread and butter in the aforementioned bands.

 

[Spicypickles]

It’s also 20 years before they did anything like that. Not much of a stretch for that to be the inspiration

 

[Lorcan Ward]

SNIP

Thanks so much for chiming in dude, much appreciated and I think you're right it was Acle.

I think the advent of Meshuggah as an influence is a really interesting one. A lot of metal guys in the early 2000's (myself included) had been listening since Destroy Erase Improve and were definitely copping the low string side of things, but in my memory there feels like really distinct gaps between Meshuggah, then Sikth, then the rest of the Meshuggah clones who also rolled Sikth into things. It's like both bands were kind of out on their own for a few years before people caught up with them.

It's mad there was such a long gap between the two but it did take a very long time for Periphery to get there first album out which opened the flood gates to djent.

I've always heard a lot of Sepultura influence in djent, mostly late 80s/early 90s era. There is lot of Deftones influence too and of course the Dimebag style riffs are instantly recognisable in Meshuggah and Sikths earliest works but I still feel Sepultura gets the credit more. Fear Factory also did a lot of that chuggy tremolo low tuned stuff 3 years before Destroy Erase Improve was released but aren't recognised for it. DEI was ahead of its time for some things but the influence for most of it was very clear for me cause I came from listening to those four bands before I heard it. Honourable mention for Allan Holdsworth too.

I guess everyone was swept up with Nu-Metal and Melodic-Death in the late 90s with power metal exploding in early 00s and metal core just overtaking everything shortly after with such mainstream appeal.