Tell me why you like instrumental metal....

[eggy in a bready]

Op, put down the guitar nerd youtube-core and go listen to the newest Bongripper and tell me you don't like instrumental metal

 

[Acaciastrain360]

Op, put down the guitar nerd youtube-core and go listen to the newest Bongripper and tell me you don't like instrumental metal

Slow, Death?

 

[vilk]

There is such thing as instrumental music that isn't djent!

 

[Acaciastrain360]

Thanks for all of your replies!
I think my problem is that I haven’t found the ‘right’ instrumental music for me... maybe focusing on metal (because it’s what I love generally) wasn’t the right approach... I’ll expand and see what I can get into....

 

[spudmunkey]

Metal is a lot like hip hop for me. It's usually the vocals that ruin it. I like hip hop (the beats, samples, etc) as a musical genre, but hate rap as a vocal style, just as I hate growling and screaming, and don't really care for soaring operatic-style male vocals, either.

 

[mastapimp]

As a child of the 80s and starting to play guitar in the mid 90s, I found the occasional instrumental track on metallica or megadeth albums to be refreshing. "Orion", "Call of the Ktulu", "To Live is to Die", "Into the Lungs of Hell" were what started the flame. As i discovered older metal like Judas Priest and Black Sabbath, they too had instrumentals ("The Hellion", "Rat Salad") that didn't have those identifiable vocals, but still maintained the signature sound of the band. I believe that these instrumental cuts, in small doses, changed my attitude towards these songs where the instruments could shine rather than a vocal melody up front. From there I got deep into the instrumental guitar heroes of the 80s/90s with Yngwie, Vai, Satch, EJ, JB, etc...More modern acts would sprinkle in an instrumental here and there to the same effect like In Flames, Revocation, Mastodon, and Trivium. In some cases, an artist's album is released sans-vocals as a bonus. When i heard the first periphery album minus spencer, it was a totally different experience, in a good way. I also appreciated Crack the Skye's music much better when listening to it without the vocals.

And nowadays, I actually go through phases where I prefer the instrumental music over those with vocals, but there's some genres that I will never vibe with.

If you listen to instrumental music and feel like you're lacking a vocal-like melody, i'd recommend listening to players that have an identifiable and soulful style. Marty Friedman's last few releases were mostly instrumental, and his guitar practically sings in place of a vocalist.

 

[Adieu]

Hey, I’ve tried for years to get into various instrumental metal bands...
Chimp spanner
Animals as leaders
Andromida
And I just CANT for the hell of it, dig in to it :/

can you explain to me why I SHOULD like it!??? As some of it is very impressive musicianship!

thanks

....I think it's just a reaction to the extremely sh!t vocals typical of metal bands?

So often, on here, I'll click an embedded youtube video and be like "OOOH"...and 40 seconds later, the guy with the mic opens his mouth, and it's like "AWWW...NEXT!"

 

[fproject]

I like it because it seems more creative. I like it so much, I write it too

I listen to Plini, Arch Echo, Tony MacAlpine, Greg Howe, Jeff Beck, Jeff Berlin, AAL, Paul Gilbert, . So many to list, although, they're not all metal.

 

[sakeido]

Instrumental metal is by its nature less creative because you just leave out the single most unique instrument in any given band (singer's voice) and you have no lyrics so you're out an entire songwriting discipline. Get rid of those two items the total "quantity of creativity" left is inevitably going to be less.

With all that room left by the vocal void down the center what steps up to replace it? Never ending guitar solos. In 2019, it's so played out you're going to have a very hard time convincing me your solo is creative. You have to pull out all the stops to do something new.. Animals as Leaders practically invented thumping but that shit was played out before their last album was even half over.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Instrumental metal is by its nature less creative because you just leave out the single most unique instrument in any given band (singer's voice) and you have no lyrics so you're out an entire songwriting discipline. Get rid of those two items the total "quantity of creativity" left is inevitably going to be less.

With all that room left by the vocal void down the center what steps up to replace it? Never ending guitar solos. In 2019, it's so played out you're going to have a very hard time convincing me your solo is creative. You have to pull out all the stops to do something new.. Animals as Leaders practically invented thumping but that shit was played out before their last album was even half over.

Creativity isn't proportional to number of instruments, nor is it so quantifiable and definite.

An awful musician can have a stroke of genius. A great writer can write an awful, boring song.

 

[GunpointMetal]

Instrumental metal is by its nature less creative because you just leave out the single most unique instrument in any given band (singer's voice) and you have no lyrics so you're out an entire songwriting discipline. Get rid of those two items the total "quantity of creativity" left is inevitably going to be less.

With all that room left by the vocal void down the center what steps up to replace it? Never ending guitar solos. In 2019, it's so played out you're going to have a very hard time convincing me your solo is creative. You have to pull out all the stops to do something new.. Animals as Leaders practically invented thumping but that shit was played out before their last album was even half over.

Oh no...I mean, no... just no. Have you listened to metal in the last 20 years? 9/10 times the LEAST interesting thing in the band is the vocalist. Either they're a one-trick pony (whether its gutterals, operatic singing, whatever) or they try to cram every conceivable technique into every section of music (sweet techniques bro, still can't understand a word you're saying), and 9/10 times of those 9/10 times the band ends up writing the same song over and over again because the vocalist is either bad or lazy. There is such a wide range of instrumental heavy music, and a lot of it doesn't focus on endless guitar nerdery to be interesting. There's instrumental doom, there's bands like Night Verses, there's the post-metal stuff, stuff like Cloudkicker, its not just endless sweep wankery, nor does it have anything to "make up for" due to a lack of vocals.

 

[sakeido]

Oh no...I mean, no... just no. Have you listened to metal in the last 20 years? 9/10 times the LEAST interesting thing in the band is the vocalist. Either they're a one-trick pony (whether its gutterals, operatic singing, whatever) or they try to cram every conceivable technique into every section of music (sweet techniques bro, still can't understand a word you're saying), and 9/10 times of those 9/10 times the band ends up writing the same song over and over again because the vocalist is either bad or lazy. There is such a wide range of instrumental heavy music, and a lot of it doesn't focus on endless guitar nerdery to be interesting. There's instrumental doom, there's bands like Night Verses, there's the post-metal stuff, stuff like Cloudkicker, its not just endless sweep wankery, nor does it have anything to "make up for" due to a lack of vocals.

I only listen to one or two bands from a big cross section of metal subgenres, so the vocalists all sound vastly different to me but the guitars always sound like 5150s and the drummer always has a clicky kick and a china. One trick vocalists are fine as long as they know exactly how to use the trick (Deafheaven, Amon Amarth) even if they are technically disasters (Neil Young, Tom Petty).

The instrumental spinoff of any metal subgenre is inevitably worse than the "with vocals" version. Instrumental doom doesn't cover any ground normal doom doesn't.

In my book instrumental bands can aspire to be nothing more than above average and only bands with vox have a chance at greatness. There has been exactly one super successful instrumental metal band, and they have a bizarre gimmick (Christmas music!), were already individually successful before that, and they aren't even totally instrumental.

Creativity isn't proportional to number of instruments, nor is it so quantifiable and definite.

An awful musician can have a stroke of genius. A great writer can write an awful, boring song.

I put "quantity of creativity" in quotes because it's a made up concept that doesn't matter. Do people even want a huge quantity of creativity in their shows? Tons of vocal lines, ten virtuosos in one performance, a full orchestra, stage design, beautiful venues - the death of opera says "no" but instrumental metal still sucks. OP shouldn't be confused he doesn't like it. It just means he has taste

 

[Cynicanal]

The instrumental spinoff of any metal subgenre is inevitably worse than the "with vocals" version. In my book instrumental bands can aspire to be nothing more than above average and only bands with vox have a chance at greatness. There has been exactly one super successful instrumental metal band, and they have a bizarre gimmick (Christmas music!), were already individually successful before that, and they aren't even totally instrumental.

Eh, while they're not a purely "no-vox" band, The Chasm's best and most lauded songs have generally been their instrumentals (I say "generally" because their all-instrumental album was mostly considered a disappointment, although not because it was all-instrumental).

 

[InCasinoOut]

Because I like it when the music itself tells me the mood and feel of the song. I don't need a singer and lyrics for that.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

I put "quantity of creativity" in quotes because it's a made up concept that doesn't matter. Do people even want a huge quantity of creativity in their shows? Tons of vocal lines, ten virtuosos in one performance, a full orchestra, stage design, beautiful venues - the death of opera says "no" but instrumental metal still sucks. OP shouldn't be confused he doesn't like it. It just means he has taste

To be clear, I think it's fine to dislike (and like) whatever genera. Musical taste is as individual as actual taste.

I just thought your take was awful.

It just kinda seems like you're trying to justify taste, which is a non-starter.

 

[jaxadam]

Vocals =

 

[Ralyks]

Crap, I forgot about Cloudkicker. Nevermind, I'll take him over AAL after the first album

 

[Darchetype]

I see both sides. Most instrumental metal is boring and could use a vocalist to make it better. However, vocalists do kill the songs alot of the times if I dont like their vocals.

I can't tell you how many times I tried to get into Threat Signal, but am just turned off because I dont like the vocals. And it's strange because on paper, I should like the vocals.

I tried to get into AAL many times and thought, man some vocals would sound good over this twiddly thumb thumping that I'm not too crazy about.

 

[sezna]

A lot of replies focus on disliking "cookie monster vocals." I like cookie monster vocals. But I also like instrumental metal.

• Perhaps to the detriment of my musical taste, I enjoy technically difficult things. As an instrumentalist, when I hear The Helix Nebula (or whoever) perform something incredibly impressive, I give it more musical merit than it may deserve due to my personal fascination. This type of thing is central to the instrumental metal bands that I listen to.
• I don't pay much attention to lyrics in the songs I listen to. I barely even notice when a song is instrumental. The vocals are just another instrument, not anything more or less. Lyrics do add a layer, and that layer can be good or bad. To me, it is just not a layer that is any more or less significant than whether or not a song has a synth, or programmed drums.
• Instrumental music is forced to convey the mood and tone of its musical intent with notes: harmonies and melodies. Sometimes, although not as a rule, vocalized music can get lazy in that department and rely on the lyrics and vocal intensity (especially in metal) to convey the mood they want. If a song's vocals are removed, does it still convey the same mood? This is an important aspect that can betray whether or not the instruments are actually supporting the musical intent of the song.

Just my two cents.

 

[GunpointMetal]

What does the level of creativity have to do with being successful, or making good music? Like whatever you like, but mass appeal is hardly a qualifier of actual musical value.