What new sound/genre is next for metal?

[JohnIce]

I think there won't really be a next thing in "metal" because a) culture is not that linear anymore, and b) metal is dissolving, rather than evolving. Not dying, just getting diluted and mixed into the vast ocean of other music and aesthetics. So are all genres/sub cultures these days, but metal has been the most stubborn and reluctant That's changing though as the last of the 80's giants one by one stop touring and headlining festivals, the rigid metal culture as we know it kind of loses all its star players, metal festivals draw fewer visitors and get cancelled, metal magazines shut down etc. And as that happens, there's less incentive for an upcoming band to stay "true" and shoehorn themselves into metal formalia just get metal festival gigs, get written about in metal magazines, get discovered by metal fans etc. So I think newer bands will just keep whatever bits they like from metal, but ditch the stereotypes and uniform.

What does that mean? As far as I can tell, it means bands that are the "next thing" don't really sound or look like metal bands in the mould we know from Judas Priest, Slayer or Metallica, they don't play metal festivals or tour with metal bands, so metal fans may totally overlook them because these bands may look like indie kids or hip hopers, they may even be DJ's, but they still make ferocious music.

TL;DR: The next thing in metal is to be less metal.

 

[bostjan]

To me, metal is pretty much dead. I don't care what the next trend will be because it will come as random, I'd like to look at the bigger picture.

First, there's basically not been any generational replacement (i.e. no one got as big as say Metallica or Maiden, and they're still touring). No new iconic, defining artist such as the above have spawned. I can't think of a new icon for metal when they'll be gone.

Second, it's partly a technological problem to me. Electro and hip-hop were caused by breakthroughs, but "rock music" technology is basically stuck to the 50's, except for minor things as amp simulation that are more "new means" to the same end than "new toys" to spark new ideas. Maybe new technologies and applications will revolutionize the sounds, just as the introuction of the 8-string sort of did.

Third, another part of the problem is that metal musicians are really closed and blind to outside influences, at least for the most part. Genre and aesthetics-blending would be the only way out of staleness, accepting that there are no more boundaries and everyone's free to experiment. Again, electronica fused with hip-hop in the early 2000s, and now both are thinning the line with radio pop. But we still have lots of "true metallers", "defenders" who're still happy to pidgeonhole and listen to the same stuff for a lifetime.

Still, bands like AAL are way more jazz than metal (thinking what "metal" used to mean), and for instance Periphery did a last album that's way more pop than djent. Some prog metal bands are mellowing and allowing more rock influences, think Leprous. Not to mention extreme metal is kindly accepting more avant-garde mentalities. So all good things, we're maybe moving somewhere. But on average, metal musicians are too stale to accept change or innovation.

Also I agree on the fact that most prefer to copy than to try new stuff. Just looking at the trend and not much further.

This thread seems like Deja-Vu, but...

Ok, so bands like Distrubed and Godsmack got every bit as big as Metallica, Priest, and Maiden. People don't consider them "metal," but, let's be fair, their sound is just as metal as those bands, they just didn't push the envelope further in that same direction. That doesn't discount them as metal bands, though.

But, your point still stands, I think, just with a little different perspective. There was heavy metal, then there was thrash metal, then there was nümetal, then ... well, now you have this weird sort of world where there is "extreme" metal, which is essentially any heavy music dad won't approve of, and then a sort of smear in between metal and modern rock, where your Godsmack's and Disturbed's and Five-Finger-Death-Punch's live, which is kind of the continuation of what Metallica did to "metal" with "The Black Album."

We had rock, then we melted it down with fire and got metal, and then people came up with the different types of metal and started mixing them back in with the rock. What else is there to do? What has been left unsaid in the genre?

I think this thread just goes to show that it's probably all been done already...

It was over ten years ago that I said to myself - what if microtonal metal was a thing. By the time I was ready to show the world my brand of that, a bunch of other artists had beaten me to the punch, so "microtonal metal" wasn't even novel anymore. Take any adjective and stick it with the word metal and someone has either done it or is doing it now. Celtic metal, circus metal, trance metal, drum-and-bass metal, video game metal, sitar metal, koto metal, new age metal, 12-tone serialist accordion arabic metal...

And people's tastes will never become "extreme," so metal isn't dead, and it isn't dying, it's just no longer relevant to a wide audience, and it probably never will be again. There'll always be fans of the genre, and we'll keep metal going, and keep trying to find new boundaries to push, but you aren't going to see another hair metal boom.

 

[Rizzo]

I think JohnIce above summed my viewpoint better

 

[Shoeless_jose]

who cares lets just hope its good.

write good songs, then worry about being brutal. heaviness isn't a tuning or a BPM or a tone, its all in the song.

Maybe I'm just old and now that I've experienced so much music I can't get this feeling again, but I miss when I would find new music that felt almost "dangerous" to listen too.

Like in 2002 I heard Alexisonfire for the first time and it just totally blew me away.

Nothing does that anymore, everything is safe and a retread and comfortable.

Music should make you feel uncomfortable make you challenge your beliefs and the world around you. Be it lyrically or instrumentally I miss music that created that discord inside of me.

I just want the equivalent of the first time I put on Calculating Infinity... don't care what genre sub genre label you put on it, just want music that messes with me again.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

I dont know whats next for metal but whenever it is will be a fad and soon enough thrown in the hamper. Then 10 years later someone will say remember when "this" was big just 10 years ago?

Or i could be wrong. It could have major staying power. (What do you guys think of prog/djent, does it have staying power or is it dying/dead?)

well considering that it's been around for damn near 9+years (longer if we're talking from when sikth/meshuggah/vildjharta started playing) I don't think it's going anywhere. The big problem is that like most genres it all kind of blurs together and it's hard to find actually unique bands worth listening to.

 

[AdamMaz]

I think there won't really be a next thing in "metal" because a) culture is not that linear anymore

I share this opinion, it is a theory I have been considering in the much broader sense of anthropology.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Stoner Djazz

so basically pallbearer or dreadnought.

 

[bostjan]

Guys! The next genre of metal should be "Light Metal!" the opposite of "Heavy Metal!"

 

[JohnIce]

Do you really want this to take off?

Minus the obnoxious posing and showmanship, there's not a bad song under there I bet if these guys toned down their image a bit they'd have a bigger appeal, honestly. Posing like a hair metal band isn't working for anyone in 2017.

My opinion aside, I'm just surprised any mix of the two hasn't already happened on a larger scale.

It definitely has, but it's not metal bands incorporating electronica, it's electronic producers who are incorporating metal musicians. Take a look at these crowds, people love that shit:



I think where these guys win while others fail is that it's much easier for an electronic musician to sprinkle some heavy guitars, drums and aggressive vocals on top of their already heavy and aggressive EDM, than it is for someone who's been playing Iron Maiden riffs in a rehearsal space all their life to suddenly master electronic music production.

 

[Tech Wrath]

i think the proposal that the new metal will be less metal is likely. The continuation of prog and infusing more and more elements, metal won't necessarily be metal anymore. It will still be very aggressive and heavy at times but it will flow more into different styles and dynamics, switching moods from angry, to happy, to sad, etc. Sort of like how classical music is. More grand pieces rather then a certain feel throughout an entire song.

 

[Unleash The Fury]

This thread seems like Deja-Vu, but...

Ok, so bands like Distrubed and Godsmack got every bit as big as Metallica, Priest, and Maiden. People don't consider them "metal," but, let's be fair, their sound is just as metal as those bands, they just didn't push the envelope further in that same direction. That doesn't discount them as metal bands, though.

But, your point still stands, I think, just with a little different perspective. There was heavy metal, then there was thrash metal, then there was nümetal, then ... well, now you have this weird sort of world where there is "extreme" metal, which is essentially any heavy music dad won't approve of, and then a sort of smear in between metal and modern rock, where your Godsmack's and Disturbed's and Five-Finger-Death-Punch's live, which is kind of the continuation of what Metallica did to "metal" with "The Black Album."

We had rock, then we melted it down with fire and got metal, and then people came up with the different types of metal and started mixing them back in with the rock. What else is there to do? What has been left unsaid in the genre?

I think this thread just goes to show that it's probably all been done already...

It was over ten years ago that I said to myself - what if microtonal metal was a thing. By the time I was ready to show the world my brand of that, a bunch of other artists had beaten me to the punch, so "microtonal metal" wasn't even novel anymore. Take any adjective and stick it with the word metal and someone has either d

well considering that it's been around for damn near 9+years (longer if we're talking from when sikth/meshuggah/vildjharta started playing) I don't think it's going anywhere. The big problem is that like most genres it all kind of blurs together and it's hard to find actually unique bands worth listening to.

Maybe but just because those bands still exist doesnt mean its still a big "thing". Meshuggah will always be relevant because they had a huge hand in pioneering that sound. Im not sure about those other bands. Just because one may listen to them doesnt mean they are widespread in the metal scene as a whole.....only to their listeners.

 

[bhakan]

I feel like I always make almost this identical post, but I just don't get the people who feel like metal is dead. There's so much interesting metal out there right now if you look for it. Sure, it's all combinations of existing sounds, but there are so many weird unique combinations out there. It's not in the same boom of creativity that newer genres like electronic are seeing, but there's just so much cool stuff to be found.

However I will say that extreme metal seems way more interesting right now. I can't remember the last new metal band to use clean vocals that really wowed me.

 

[thraxil]

Well from what I remember, Pitchshifter was not much more than a Godflesh ripoff

Their early stuff. Later, with Deviant, www.pitchshifter.com, and PSI, they completely reinvented their sound and it was all drum n bass metal. They even picked up the guitarist from The Prodigy.

 

[Walnut Whip]

I think we'll start to see more artists blending metal with a variety of genres e.g. trap. Trap Metal maybe?
Sidenote: Have a listen to Polyphia EP: The Most Hated. Not greatly relevant, however throughout the new EP they use a variety of Trap elements and it works quite well in my opinion!

 

[Lemonbaby]

Do you really want this to take off?

Oh please, spare me. What's next - David Guetta endorsed by Fractal? Pure talent...

 

[gunch]

Y'all forgot about Genghis tron

 

[Science_Penguin]

Oh please, spare me. What's next - David Guetta endorsed by Fractal? Pure talent...

There is a measurable difference between pressing play vs playing actual instruments over a backing track.

 

[Rizzo]

Oh god are we still thinking electronic music is "pressing play" in 2017?

 

[Lemonbaby]

There is a measurable difference between pressing play vs playing actual instruments over a backing track.

Come on, man. Everyone knows that an electronic track can be just as much work as a rock/metal song. But would that discussion be fun when we all hug and sing songs around a campfire?

Plus: how could I seriously miss a chance to make fun of David Guetta?

 

[Science_Penguin]

Come on, man. Everyone knows that an electronic track can be just as much work as a rock/metal song. But would that discussion be fun when we all hug and sing songs around a campfire?

Plus: how could I seriously miss a chance to make fun of David Guetta?

Oh, that was a joke?

I guess I didn't Guettit... Guett- Guetta... I'm gonna go ahead and stop drinking now...