False Metal

This term has been bandied about quite a bit in recent years, although the sentiments go back quite a bit farther even to the glam rock/metal days. Metal is a genre that is typically better when it is underground. As is the case with all music, when something is popular, it gets watered down and there are more imitators than there are genuinely talented groups with something original to say. Pop music is ultimately disposable and many of its listeners are not hardcore fans of music, they just seek the immediate gratification of a hit song. This is not normally the case with metal. Many people who listen to metal will do so for their entire lives.

Back to false metal. I have seen many different definitions of the term, but here is mine: false metal bands claim to be metal or seek to be affiliated with the metal scene, however their music bears little or no resemblance to metal.

There is a spectrum of course. To meet my definition of metal though, a band must be predominantly metal, that is a majority of their sound is metal. If a band is more hardcore than metal, they are not a metal band.

I do not deny that many false metal bands may actually have some metal influence, however some influence is not enough to actually consider a band metal. Take the case of Korn. Undoubtedly Korn has some metal influences in their music. For example, the breakdown in the song "Ball Tongue" off their debut album is lifted from Morbid Angel's "Angel of Disease". Korn also has very strong rap/hip hop influences as claimed by their bassist Fieldy. No one would suggest however that Korn is a rap/hip hop group, so then why do people try to pass them off as a metal band? Their metal influences are really no greater than their rap influences. Korn is principally influenced by alternative rock and grunge music with some other influences thrown in, and that is therefore what they are.

Slipknot is in much the same position albeit with fewer rap influences and more metal influences. Nevertheless, their grunge/hard rock influences actually dominate their sound. Slipknot has much more in common with Korn than it does with Metallica/Pantera/Cannibal Corpse/whoever the hell else people claim they sound like.

Avenged Sevenfold is another example. This is a band that fits the above definition of a group having more hardcore influences than metal influences. Yet the band claims itself to be a metal band. I have tried several times to listen to them and figure out where their metal influences are and have come to the conclusion that there may be a metal riff in each song, but by and large, metal is completely lacking. Besides the band is ungodly terrible, particularly after their singer M. Shadows lost his voice, his vocals now consist of high-pitched whining. Besides their music, visually the band resembles what would happen if Guns 'n Roses and My Chemical Romance mated. Further destroying the band's metal credibility is their affiliation with Good Charlotte which includes one of the guitarists contributing a solo to a GC song.

All that being said, here is a partial list of bands that fit my definition of false metal:
Avenged Sevenfold
Disturbed
Godsmack
Guns 'n Roses
I Killed the Prom Queen
Korn
Mudvayne
Parkway Drive
Seether
Sevendust
Slipknot
Stone Sour

Atrocious Abnormality: Echoes of the Rotting

I admit that I discovered this band on Myspace. That's not to say that I usually actively seek out music using that site, but it is a pretty useful tool sometimes. The band is a brutal death metal band out of North Carolina. Normally, brutal death is not my favorite genre but upon hearing the samples on the band's page, I decided to give their album a try. I am very glad that I did, as this is not the standard brutal death metal album.

There are a lot of things that I really enjoy about this album that I do not normally hear in other brutal death metal bands. First of all, the production is fairly clean. Typically bands of this type have a muddy sound and it is difficult to hear everything that is happening in the music. This album is not at all like that. One can actually hear all of the instruments clearly. The levels of the instruments are fairly well-balanced as well, so one instrument is not too high in the mix.

Having a clear production means that one can hear what the other instruments are doing, which leads me to my next point. This band utilizes some surprisingly technical riffs. That is not to say that they are as technical as bands like Necrophagist, but they find a nice balance between technical death and the aggression and brutality of brutal death metal. Think a mix between Decrepit Birth and Suffocation.

There are several other good things about this album. The drumming is very intense, often utilizing blast beats during the breakdowns (yes the songs do have breakdowns), which keeps them fairly interesting. The guitar leads are very impressive and there are occasional solos which add to the enjoyment of the songs. The vocals are normally fairly standard low guttural growls, but on occasion the band uses layered vocals, as Deicide is known for, which consist of the aforementioned growls and some impressive banshee-like shrieking. Finally, Atrocious Abnormality spice things up a little with samples from the movie Slither and Married...With Children, which add a little humor.

Unfortunately, there are some points to the album that are not as good. As I mentioned, the band does use breakdowns on almost every song. It also drags a little bit just past the halfway point. The album is short, which is good, because if it was not so short, it would be a lot more difficult to listen to it all the way through. There is a cover of a Misfits song, which I feel is a little out of place. They did not do too bad of a job on it, but the vocals really detract from it. I would have rather seen the band cover a death metal song. Finally, the lyrics are standard brutal death fare (death, gore, misogyny). It's not surprising, but it's just a little too predictable.

Overall, this is a strong debut album. Each of the band members have been in similar bands in the past and present, hopefully this will be more than just a one-album project. I think this band has a lot of promise and they work together very well. I look forward to seeing them grow.