CHANGE, LONGING, AND FRUSTRATION IN
DJENT-STYLE PROGRESSIVE METAL
Patrick Nolan Sallings
Dissertation Prepared for the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS
May 2021
APPROVED:
Timothy Jackson, Major Professor Vivek Virani, Committee Member Paul Leenhouts, Committee Member Benjamin Brand, Chair of the Division of Music History, Theory, and Ethnomusicology Jaymee Haefner, Director of Graduate Studies in the College of Music John Richmond, Dean of the College of Music Victor Prybutok, Dean of the Toulouse Graduate School
Sallings, Patrick Nolan. Change, Longing, and Frustration in Djent-Style Progressive
Metal. Doctor of Philosophy (Music), May 2021, 399 pp., 2 tables, 5 figures, 71 musical examples, 1 appendix, bibliography, 76 titles.
The progressive metal style “djent” emerged in the mid-to-late 2000s with bands that
modeled their use of extended range instruments and complex rhythmic cycles after that of
Swedish metal band Meshuggah. The addition of a new vocabulary of melody and harmony by
bands such as Periphery, Tesseract, and Animals as Leaders has come to define djent in a new
way and provided fruitful ground for voice-leading and metrical analysis.
In this dissertation, I approach analysis in two steps. The first step is the production of
detailed transcriptions of four djent songs. The process of transcription has allowed for the
development of Transcription Preference Rules, modeled after Lerdahl and Jackendoff’s
preference rule approach in their generative theory of tonal music. The Transcription Preference
Rules account for the selection of key signatures, time signatures, and other features of the scores
that may affect analysis.
Second, using these scores, I examine the connection between the textual topic of change
and the voice-leading and metrical structures in Periphery’s “Insomnia” and Tesseract’s “Of
Matter.” I show how this topic is reflected by techniques such as change melodic direction,
multidimensional metrical dissonance, and auxiliary cadential events. Finally, I apply voice-
leading and metrical analysis to Animals as Leaders’s “Tempting Time” and Mute the Saint’s
“Sound of Scars” in order to show what these analytical techniques reveal about instrumental
djent pieces. I show how shifts in meter in “Tempting Time” can be represented cyclically. I
conclude by showing how the interaction of metal and North Indian Classical techniques
produces a unique representation of Mute the Saint’s topic of longing and frustration in “Sound
of Scars.”
Copyright 2021
by
Patrick Nolan Sallings
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES...... v
LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES ...... vi
DRUM TRANSCRIPTION SYMBOL KEY ...... ix
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ...... 1 1.1 Purpose ...... 1 1.2 Misha Mansoor and the Dawn of Djent ...... 1 1.3 Literature and Method ...... 4
CHAPTER 2. TRANSCRIPTION: A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS ...... 16 2.1 An Introduction to Transcription Preference Rules ...... 16 2.2 Key Signature Rule ...... 18 2.3 Density Rule...... 26 2.4 Tactus Rule ...... 30 2.5 Time Signature Rule ...... 34 2.6 Snare Rule and Drum Duration Rule ...... 39 2.7 Conclusion ...... 43
CHAPTER 3. FALSE SECURITY IN PERIPHERY’S “INSOMNIA” ...... 45 3.1 Periphery ...... 45 3.2 Melody and Harmony ...... 47 3.3 Temporality ...... 54 3.4 Conclusion ...... 59
CHAPTER 4. CHANGE IN TESSERACT’S “OF MATTER” ...... 61 4.1 Tesseract ...... 61 4.2 Pitch ...... 62 4.2.1 “Proxy” ...... 63 4.2.2 “Retrospect” ...... 68 4.2.3 “Resist” ...... 70 4.3 Temporality ...... 72
iii
4.4 Conclusion ...... 83
CHAPTER 5. THE INTERACTION OF PITCH AND TEMPORALITY IN ANIMALS AS LEADERS’S “TEMPTING TIME” ...... 84 5.1 Animals as Leaders ...... 84 5.2 Literature Interlude ...... 85 5.3 Temporality ...... 87 5.4 Pitch Elements ...... 100 5.5 Conclusion ...... 102
CHAPTER 6. HOPE AND FRUSTRATION IN MUTE THE SAINT’S “SOUND OF SCARS” ...... 104 6.1 Mute the Saint ...... 104 6.2 North Indian Classical Systems ...... 107 6.3 Pitch ...... 109 6.4 Temporality ...... 121 6.5 Conclusion ...... 127
CHAPTER 7. CONCLUSION...... 129
APPENDIX: FULL TRANSCRIPTIONS ...... 132 “Insomnia” by Periphery...... 133 “Of Matter” by Tessaract ...... 176 Proxy ...... 176 Retrospect ...... 209 Resist ...... 235 “Tempting Time” by Animals as Leaders ...... 247 “Sound of Scars” by Mute the Saint ...... 323
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 394
iv
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
Page
Tables
Table 2.1: Tempo and Tactus in Djent Songs ...... 31
Table 2.2: Typical Backbeats with Snare Locations ...... 37
Figures
Figure 3.1: Three-note melodic motive in “Insomnia” ...... 49
Figure 4.1: IOIs of guitar riff and drum pattern ...... 75
Figure 4.2: Hypothetical snare attack placements in “Of Matter: Proxy” opening groove ...... 75
Figure 4.3: Groupings of thirty-second note level in “Of Matter: Resist” ...... 80
Figure 5.1: Backbeat with a ghost note on the final sixteenth note ...... 88
v
LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES
Page
Example 2.1: C pedal in the verse guitar riff of Periphery’s “Insomnia” (00:28-00:35) ...... 21
Example 2.2: Chromatic inflection of three-note figure in guitar in “Insomnia” (00:54-01:00) .. 21
Example 2.3: Major and minor thirds in “Insomnia” (01:00-01:06) ...... 22
Example 2.4: Opening guitar riff of Animals as Leaders’s “Tempting Time” (00:22-00:33) ..... 24
Example 2.5: Major and minor thirds in “Tempting Time” (04:40-04:46) ...... 24
Example 2.6: Reduction of “Tempting Time,” mm. 31-40 ...... 25
Example 2.7: Solo section guitar riff from “Tempting Time” (02:23-02:29)...... 25
Example 2.8: Spectrogram and transcription of “Insomnia” (00:15-00:20) ...... 27
Example 2.9: Electronic Percussion in “Insomnia” (01:53-01:59, 02:05-02:11) ...... 28
Example 2.10: Different ways of notating bass and drum groove in Tesseract’s “Of Matter: Retrospect,” m. 72 and following measures (02:33-02:41) ...... 35
Example 2.11: Chorus groove of “Utopia” by Tesseract ...... 38
Example 2.12: Groove in guitar and drums at m. 31-32 of “Tempting Time” (01:06-01:09) ...... 38
Example 2.13: Snare attacks in “Tempting Time,” opening section (00:22-00:44) ...... 40
Example 2.14: Different durations reflected in the drum transcription of “Insomnia” ...... 42
Example 3.1: Opening Cm9 chord and unfolding in vocal melody, “Insomnia” ...... 48
Example 3.2: Ascent to main tone Eb in “Insomnia” ...... 49
Example 3.3: Reduction of “Insomnia” riff, mm. 22-30 (00:22-00:41) ...... 50
Example 3.4: Reaching over at the entrance of the vocal melody, mm. 45-52 (01:06-01:17) ..... 51
Example 3.5: Modulation from C minor to D minor (01:37-01:43) ...... 52
Example 3.6: Reduction of the chorus of “Insomnia,” mm. 69-77 (01:40-01:53) ...... 53
Example 3.7: Tonal structure of “Insomnia” (00:00-02:18) ...... 53
Example 3.8: Opening Groove from Insomnia mm. 14-21 (00:15-00:28) ...... 55
vi
Example 3.9: Hemiola in the pre-chorus of “Insomnia” (01:23-01:26) ...... 57
Example 3.10: Bb-E tritone in the pre-chorus of “Insomnia” (01:21-01:30) ...... 58
Example 3.11: Rebarring of “Insomnia” (01:21-01:26) ...... 58
Example 3.12: Change initiated by syncopation in Periphery guitar riffs ...... 60
Example 4.1: Opening 20 measures of “Of Matter: Proxy” (00:00-00:50) ...... 63
Example 4.2: Descending melodic line in vocal part, “Proxy” (01:36-01:50) ...... 64
Example 4.3: Ascending line to C# in vocal parts, “Proxy” (02:00-02:23) ...... 65
Example 4.4: German augmented sixth chord superimposed over F# (03:10-03:12) ...... 66
Example 4.5: Reduction and voice leading sketch of “Proxy” ...... 67
Example 4.6: Melodic interruption in “Retrospect” (00:57-01:09) ...... 68
Example 4.7: Contrasting textures in “Retrospect” (01:05-01:15) ...... 69
Example 4.8: Thin texture from a descending line in “Retrospect” (02:09-02:29) ...... 70
Example 4.9: Closing section of “Retrospect” and elision to “Resist” (05:14-00:14) ...... 71
Example 4.10: Sketch of voice leading in “Resist” ...... 71
Example 4.11: Alignment of vocal line and guitar riff over ambience in “Proxy” (00:00-00:54) 73
Example 4.12: Irregular backbeat in the opening groove of “Of Matter: Proxy” (01:11-01:18) . 74
Example 4.13: Metric Modulation at m. 44, “Of Matter: Proxy” (01:33-01:36) ...... 76
Example 4.14: Final passage of “Of Matter: Proxy” (03:27-03:35, 04:31-04:39) ...... 76
Example 4.15: Multidimensional dissonance in “Of Matter: Retrospect” (02:33-02:45) ...... 78
Example 4.16: Syncopation in the guitar riff, “Of Matter: Retrospect” (03:54-03:58) ...... 79
Example 4.17: Guitar and vocal lines from “Of Matter: Resist” (01:09-01:18) ...... 80
Example 4.18: Hypermetrical dissonance in “Of Matter: Resist,” mm. 34-39 (01:39-01:57) ..... 81
Example 5.1: Conflicting metrical interpretations in “Tempting Time” (00:22-00:33) ...... 89
Example 5.2: Normalizations of the phrase into a typical backbeat ...... 91
Example 5.3: First three measures of “Tempting Time” (00:00-00:08) ...... 92
vii
Example 5.4: Cyclical models of meter in “Tempting Time” ...... 93
Example 5.5: Initial groove passage of “Tempting Time” (00:22-00:33) ...... 95
Example 5.6: Bridge riff of “Tempting Time” ...... 97
Example 5.7: Cyclical graph of bridge riff, “Tempting Time,” m. 97 (03:12) ...... 98
Example 5.8: Cyclical graph of bridge riff, “Tempting Time,” m. 97 (03:12) ...... 98
Example 5.9: Streams of recursion in “Tempting Time,” m. 97 (03:12) ...... 99
Example 5.10: Reduction of “Tempting Time” ...... 101
Example 6.1: Phrygian Dominant scale, similar to Middle Eastern Maqam Hijaz ...... 104
Example 6.2: Riff from Metallica, “Wherever I May Roam” (03:41-03:48) ...... 104
Example 6.3: Rag Yaman (The Raga Guide, 1999) ...... 107
Example 6.4: Tīntāl rhythmic cycle ...... 109
Example 6.5: Puriya Dhanashri, Todi, and Charukeshi ...... 110
Example 6.6: Mute the Saint, “Sound of Scars,” m. 26, sitar entrance (01:08-01:15) ...... 111
Example 6.7: Groove variation in tīntāl and sitar, mm. 26-33, “Sound of Scars” ...... 112
Example 6.8: Thinned texture at m. 76 in “Sound of Scars” (03:21-03:31) ...... 114
Example 6.9: Opening passage of “Sound of Scars” (00:00-00:25) ...... 117
Example 6.10: Reduction of “Sound of Scars,” mm. 18-33 (00:46-01:29) ...... 118
Example 6.11: “Sound of Scars,” mm. 36-37 (01:34-01:39) ...... 119
Example 6.12: Beginning of guitar solo in “Sound of Scars” (02:17-02:28) ...... 120
Example 6.13: “Sound of Scars,” mm. 84-87 (03:42-03:52) ...... 120
Example 6.14: Climactic riff of “Sound of Scars” (04:09-04:22) ...... 121
Example 6.15: Hemiola/metric modulation in “Sound of Scars” (00:18-00:25) ...... 123
Example 6.16: Metrical frustration in “Sound of Scars” (02:48-02:49) ...... 124
Example 6.17: Metrical helplessness in “Sound of Scars” (04:09-04:30) ...... 125
viii
DRUM TRANSCRIPTION SYMBOL KEY
1. Hi hat foot clap
2. Pedal bass drum
3. Low floor tom
4. High floor tom
5. Snare drum
6. Snare ghost stroke
7. Mounted tom
8. Ride cymbal
9. Hi hat cymbals
10. Crash cymbal 1
11. Crash cymbal 2
12. China cymbal/cymbal stack
ix
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Purpose
The connection and interaction of the pitch realm to significant metrical events in the djent breed of progressive metal remain unexplored or underexplored in music scholarship. The aim of this dissertation is to identify a consistent code of musical characteristics and
compositional approaches that serve to clarify connections of the pitch realm to the temporal
realm in djent, and how these two realms cooperate to musically represent topics found in the
text or titles of the songs. I intend to explain the details of my own listening experience,
deconstruct djent bands’ compositional processes, and contribute further to the body of analytical
tools developed by Jonathan Pieslak, Gregory McCandless, and others who have ventured to
engage in critical study of progressive metal.
Many questions arise when transcribing and analyzing metal, or indeed any music
currently catalogued under the “popular” moniker; questions such as: What is the value of
transcription in a musical tradition that is not explicitly associated with written notation? How
does one overcome the difficulty of creating a visual representation for passages of extreme
textural density by merely listening to the music? Which (if any) existing analytical models are best suited to identify and explain features of this music? This study explores these questions within the context of modern progressive metal through the act of transcription and the application of existing analytical models such as Schenkerian-style reductive and voice leading analysis and cognitive approaches after those developed by Fred Lerdahl and Ray Jackendoff.
1.2 Misha Mansoor and the Dawn of Djent
The term “djent” is somewhat of a conundrum. It originated as an onomatopoeic term for
1
the sound of the low register of a distorted electric guitar when palm muted and strummed.
However, the term was misconstrued as, and consequently became, a subgenre of progressive metal. From its inception in the early 2000s to now, the term has generally had a negative
connotation among the metal community, and the leading practitioners of the djent style
consistently denounce it on account of its inaccuracy and limitation as a descriptor of their style.1
Guitarist Misha Mansoor is often (incorrectly) credited as the one responsible for coining the term, though his success certainly propelled the term into common use.2 He notes:
I was looking for gear that was djenty. I was like: ‘are these pickups djenty?’ For some reason it caught on, but completely in the wrong way, because people think it’s a style of music and they think it’s a style of music I play. There’s a misconception, because low- tuned open-note syncopated riffs are now called djent riffs, even though it has nothing to do with it. A lot of djent bands don’t even play that djent chord or even do that sound, so it’s very ironic how that worked out.3
Like other djent pioneers, Mansoor was actively playing and composing on the guitar in
the early 2000s when Swedish metal band Meshuggah released their fourth studio album,
Nothing (2002). Meshuggah is responsible for a few significant aspects of the djent style, as
some of those pioneers admit. Nothing marked a change in style for Meshuggah, due in large part
to the introduction of 8-string guitars, as Meshuggah guitarist Mårten Hagström notes.4
Hagström claims that they were not necessarily seeking to switch from 7-string to 8-string, but
1 From my observations, most metal practitioners simply use the broader term “progressive metal.” The problematic nature of the development and use of musical terminology has historical precedents. At the turn of the 17th Century, organist and pedagogue Adriano Banchieri published his Ecclisiastiche sinfonie, wherein he coins the term basso seguente, a technique wherein a continuo player simply doubles the lowest part at any given moment in the score. But his discussion of basso seguente primarily consists of why organists should avoid this technique, claiming that it invites laziness and limits the creativity of continuo players. 2 Zoe Camp, “Meshuggah Apologize for Djent: It was ‘Drunk Misunderstanding,’” Revolver, July 24, 2018, https://www.revolvermag.com/music/meshuggah-apologize-djent-it-was-drunk-misunderstanding. 3 Misha Mansoor and Marc Okubo, “Mark Okubo (Veil of Maya) and Misha Mansoor (Periphery) Interview,” Guitar Messenger, November 12, 2010, http://www.guitarmessenger.com/interviews/marc-okubo-veil-of-maya- misha-mansoor-periphery-interview/ 4 Michael Mitchell, “Interview with Mårten Hagström of Meshuggah,” Gravemusic, May 10, 2003, http://www.mortado.com/gravemusic/news/interviews/meshug.shtml
2
that they thought, “it would be really cool to go lower…just to see what it would sound like on a
song or two.”
Meshuggah’s continued use of 8-string guitars resulted in the influence of a plethora of
new progressive metal bands and in turn affected the guitar market itself. However,
Meshuggah’s influence over the progressive metal scene was not solely founded on their use of
extended-range instruments. Their signature sound also consists of complex meters and
polyrhythms, unique approaches to melody in guitar solos, and texturally contrasted formal
sections. All of these musical characteristics are found in the music of successive djent bands.
In the course of developing and refining this new breed of progressive metal, Meshuggah was also incidentally responsible for the naming of it. In an interview with Guitar Messenger,
Mansoor points out that Fredrik Thordendal, Meshuggah’s other guitarist, was the first to use the term “djent.”
It is indeed ironic that it was in fact Hagström’s and Meshuggah’s departure from the percussive guitar sound that is associated with the dawn of the djent movement. The metal
community largely agrees that Meshuggah were the pioneers of djent, but there are many aspects of successive djent bands that are far removed from Meshuggah’s style.
So what is djent? The consensus among the metal community, however reluctant in some cases, seems to be that it is in fact a legitimate style and subgenre. Consider a contemporary definition from Urban Dictionary:
Djent’s typical uses give rise to a “genre” of djent that is characterized by hi-fi compressed production, polyrhyhmic/staccato distorted riffs and ambient clean passages which make liberal use of 9[th] and other “jazzy” chords. Electronica influences such as glitch percussion and synthesizers are also incorporated.5
5 “Djent,” Urban Dictionary, last modified February 4, 2010, accessed December 15, 2017, https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Djent.
3
Internet media outlet itdjents.com began in 2012, covering this specific breed of progressive
metal; since then, it has evolved to feature music from many other subgenres, both inside and outside of metal. The term has come to describe a musical genre that is removed from its onomatopoeic origin, though it is worth mentioning that the technique does exist from time to time in the music of djent bands. Going forward, my discussions of this subgenre is referred to herein as djent, djent-style progressive metal, the djent movement, etc. If I need to use “djent” to describe the guitar technique from which it originated, I indicate this usage as a special case.
In the process of developing the topic for this study, I spent a great deal of time
transcribing, listening to, and playing along with djent (where my skill allowed). Engaging with
the music in these ways allowed me to develop a better sense of how this music was or might
have been brought to fruition by the artists themselves. Like many rock-based traditions, I
conclude that djent is largely an oral tradition, wherein practitioners are generally not formally
trained. There are exceptions, particularly with drummers, but these are not the norm. Because
my analytical goals here are largely based on my own experience with the music, details about
the background of the musicians whose work I discuss are omitted.
1.3 Literature and Method
Though literature wherein progressive metal is transcribed and analyzed does exist, the
body of scholarship is small when compared with other musical styles; the existing literature is
also not without its limits and flaws. In this section, I discuss the scholarly work I have found to
be pertinent to the transcription and analysis of progressive metal.
The first question I posed above asks: what is the value of transcription in popular music,
a tradition not known for being written? I turn to the work of authors such as David Brackett,
Walter Everett, and Harris Berger. Some of these authors, as well as many others whose works I
4
utilize in this dissertation, reference Charles Seeger’s “prescriptive” and “descriptive”
parameters in the context of both transcription and analysis.6 Essentially, Seeger claims that
those who notate music are faced with the problem that the end result fails to distinguish between
a prescriptive “blueprint of how a specific piece of music shall be made to sound” and a
descriptive “report of how a specific performance of it actually did sound.”7 The general
consensus seems to be that the analysis of popular music and most music in general is
necessarily descriptive, for various reasons. I address these as they arise in my discussion of the
contributions of each of these authors.
David Brackett’s book Interpreting Popular Music begins with some of his own
perspectives on particular issues in popular music scholarship. He acknowledges the descriptive
nature of popular music transcription: “[transcriptions] represent recorded sounds, not directions
for performers to produce those sounds.”8 He notes that in Seeger’s view, notated scores are
prescriptive and that an effort to produce a descriptive score gives rise to myriad problems due to
the subjective nature of the act of transcription.9 His solution, similar to Seeger’s own, is
twofold: 1) acknowledge the necessity of oral (aural) tradition when reading a transcription
based on Western notation symbols, and 2) integrate snapshots from a spectrum analyzer to fill
in the gaps left by a notated transcription.10 According to Brackett even the spectrum analyzer is not without problems; he notes that it does not represent what one actually hears due to phenomena such as combination tones or the human tendency to “normalize” dynamics and
6 Charles Seeger, “Prescriptive and Descriptive Music-Writing,” The Musical Quarterly 44 no. 2 (1958): 184-185. 7 Seeger, “Prescriptive and Descriptive Music-Writing,” 184. 8 David Brackett, Interpreting Popular Music (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995), 29. 9 Brackett, Interpreting Popular Music, 28. 10 Brackett, Interpreting Popular Music, 29. Seeger refers to these gaps more than once as “what happens between the notes.” See Seeger, “Prescriptive and Descriptive,” 186.
5
noise levels. Here Brackett reveals that his concern is with graphic accuracy in the production of a transcription, though he admits that a perfectly accurate transcription is impossible.11 I agree with him on this point; just as words are mere symbols for that which they represent and exist in a different form spatially and temporally, any musical score or visual representation is just that: a representation. The spectrum analyzer, piano roll, and other visual forms of musical representation found in a digital audio workstation (DAW) may tell their own story about the music as well. These tools show interactions in the music in ways a traditional score cannot.
Pursuit of analysis of this music in these digital forms lies outside the scope of this study but could make for a fruitful study independently.
Though I strive with every effort to produce transcriptions as accurately as possible, I must acknowledge the presence my own subjectivity at every step of the process. In fact, I embrace the fact that I can only ever visually reproduce my own hearing and do it with the hope that others will benefit, that I might “fill in the gaps” of their listening. As with my analysis, my transcriptions inevitably (and sometimes intentionally) omit details. Those omissions of which I am consciously aware only serve to clarify the reader’s experience with analytical listening, skipping over excessively redundant, obvious, or otherwise analytically inconsequential details.
For example, there are vocal ornaments that are omitted because I concluded that they are mostly improvisatory and would not affect the analysis, should they be included.12 I should note that intentional omission in my transcriptions is rare, but unintentional omissions and inaccuracies surely exist.
11 Brackett, Interpreting Popular Music, 27. 12 Evidence of the improvisatory nature of these ornaments is found in various live performances, where they are varied or omitted altogether.
6
In his book Metal, Rock, and Jazz: Perception and the Phenomenology of Musical
Experience, Harris Berger seeks to produce original transcriptions from a “descriptive, rather than perspective” position by supplementing traditional methods of transcription and analysis with ethnographic information gathered from the bands or composers themselves.13 Berger also produced scores that represent music for which no score exists. He is adamant about expressing that his understanding of musical characteristics in the metal he examines comes from the experience of the musicians themselves rather than merely from objective musical constructs. He emphasizes that his work is descriptive and necessarily based on the experience of the subject.
For example, his commentary on his own experience with the music of Dan Saladin of the Death
Metal band Sin-Eater indicates that Saladin did not compose his songs by making selections from stock scales, chords, and rhythms. Rather, Saladin explored his instrument, responding with personal preferences, whatever the technical result.14 It is common for musicians of any popular genre, including metal, to lack formal training and therefore draw upon their own musical experience alone when composing, even if their personal preferences are the result of passive exposure to stock musical elements such as those mentioned by Berger. The importance of understanding this phenomenon arises when examining progressive metal, most of which is highly sophisticated and developed in various ways. With the advent of internet resources such as YouTube, I have been able to trace the progress of guitarist-composers such as Misha
Mansoor of Periphery and Acle Kahney of TesseracT; their early work as found in demos and short clips sheds light on how they developed the refined version of their sound that is heard on their professional recordings. Like Berger, I “fill in the gaps” by using this background
13 Harris M. Berger, Metal, Rock, and Jazz: Perception and the Phenomenology of Musical Experience (Hanover: Wesleyan University Press, 1999), 185. 14 Berger, Metal, Rock, and Jazz, 219.
7
information to inform my transcriptions and my analyses. However, my own experience with the
music as both instrumentalist and listener is an essential source in the production of
transcriptions.
What Berger does not seem to do is provide a detailed transcription of any rock or metal.
One reviewer praised him for his “microscopic attention to musical transcription.”15 Contrarily, I
find his transcriptions to be lacking vital details, whatever his reasons for omitting them. He
claims that his purpose is to give his readership an idea of what this music sounds like; however,
he omits most of the drum part for no apparent reason, which I believe is detrimental to both his
analysis and his larger point of comparison with an experiential description of a given piece of
music. The drums are an essential part of metal, especially with regard to the temporal realm.
Even if one’s purpose is simply to give a snapshot impression of the music, drums are essential
in a transcription in that they often show hypermetric organization and phenomenal accent,
highlight syncopation, and show texture. Granted, the metal Berger deals with is not nearly as
harmonically or rhythmically complex as djent, and a full transcription of each part might be
tedious to the reader. Nonetheless, the drums are a vital part of djent and I went to great lengths
to accurately represent them in my transcriptions, anticipating their necessity in the analytical
stage.
My second question pertains to transcription as well: How does one overcome the
difficulty of creating a visual representation for passages of extreme textural density by merely
listening to the music? When I encountered these issues, I attempted to overcome them through
the use of technological resources, my own background and experience, and informed analytical
15 Stephen Hill, Review of Metal, Rock, and Jazz: Perception and the Phenomenology of Musical Experience by Harris M. Berger, Yearbook for Traditional Music 34 (2002): 213.
8
decisions based on context and purpose. Other scholars have also utilized these resources and
approaches in order to work through the same challenges, even in different musical contexts.
Many scholars have found that the use of a spectrum analyzer, as David Brackett
suggests, can help fill in the gaps. At the Society for Music Theory Annual Meeting of 2017,
both of the papers in the “Interpreting Metal Music” session examined extreme metal, such as the
music of Meshuggah, using spectrograms. I have also used them as necessary, though my main
use of technology was tempo-altering software. This was immensely helpful in conjunction with
a spectrum analyzer in determining fine details of pitch and rhythm in extremely dense textures.
One of the most relevant scholarly works to this study is Gregory McCandless’s
dissertation on meter in the music of progressive metal band Dream Theater.16 McCandless
acknowledges that his background affects his assumptions and biases.17 He is a bassist with
experience playing most styles other than classical, but he does have classical training on trombone. Because of his experience as a bassist, he admits that his hearing is governed by the mechanics of playing in bass or guitar in otherwise metrically ambiguous passages.18 I have a
similar background as a guitarist and default to guitar-driven melodies and riffs when the music
becomes too dense or fast. I discuss this in detail in a later section.
In his dissertation, “Beyond Verse and Chorus: Experimental Formal Structures in Post-
Millennial Rock Music,” Brad Osborn provides many original transcriptions of sections of
various rock songs and was faced with decisions in the process of producing the transcriptions.
He avoids transcribing guitar and bass parts in octaves that would warrant too many ledger lines
16 That Periphery guitarist Jake Bowen is the nephew of Dream Theater’s John Petrucci is extramusical evidence of Dream Theater’s connection to djent-style progressive metal. The two bands toured together in 2012. 17 Gregory Richard McCandless, “Rhythm and Meter in the Music of Dream Theater,” (PhD diss., Florida State University, 2010), 30, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global. 18 McCandless, “Rhythm and Meter,” 30.
9
and therefore become difficult to read; instead he normalizes these parts to be within or as close
to the staff as possible. He also does not write out repeats even if the repeated section contains
some small variation.19 Through these changes and omissions, he reveals that his analytical
purpose is to discuss the harmonic core of this music, not every detail of the musical surface
from a voice-leading standpoint. Though my purposes are different and have thus resulted in the
inclusion of different details in my transcriptions, my decision-making process was governed by
similar logic; I chose I felt were analytically relevant.
The final question was which existing analytical models are equipped to explain djent.
Most theories of music and new analytical models originate from a modification or synthesis of
existing analytical methodologies, and this is certainly the case in this dissertation. In this final
section of my literature review, I give an overview of authors who have studied and analyzed
similar musical styles as well as authors who have developed analytical models I have found to
be effective in the analysis of this music, even without existing examples of their application to
it.
A few scholars have published work on metrical analysis of progressive metal. While I
do not intend to dispute or duplicate their findings, I try to fill in some of the gaps they may have
left due to their selection of repertoire or their chosen analytical models. Jonathan Pieslak and
Gregory McCandless have both analyzed progressive metal, focusing on the rhythmic and
metrical organization of complex examples, namely the music of Meshuggah and Dream
Theater, respectively.20 Pieslak concentrates the majority of his article on Meshuggah’s “I,” a
19 Bradley T. Osborn, “Beyond Verse and Chorus: Experimental Formal Structures in Post-Millennial Rock Music” (PhD diss., University of Washington, 2010), 6, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global. 20 Jonathan Pieslak, “Re-casting Metal: Rhythm and Meter in the Music of Meshuggah.” Music Theory Spectrum 29 no. 2 (2007), 219.
10
single-track 20 minute EP. He uses analytical models such as William Rothstein’s phrase
rhythm, John Roeder’s pulse streams, Maury Yeston’s attack-point intervals, Harald Krebs’s
metrical dissonance, and Fred Lerdahl and Ray Jackendoff’s principles of grouping in order to
identify hierarchy in the temporal realm of “I.” He identifies large-scale phrase rhythm according
to attack points throughout “I,” and notes that the B section differs from most of Meshuggah’s
music in that the phrase rhythm is not organized in small segments. His considerations of
hypermeter and coincident pitch events proved useful to my analyses. My point of departure is
that post-Meshuggah djent bands tend to incorporate similar metrical techniques into music that consists of a much wider variety of harmonic, melodic, and textural elements, and I strive to consider these together with the advanced metrical techniques that were apparently inherited
from or at least influenced by the music of Meshuggah.
Despite its existence in the previous generation of progressive metal, the music of Dream
Theater shares many musical characteristics with djent, particularly with regard to metric
complexity. Gregory McCandless’s analyses of Dream Theater are particularly useful, especially
with regard to meter. He identifies concepts such as metric modulation, metrical transition, and
metrical reinterpretation in various Dream Theater songs as he applies the various metrical
analysis models mentioned previously. For example, his analysis of the Dream Theater song
“The Mirror” shows how the drum backbeat provides for interpretation and reinterpretation via
“barline shift.”21 Metrical reinterpretation and recontextualization happens quite often in djent,
though in a different way, as I show in the next chapter.
In selecting music to transcribe and study, I began with the most influential and
renowned bands of the djent scene. Three of the four pieces examined in this dissertation were
21 McCandless, “Rhythm and Meter,” 105.
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selected for this reason. Periphery was an obvious choice, with Misha Mansoor as its founding
member and highly influential to many other bands that followed. TesseracT was similar, the
brainchild of Acle Kahney, but in the U.K. as opposed to the U.S. Mansoor was also involved in
the production of Animals as Leaders’s first and third albums, which broke new ground in the
djent style and introduced guitarists to many new techniques. The final band was chosen for a different reason since they were fairly short-lived and not as successful. Mute the Saint, made up mostly of members from India, was created by sitarist Rishabh Seen. The combination of Eastern and Western elements added another dimension to the music; I felt that my analytical work would greatly benefit from an examination of their music.
Because the organization of Mute the Saint’s music is based in large part on principles of
Indian Classical music, sources that apply Western analytical models to it are helpful to consider.
David Clarke has recently applied the cognitive-theoretical tools developed by Fred Lerdahl and
Ray Jackendoff in their seminal work, A Generative Theory of Tonal Music. Clarke applies
Lerdahl and Jackendoff’s work as a test of its viability to support their claim that the cognitive analytical principles they outline in A Generative Theory of Tonal Music (GTTM) are universal.
Clarke examines a particular performance of an ālāp, a slow, untimed introductory movement in a given performance of a rag. He forms his own versions of time-span reduction preference rules called Alap Preference Rules. These are based on the hierarchy of pitches in the sargam system
(comparable to Western solfege). For example, sa (like tonic, or ‘do’) is preferred as a delineator of melodic phrases when conditions otherwise make the division unclear.22 His adaptation of
GTTM principles to music outside of the Western classical canon shows the pliability of Lerdahl
22 David Clarke, “North Indian Classical Music and Lerdahl and Jackendoff’s Generative Theory – a Mutual Regard,” Music Theory Online 23, no. 3. Accessed July 9, 2018. http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.17.23.3/mto.17.23.3.clarke.php.
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and Jackendoff’s theory. Though I approach the application of their theory in a different way,
Clarke’s work is valuable here; analysis of the music of the djent movement, especially Mute the
Saint, benefit from flexibility in any Western analytical approach.
Others have applied Western theories to Indian music. Michael Schachter’s Music Theory
Online article shows how one might find structural levels after Schenker in South Indian
Classical music. Schachter begins by outlining a typical structure within a raga. Like Clarke,
Schachter bases this structure on hierarchic order of pitches within the rag, identifying an octave leap from sa to sa, with an intervening pa (comparable to sol), as the fundamental structure.23
With this structure in place, he is able to trace the elaborations of it on the surface of a few performances of selected ragas. His approach is similar to Clarke’s in that he adapts the theory to the musical practice prior to analysis, which adaptation is necessitated by the foreign nature of the musical style to the analytical model.
Most scholars who attempt hierarchical voice-leading reductions of popular music mostly use the principles of Schenkerian analysis, without trying to ascertain whether the popular style has fundamental voice-leading patterns that may be distinct from Schenker’s fundamental structure. Among the most important works that examine voice leading in and apply reductive analysis to popular music is Walter Everett’s two-book series, The Beatles as Musicians. He identifies common compositional techniques used by the members of the Beatles and shows them with the aid of reductive voice leading sketches. His analyses adapt the Schenkerian principles by identifying large-scale voice-leading threads, often in a descending motion; in this
23 Michael Schachter, “Structural Levels in South Indian Music,” Music Theory Online 21, no 4. Accessed July 9, 2018. http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.15.21.4/mto.15.21.4.schachter.html. Schachter offers several variations of this basic fundamental structure, based on typical patterns found in raga performance practice.
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way, he draws out the tonal structure from a body of music that lies outside of the typical
Schenkerian scope.24
Other examples of the application of Schenkerian analysis to music outside of Western
Common Practice include Steve Larson’s analysis of Jazz, which uses Schenkerian analysis to
identify underlying structures in a body of music that, like much Indian music, is largely based
on improvisation. Larson considers the extended tertian vocabulary in jazz, namely sevenths,
ninths, elevenths, and thirteenths, to dissonances and elaborations of more stable consonances.25
His consideration of the voice leading function of these higher scale degrees is applicable to the
music of the djent bands I examine here; many of the melodies and harmonies use these higher
scale degrees in a similar way to that in which they are used in jazz. To many djent musicians,
the inclusion of jazz elements is a point of pride. Djent band Scoredatura’s own description of
their style includes the term “djazz,” an obvious play on and combination of the two styles.26 In
any case, the harmonic content of djent is closer to jazz and modern popular music than common practice classical music.
In this study, my application of voice-leading and metric analysis to djent reveals many
characteristics that lie under the musical surface. This work shows the existence of Schenkerian
concepts such as large-scale harmonic motion, prolongation, and auxiliary events. Additionally,
temporal analysis concepts such as multidimensional metrical dissonance are developed and
24 Walter Everett, The Beatles as Musicians: Quarrymen through Rubber Soul, Oxford University Press, 2001. The large number of popular music scholars includes those who approach popular music as tonal, those who understand it as something completely removed from tonality, and many in between these extremes. See Guy Capuzzo, “Tonality and Sectional Centricity in Rock Music,” Music Theory Spectrum 31, no. 1 (2009): 157-174. 25 Steve Larson, “Schenkerian Analysis of Modern Jazz: Questions about Method,” Music Theory Spectrum 20, no. 2 (1998): 209. 26 “Scoredatura,” Bandcamp, accessed November 4, 2020, https://scoredatura.bandcamp.com/album/honest- oblivion.
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discussed. It is important to note here that the Schenkerian graphs or voice-leading sketches deviate from convention in some ways. For example, the musical examples show music that is close to the surface, or foreground, but the deeper voice leading threads are shown with slurs and solid lines that may connect across multiple staff systems. Because the musical surface is so significant, particularly with regard to meter and rhythm, I felt it necessary to include surface details in the examples.
My primary analytical focus is the interaction of melodic voice leading with hypermetric structure and meaning in the text or other extramusical elements. This being the case, considerations of meter and rhythm are taken up in the next chapter as I describe the process of transcribing. In addition to using preference rules after Lerdahl and Jackendoff, I incorporate theories of meter from Gretchen Horlacher, Harald Krebs, and Justin London. London’s cyclical models of meter are particularly useful in representing songs with frequent shifts in meter, such as Animals as Leaders’s “Tempting Time,” discussed in Chapter 5. To reiterate, the analysis of meter in progressive metal has been taken up by other scholars; I intend to limit my discussion to issues of metrical analysis that arise when initially producing a visual representation of the music.
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CHAPTER 2
TRANSCRIPTION: A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS
2.1 An Introduction to Transcription Preference Rules
As a performer, I am always excited to take on a new piece. I find repeating in my head the same words I have addressed to many private students and classes: the first thing to do when presented with a new piece of music is to scan it through, noting the extremes in pitch, texture, and dynamics, as well as any other spot that is musically interesting or that stands out for any other reason. As a performer does this, his or her individual interpretation begins to form. As the piece is practiced and played over and over again, the interpretation comes to fruition in preparation for a unique performance.
Just as every performance is unique, every listener and listening experience is different.
Two persons hearing the same piece for the first time may be drawn to different details, or the same listener may notice different details upon each successive listening. I have always been an advocate of repeated listening; it is probably this practice that has enabled me to produce transcriptions of dense, complex music. Multiple listenings can reveal details at many musical levels that may not be perceptible upon hearing a piece once or twice or by merely looking at a score.27
It is in this spirit of multiple listenings that I begin my discussion of the process of
transcription I underwent to produce analytical scores for the djent pieces that I have selected.
Each of the four transcriptions I analyze in the next few chapters is the result of many, many
listenings. I would often begin transcription session by listening to the entire piece, followed by
looping one section or segment at a time, with my focus on a single instrument or voice. I would
27 I use the word ‘listenings’ rather than ‘hearings’ in order to indicate the active nature of the activity.
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gradually work my way through the piece, often seconds at a time, until that voice was
completed; I would repeat this procedure for each voice (at least 4 or 5 times per piece to account for all of the instruments/voices). This was the initial process that produced the raw transcription.
In most cases, I would return to the transcription after some time because I would hear some detail I had missed before or I came to a different analytical decision about the details of the transcription. My concluding thought here is that the transcriptions are in a state of flux and could potentially be so ad infinitum, were I not required to complete this study and pause the work of refining them.
Issues of notational convention have been addressed in part by other scholars. In the course of attempting to explain metrical well-formedness, Justin London explains that a system of rules and conditions - such as that given by Lerdahl and Jackendoff’s A Generative Theory of
Tonal Music - is not without issues.28 He continues that the term notational well-formedness is more interesting than metric or stylistic well-formedness.29 He notes that evolving musical
techniques have necessitated changes to existing notation systems. London stops short of offering any specific well-formedness or preference rules that would govern the notation of meter from sounding music in potentially ambiguous musical contexts; he is content to conclude with general observations about the existing practice of notating meter.
In preparation for analyzing Indian Classical music with principles from GTTM, David
Clarke had to produce scores via transcription. He acknowledges the analytical nature of transcribing, noting that “the transcription itself reflects and makes possible certain analytical
28 Justin London, Hearing in Time: Psychological Aspects of Musical Meter (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 70. 29 London, Hearing in Time, 70. He notes that the term notational well formedness “refers to what is possible or permissible within the context of a particular notational system.”
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judgments.”30 To describe the decision-making process that went into notating the djent repertoire, I have organized my solutions to these issues into preference rules, after Lerdahl and
Jackendoff. I base these rules as closely as possible on what I know about the musical practice within the idiom and my own perceptions of the music. The rules address issues that arose during the transcription process and reflect the decisions I made that seemed to achieve a consistent result. I introduce them by way of the categories of pitch, time, and timbre, as the rules may fit into these categories. Also, because the preference-rule approach has been adopted by many other scholars, I forego using acronyms such as MPR1 for Metrical Preference Rule 1, and so forth; instead, I attempted to select titles that reflect the content of the rules. The rules together can be referred to as Transcription Preference Rules. Naturally, there are exceptions to these rules.
2.2 Key Signature Rule
The existence of a central key or tonal center as indicated by a key signature can guide the listener to identify large-scale structural elements more easily while examining the musical surface. Because the style of reductive analysis I apply to the examples of djent herein requires that there is ultimately a central key, it is important to set parameters that guide the identification of a key signature. Most of the preference rules can be applied with the foundation of some basic assumptions about djent. With regard to key, I assume the following:
1. Djent music is tonal in that it revolves around and returns to a central pitch or pitch class.
2. The tonal center of djent remains the same throughout a given song. If it changes, it does so according to tonal convention (modulation, auxiliary cadential events, etc.)
30 Clarke, “North Indian Classical Music,” 4.6.
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3. Djent music can be understood as having a fundamental triad, either major or minor, in the background. If the triad appears with the opposite third (e.g. A-C-E in place of A-C#-E), it is a variant of the fundamental triad.
4. All instruments use the same pitch collection.
5. The pitch collection often forms a scale.
6. The fundamental triad justifies the use of a key signature that is generally applicable to the pitch collection.
Additionally, it is worth noting that the examples I analyze are constructed similarly with regard to mode, harmonic language, rhythm, metric approaches, and other musical parameters. These examples are representative of the greater body of music that might be described with the term djent.
One advantage in selecting an appropriate key signature to represent the tonal center of a given djent song is that key signatures are historically flexible. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives a concise summary of the evolution of key signature use:
The association of a signature with a definite key is a late 18th-century development. Before this, pieces were often written with, in minor keys, one flat fewer…, or, in major keys, one sharp fewer…, than would be used in the modern system. The increasingly chromatic writing of late 19th- and 20th-century music frequently led to the abandonment of key signatures.31
In his discussion of the seventeenth-century use of the term tuono, Gregory Barnett differentiates
between tonality and key; for his purposes, tonality indicates an organization of pitches and functions that may not strictly adhere to the rules of the modern tonal system, whereas key rigidly refers to one of the twenty-four major or minor keys in that system.32 In my
31 “Key Signature,” Grove Music Online, accessed July 10, 2018, http:////www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo- 9781561592630-e-0000014954. 32 Gregory Barnett, “Modal Theory, Church Keys, and the Sonata at the End of the Seventeenth Century,” Journal of the American Musicological Society 51, no. 2 (1998): 249.
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transcriptions, I use a key signature to loosely represent the tonal center, but Barnett’s definition
of tonality is far more applicable to the pitch organization in most djent repertoire.
Existing key-finding algorithms are useful here, but they may require some adjustment.
David Temperley devotes a chapter of The Cognition of Basic Musical Structures to the
development of a key-finding algorithm. Temperley achieves his algorithm by making
modifications to the one developed by Krumhansl and Schmuckler, based on his own reasoning
and testing the existing algorithm against a variety of pieces.33 Essentially, the most frequently
occurring pitches in a given piece (or smaller levels, down to the measure) serve to determine
possibilities for the key, according to how they fit a predetermined key profile. Some of the
irregularities that exist in the Krumhansl-Schmuckler model that Temperley attempts to refine
include an imbalance between major and minor triads in their respective key profiles.
Temperley’s model equalizes the pitches of both triads, which allows the algorithm to determine
the composer’s intended key with greater accuracy.34
In a later chapter, Temperley refines his algorithm further to allow it to account for the
unique musical parameters of rock and popular music. The most significant change Temperley
makes to his previous version of the key-finding algorithm is the implementation of modes that
are common to rock.35 He combines four common rock modes to form a “supermode,” having determined that most rock songs remain within the confines of this mode.
One of the most common harmonic techniques of metal in general and djent in particular is the pedal point. In djent songs where there is a clear and repeated pedal, the key is easily determined based on the pedal. Example 2.1 shows the first measures of the guitar riff in the
33 David Temperley, The Cognition of Basic Musical Structures, MIT Press, 2001, 179-180. 34 Temperley, Cognition of Musical Structures, 179. 35 Temperley, Cognition of Musical Structures, 261.
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verse of Periphery’s “Insomnia.” The low C at the beginning of the riff36 is reiterated during the
verse and pre-chorus riffs throughout the song. Just as in classical music, pedal tones allow for
harmonic exploration and development without the complete abandonment of the tonic key.
Example 2.2 shows the riff at m. 38, which develops the three-note figure from beat two of m.
22. This chromatic inflection could disorient a sense of tonic in the absence of the pedal; thus,
the pedal could serve to provide a sense of tonic stability.
Example 2.1: C pedal in the verse guitar riff of Periphery’s “Insomnia” (00:28-00:35)
Example 2.2: Chromatic inflection of three-note figure in guitar in “Insomnia” (00:54-01:00)
As this section continues, the riff reveals another common harmonic device in djent: the duality between major and minor thirds. The next phrase, shown in Example 2.3, continues the development of the three-note figure, favoring the flattened second and major third. The tonal
36 I use the term “riff” in a variety of ways in this study, but it generally refers to repeated passages of music played by the rhythm guitar, typically four to eight measures in length. Riffs typically serve a foundational role in the establishment of a given song’s musical surface.
21
structure in the music of post-Meshuggah djent bands differs from that of their forebears in this
way. Jonathan Pieslak identifies a consistent tonal or modal plan in Meshuggah’s music, wherein
they use the Locrian mode and favor chromaticism, half steps, and minor thirds.37 Although
pioneering djent practitioners such as Misha Mansoor openly acknowledge the influence of
Meshuggah on their music, the tonal language of post-Meshuggah djent is more eclectic than that
of Meshuggah.
Example 2.3: Major and minor thirds in “Insomnia” (01:00-01:06)
Note that the examples are already notated as though the song is in C minor; there is a
precedent in metal practice that is important to consider here. Nearly every instance of E♮ is
accompanied by Db. The flattened second and major third convey the “Phrygian Dominant”
mode common to metal.38 However, I take the minor third as indicative of the key because of
there is a consistent return to the minor triad, especially in the ambient textures in the upper
guitars. The lower range “riff” guitars, or those that play more individual notes in a percussive
37 Pieslak, “Re-casting Metal,” 220, footnote. The same tonal features are found in the music of Periphery, Animals as Leaders, Between the Buried and Me, and other progressive metal bands, but these bands additionally use diatonic progressions, the Phrygian dominant mode, and melodic vocal lines. 38 “Phrygian Scale for Metal Guitar,” Guitar Fact, accessed October 7, 2020, https://www.guitarfact.com/phrygian- scale-for-metal-guitar.
22
fashion, tend to be more flexible with the mode, while upper register guitars and melodies adhere
more closely to a specific mode.39
If the presence of the minor third on the surface of the music is not convincing enough,
the harmonic progressions used in most djent solidify minor tonality. When riffs deviate from single note runs over an open-string pedal tone, the chords that appear are either from the minor mode or are chromatic chords of one type or another.40 Referring again to Example 2.1, the
chords on beats three and four of m. 23 include VI and III in C minor. The fact that these chords
are found in the minor mode confirms the song’s dominantly minor tonality to my hearing.
To summarize, the tonic of most djent songs is easily identified as the repeated pedal
tone; the question becomes whether the third is major or minor. My Key Signature Rule can be
stated as follows: with the pedal tone as tonic, prefer the minor third as indicated by the mode of
the chord roots. Most of the songs I have examined, transcribed, and analyzed have keys that I
have been able to identify using this rule with little to no difficulty.
On the other hand, the key is not always clear and straightforward. Therefore, I conclude
this section by examining a song in which the key is not so easily identified, namely Animals as
Leaders’s “Tempting Time.” While the presence of a pedal tone on B is fairly obvious
throughout most of the song, the mode is unclear. The opening riff oscillates between a C major
triad and a B major triad, and later riffs include pedal tone D#s and Gs. Both of these pedals,
along with the C major chord from the opening riff, fit into the Phrygian dominant mode. This
39 Other examples of this type of modal play on Periphery include the tracks “Icarus Lives” and “Racecar.” Each of these songs have low-register guitars that deviate from the mode more than the ambient upper guitar parts. 40 I consider ‘chord’ to include power chords as well. Typically, chromatic chords are anomalous or particular to the song; there is not a specific chromatic chord or set of chords that represents the overall style.
23
might lead one to believe that the song is “in” B Phrygian dominant. The opening riff is shown in
Example 2.4.
Reading the song in B Phrygian dominant poses a number of problems. First, the C natural is replaced by C# in the second section, beginning at m. 31, and remains for the duration of the song. This chromatic alteration changes the mode to the fifth mode of melodic minor, or melodic major. Despite this change, the third remains unaffected. A second development in the song brings up the second issue: the presence of both the major and the minor third. The closing section of the song provides a clear example. This is shown in Example 2.5.
Example 2.4: Opening guitar riff of Animals as Leaders’s “Tempting Time” (00:22-00:33)
Example 2.5: Major and minor thirds in “Tempting Time” (04:40-04:46)
My Key Signature Rule suggests taking the minor third if Phrygian dominant is implied and also to consider the harmonic progressions in the song as indicative of the key. The problem is that “Tempting Time” both breaks from Phrygian dominant and has chords whose roots are indicative of the major mode. Example 2.6 shows a reduction of the passage from mm. 31-40.
The D# pedal at m. 35 challenges the Key Signature Rule, at least at first glance. Taking the
24
pedal as the root of the chord, the D# seems to imply that the key is in fact B major.
It is ultimately necessary to consider the melodic and harmonic content of the entire piece
together to reach a conclusion about the key. Because Temperley’s key-finding system first considers measures in isolation and then as a group, he is able to account for harmonically
atypical sections in a given piece. The solo section of “Tempting Time” uses progressions that
include bVI and iv in B major; this riff is shown in Example 2.7.
Example 2.6: Reduction of “Tempting Time,” mm. 31-40
Example 2.7: Solo section guitar riff from “Tempting Time” (02:23-02:29)
The Key Signature Rule provides a simple way to identify the most appropriate key in
which to notate a particular djent song or piece. Because all of the music I have selected to
discuss and analyze in this dissertation, as well as most djent in general, is constructed in a
similar fashion, I am able to easily identify a pedal tone, examine the harmonic progressions, and
determine a key. The transcription is intended to serve as an idealized representation of the song,
25
just as a Schenkerian background sketch represents an idealized voice leading and harmonic
structure. It is my hope that the knowledge of the governing key I have selected for each piece
will guide the reader and listener to see and hear large-scale structural elements while examining
the musical surface.
2.3 Density Rule
Transcribing dense textures is difficult across all genres of music, but it may be
particularly so with progressive metal. One aspect of this music that presents challenges to the transcriber is the way it is produced. Unlike classical music, most popular music recordings are
mastered with a high degree of compression.41 The use of compression creates a narrowed
amplitude range, or surface density, and thus increases the difficulty of isolating individual
voices or parts. Compression in metal can blur the line of distinction between the timbres and
rhythms of two guitars or even between guitar and bass or drums.
In passages where I was unable to make the necessary distinctions between separate
voices or rhythms by ear, I employed my Density Rule, which prefers transcriptions that are produced through the use of technology and adhere to the conventions of the genre in order to describe dense textures with greater accuracy. Admittedly, there are instances where I simply
had to make a decision, remaining unsure even after applying technological resources. I reiterate
my purpose in the production of transcriptions: to provide a visual score that can be analyzed,
particularly with reductive methods. While some passages proved impossible to accurately
represent through transcription, others became clear with repeated listening. It is important to
note that most of these features consisted of a repeated riff, usually an existing riff that was being
41 Joan Serrà et al., “Measuring the Evolution of Contemporary Western Popular Music,” Scientific Reports, July 26, 2012, https://www.nature.com/articles/srep00521.
26
recontextualized by octave transfer, changing meter, or other musical features. This contextualization indicates to me that most moments of high density do not carry enough musical significance to affect a reductive analysis at deep levels.
Example 2.8: Spectrogram and transcription of “Insomnia” (00:15-00:20)
Contemporary transcription has been made much easier due to technological advances in digital audio software. Tempo reduction and spectrograms reveal details that are otherwise difficult to hear. Returning again to Periphery’s “Insomnia,” I have produced a spectrogram of the opening riff. Example 2.8 shows the passage from 0:15; the extremes of the sound profile from the spectrogram align with the guitar and bass drum attacks on the transcription. Because of the texture and the rhythmic density of this passage, I slowed the tempo and watched as the spectrogram visually indicated the rhythmic groupings of the riff. I found it especially important early in the process to produce accurate transcriptions, as opposed to temporarily transcribing a general skeletal structure. By correctly representing the music initially with as much detail as possible, I discovered characteristics of the song, band, and genre that informed successive refinements to the transcription.
27
After using technology to aid the process of transcription, I employed my knowledge of
the conventions of djent, one of the most common of which is to repeat four-measure or eight-
measure rhythmic pattern blocks. After laying down the notation for what was already a difficult
passage to hear by using technology, I proceeded to “copy and paste,” as is common for djent
bands to do in their compositions. Measures 77-84 of “Insomnia” include percussive electronics
that span the stereo field, the timbral spectrum, and the rhythmic grid. Needless to say, this
passage is difficult to notate, even when this part is somewhat isolated; it becomes all the more
challenging when the full instrumentation enters at m. 85. Example 2.9 shows the segment from
mm. 77-84 as well as that of 85-92. Convention suggested that the material from the first passage would be repeated; this proved to be true, for the most part. Those elements that were not exactly the same in the repetition of the phrase (such as the three consecutive sixteenth notes in Example
2.9(b), m. 86) were readily identified as anomalous variants of an existing pattern.
Example 2.9: Electronic Percussion in “Insomnia” (01:53-01:59, 02:05-02:11) (a)
(b)
The third approach I used to accurately transcribe dense passages in the chosen djent
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songs was to simply use the general logic of tonal music. This approach is similar to the previous
one, in which I applied the conventions of djent. It differs only in that the principles I apply here
are more broadly applicable. Here it is important to note that these approaches are neither
mutually exclusive nor necessarily a progression. In each case, the resource that seemed most
applicable and appropriate to the problem was applied first, followed by others as needed.
Returning to “Tempting Time,” the passage at m. 47 is an unaccompanied guitar melody that serves as an insert toward the end of the second section of the song. At the end of this measure, the notes are slurred together and particularly difficult to decipher. After using software to reduce the tempo, I still needed to make decisions in order to complete the transcription of the passage. After reaching the A6 toward the end of the measure, the line descends, but individual pitches are not easily discernable. Based on the previous material in the measure, I transcribed it as a continuation of the B minor arpeggio, concluding on B3, this pitch being somewhat easier to detect because of its position at the end of the measure. The tablature and arrows (guitar picking direction) show how this passage, as notated, can be played.
The tools and resources employed by the use of the Density Rule do not constitute a
comprehensive method for transcription. In some cases, composers provide their own
transcriptions or can be contacted and consulted on how to reproduce the material to represent its
original state. This approach would certainly not be “cheating” by any means, but I hope to have
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made it evident that part of my purpose in describing the process of transcription is to put forth a
more universal methodology, one that works without the participation of the composer.
2.4 Tactus Rule
Before setting rules about how the snare affects the determination of a time signature, I proceed to a discussion of the hi hat cymbals and their metrical role. One might consider the bass drum and other parts of a drum kit with regard to meter, but the snare and hi hat cymbals serve to establish meter more than any other instrument in the entire texture. This being said, other cymbals, such as the crash or ride cymbals, often substitute for the hi hats the element that establishes a regular pulse.
Just as in most rock and popular music genres, in progressive metal the regular attacks of the hi hat or other cymbals usually outline a pattern of eighth notes relative to the snare attacks.
Lerdahl and Jackendoff state that the tactus is the level of regularly occurring attack points at which the music is conducted, or at which a listener can “feel” the meter of a piece of music.
They also remark that the tactus is associated with foot tapping and dance steps.42
I applied Lerdahl and Jackendoff’s logic about the physical embodiment of music to my own listening as well as observations of musicians and fans during live performances. I listened to several songs from djent bands and observed some live performances where I was able to access them. While I listened, I embodied the music by bobbing my head or tapping my hands with what I perceived to be the tactus or primary beat level. After determining this, I observed whether the pulse of the hi hats was on the beat, faster than the beat, or slower than the beat. The results of my findings are shown in Table 2.1.
42 Fred Lerdahl and Ray Jackendoff, A Generative Theory of Tonal Music (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1983), pg. 71.
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Table 2.1: Tempo and Tactus in Djent Songs
BPM of Song Band Hi Hat Tactus Survival Tesseract 67.5 faster Singularity Tesseract 72.5 faster All New Materials Periphery 75 faster Crescent Animals as Leaders 76 faster The Future that Awaited Me Animals as Leaders 76.5 faster Kascade Animals as Leaders 80 faster The Fall of Sirius Mute the Saint 80 faster Resist Tesseract 81 faster (triplet) Jetpacks Was Yes Periphery 82 faster Acceptance Tesseract 83 faster /on Song of Solomon Animals as Leaders 85 faster Weightless Animals as Leaders 88 on Welcome the Change Mute the Saint 88 faster Calypso Mute the Saint 88 on Inamorata Animals as Leaders 90 faster Isolated Incidents Animals as Leaders 90 on Cylindrical Sea Animals as Leaders 90 faster Sound of Scars Mute the Saint 90 on Sunrise Tesseract 90 faster Phoenix Tesseract 92 faster (triplet) Seven Names Tesseract 92 faster (triplet) Utopia Tesseract 94 on The Price of Everything and the Value of Animals as Leaders 95 faster Nothing Ow My Feelings Periphery 96 on Soraya Animals as Leaders 100 on (chorus) Behaving Badly Animals as Leaders 100 faster (table continues) Lippincott Animals as Leaders 104 on Hexes Tesseract 104 on Cages Tesseract 107 on
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BPM of Song Band Hi Hat Tactus Embers Tesseract 109 on Tourniquet Tesseract 109 on Tempting Time Animals as Leaders 110 on Point to Point Animals as Leaders 110 on Icarus Lives Periphery 110 on Another Year Animals as Leaders 111 on Eden Tesseract 111 on Nascent Tesseract 113 on The Impossible Tesseract 113 on Private Visions of the World Animals as Leaders 114 faster Physical Education Animals as Leaders 115 on Para Mexer Animals as Leaders 115 on the Woven Web Animals as Leaders 118 on Ectogenesis Animals as Leaders 118 on Lament Tesseract 118 on Proxy Tesseract 118 on Nephele Animals as Leaders 120 on The Glass Bridge Animals as Leaders 120 on An Infinite Regression Animals as Leaders 120 faster Origin Tesseract 120 on April Tesseract 120 on Retrospect Tesseract 120 on Exile Tesseract 120 on Eclipse Tesseract 120 on Messenger Tesseract 120 on Dystopia Tesseract 120 on Backpfeifengesicht Animals as Leaders 125 on Zyglrox Periphery 125 on (table continues) Calabi-Yau Tesseract 125 on Do Not Go Gently Animals as Leaders 130 on Perfection Tesseract 130 on
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BPM of Song Band Hi Hat Tactus Epiphany Tesseract 130 on Nocturne Tesseract 130 on Palingenesis Tesseract 130 on/faster Air Chrysalis Animals as Leaders 135 on Buttersnips Periphery 135 on The Brain Dance Animals as Leaders 136 faster (triplet) Letter Experiment Periphery 138 on Totla Mad Periphery 140 on Cognitive Contortions Animals as Leaders 141 on Deception Tesseract 144 on Thoroughly at Home Animals as Leaders 145 on Light Periphery 145 on/slower Racecar Periphery 145 on Mind Spun Animals as Leaders 146 on Inner Assassins Animals as Leaders 146 on Insomnia Periphery 150 on Tooth and Claw Animals as Leaders 152 on On Impulse Animals as Leaders 155 on CAFO Animals as Leaders 155 on Somnarium Animals as Leaders 160 on The Walk Periphery 160 on Captain On Periphery 160 on Earth Departure Animals as Leaders 170 on In Silence We Will Remain Mute the Saint 190 on/faster
Though there are some exceptions, there is a consistent pattern that points to a threshold around 100 beats per minute (BPM). The tempos within approximation of this number reflect a change from hi hats articulating the eighth note to articulating the quarter note; drummers tend to articulate the tactus level with the hi hats when it is over 100 BPM. This threshold is consistent with perceptive medians estimated by Justin London and others. London uses many studies and
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produces some of his own charts that reflect the limits of human perception on each end of the temporal spectrum. He points out that the lower limit of the perception of separate pulses in a rhythmic figure is 100 milliseconds, or 600 BPM. Conversely, the upper limit of perception of a continuous stream of connected pulses is 6 seconds, or 10 BPM. The median tempo of his studies is consistently around 80-100 beats per minute. 43 In Table 2.1, from about 88 bpm to 100 bpm, there is flexibility among all of the bands with regard to articulating the tactus with the hi hats.
For example, Animals as Leaders’s “Inamorata” and “Isolated Incidents” are both 90 bpm; the former has a hi hat articulation that is above the tactus, while the latter expresses the tactus.
Given the 100 bpm threshold, my Tactus Rule is that the hi hats represent the tactus when the tempo is over 100 beats per minute. Additionally, the hi hats typically articulate a beat level twice the tempo of the tactus in songs where the tempo of the tactus is below 88 beats per minute. Nicole Biamonte loosely defines rock backbeat as lying between 80 and 160 beats per minute, and there are many examples to justify this reading.44 However, in most of the rock and metal I have investigated, I have found the ceiling to be generally lower than 160 bpm.
2.5 Time Signature Rule
As with the Key Signature Rule, I start with some of my basic assumptions about universal features of meter in djent:
1. There is a primary pulse level that is grouped into a larger level by another regular pulse.
2. Other pulse levels that arise are subordinate to the primary pulse level.
3. The primary pulse level may change in the course of a given song.
43 See London, Hearing in Time, pgs. 27, 45. 44 Nicole Biamonte, “Formal Functions of Metric Dissonance in Rock Music,” Music Theory Online 20, no. 2 (June 2014): 6.1, https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.14.20.2/mto.14.20.2.biamonte.html. See example of backbeat.
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4. Meter in djent is commonly defined by the drum based backbeat, which follows the tradition that the hi hats articulate a pulse level two or three times faster than the primary level articulated by the alternation of bass drum and snare.
5. Repeated patterns in the drum backbeat represent measures, and groups of these measures form hypermeasures.
6. Expansion or contraction of measures or hypermeasures by the addition or subtraction of beats are deviations from a standard backbeat model.
One of the most important issues I considered during the transcription process was the selection of appropriate time signatures. TesseracT, for example, uses a variety of approaches to rhythm and meter, including metrical dissonance, shifting time signatures and metric modulation, and non-isochronous metrical cycles. Measure 72 of “Retrospect” is representative of some of the problems I encountered. Prior to this spot, at measure 66, I placed a tempo change at the top of the score, essentially showing that the quarter note becomes the dotted eighth. In measure 72, the dotted eighth becomes the primary rhythm, which, at least at first, sounds as though the quarter note from the previous tempo is once again the tactus. Example 2.10 shows four different possibilities of a metrical interpretation of the passage at measure 72.
Example 2.10: Different ways of notating bass and drum groove in Tesseract’s “Of Matter: Retrospect,” m. 72 and following measures (02:33-02:41) (a)
(b)
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(c)
(d)
In Example 2.10(a), the quarter note is the pulse level of the bass riff. Along with (d), (a)
favors the bass rhythm as the beat. The problem with these interpretations is that the hi hat
rhythm, which is typically a fundamental element of meter in rock and metal, is not conducive
with the meter. Example 2.10(a) gives the quarter note as the initial repeated rhythm, but the
triplets are particularly excessive, notation-wise. Example 2.10(b) is a more viable option, with
the hi hats reflecting the correct conventional beats and divisions; the problem with (b) is that the
snare drum seems to be arbitrarily placed within the measures. The snare is perhaps the most
significant determinant of meter in rock and metal. While it is possible to hear different
groupings and emphases in otherwise undifferentiated rhythmic cycles, the snare is an
undeniable force of metric organization. For this reason, 2.10(c) is the most viable option, with
snare attacks coinciding every sixth hi hat pulse and thus reinforcing a 3/4 interpretation.
Taking into account Lerdahl and Jackendoff’s Metrical Well-Formedness Rule 3, which states that a level must organize the next smallest level into groups of either two or three pulses, my Time Signature Rule is that a time signature is preferred in which the snare attacks approximate a standard backbeat. A standard rock or metal backbeat in 4/4 consists of bass drum
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on beats 1 and 3, snare on beats 2 and 4, and hi hats on eighth notes throughout the measure.45
This well-established convention is a logical starting point for the Time Signature Rule. Because this rule assumes prior knowledge of the conventions of backbeat, Table 2.2 shows a few conventional backbeat patterns with the time signature as a variable.
Table 2.2: Typical Backbeats with Snare Locations
Time Signature Beat Location of Snare 4/4 1 and 3 3/4 ≈ 3 6/8 2 5/8 ≈ 3 or 4
The approximation symbols on 3/4 and 5/8 show the flexibility of these backbeats. For
example, 3/4 often contains snare attacks that are one beat division before or after beat two or
beat three. Consider “Utopia” from Tesseract’s third full-length studio album, Polaris, shown in
Example 2.11. One might consider this passage to be in 6/8, given the number of attacks per
measure in the cymbals, as well as the fact that the snare attack is in the typical metric position in
a 6/8 groove.46 This interpretation is dispelled by the accents in the cymbals. The accents
indicate three beats, each divided by two eighth notes, rather than two beats that would divide
into three eighth notes. This is not to say that one cannot hear this music in 6/8; one of the main
reasons this music is fascinating is its ambiguity. At times I have changed the way I hear some of
this music due to the discovery of a syncopation or accent. The snare drum must be carefully
considered when mapping complex meters. Returning to “Tempting Time,” some sections do not
easily conform to the Time Signature Rule due to the irregularity of the snare drum.
45 Biamonte, “Formal Functions,” 6.1. The ride, crash, or other cymbals may also be used to articulate the same pulse level. 46 I define “groove” as the complex of the guitar riff and the drum pattern together, ranging in length from the measure to the phrase.
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Example 2.11: Chorus groove of “Utopia” by Tesseract
Example 2.12: Groove in guitar and drums at m. 31-32 of “Tempting Time” (01:06-01:09)
Example 2.12 shows the groove at m. 31, where the time signature changes from 4/4 to
11/16. I considered this change to be the best representation of the music because of the context of the greater section, spanning from mm. 31-63. I considered the entire section because the snare attacks do not occur with the frequency of a standard rock backbeat. They do occur regularly, with the pattern established in mm. 31-32 repeating. In this pattern, the snare attacks are on the fifth and tenth sixteenth notes in the first of the two measures; the snare attack in the second measure is on the seventh sixteenth note. The recurrence of this two-measure pattern affirmed to me that the riff dominates the meter here, with repetitions every 11 sixteenth notes.
The passage shown in Example 2.12 could be normalized to approximate a less complex meter, one that might conform to those listed in Table 2.1. One might interpret this passage as
6/8 minus one sixteenth note, with the snare hit in m. 32 on beat two.47 It is common for non-
47 The snare placement pattern of m. 32 becomes the primary pattern in this section of the song.
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isochronous rhythmic cycles to have the snare placed so that a given cycle can be interpreted as
an expansion or contraction of a common cycle.48
As I have shown, the snare is the essential meter-defining element of most progressive
metal textures. It often organizes non-isochronous cycles in the guitars and other instruments into
isochronous cycles; most commonly into 4/4. When the drums follow the non-isochronous
cycles in the guitars, the snare is typically placed within the measure on a beat that approximates
a typical backbeat.
2.6 Snare Rule and Drum Duration Rule
The final two rules pertain to notational conventions, specifically in the drums. These
rules are less reflective of analytical interpretation and more for ease of reading and analysis.
After speaking with drummers and examining existing drum notation, including some
transcriptions from the body of music at hand, I have developed these two rules: the Snare Rule
and the Drum Duration Rule.
To discuss the Snare Rule, I turn again to “Tempting Time” by Animals as Leaders. The
drum part in the opening section presents two different contexts for the guitar riff. The bass drum
consistently follows the rhythm of the guitar riff through both contexts, and the hi hat or cymbals
give the beat in 4/4. During the first statement of the riff, the snare drum articulates the final note
of each rhythmic cell, as shown in Example 2.13(a) (riff groupings are shown by brackets). To my hearing, the snare drum in the passage sounds incidental rather than anacrustic, as though the purpose of the snare drum is to articulate the highest and longest note of the three-note melodic
guitar figures. Such an interpretation facilitates new insights as to how more standard backbeats
48 I take the terms “expansion” and “contraction” from William Rothstein’s book on phrase rhythm. William Rothstein, Phrase Rhythm in Tonal Music (New York: Schirmer Books, 1989), 64.
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are approached in progressive metal in general.49
Example 2.13: Snare attacks in “Tempting Time,” opening section (00:22-00:44) (a)
(b)
When the riff is repeated, some rhythmically significant changes take place. The hi hat and cymbals become more rhythmically active, obscuring the steady 4/4 beat they had previously
49 Biamonte, “Formal Functions,” 6.1.
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articulated. The most important change is the periodicity of the snare attacks. The snare hits are on the third beat of each measure, giving these measures a half-time feel.50 Because the snare
attacks are more closely aligned with the cymbals than the bass drum, the notation places the
snare in the same voice as the cymbals. Thus, the Snare Rule is that the snare should be placed in
the same voice as the cymbals when its frequency reflects the notated meter. I refrained from
notating the snare as a separate voice for two reasons. The first is simply a matter of practicality;
two voices are easier to read. The other is that it is rare that the snare drum has a periodicity that
is completely independent from either the cymbals or the bass drum; I felt that it was appropriate
and more effective to show its relationship to the other voices.
The final transcription preference rule is the Drum Duration Rule. Unpitched “struck”
percussion instruments instantly decay and can therefore be difficult to accurately reflect in
written notation. Many of the transcriptions I studied, including those produced by some of the
drummers I transcribed here, take different approaches than mine in how the drum parts are
notated. For example, Matt Garstka includes all of the elements of the drum set in one voice on
the staff. Although this approach has its benefits, it makes the duration of individual voices more
difficult to see. I found that showing the durations of individual drum voices has analytical value,
and it must be taken into consideration when transcribing.
The Drum Duration Rule is that a given rhythmic value in a given drum voice should last
until the next attack point in the same voice; the exception to the rule is that the rhythmic values
in the drum part should reflect the guitar riff if the two are articulating the same rhythms.
Example 2.14 shows two excerpts from Periphery’s “Insomnia.” In 2.14(a), the bass drum plays
50 Osborn, “Beyond Verse and Chorus,” 93. The metal community uses the term “breakdown” when referring to passages in which the snare attacks are half or less frequent than previous passages.
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the same rhythms as the guitar riff, and thus includes sixteenth rests. Showing the same rhythms
in both parts clarifies the definitive rhythm of the section and gives insight into the hierarchy of
its composition – one part was constructed around the other.51
Example 2.14: Different durations reflected in the drum transcription of “Insomnia” (a)
(b)
Example 2.14(b) is a later excerpt from “Insomnia,” where the rhythms of the drums do not strictly replicate those of the guitar riff. In m. 86, the drums are rhythmically active during the
51 In most cases, the guitar riff is written first, and the drum parts are constructed around the guitar riff. One notable exception is Animals as Leaders’s “Arithmophobia,” in which drummer Matt Garstka wrote the drum part first.
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sustained guitar chord. Following the notational style of the opening riff as shown in Example
2.14(a), the second eighth note of beat three could just as well have been a sixteenth note, followed by two sixteenth rests. By showing the duration of the inter-onset interval, essential
techniques such as syncopation are more visible to the analyst.52
Though the inter-onset intervals are shown for the most part as singular rhythmic values,
I have limited the durations to one beat in most cases. This seems to be an appropriate
compromise between showing IOIs and reflecting the immediate decay of the lower drums. In m.
87, the quarter rest on beat two in the lower voice is overshadowed by eighth note activity in the
cymbals; the rest draws attention to this activity and clarifies beat location.
2.7 Conclusion
In this chapter, I have explained my process of transcribing djent through my
Transcription Preference Rules, illustrated with relevant examples. The following chapters no
doubt reference and challenge these rules, as is common in most analytical work. Most of these rules are formalizations of interpretations based on natural intuition or theoretical tradition; still other rules came to be as the result of difficult analytical decisions (the Time Signature Rule provides an example).
My focus for this study is djent style progressive metal, but most of the conventions of many subgenres of modern metal are similar. I have no doubt that these rules could be useful for transcribing other metal subgenres and could be modified and elaborated upon according to the conventions of the subgenre. Like most musical genres and style periods, metal genres often cross-pollinate and thus contain elements of other subgenres. For example, blast beats (extremely
52 The inter-onset interval is the temporal interval between two attacks, or onsets of stimuli (abbr. IOI).
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fast alternation between the bass drum and the snare drum and cymbals) are most commonly found in early thrash-punk, death metal, and black metal. Periphery’s “Zyglrox” and “Racecar” include sections of blast beats that, at minimum, evoke the other styles. This technique is one of many I did not specifically address here and would benefit from an attempt at standardization in notational conventions. Yet, the rules I have outlined might apply to techniques outside of djent.
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CHAPTER 3
FALSE SECURITY IN PERIPHERY’S “INSOMNIA”
3.1 Periphery
The text of Periphery’s “Insomnia” begins thus: “Though you can give no more inspiring false security, I’ve got the reason to alter belief.” The lyrics that follow this opening line continue to imply the subject’s awakening to the need for change in perspective or belief system.
The words “false security” are strongly reflected in the music and are the subject of my analysis and discussion of “Insomnia.” In this song, Periphery betrays musical “security” in a few different ways. Melodically, the interplay between pitched and non-pitched vocal melody creates constant tension. Temporally, metrical shifts and complex surface rhythms contribute to instability. My discussion of each of these parameters shows how “Insomnia” constitutes a lyrical and musical representation of false security.
Misha Mansoor is among the most revered musicians in the Djent scene. A pioneer in this progressive metal style, Mansoor began Periphery in 2005 and had written most of the material for their first album himself.53 His main instrument is guitar, though he plays a primary role in
production and is a capable drummer as well. Periphery’s first album, titled Periphery, gained
traction quickly and brought national attention to Mansoor and the band. Roadrunner Records’
biography of the band states: “There is no doubt that Periphery are innovators and Mansoor is
being hailed by industry experts and his peers as one of the main purveyors of this current Djent movement that is feverishly spreading throughout the progressive circles.”54
53 Peter Hodgson, “Interview: Periphery’s Misha Mansoor,” i Heart Guitar, May 7, 2010, http://iheartguitarblog.com/2010/05/interview-peripherys-misha-mansoor.html. 54 “Periphery,” Roadrunner Records, accessed November 9, 2019. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.co.uk/artists/periphery/.
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The original lineup consisted of Mansoor, Jake Bowen, and Alex Bois on guitar; Tom
Murphy on bass; and Jason Berlin on drums. Berlin was replaced by Travis Orbin, and then Matt
Halpern took over as the band’s drummer in 2009. The band went through several vocalists before settling on Spencer Sotelo, the current vocalist. Bois was replaced by Mark Holcombe in
2011, who continues to record and perform with the band. Periphery’s current producer, Adam
Getgood, toured as bassist from 2012 to 2017 but eventually stepped down from touring to focus on production and other projects.
Periphery has released five full-length albums, including a two-disc concept album
Alpha/Omega. They have included various guest artists in their recordings, such as John Petrucci of Dream Theater, Guthrie Govan, and Jeff Loomis. Though their output varies musically in some ways, it is consistently inclusive of extended range guitar riffs, complex rhythms and metrical cycles, and vocals that alternate between scream and pitched melody.
Periphery’s self-titled album set the pace for their successive musical output. With the use of a variety of tempos, timbres, harmonic language, and vocal and guitar melodies throughout, they paved the way for their own future work and many other bands to embrace the djent style.55 Of particular significance are the ambient electronic transitional tracks between the
main tracks of the album. Placed at the end of each track, these transitions display the band’s
affinity for textural contrast. These “palate cleansers” frame the album with a continuous
backdrop that contributes to its overall cohesion. However, the tracks themselves all contain
moments of timbral and textural contrast, and any one of them would serve to give a sufficient
glimpse of Periphery’s approach. My choice to focus particularly on “Insomnia,” the album’s
55 See my description of djent from Chapter 1. I consider djent to comprise all of these musical characteristics.
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first track, seemed appropriately consistent with the first album of one of the first djent bands of
this type.
3.2 Melody and Harmony
In order to show how “Insomnia” conveys the topics of false security and change, I offer a brief description of the form and harmonic changes for the entire song. The opening riff
(00:15-00:28, mm. 14-21) serves to introduce the first tonal center, C minor. The verse continues in C minor and proceeds via tritone [A-Db] to the chorus in D minor (1:40-1:53, mm. 69-76).
After the chorus, there is a brief bridge section in Eb major (01:53-02:18, mm. 77-92). The verse returns and the pre-chorus and chorus repeat as before, but the chorus proceeds to C minor for the outro (03:17). With the harmonic and formal plan laid out, I proceed to a discussion of the details of how the music represents the text.
One of the first considerations regarding melody in metal is the location of the melodic line. Metal vocal styles range from pitched singing to unpitched growling or screaming, with many metal bands exploring the vast range of possibilities between these two extremes. One common technique, used in “Insomnia,” is to alternate between pitched singing and unpitched screaming. The song is well underway (45 measures in) when the pitched vocal melody begins.
Ann K. McNamee discusses a similar issue with melodic structure but in the context of
Schubert songs. She mentions that most analyses of these songs show the structural melodic line from the vocal melody and do not fully consider the piano introductions that precede the voice.56
Her analyses show that the chordal pitch content from the introduction is sometimes unfolded in
56 Ann K. McNamee, “The Role of the Piano Introduction in Schubert’s ‘Lieder,’” Music Analysis 4, no. 1 (1984): 95.
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the vocal melody later in the song.57 Something similar happens in “Insomnia.” The opening
Cm9 chord is outlined linearly in mm. 45-52 with the entrance of the vocal melody; this is shown in Example 3.1. Much of the melodic content of “Insomnia” relates to the unfolding of this opening chord. The following discussion is centered around the melodic moments that originated with the opening harmony. As the melodic fragments are recontextualized, the sense of false security mentioned before comes to view.
Example 3.1: Opening Cm9 chord and unfolding in vocal melody, “Insomnia” (a) Opening Cm9 chord, (00:00~00:13)
(b) Unfolding, mm. 45-52.
From the fade-in at the beginning of “Insomnia,” the first discernable melodic motive is the three-note figure D-F-Eb, shown in Figure 3.1. In this initial context, the motive is a double neighbor around Eb, but it is manipulated in a variety of ways at the entrance of the melody in the guitar at m. 22. It is important to note here that the groove at m. 14 serves to establish a C pedal; this pedal is interwoven in the guitar riff and makes it easy for the listener to identify melodic material. The first notes that are played after the pedal are C-D-B, immediately
57 McNamee, “The Role of the Piano,” 96.
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developing the three-note motive. Following this are the notes G-Bb-Gb, a similar motive that serves to introduce the pitch Gb.58 After a return to the C pedal, the guitar line ascends to Eb,
creating the structural ascent C-D-Eb and initiating the main tone Eb in m. 23 (00:30). This is
shown in Example 3.2.
Figure 3.1: Three-note melodic motive in “Insomnia”
Example 3.2: Ascent to main tone Eb in “Insomnia”
If the established pitch center C minor from the first 21 measures is the musical sense of
security, it is challenged by the presence of Gb. In his discussion of the related genre death
metal, Jack Harrell notes that “The most characteristic musical signature of death metal is the
tritone.”59 The tritone certainly has its place in djent, though its use may be an allusion to the
former metal style. Ultimately, the non-diatonic tritone obscures the surface of traditional tonal
structures but can add depth to the underlying structure.
There is a change of mode at m. 26 that introduces the Phrygian dominant, another staple
of many metal genres. The three-note motive appears as Bb-C-Db. There is mode mixture as Eb
also appears in the same measures, interwoven with E natural within the riff. The line descends
58 The significance of the C-Gb tritone becomes especially evident in the chorus and bridge sections. 59 Jack Harrell, “The Poetics of Destruction: Death Metal Rock,” Popular Music and Society 18, no. 1 (1994): 94.
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from E to Eb-Db-C across mm. 26-28. Example 3.3 shows a reduction and sketch of the voice
leading in the lead guitar from m. 22 to the downbeat of m. 30 (00:28-00:41). The expectation of
continued interplay between the C minor arpeggio and the tritone formed by Gb is deceived by
the change in mode. This modal change directly follows the lyrics “I’ve got the reason to alter belief.” I hear the modal change occurring as a musical response to the text. Linearly, the E natural functions as an upper neighbor note to the main tone Eb, but its local function as a mode mixed third reinforces the text.
Example 3.3: Reduction of “Insomnia” riff, mm. 22-30 (00:22-00:41)
After a repetition of this section, the three-note motive is developed over the course of the next six measures (mm. 38-45); the mode change is reflected but happens after just four measures, in m. 42. At the onset of the vocal melody at mm. 45-46, the G on the downbeat reaches above the main tone. This G enters with such force that one might hear it as the main tone of the piece, finally achieved with the entrance of the vocal melody, as though the initial ascent took place over the first 45 measures. However, as the melody descends through Gb, F, and back to Eb, it reestablishes the main note Eb. A sketch of the voice leading in this passage is provided in Example 3.4. Its passage through Gb reinforces the significance of the tritone. Gb sounds on the word “favor” in the text “The stars are not aligned in your favor; cross the line of obscenity.” The function of Gb as a catalyst for change is again shown here through its placement at the end of this text.
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The pre-chorus that follows underscores the importance of the tritone in relation to the vocal line. The first Gb immediately follows the entrance of the vocal line. The Gb at m. 50 is followed in m. 53 by a vocal scream (mm. 53-54). At measure 55, at the end of the word
“ignoring,” the syncopated Gb octave again initiates the screaming vocal line; this device is repeated at measure 60 on the word “carelessly.” In this way, to this point in the song, the vocal scream and the tritone are consistently presented in close proximity and thereby connected.
Example 3.4: Reaching over at the entrance of the vocal melody, mm. 45-52 (01:06-01:17)
It is clear at this point that the tritone is associated with change in “Insomnia.” The final chord of the pre-chorus introduces the chorus with yet another tritone, Ab-D. Ab, which
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functions as VI in C, is used to modulate to the key of D minor via tritone. This direct
modulation would not have the contextual backing without the presence of the tritone in the previous musical sections. The Ab functions as VI in C minor and “flat V” in D minor. The modulation is shown in Example 3.5.
The D minor key area during the chorus (beginning at 01:40) ultimately serves as the
middle note of a C-D-Eb third-progression in the bass, as I show in Example 3.7. The melody in
the chorus begins on D but moves up to Bb after an arpeggiation of a D minor triad. Example 3.6
shows a reduction of the chorus (mm. 69-77). Much like the modulation in the pre-chorus, the
modulation from D minor to Eb major is made smoother by the Ab and C minor chords in the
latter half of each of the two statements of the chorus. The text suggests that the subject is
searching or longing for change; this process often involves exploring new territory. The words
“look to find a way…” could be indicative of such a longing for change. This change is
represented in the music by the quick move from D minor back to C minor via the tritone chord
Ab.
Example 3.5: Modulation from C minor to D minor (01:37-01:43)
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Example 3.6: Reduction of the chorus of “Insomnia,” mm. 69-77 (01:40-01:53)
Example 3.7 shows the fundamental tonal structure of the entire song up to and including the bridge. The most potent component of false security in the music is the tritone, as represented by both the C-Gb and the D-Ab. To my hearing, the tonal pillars of tonic and dominant, though certainly present, are consistently called into question by the presence of the tritone. The tonal centers move from C minor to D minor to Eb major, reflecting the initial ascent from C to D to the main tone Eb.
Example 3.7: Tonal structure of “Insomnia” (00:00-02:18)
Following the bridge, the music returns to the chorus and ends with a coda in C minor, beginning in m. 132 (03:17). Though the text conveys the message that the subject still feels longing, the music indicates that change has been effected; in other words, a sense of “true” security has been found. The meter changes to 6/8, with the harmony remaining rooted in C minor. Most notably, the “false security” of the tritone and other chromatic inflections are no
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longer present. The piece ends with the progression Cm-Ab-Fm fading out into the first ambient in-between track. Both the looped progression and missing tritone convey the progress of longing, as though the subject has achieved a sense of security but is still seeking in some way.
3.3 Temporality
Change and false security are represented temporally in “Insomnia” through both rhythmic and metric complexities. Jonathan Pieslak notes that rhythmic and metric organization is of primary importance to the development of the progressive metal style.60 My focus here is
on a few passages that create a sense of change as realized through modifications to melodic and
harmonic elements.
“Insomnia” is primarily in common time with the introduction and coda in 3/4 and 6/8,
respectively. In a way, the song is bookended with a three-pulse feel. Trevor de Clercq points out
that because of perceptive limits and preferences, these two meters can sometimes be
interchanged in popular music.61 Though of little consequence, I have chosen 3/4 as the time signature for the introduction; I find it slightly easier to hear and embody 150 bpm in 3/4 than 50 bpm in 6/8. The aggressively fast groove that follows confirms the beat at 150 bpm with an extra beat added to the meter.
Mansoor plays with (and against) rhythm throughout the first groove section (mm. 14-21)
and during the transitional passage that links the verse with the pre-chorus (mm. 38-45). Neither
of these sections is played under text, which speaks to their function as indicators of change.
Where no text is present, rhythmic dissonance pushes against established norms, as if to indicate
60 Pieslak, “Re-casting Metal,” 219-220. 61 Trevor de Clercq, “Measuring a Measure: Absolute Time as a Factor for Determining Bar Lengths and Meter in Pop/Rock Music,” Music Theory Online 22, no. 3 (2016): 1. https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.16.22.3/mto.16.22.3.declercq.html.
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a desire to break an established pattern.
Example 3.8: Opening Groove from Insomnia mm. 14-21 (00:15-00:28)
The first example of rhythmic change is found in the groove starting at m. 14. The first
two iterations of the groove seem to establish a pattern but the music quickly breaks away from
any consistent repetition. Example 3.8 shows the groove from mm. 14-21. I have mapped the inter-onset intervals of the statements of the guitar riff by counting sixteenth-note attacks in the guitar and bass drum between each rest. The riff can be grouped into increments of seven
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sixteenth notes with a fair amount of consistency, particularly in the first four measures. The first
three groups combine 3 + 4; the second three are 2 + 5. The seventh group has the additional
sixteenth note to complete the measure. The groups of sixteenth notes are shown below the
score.
The second phrase would begin the same way rhythmically, were it not for the shifted
backbeat at m. 18. In her discussion of periodicity in selections from Stravinsky’s potentially
metrically ambiguous Les Noces, Gretchen Horlacher uses the terms “adjustment” and
“reinterpretation” to describe process a listener might use to acclimate to new metrical environments created by irregular periodicities.62 She claims that sounding meter can be in
conflict with notated meter in Stravinsky’s music; yet, some coincident and periodic attacks may
reestablish a sense of meter. In “Insomnia,” the “notated” meter is the backbeat in the cymbals and snare drum and the irregular “sounding meter” against it is the guitar riff, backed by the bass drum.63 The passage begins with four-on-the-snare, or a backbeat pattern with the snare drum on all four beats in 4/4 time. When shifted by an eighth note, this backbeat takes on a double-time feel, which has different implications for analysis.
The shift in the backbeat in the second half of the passage changes what would otherwise be a similar beginning to the first half. It is perhaps this shift that motivates a change in the progress of the riff as well. The second phrase begins with a group of seven, just as the first phrase. The two groups of ten that follow can be further broken down into 3 + 7 (3 + 3 + 4), with the additional 3 as a reaction to the flipped backbeat. The first half of this phrase ends with a 5 group, which functions as a reconciler for the backbeat-established meter. This is evident
62 Gretchen Horlacher, “Metrical Irregularity in ‘Les Noces’: The Problem of Periodicity,” Journal of Music Theory 39, no. 2 (1995): 298. 63 I understand “sounding meter” to mean that meter which is perceptually dominant.
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because of the onset of a half-time feel in m. 7. From here, there are three more groups of 7, a group of 6, and a group of 5 to end the phrase. Of note in this passage is that each change of the surface backbeat is preceded by a rest in the guitar riff. This suggests to me that, as Horlacher claims, the guitar riff is indeed periodic and has independent metric value.
The trend of rhythmic and metric independence set by the guitar riff continues throughout the song. The preceding examples suffice to show that not only does the guitar riff show forth independence, but also it consistently realigns with the surface backbeat to establish a sense of large-scale temporal cohesion. Rather than examine similar passages later in the song, I now move to the connection between surface meter manipulation and the themes of false security and change.
The next moment of temporal change happens at the end of the pre-chorus, the section that begins in m. 54. Up to this point, the meter is consistently 4/4, having switched to a half- time feel at the end of the verse (m. 46). The backbeat continues uninterrupted into the meter change, with the snare hit on beat 3, as is typical in 3/4 meter. The hemiola via dotted quarter notes in m. 58, shown in Example 3.9, is foreshadowed in m. 55 by the syncopations in the guitar riff and vocal line. Also of note is the rhyme of “ig-nor” and “in your” that reinforces the similarity of these rhythms. As mentioned earlier, the tritone is associated with the alternation between a pitched and an unpitched/screaming vocal phrase.
Example 3.9: Hemiola in the pre-chorus of “Insomnia” (01:23-01:26)
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Coincident with the alternation in vocal technique is a change in meter as well. The change to 3/4 follows the C-Gb tritone, but of particular interest is the melodic line of the guitar and clean vocals. The riff at m. 54 concludes with the Gb-C tritone, but the Bb achieved in the riff and transferred to the vocal melody creates a tritone with the E natural at the end of the first iteration of this passage. Example 3.10 shows the voice leading that leads up to and includes Bb-
E tritone. As the song progresses, the listener may experience multiple layers of false security at the hemiola passage mentioned above. The meter change is not audible until the hemiola, which occurs in the second measure of 3/4. One might question whether the meter is actually 3/4 or simply an added 2/4 measure. Example 3.11 shows a rebarring of this passage to indicate this added measure.
Example 3.10: Bb-E tritone in the pre-chorus of “Insomnia” (01:21-01:30)
Example 3.11: Rebarring of “Insomnia” (01:21-01:26)
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Though this barring may serve as an accurate representation of the sounding music, the
analyst will note that the extension of the repetition of this passage in mm. (measures) continues
in a traditional 3/4 backbeat, retroactively placing the previous passage in 3/4. Put another way,
the listener may have felt secure in a continuation of 4/4, though the larger context speaks to
another interpretation. This metrical contextualization is supported in the text “ignoring the
signs; the smoke in your eyes.” My understanding of the subject’s perspective is that his or her
perception is not accurate due to ignorance or an obstructed view. One musical obstruction is the
meter change masked by the hemiola.
3.4 Conclusion
Throughout “Insomnia,” the text remains in dialogue between and first- and second
person narrative. The first person consistently revisits the idea of shedding the belief system or
perspective of the second person. Using the metaphor of sleep, the first person cries “but I can’t
sleep tonight,” as if to say he or she has awakened to an awareness that the second person does not seem to possess (and the first person seems determined to point this out).
The main message of the dialogue is reflected in the music through melodic, harmonic,
and temporal means. The tritone is of particular significance throughout, being closely associated
with change in harmony, meter, and vocal technique. The dissonance is perhaps a musical
representation of the speaker becoming aware of the information that would give “reason to alter
belief.” It is significant that the sleep-versus-awake metaphor is not situated as though the speaker has awakened after a restful night of sleep, which might call for a more consonant interval. In this way, the tritone is a tonal representation of insomnia as a metaphor.
Periphery uses advanced temporal devices throughout the album Periphery, including syncopation, metric modulation, and various forms and instances of rhythmic and metrical
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dissonance. One technique that pervades the album is found at mm. 69-70 (01:40-01:43) in
“Insomnia.” Here the guitar riff runs over into the downbeat of the next measure, resulting in a syncopation that reacts with a change in rhythmic pulse and pitch register. Example 3.12 shows a comparison of this moment from “Insomnia” (a) with its inverse (b), from Periphery’s “All New
Materials,” also from their debut album. The latter example hearkens back to the principle of rhythmic acceleration often found in Baroque and Classical music.
Example 3.12: Change initiated by syncopation in Periphery guitar riffs (a) Chorus riff from “Insomnia” (01:40-01:43)
(b) Chorus riff from “All New Materials” (01:12-01:18)
Further studies could reveal specific textual meaning and tonal association with rhythmic
and metrical techniques like the aforementioned. Since the release of Periphery, Periphery has
produced successive albums replete with tonal and temporal consistencies that would certainly
prove fruitful for the analyst. The study of Periphery’s music ultimately contributes to a greater understanding of how the Djent movement came to be and how it continues to evolve.
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CHAPTER 4
CHANGE IN TESSERACT’S “OF MATTER”
4.1 Tesseract
Along with Sweden’s Meshuggah and the U.S.’s Periphery, British progressive metal band Tesseract has uniquely contributed to the djent style. Their approach to form and melody sets them apart and presents fruitful challenges for the transcriber and analyst. I examine the first part of their album Altered State, a three-song cycle titled “Of Matter,” consisting of “Proxy,”
“Retrospect,” and “Resist.”
Like Misha Mansoor’s Periphery, Tesseract was the brainchild of guitarist and producer
Alex “Acle” Kahney, originally started in 2003 in Milton Keynes, England, United Kingdom.64
Like many bands, Tesseract has undergone line-up changes through the years, especially with
regard to vocalists. In 2007, Kahney worked with vocalist Abisola Obasanya, along with
additional guitarist James Monteith, bassist Amos Williams, and drummer Jay Postones, on early
demos of what would become their first EP, Concealing Fate. In 2009, Obasanya was replaced
by Daniel Tompkins, who appears on Concealing Fate and the first full-length album, One.
Tompkins’s vocal style consisted mostly of melodic singing, with some screaming included. The
dominance of melodic singing was in contrast to most Djent bands that were on the rise at this
time, and it adds another dimension to the music from an analytical perspective.
One was released in 2011, after which Tompkins left the band to pursue other projects,
including Indian metal band Skyharbor. He was eventually replaced by Ashe O’hara, who
appears on the band’s second full-length album, Altered State, released in 2013. Tompkins has
64 “Tesseract,” Amino, accessed November 4, 2020, https://aminoapps.com/c/metal/page/item/tesseract/BQjC_mIJbMgD37z7wdkEzdxDm4Wmo5.
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since returned and replaced O’hara as vocalist, appearing on the band’s latter two full-length albums, Polaris (2015) and Sonder (2018).
The organization of Altered State is unique among Tesseract’s oeuvre and is far from common in the work of most bands under the monikers of rock or metal. The ten tracks of the album are organized into four groups, with each group consisting of either two or three tracks.
Bassist Amos Williams notes:
The concept behind Altered State is simple: it is about change…the ‘Of Matter’ tracks cover the physical change from one state to another…the ‘Of Mind’ tracks cover the schism that occurs when you are unsure of your opinions on something… ‘Of Reality’ covers when life changes and you don’t notice. The titles of [the] section ‘Of Energy’ cover the universal time.65
Williams goes on to discuss the meaning of each song series, mentioning musical texture, instrumentation, and timbre. There are obvious textural changes that take place in the opening series ‘Of Matter’ that serve to delineate formal sections and significant moments. However, analysis reveals deeper meaning regarding change in the songs in ‘Of Matter.’
Change is the topic around which I orient my analysis of “Of Matter.” The change from one musical state to another occurs in this music via established conventions such as auxiliary events and metric modulation. As with my other analyses in this study, I begin with pitch elements, proceed to temporal elements, and conclude with a discussion of the two together.
4.2 Pitch
“Proxy” from “Of Matter” can be understood to be in B minor with a prolonged off-tonic beginning; this prolongation is initiated on the dominant F#, with harmonies such as the German augmented sixth chord supporting the prolongation. The topic of change is illustrated through
65 Justin Croteau, “Tesseract – Altered States,” Screamer, June 25, 2013, http://screamermagazine.com/interviews/tesseract-altered-states/
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this off-tonic auxiliary event, but there are smaller moments of musical change that are also worth addressing.
4.2.1 “Proxy”
In the opening measures of “Proxy,” change is evident in the text. The first two lines are general and neutral character descriptors: “I’m a surrogate; I’m archetypal and itinerant.” The third line becomes much more personally directed: “I’m your excuse to long for a superior.” This change from general to personal coincides with an interruption on G#, 2 of the local F#, in measure 11. The line descends from C# to G# before the interruption. In measure 12, the line begins again, and the change is emphasized by a reaching over up to the high G# in measure 14, followed by a descent that arrives on F# in measure 20. A reduction of the opening 20 measures is shown in Example 4.1.
Example 4.1: Opening 20 measures of “Of Matter: Proxy” (00:00-00:50)
In the context of discussing auxiliary events in the Beatles’ music, Naphtali Wagner
mentions harmonic shifting that reflects the subject change from ‘You’ to ‘I’ in the song “Hello
Goodbye.” The harmony changes from dominant to tonic with respect to the two subject
positions.66 The subject position change in “Proxy” is not associated with a harmonic shift, but it
is represented by the change in melodic direction.
66 Naphtali Wagner, “Starting in the Middle: Auxiliary Cadences in the Beatles’ Songs,” Music Analysis 25, no. 1 (2006): 160.
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The next instance of change includes a shift in melodic direction as well as rhythmic proportion. At measure 44, a change is initiated via metric modulation wherein the sixteenth note becomes the sixteenth sextuplet. The text continues a general description, still in second person narrative:
Imperfection you will find Look close enough; tear off the mask I need
During this part of the text, the melody moves to the upper octave and descends from A down to
C#.67 The descending character of the line at this point could be a reflection of speaker’s admittance of imperfection. Example 4.2 shows the section from m. 44 to m. 48.
Measures 44-51 serve as a build-up for the intensified texture and the new text that begins in measure 53. The words “I’m stronger than I was before” are reinforced by the change from primarily descending lines to ascending lines. The ascending line F#, A, B, C# reestablishes the prolonged C# in the melody and it remains the top note until the key change at measure 87.
The regaining of C# is shown in Example 4.3. The C# receives harmonic support from the F# chord in the ensuing measures. This harmony continues through the metric return at m. 68.
Example 4.2: Descending melodic line in vocal part, “Proxy” (01:36-01:50)
67 In the first line of text here, “imperfection you will find,” the melody is the higher of the two voices. In live performances, the vocalist sings the lower of the two voices on the line “look close enough, tear off the mask I need,” so I continued my analysis of the melodic line based on this transfer.
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Example 4.3: Ascending line to C# in vocal parts, “Proxy” (02:00-02:23)
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After this section, the groove from m. 32 returns, beginning at m. 74. Prior to the key
change from F# to B minor, the guitar riff articulates the pitches E, F#, and G underneath D, F,
and F#. With F natural as a respelling of E#, the notes G, D and F form a German augmented
sixth chord, superimposed upon the dominant F#. This chord serves to intensify the prolongation
and acts as a pre-dominant chord in the cadential motion to B minor. This riff is shown in
Example 4.4.
Example 4.4: German augmented sixth chord superimposed over F# (03:10-03:12)
There is evident change in the speaker’s tone following the modulation to B minor. The last line
of text before the transition and key change is “I can’t stand still anymore.” With the ensuing B
minor, the first text is “the day is done, nothing more to say; resting head in hand, wishing I had
known my place.” In “Proxy,” to this point, the lower melodic register is associated with a
reserved, somber tone evoked by the lyrics, whereas the upper register represents increasing
confidence. The transitional passage from mm. 61-87 sounds like a dominant prolongation (with
the superimposed German augmented sixth chord) that leads to a return of the melody to the lower register and descending melodic shape.
Prior to the modulation, the C# is replaced by D as an anticipation of the main note D that is harmonically supported by B minor beginning in measure 87. This riff also includes F#s with
E as its lower neighbor. The bass remains on F# through this anticipatory passage that begins at measure 74 and continues until the modulation. This passage concludes with a descending line that leads to a 6-8 cadence that points the way to B minor. Thus, the music remains in F# minor but the change occurs just prior to a significant musical event.
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The harmonic structure of “Proxy” can be partitioned at the modulation from F# minor to
B minor. In his studies of the Beatles’ music, Naphtali Wagner identifies off-tonic beginnings as
a type of auxiliary cadence, taking the term from Schenker’s concept of auxiliary cadences.
Wagner speaks of auxiliary units, auxiliary phrases, auxiliary hypermeasures, and so forth, with
the intention of freeing up the function of an auxiliary cadence to encompass larger segments of
music.68 I hear the opening 86 measures as a dominant of the successive measures and tracks of
“Of Matter.” The remainder of “Proxy” and the other two tracks are in B minor, reflecting a
more conventional balance between an off-tonic opening chord and the stable arrival of tonic.
Example 4.5 shows a reduced sketch of “Proxy,” highlighting the harmonic change.
Example 4.5: Reduction and voice leading sketch of “Proxy”
The slow tempo and thinner texture that follow the modulation are characteristic of
Tesseract’s music. Harmonic modulation is not common throughout Altered State, but the few
instances of it are also concurrent with texture changes, and they typically change from thick to
thin, with an accompanying decrease in dynamics as well. For example, “Of Matter: Exile” begins with a riff in G#, descends to F, E, and C#, and finally settles on A, where it remains for the balance of the track. When it arrives on A, the tempo, texture, and dynamics change as well.
The final chord at the closing cadence of “Proxy” is an elision into the following track,
68 Wagner, “Auxiliary Cadences,” 155.
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“Retrospect.” Like other cycles on Altered State, the tracks are elided to create the impression of one large song. The melody ends on the leading tone, creating a lack of closure that remains to be resolved at end of the cycle. Similarly, at the end of “Retrospect,” the melody ends over a V chord before the underlying harmonic texture reaches the final tonic. The lack of melodic resolution supports the idea that these tracks can be considered together and that separate tracking is another method of realizing internal change within the track in its entirety.
4.2.2 “Retrospect”
Interestingly enough, an interruption similar to the opening of “Proxy” happens in
“Retrospect” in measure 32 and is again followed by an ascending line. In fact, the two songs follow a similar structural trajectory, both on the musical surface and in deeper levels. This interruption is shown in Example 4.6.
Example 4.6: Melodic interruption in “Retrospect” (00:57-01:09)
One of the differences between “Proxy” and “Retrospect” is the change that occurs with the repeated line of text in “Retrospect.” At the end of each iteration of this text, there is a change in texture, but these changes are opposite from one another. The first instance of the text ends at measure 25, leading into a densely textured breakdown.69 This breakdown introduces the
69 Breakdowns have been described as “moments where, after and appetite-whetting lead-in, all the instruments blare out in sync.They’re the cathartic crescendo after an introduction, a solo, or even an entire song.” Matt Mills,
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leading tone A# in measure 38 for the first time into this piece, which serves to add color and reinforce the harmony. The lines “no one seems to sense the strength; no one seems to know” reveal that the speaker possesses an awareness of “strength” that is unknown by others. The increase in textural density during this breakdown certainly evokes this strength, but the presence of A# and its implications of the dominant chord also support the message of the text with harmonic strength. The contrasting textures of the opening passage and the breakdown are shown in Example 4.7.
Example 4.7: Contrasting textures in “Retrospect” (01:05-01:15)
After the breakdown, the line of text is repeated; at its conclusion in measure 72, the opposite effect is produced, namely, the texture becomes thinner. On the surface, it appears that this opposite effect was an arbitrary compositional decision by Tesseract. A deeper consideration suggests that the descending vocal line in the second iteration (featuring the cover tone F# and
“The 10 Heaviest Breakdowns in Metal,” Metal Hammer, May 20, 2020, https://www.loudersound.com/features/10- heaviest-metal-breakdowns.
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leading to the thin texture) is carefully calculated to be the opposite from the plan of “Proxy,” wherein descending lines are followed by thicker textures and ascending lines result in thin textures. Example 4.8 shows this descending line and the thin texture that results.
Example 4.8: Thin texture from a descending line in “Retrospect” (02:09-02:29)
4.2.3 “Resist”
The final tonic chord of “Retrospect” does not appear to function as an elision in the same way as the final chord of “Proxy;” however, the descending line to E in m. 148 creates a link to “Resist.” More specifically, the descending line from the F# pedal in the final measures of
“Retrospect” only reaches E before the final tonic chord. The line is picked up again by the ambient guitars in “Resist” with a repeated stepwise descent from D to B. Locally, the descending line unites the two songs; the cover tone F# is sustained across the elision and throughout “Resist.” This section is shown in Example 4.9.
In the opening section of “Resist,” a directional change is followed by a change in texture in measure 24. The descent from F# to D in the vocal line is repeated twice and started again.
When it reaches E in the fourth statement (m. 22), it changes direction and returns in the next
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measure to an F# that is sustained into the textural change. In measure 24, the guitars become more active and the drums enter four measures later, building the texture. “Resist” seems to follow the same plan as “Proxy,” with ascending lines leading to thinner textures and descending lines leading to thicker textures. Prior to the fully orchestrated section in measure 34, the vocal line returns to the descending F#-D line. This thicker texture prevails for the duration of the balance of the song, with the main note D descending to an understood C# to B after the stop in measure 64. The voice leading in “Resist” is shown in Example 4.10.
Example 4.9: Closing section of “Retrospect” and elision to “Resist” (05:14-00:14)
Example 4.10: Sketch of voice leading in “Resist”
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4.3 Temporality
Patterns in the pitch content of “Of Matter” consistently result in a change of texture that is often coincident with the text. Shifts in meter, rhythmic cycles, and moments of syncopation and general rhythmic complexity reflect change in their own ways. This section examines three examples of temporal manipulation through irregular cycles, meter changes, and layers of meter.
These metric devices reveal yet another connection to the topic of change in these opening tracks of Tesseract’s sophomore album.
Other analysts concur that rhythmically complex music like progressive metal can be understood to be in common time, with irregular rhythmic cycles overlaid. Jonathan Pieslak maps Meshuggah’s music by choosing 4/4 for the drum backbeat and whatever time signature is required to reflect the completion and repetition of the rhythmic cycle of the guitars and bass.70
Though I disagree with this polymetric approach to the transcription of Djent, it is useful to recognize the fundamental function of the drum backbeat (particularly the cymbals and snare) in establishing the meter. One might find irony in the reversal of the role of the bass drum in this rock-based music: what once served to demarcate the measure by establishing the strong beats in a measure of 4/4 has become entirely unstable as a metric determinant.
To set up the first moment of change with regard to time in “Of Matter,” I turn to the seemingly untimed introduction. In place of drums in the introduction are ambient chords and drones. The drone gives the impression of timelessness, with the intervening guitar riffs only remotely related to the rhythmic attacks in the vocal line. Example 4.11 shows how these two elements align over the ambient backdrop. It is only in retrospect that the listener might become aware that the opening guitar riffs are perfectly aligned metrically and within the tempo of the
70 Pieslak, “Re-Casting Metal,” 221.
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music that follows. The guitar riff from the opening continues in a full-textured metrical grid established by the backbeat. Again, the title “Retrospect” is a fitting word to describe many of the processes in “Of Matter.”
Example 4.11: Alignment of vocal line and guitar riff over ambience in “Proxy” (00:00-00:54)
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The entrance of the guitars and drums in “Proxy” is the first temporal point of discussion,
though it is strongly tied with the middle section of this song. Consider the text prior to the
entrance of the drums: “I will undertake, I will overcome.” The speaker implies here that the
change has yet to take place. The downbeat of m. 32, where the drum groove begins, falls on the
syllable “-come,” emphasizing the speaker’s confidence in his ability to invoke the change. As this groove begins, its first measure outlines a typical backbeat in 4/4, with a sixteenth-note anticipation for the first snare hit. As the groove continues, it is revealed that the backbeat pattern is repeated every seven beats, with two statements of the guitar riff within each backbeat pattern.
This entire groove is repeated once, begins again, and is cut off as the fourth 4/4 measure is completed in order to start again. This passage is reproduced in Example 4.12.
Example 4.12: Irregular backbeat in the opening groove of “Of Matter: Proxy” (01:11-01:18)
Using inter-onset intervals (IOIs), I mapped the two-note statements of the guitar riff as
shown in Figure 4.1. The drums appear to be subject to the guitar riff, despite the total cycle of
the drum pattern containing two iterations of the guitar riff cycle. Consider these observations:
1. The snare drum attacks never coincide with the attacks of the guitar.
2. The guitar riff is never immediately preceded by either a bass drum attack or a snare attack by less than an eighth-note duration.
3. Every note in the guitar riff is coincident with a bass drum hit.
4. Each snare attack is a minimum of nine sixteenth notes apart.
5. The groove established by the bass and snare is similar to the guitar in that it can be understood as an IOI pattern of 5-5-4.
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Figure 4.1: IOIs of guitar riff and drum pattern
With these observations, it is easier to see and hear the reasoning behind the placement of the snare drum hits. Figure 4.2 shows hypothetical placements of the snare attacks based on typical backbeats. Figure 4.2(a) shows the snare hits placed at regular IOIs; the problem here is that they would have eventually coincided with the guitar attacks or been a sixteenth note behind.
Additionally, the snare would replace a bass drum hit, violating the coincident attacks of the bass drum with the guitar, as noted in my third observation. Figure 4.2(b) shows that if they had been placed at the end of each IOI, the backbeat created would not have yielded the desired tactus. A standard backbeat in 4/4 would place the snare hits on beats two and four; the backbeat here falls closely to this standard backbeat given the constraints noted in my observations.
Figure 4.2: Hypothetical snare attack placements in “Of Matter: Proxy” opening groove (a)
(b)
At measure 44, a metric modulation takes place wherein the sixteenth note becomes the tripleted sixteenth. The relative stability of this section is reinforced by the lyrics “I’m stronger
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than I was before” in mm. 52-53. At the modulation, the backbeat becomes regular, though the riff cycle is still not in cycles that align with the backbeat-based meter. Example 4.13 shows the metric modulation.
Example 4.13: Metric Modulation at m. 44, “Of Matter: Proxy” (01:33-01:36)
One of the patterns that can be observed with regard to metric and rhythmic approaches in Tesseract’s music is that stable, predictable metrical grids (backbeats) are preceded by rhythmically complex patterns. The final passage of “Proxy” is such a case, wherein the drum pattern is playfully rhythmic at first and then followed by a more stable pattern. This contrast is demonstrated in Example 4.14: (a) shows the passage that precedes the closing section, with its rhythmic complexity; (b) shows the rhythmically stable closing passage.
Example 4.14: Final passage of “Of Matter: Proxy” (03:27-03:35, 04:31-04:39) (a) mm. 87-91
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(b) mm. 119-123
The same metrical device is found in “Of Matter: Retrospect.” I return to the passage
mentioned in chapter two that begins at measure 76. This groove cycle is repeated after six
measures, with three statements of the polyrhythmic four-against-three interwoven into the groove. At its outset, it seems that it will stay consistent in what Harald Krebs refers to as a grouping dissonance.71 Krebs labels grouping dissonance in this way: Gx/n, with G representing
the grouping variety, x representing one cardinality, and n representing the other cardinality that
creates a dissonant polyrhythm. This grouping dissonance is combined with a displacement
dissonance to form a multidimensional metrical dissonance (Mx/n + a) that can remove the
listener further from the surface meter than either type of dissonance alone.72 This passage is
shown in Example 4.15.
Both repetitions of the text “No one seems to sense the strength; no one seems to know”
are followed by temporally complex passages. The first time this text is heard, the passage that
follows is densely textured and rhythmically intense. In contrast, the second statement produces
71 Harald Krebs, Fantasy Pieces: Metrical Dissonance in the Music of Robert Schumann (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 31. 72 The “+ a” refers to the displacement dissonance in that a layer of the same cardinality creates dissonance by being displaced by the beat value of “a.”
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an ambient, thin texture. I hear these passages as responses to the text; the first shouts to draw attention to the “strength,” while the second accepts that perhaps “no one” can or will know.
Later text supports this interpretation.
Example 4.15: Multidimensional dissonance in “Of Matter: Retrospect” (02:33-02:45)
At m. 111, the text states,
I know I can’t continue down this road Dwelling on what has come to pass No force alive could bring it back
The beginning of this passage in measure 111 marks the achievement of metrical stability as noted above. At m. 104, the guitar doubles the bass riff from before (e.g. mm. 76-81), intensifying the texture over the new metrical grid, reinforcing the change. The snare IOI becomes four quarter-note pulses (as represented by the cymbals), defining the meter as 4/4.73
73 Hypermetric considerations might suggest that this passage would be better suited for 3/4, considering it would form two hypermeasures of six measures each, the same as before. However, the dominance of the regular snare attacks suggest that 4/4 is the appropriate meter.
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The meter becomes even more stable beginning at m. 113, with a return to 3/4. Example 4.16 shows this return, which only contains only a grouping dissonance in the guitar riff that could simply be explained as syncopation.
Example 4.16: Syncopation in the guitar riff, “Of Matter: Retrospect” (03:54-03:58)
The final example of change as represented by rhythmic or metrical structure to be discussed here is found in “Of Matter: Resist.” The ambient introduction serves to reset the listener’s metrical sensibility after the shifts in “Retrospect.” The expressive timing in the vocal line gives the impression of timelessness, though the onsets of the each of chords in the i-VII-VI progression that repeats throughout the song are indeed precisely timed, just as in the introduction to “Proxy.”74 In this example, the metrical complexity comes to the fore after the initial metrical stability, prior to the entrance of a drum backbeat. The first line of text, “Turn back time,” foregrounds the retrospective viewpoint implied in the title of the previous song in the cycle. The title “Resist” could be represented musically by the “reversal” of the metrical plan found in the previous songs.
The combination of regular pulses in the guitar riff at measure 24 and the vocal statements on the word “waiting” serve to establish an “in-three” feel. Like Periphery’s
74 In a brief conversation with Tosin Abasi of Animals as Leaders at South by Southwest in Austin, TX in 2014, I asked how their music was metrically organized. His response was indirect but it was that “everything (backing tracks, I assume) [was] on that laptop (points to laptop).” My perception of djent and most contemporary guitar- driven genres is consistent with this statement in that they are planned and composed using a digital audio workstation (DAW).
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“Insomnia,” this section could be understood in either 3/4 or 6/8. However, the echoes of the vocal line and the melodic guitar line at mm. 24-26 divide the measures by the dotted quarter note, placing it in 6/8. These three measures are shown in Example 4.17.
Example 4.17: Guitar and vocal lines from “Of Matter: Resist” (01:09-01:18)
The most potent example of “resistance” in this song is the fully orchestrated groove at measure 34. The fastest subtactus level, the thirty-second note, is realized in the snare drum build up just prior to this section. This level is not consistently present in the groove, but it is implied by the interaction between the sixteenth notes in Guitar 1 and the dotted sixteenth notes of Guitar
3 and Bass. In Krebs’s model, the conflict between these guitar parts constitutes a D4/3 grouping dissonance. Figure 4.3 shows the groupings of this level by the various elements of the texture at m. 34.
Figure 4.3: Groupings of thirty-second note level in “Of Matter: Resist”
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Were it not for the snare drum, this passage could be heard more easily in 6/8 on account of the
dotted sixteenths in the guitar 3 and bass parts. All other parts can be equally grouped into two
beats or three beats. The guitar 3 part is the only part that cannot group into quarter notes;
however, it can be grouped into dotted quarter notes, implying 6/8. The snare drum calls this
metrical reading into question. Example 4.18 shows the complete cycle of the riff beginning at
m. 34. The snare attacks occur every four eighth notes, beginning on the third. This pattern
outlines a backbeat in 4/4. Because of the harmonic rhythm and phrasing, I hear the meter as
three measures of six eighth notes each. But the presence of the snare implies simple meter
because the snare attacks are never aligned with what would be beat two in 6/8. This
hypermetrical dissonance is created by six measures of 3/4 against four and a half measures of
4/4 (or four measures of 4/4 and one measure of 2/4). It is also significant to note that each two- line phrase is completed with a drum fill, indicating the conclusion of a phrase and the anticipation of a new phrase.
Example 4.18: Hypermetrical dissonance in “Of Matter: Resist,” mm. 34-39 (01:39-01:57)
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To my mind, the hypermetrical dissonance represents resistance to a typical metrical
structure. The lyrics at this passage convey a sense of inner conflict. Consider these lines:
No, tried to settle bets with my own soul Bless my lips for the first time before you don’t Gripping to the last touch of your hand I grow to loathe Hope that you’ll remember just how far I’ll go Spend the rest of my life wishing I’m enough Resist Resist Resist
Beginning with the sustained “No” immediately conveys a sense of conflict. By the second 3/4
measure, the conflict is realized in the meter when the snare attacks are irregularly placed. The attempt to “settle bets” can be heard in the six-measure cycle; two meters are in conflict but realign at the end of this cycle. The contrast between the third and fourth textual lines conveys inner conflict itself; the third line sounds as though the speaker is issuing a threat, but the fourth line conveys self-doubt. This contrast reinforces the conflict and concludes with a simple
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repetition of the word “resist” as the two meters continue to resist one another.
4.4 Conclusion
Through the coordination of text and pitch events with temporal and textural changes,
Tesseract portrays change both lyrically and musically. Indeed, the topic of change is conveyed
in the music of Tesseract’s “Of Matter” in multiple ways. The auxiliary event in “Proxy,” with
the accompanying change in rhythmic design, suggests permanent change that comes as a
function of time, perhaps one that occurs early in life. “Retrospect,” as implied in the title,
suggests change that can occur as a result of self-reflection and learning from the past. This idea is represented musically by the recontextualization of pulse levels via metric modulation. Finally,
“Resist” can be understood as a commentary on how one is naturally inclined to deal with change. The metrical conflict in the latter half of the song mirrors resistance to change. By never settling on one meter or the other before its conclusion, “Resist” intimates that the tendency to resist change may persist indefinitely.
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CHAPTER 5
THE INTERACTION OF PITCH AND TEMPORALITY IN ANIMALS AS LEADERS’S
“TEMPTING TIME”
5.1 Animals as Leaders
To this point, I have discussed music with text and how the poetic idea is supported by the underlying music. The lyrics of these songs provide a wealth of opportunities to make musical connections that show how the work coheres as a complete whole. The absence of a text leaves only the title of each song to suggest a program. Such is the case with the music of
Animals as Leaders.
The song title “Tempting Time” implies that the temporal experience is a significant part of listening to this purely instrumental music. This chapter focuses on how significant pitch events interact with chronological events to create a complete temporal experience. I show how the band Animals as Leaders provides a unique perspective on temporality through the use of multiple metrical layers.
Animals as Leaders is a three-piece progressive metal band from Washington D.C. It was formed in 2008 by guitarist Tosin Abasi as a reworking of his band Reflux.75 The first and self-
titled album was released in 2009, produced by Periphery’s Misha Mansoor. After touring with
guitarist Javier Reyes and drummer Navene Koperweis and recording their second album
Weightless, Koperweis was replaced by Matt Garstka. The band has recorded four studio albums,
including The Joy of Motion in 2014 and The Madness of Many in 2016.
The first album, Animals as Leaders, contains an array of musical endeavors on the guitar
75 “Animals as Leaders – Biography,” Metal Storm, accessed April 7, 2020, http://www.metalstorm.net/bands/biography.php?band_id=4972&bandname=Animals+As+Leaders.
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and drums, along with some ambient background accompaniment. Tracks such as “Tempting
Time,” “CAFO,” and “Song of Solomon” are at faster tempos and represent the more aggressive
side of the album, showcasing virtuosity in the guitars. In contrast, tracks such as “On Impulse,”
“Behaving Badly,” and especially “Modern Meat” explore chromatic harmonic territory and
timbral contrast. “Tempting Time” with moments of thinly textured orchestration and colorful
harmony, becomes an ideal track for analysis.
5.2 Literature Interlude
To orient the discussion, I proceed to a brief overview of scholarly investigations of
temporality in music. Recent research in music theory includes substantial offerings on musical
meter and rhythm, with analyses that span the repertoire from early music to contemporary
compositions. My selection here is informed by that of other theorists who have applied these
theories to musical literature that is similar to progressive metal.
Each discussion of musical meter seems to situate it into one of two categories: linear or
cyclical. Among the most prominent theories of meter to be utilized in the analysis of backbeat-
driven music is Fred Lerdahl and Ray Jackendoff’s A Generative Theory of Tonal Music. This
work outlines preference rules and well-formedness rules for mapping metrical layers in tonal
music. Relevant to my purpose here is their preference of allowing pitch events and durations to
inform metrical structure, as in their MPRs 3 and 5.76 Throughout this dissertation, the coincidence of pitch and temporality is a significant theme.
Some authors have challenged the significance of this coincidence. In his article “Some
Non-Isomorphisms between Pitch and Time,” Justin London goes to great lengths to illustrate
76 Lerdahl and Jackendoff, A Generative Theory, 76.
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that pitch and time are not always governed by the same underlying principles. His work in this
article was included in his book Hearing in Time: The Psychological Aspects of Musical Meter,
and perhaps influenced his cyclical model of meter articulated therein. This model is one way of
visualizing repeated metrical structures for designated sections of music, and thus allows another
perspective when discussing music coincidences of pitch and temporal events in “Tempting
Time.”
In the introduction to his book, The Time of Music, Jonathan Kramer mentions that the
more nuanced aspects of time (that is, those outside of rhythm and meter) are rarely discussed in
music-theoretical approaches to time. Early in the book, he introduces the concept of moment
time, after Stockhausen’s moment form.77 He describes it as music which “starts” rather than
“begins.” That is to say, he views a piece in moment time as having no clearly delineated beginning, the which might normally occur through an introductory motive or theme. Rather, our hearing of the piece is “as if it had already been going on and we happened to tune in on it.”78
Likewise, the work ceases rather than ends; it gives the impression that it continues in the absence of the listener. There are passages of “Tempting Time” that may be classified as moment time, due to their metric independence.
As with the previous songs, a brief outline of the form and harmonic plan is helpful in understanding how Animals as Leaders conveys time in “Tempting Time.” The opening riff and groove in the rhythm guitar (B minor) starts at the beginning of the piece and proceeds until the entrance of the lead guitar (00:45, m 21). The next section starts at m. 31 (01:06) and moves between the chords G, D#, and B. This riff settles on B and concludes the opening section. The
77 Jonathan Kramer, The Time of Music (New York: Schirmer Books, 1988): 50. 78 Kramer, The Time of Music, 50.
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music I consider to be the “chorus” begins at m. 65 (02:02); this riff repeats the progressions
chord progressions G-D-B and E-F#-B and includes the guitar solo (02:23). At m. 93 (02:51), a
new section begins that bridges the solo to the final chorus and includes the same harmonies as
the second section (G-D#-B). The chorus returns at m. 124 (04:12) and is followed by an outro in
B (04:40).
5.3 Temporality
My first example is from the opening 30 measures of “Tempting Time.” In my original
transcription, I used the time signatures 19/16, 23/16, and 4/2 to represent this opening section.
After developing the Time Signature Rule, I decided to use 4/4. The backbeat here brings up an
important term to discuss in this context: the ghost note. The New Grove Dictionary defines a
ghost note as a “weak note, sometimes barely audible.”79 Most definitions follow that ghost notes are played at a lower dynamic level (it is implied in their name), but in practice, certain metric positions of ghost notes are indeed stronger than others. In a tutorial with drummer Jim
Riley found in Modern Drummer, the demonstrations of ghost notes reveal that those that come
at the end of the measure on the last sixteenth note are often louder dynamically.80 Often in rock and metal, these “ghost notes” are not ghost notes in the sense of their dynamic relationship with the emphatic beats of the backbeat, but rather because of their metric position. When these notes are played on the snare and become dynamically equal with the backbeat-defining snare hits of beats two and four, it becomes more significant for the listener to latch on to the consistent
79 Barry Kernfeld, "Ghost(ed) note," Grove Music Online, accessed April 20, 2020, https://www-oxfordmusiconline- com.libproxy.library.unt.edu/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e- 2000167000. 80 Jim Riley, “Ghost Notes 101 with Jim Riley,” Modern Drummer, October 15, 2015, https://www.moderndrummer.com/article/december-2015-ghost-notes-101-jim-riley/. The article’s Example 11 is particularly relevant.
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metric placement of the backbeat. Figure 5.1 shows two versions of a backbeat with a ghost note
on the final sixteenth note: (a) shows the backbeat as it would normally be notated, with the
ghost note in parentheses; (b) shows a dynamically equalized version.
Figure 5.1: Backbeat with a ghost note on the final sixteenth note (a)
(b)
In the context of a straightforward backbeat, the ghost note at the end of the backbeat
pattern is of little consequence to the heard meter. When the regular hits of the snare on beats two and four become obscured by complex meters, the presence of this type of ghost note can call the backbeat-based meter into question. Such is the case with the opening groove of
“Tempting Time.”
When the drums enter at measure 11, it is clear that they follow the rhythmic design of the guitar riff. Tosin Abasi describes his approach to composing the rhythm of the main riff as a syncopation against a quarter note pulse. As he claps evenly spaced quarter notes, he verbally counts the rhythms as “1 2 3, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4,” etc.81 His counting articulates the notes he
81 Guitar Messenger, “Tosin Abasi – Animals as Leaders: GuitarMessenger.com Masterclass Part 2 (Tempting Time),” November 5, 2010, interview, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mHYazL-d70 Interview with Tosin Abasi, accessed April 23, 2020.
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plays, which are sixteenth notes with an eighth note as the last note of each group. Example 1 shows the conflict between the meter established by the quarter note pulses and the meter from the IOIs of the riff. Each metric interpretation has two points of validation. The 4/4 interpretation is supported by the quarter note pulses in the hi hat and the fact that it conforms more easily to the well-formedness rules set forth by GTTM. In contrast, the harmonic rhythm and backbeat lean my listening ear toward a 19-pulse group with divisions of four and five within it (some sort of 19/16). The conflict is shown in the interpretive layers of the sixteenth note pulse layer. The first row of dots shows the pulse layer; the next layer is the 19/16 interpretation, and the lowest layer is the 4/4 interpretation.
Example 5.1: Conflicting metrical interpretations in “Tempting Time” (00:22-00:33)
I omitted the eighth note layer because it would not align with both layers, and the layers shown indicate the IOIs of the two metrical layers sufficiently. Each of the IOIs shown in both layers divide into twos and threes, as required by MWFR 3. The hi hat-based layer divides
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evenly into two; the riff-based layer divides into 3 + 2 for a couple of reasons. MPR 4 indicates
that stressed beats are preferred as strong. The snare attack at the end of each IOI in the riff- based interpretation acts as this stress. Additionally, these snare attacks are an eighth note in length, making them twice as long as the pulse level. As noted in MPR 5, the longer duration of the snare attacks marks them for metrical significance.
One might be content to conclude that this passage is indeed polymetric. This is not to say that a listener could perceive two meters at once, but rather one acts as a series of
“syncopations” to the other. Alternatively, one might only focus on one or the other, ignoring other input. Citing studies in perception, Justin London claims that these are the two possibilities when confronted with metrical conflict, and that “there is no such thing as polymeter.”82
Returning to the matter of ghost notes, an alternative hearing of the backbeat in this passage
could be that it is an expansion of an even metrical structure. Example 5.2 shows two levels of
metrical normalization. Much like Schenkerian analysis in the pitch realm reduces a piece of
music or musical passage to its fundamental structure through idealization, the meter here can be
idealized through (in this case) contraction. William Rothstein admits this connection in his
description of phrase expansion: “the Schenkerian concepts of elaboration and structural levels
are crucial to the definition and analysis of phrase expansion.”83 Indeed, the meter in this passage
could be thought of as a unique example consisting of a series of a composed-out fermatas; the
issue with this is that fermatas typically conclude phrases. However, considering the rhythmic
expansion as “hiccups” in the groove explains a possible phrasal origin. Example 5.2(a) simply
shows the groove with eighth notes turned to quarter notes, with the exception of those that are
82 London, Hearing in Time, 50. Emphasis his. 83 Rothstein, Phrase Rhythm, 64.
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part of the opening arpeggio of each statement of the riff. Example 5.2(b) normalizes further still,
placing the snare attacks into metrical positions more typical of a standard 4/4 backbeat. In this
case, these snare attacks are either standard beat-2 or beat-4 hits or dynamically neutral ghost notes. That the metrical plan on the surface of the music can be understood as an expansion of an idealized even structure is further affirmed by voice leading activity. In the opening passage prior to the entrance of the drums, the ambient chords introduce E and D# as neighbor note and main tone, respectively.
Example 5.2: Normalizations of the phrase into a typical backbeat (a)
(b)
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In a reductive sketch, the rhythmic elements are not simply removed, but often
normalized. For example, an unfolding can become a verticality in a deep middleground or
background sketch. In such a case, the rhythm is literally altered. Example 5.3(a) shows the opening three measures of “Tempting Time” as they occur, while 5.3(b) shows a reduction. In the reduction, the chords are rhythmically normalized to occur on the downbeat; again, this is representative of an idealized harmonic rhythm structure.
Example 5.3: First three measures of “Tempting Time” (00:00-00:08) (a)
(b)
The normalization of the metrical position of pitch events makes it easier to see their
coincidence with significant temporal events. For example, in the groove shown in Example 5.1,
the main note D# is achieved exactly half way through the five-measure hypermeasure, sounding
on beat three of the third measure. Not only does the fact that it is mid-measure make it difficult
to see, but it also makes it difficult to hear on account of the quarter note pulses in the hi hats.
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With the chord aligned to the downbeat of the third measure of a four-measure hypermeasure, it
becomes evident that pitch and temporality are coordinated. The elasticity of linearity can be
useful to the listener and analyst alike.
I have shown how a linear model can allow for flexibility within the temporality of
musical phrases. I now focus on the large-scale temporal map of “Tempting Time,” using cyclical graphs as visual representations. Example 5.4 shows each metric area in the piece represented by a cyclical graph. Justin London explains that in these graphs, time flows clockwise and the points on the graphs represent beats, though the dots ultimately represent beat divisions and the lines in fact represent beats.84 Such is the case here, with the lines representing
my interpretation of beat division groupings in meters that do not have a standard beat
structure.85
Example 5.4: Cyclical models of meter in “Tempting Time” (a) 4/4 (00:00-01:06) (b) 11/16 (01:06-01:42)
84 See London, Hearing in Time, 64. 85 By “standard beat structure,” I mean any meter outside of simple or compound duple, triple, or quadruple.
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(c) 6/4 (01:42-01:45) (d) 11/16 (01:45-01:57)
(e) 5/8 (02:01-02:51)
(f) 4/4 and 7/8 (02:51-04:10)
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(g) 5/8 (04:10-04:40) (h) 4/4 (04:40-05:24)
Note the lack of beat divisions in the 4/4 graph; the meter in the passage represented is indeed
4/4, but the divisions of the beat are constantly in flux due to the cycle of the guitar riff. A graph that represents one measure is insufficient to show all of the important metrical activity that takes place in the a passage that varies from notated measure to notated measure, as in the initial groove.
Example 5.5: Initial groove passage of “Tempting Time” (00:22-00:33)
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Example 5.5 shows an alternative method of visual representation that accounts for both
the backbeat as reflected in the notated meter (beats shown with blue dots) and the riff cycles
(beats shown with red dots). In addition to the blue and red dots as backbeat meter and riff meter,
the sixteenth-note pulse level is shown by black dots. For reference, this passage is shown in
standard notation in Example 5.1. The loops represent the notated measures, so that each return
to the 12 o’clock position of the cycle marks the completion of a measure. The composite
number of completed loops in this case is five, whereupon a new riff cycle, or loop complex,
begins. This style of graphic notation can help one visualize the metrical layers as they pass
through time.
I applied this style of visualization and analysis to the bridge section of “Tempting Time”
that immediately follows the solo. This section can be understood as being made up of many
layers of time-events, or pulse streams, as John Roeder would call them.86 Considering the
interaction of pulse streams through the notated metrical cycle with considerations of both pitch
and the unfolding of actual cyclic duration presents a holistic picture of musical events in this
passage of “Tempting Time.”
The riff cycle that follows the solo, beginning at m. 93, is made up of a complex of 5
repetitions of a riff that consists of 11 thirty-second notes and an additional partial riff made of 5
thirty-second notes. In total, the riff cycle repeats every 60 thirty-second notes, or 15 eighth
notes. Additionally, the riff cycle alternates the use of the notes F# and C# with the notes G and
D, changing every other cycle. Example 5.6(a) shows the riff at m. 93. The backbeat enters after
86 John Roeder, “Interacting Pulse Streams in Schoenberg’s Atonal Polyphony,” Music Theory Spectrum 16, no. 2 (1994): 234.
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four statements of the cycle, grouping a given statement of the cycle into a complex of one 4/4
measure and one 7/8 measure. The riff cycle with the backbeat is shown in Example 5.6(b).
Example 5.6: Bridge riff of “Tempting Time” (a) m. 93 (02:51)
(b) m. 101 (03:12)
Example 5.7 shows the section at m. 97 with a cyclical graph that shows the alternation of 4/4 and 7/8 (blue dots), with divisions of the beat shown by black dots. To the listener, the 7/8 measure might sound like a 4/4 measure that is cut short by one eighth note. What this graph
offers is a visual comparison of the actual duration of a 4/4 measure vs a 7/8 measure, giving
equal metric weight to measures of different lengths within the same metrical complex. The
graphic representation of the complex is completed in Example 5.8, where the initial guitar riff is
shown by green dots and the blue dots continue to represent the 4/4 and 7/8 backbeat. The red
dots represent the lead guitar melody. This melody creates a metric overlap with the backbeat in
that it is parsed by a 7/8 measure followed by a 4/4 measure, the opposite of the backbeat.
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Example 5.7: Cyclical graph of bridge riff, “Tempting Time,” m. 97 (03:12)
Example 5.8: Cyclical graph of bridge riff, “Tempting Time,” m. 97 (03:12)
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To discuss the interactions of the various IOIs, I return to Jonathan Kramer’s work. In
Time in Contemporary Musical Thought, he represents metrical cycles in a way similar to that employed here, showing a cyclical pattern in the shape of a helix. He mentions two dimensions of time: succession and recursion. Successive time is represented by the motion that results from moving around the cycle; recursive time is measured by the return to a given metrical point along the cycle. These are shown as two axes on a helix graph, similar to that shown in Example 5.9.
Example 5.9 reproduces Example 5.8, highlighting the recurring streams of pulses.
Example 5.9: Streams of recursion in “Tempting Time,” m. 97 (03:12)
When I first heard the title of the song, I began to consider what it means, and how the music reflects what little programmatic information is given by the title. To “tempt time” might be to provoke or encourage it to operate beyond its normal boundaries. That the beats of the 7/8 measures sound as though they are in the same metric position successively but differ in position recursively represents what I term recursive time flexibility. Considering the visual
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representation and the sounding music allows for the listener to make a decision as to how the
7/8 measure can be experienced. While it may be heard as a shortened 4/4 measure, it is its own
entity when followed around the cycle visually, with an accelerated cyclical pace. This flexibility
allows time, or at least a listener’s perception of it, to give in to the “temptation” to deviate from
its normal function.
5.4 Pitch Elements
Before concluding this chapter, it is important to integrate pitch elements into the
metrical analysis and discuss significant correlations. To produce the reduction shown in
Example 5.10, I retained the melodic shape of the lead guitar while eliminating repetitions of
riffs. With the exception of the first one, the dotted bar lines on the reduction indicate changes in
meter. I suspect that most of Animals as Leaders’s music would appear the same way
graphically, with greater density in metric changes in the sections surrounding those with more
density in melodic activity – due to guitar solos, wherein the meter typically remains the same. I
conclude with two observations about the coordination of pitch and temporality in “Tempting
Time.”
The first of the two observations is that the metrical changes correspond to changes in
register. In his discussion on Schenkerian analysis of jazz, Steve Larson notes a correlation
between register transfers and metrical positions in Bill Evans’s music. He observes that in
Evans’s “The Touch of Your Lips,” new notes are often introduced on downbeats, making their
metrical position significant. Larson proclaims that “consistent techniques of diminution” are
needed to understand voice-leading threads that might otherwise be hidden.87 These new notes
87 Steve Larson, “Schenkerian Analysis of Modern Jazz: Questions about Method,” Music Theory Spectrum 20, no. 2 (1998): 237-238.
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are often in different registers but can be considered together to create significant voice-leading
progressions at levels deeper than the musical surface or foreground.
Example 5.10: Reduction of “Tempting Time”
Similar examples of coordination of meter and register transfer are found in “Tempting
Time.” Nearly every change in meter is accompanied by a change in register. For example, the
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change from 4/4 to 11/16 at m. 31 initiates an ascending line that begins with F#4 and proceeds
to G4. This line continues upward with the next meter change at m. 55, from 11/16 to 6/4. The
line continues with A3 and, ascending, returns to F#4. Because changes in meter necessarily
occur on downbeats, the register transfer operates in a similar way to that observed by Larson.
The effect of disorientation that may come as a result of a sudden shift in meter is also reflected
in the pitch realm, with a sudden change in register, further obscuring the temporal and linear
listening experience.
As shown in Examples 5.8 and 5.9, the section at m. 93 is among the most complex
moments metrically in the song. It is not radical to suggest that an objective of this section is to
obscure the temporal listening experience. The change in meter at this section to the alternating
cycle of 4/4 and 7/8 is accompanied in the pitch realm by an outlined augmented triad in the bass
and a prominent F# in the upper voice. Other scholars have noted that the augmented triad can be
used to represent obscurity.88 This bass line is an altered version of the one that accompanies the
solo, with D# here replacing D as in the solo section. The recurrence of F# over B in the bass
sounds like a return to tonic, but G is ever present in the accompaniment, retaining the
augmented triad quality. In this way, the melody, harmony, and meter all function toward
obscuring time.
5.5 Conclusion
“Tempting Time” is somewhat unique among the tracks on Animals as Leaders’s debut album in that the program implied by the title is more directly reflected in the music than some
other tracks. In other words, no back-story or other context is needed to draw one’s own
88 For example, see Arthur Wenk, Claude Debussy and the Poets (University of California Press, 1976), 99.
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subjective conclusions about how the music represents the topic suggested by the track title. For tracks such as “Modern Meat” or “CAFO,” one might need to study something of the composer’s life, perspective, and experience to make musical connections. Ironically, these tracks make reference to the “Animals” part of the band’s name and album title, which implies that they are part of a larger program. With four studio albums and solo projects from all three members of the group, there is much territory that remains to be studied to discover how temporality functions in their music generally. Nonetheless, I have attempted here to represent some salient aspects of their music based on my own listening.
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CHAPTER 6
HOPE AND FRUSTRATION IN MUTE THE SAINT’S “SOUND OF SCARS”
6.1 Mute the Saint
The combination of Indian classical and Western rock and metal musical styles in a
popular music context has often been motivated by a desire on the part of the Western popular
artist to achieve something of the exotic.89 Many rock bands have incorporated elements of
Indian classical music into recordings and live performances to differing degrees. In most cases, the use of Indian instruments and modal or scalar structures is subservient to the harmonic, melodic, or formal conventions of Western music; this allows these bands to hint at exoticism without compromising standard practices of Western popular styles.
Example 6.1: Phrygian Dominant scale, similar to Middle Eastern Maqam Hijaz
Example 6.2: Riff from Metallica, “Wherever I May Roam” (03:41-03:48)
Composing and arranging original or existing rock songs to feature Indian or other
Eastern instruments are not the only ways to achieve exoticism in popular music. A common
approach in metal is to use what might be described in Western terms as “Phrygian-dominant,”
or mode five of the harmonic minor scale. This scale is quite similar to the Middle Eastern
89 See John Cage, “The East in the West,” Asian Music 1, no. 1 (1968): 15. Here, Cage mentions Mozart’s Rondo Alla Turca as an example of Western music that possesses a “taste” of exoticism. In popular music, George Harrison’s studies with Ravi Shankar and successive use of the sitar in the Beatles’s music inspired other contemporary artists to follow suit. See Everett, Beatles as Musicians, Revolver through the Anthology, pg. 40.
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Maqam Hijaz, with its augmented 2nd between scale degrees two and three; it is shown in
Example 6.1.90 Example 6.2 is an excerpt from Metallica’s “Wherever I May Roam,” an example of the use of the Phrygian dominant in popular metal.
Still, most examples of combined elements from Eastern and Western music in metal are inevitably dominated by one or the other styles, and more often than not, the Western elements are more prevalent. Indeed, it may be impossible to achieve a perfect balance between the two styles within the confines of metal. Marked by high-gain electric guitars that are often palm- muted for percussive effect, bass-heavy drum set playing, and generally dense textures, metal might seem to be a poor breeding ground for the contrasting style of Indian classical music.
In this chapter, I examine the song “Sound of Scars” from sitar-fronted metal band Mute the Saint’s self-titled EP and consider the unique relationship between the Eastern and Western elements in the song. I use both traditional Indian musical terms and Western methods of tonal and temporal analysis to show the overlap that exists between the two styles in this repertoire. In addition to revealing significant underlying structural elements, I hope to show the viability of existing analytical systems when applied to music from which they were not developed or for which they may not have originally been intended. Some passages require extensions and modifications of analytical methods in order to accommodate the complexities encountered in
Mute the Saint’s music.
Mute the Saint is largely the product of sitarist Rishabh Seen and his endeavors with combining sitar and metal. Seen is the son of respected sitarist Manu Kumar Seen, who studied
90 The Maqam Hijaz scale can take two forms; one has the Nahawand upper tetrachord (used here) which creates the Phrygian dominant scale, and the Rast upper tetrachord, in which the 6th scale degree is only half flat.
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under Ustad Shihad Parvez.91 Parvez is a member of the Imdadkani family, a renowned musical
family of many generations in India. Rishabh is a classical sitarist, trained by his father and
frequently performs and records in the traditional Indian classical idiom.
Rishabh Seen gained notoriety in the metal community in large part due to his covers of progressive metal songs by bands such as Meshuggah, Periphery, and, perhaps most importantly,
Animals as Leaders. His cover videos have received over one million views on Youtube and attracted the attention and drawn the praise of the composers themselves.92 The covers primarily
consist of Seen playing sitar along with the recorded track. While he adheres to the form and
most of the melodies as recorded by the bands, some melodic passages, solo sections, and
harmonies are altered, likely in favor of sitar conventions.
Seen’s growing fame and success with covering the music of other metal bands inspired
him to compose his own music and form his own band. He notes: “I really wanted to show the
richness, versatility, and modern-ness of a traditional sitar to the world. Since the past 7-8 years,
I had found that the sitar had almost lost its intimidating glory because nothing that weird and
interesting [was] being done with it.”93 He has devoted significant effort in social media outlets
to emphasize the originality of his project, repeatedly proclaiming Mute the Saint as the “world’s
first ever instrumental Indian Classical music-Progressive Metal band.”94 India’s metal scene is
91 SD Sharma, “‘Music, in All its Manifestations, is a Dynamic Phenomenon,’ says Jalandhar-based Sitar Player Manu Kumar Seen,” The Tribune, May 17, 2020, https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/jalandhar/music-in-all-its- manifestations-is-a-dynamic-phenomenon-says-jalandhar-based-sitar-player-manu-kumar-seen-85888. 92 Thall Tv, “Animals as Leaders – Tempting Time – Sitar Cover,” July 10, 2015, music video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StKMAijQcpk. 93 Marunouchi Muzik Magazine, “New Disc Review + Interview (Mute the Saint: Mute the Saint),” accessed May 23, 2018, http://sin23ou.heavy.jp/?p=8653. 94 Ritu Raj Boruah, “Rishabh Seen: An Exclusive Interview with the Sun of Classical and Metal Music,” The Northeast Today, September 17, 2015, https://thenortheasttoday.com/rishabh-seen-an-exclusive-interview-with-the- sun-of-classical-and-metal-music/.
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thriving, with many successful bands such as Skyharbor and Demonic Resurrection touring
internationally, but the music of these bands adheres more closely to Western metal conventions
and instrumentation. Mute the Saint’s approach to melody and form shows that the integration of
sitar with a traditional metal rhythm section is more than a mere novelty.
6.2 North Indian Classical Systems
Before proceeding to analyze Mute the Saint’s “Sound of Scars,” I give a brief overview of relevant terms and concepts from the pitch and rhythmic realms of Indian classical music. The complexity and detail of these systems is documented elsewhere, so my overview is selective; however, I review some basic universal concepts that gives an unfamiliar reader a point of reference as to how these concepts can be compared with Western terms.
Example 6.3: Rag Yaman (The Raga Guide, 1999)
The raga is the governing entity of melody in Indian classical music. In his book The
Raga Guide, Joep Bor defines a raga as “a tonal framework for composition and
improvisation.”95 A raga is comparable to a Western mode or scale in that it consists of a specific
collection of pitches from which the composer or performer may draw to create a melody. The
seven pitches of the sargam system can be seen as analogous to solfege; the syllables used in
sargam are Sa, re, ga, ma, pa, dha, and ni. The difference is that ragas are not merely pitch
collections; each raga has a particular set of rules that govern the relationship of individual
95 Joep Bor, The Raga Guide (Monmouth: Nimbus Communications, 1999), 1.
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pitches within the collection to each other . I have reproduced an example of rag Yaman from
The Raga Guide as my Example 6.3.
Rag Yaman is usually the first raga taught to new students and can serve to provide an
example of one of the differences between a raga and a scale. When ascending, Sa and pa are
omitted but are played or sung when descending. Ornaments are also an important part of the
raga, “at least as important” as the long notes to which the ornaments serve as connectors,
according to Bor.96 The fixed nature of these ornaments makes an interesting point of discussion
when compared with the improvisatory character of Baroque-style ornamentation practice; I
discuss this relationship further in my analysis.
Like the pitch realm, the temporal realm in North Indian classical practice shares qualities
with Western concepts of meter. Both traditions organize pitch material temporally by using
repeating cycles that contain beats, the first of which is considered to have the most weight and
can serve as a point of orientation for the performer or listener. Also, both systems allow for
beginning the rhythmic cycle off the first beat. It is common for a performer of North Indian
classical music to play against the temporal grid, in this case established by the tāla, to explore
temporal possibilities. Noted tabla performer and composer Suresh Talwalkar defines theka as
‘the first composition within a tāla;’ it is the specific beat pattern played to represent a given tāla.97
There are three levels of rhythmic organization within a given tāla. The basic unit of
rhythm is called the mātrā, which is comparable to a beat in Western music; most tālas consist of
6-16 mātrās. Mātrās are organized into groups, called vibhāgs which, in turn, are divisions of the
96 Bor, The Raga Guide, vii preface. 97 Oral communication with Vivek Virani.
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operative rhythmic unit, the āvartan. Tīntāl is the most common tāla; it is shown in Example 6.4.
Example 6.4: Tīntāl rhythmic cycle
sam khali
dha dhin dhin dha dha dhin dhin dha dha tin tin ta ta dhin dhin dha
A singer or listener would keep time with the āvartan by clapping or waving on
particular beats. The first beat, called sam, receives a strong clap; the dividing beat, usually in the
middle of the cycle, called khālī, is shown with a wave of the hand. A comparable metric
structure in Western practice would be a four-bar hypermeasure wherein the third measure, though evenly divided, is not as pronounced on the musical surface. Without prior knowledge of the tāla, it would be difficult to aurally perceive how the music is organized, especially in repertoire where the melodic instrument or voice is seemingly the only musical element that might be based on the tāal. Even in listening to strictly traditional Indian classical music, I found it difficult sometimes to metrically orient myself with the tāla.98
6.3 Pitch
Before applying Western analytical systems to “Sound of Scars,” I outline its musical
functions according to North Indian classical parameters. My limited experience with these
parameters necessitates the preface that my analytical judgments are based on my aural
experience with the music. Even with the knowledge of the raga(s) used to compose the song as
given by Seen and Mute the Saint, there are still melodic issues to reconcile. It is also worth
noting that though I use Indian terms to introduce these concepts, I use Western notation in my
examples under the assumption that it is more familiar to the reader.
98 My tendency to group melodies according to parameters set forth by Lerdahl and Jackendoff (1983) gave me the impression that the melody was misaligned with the rhythm in the tabla.
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Seen identifies the ragas used in “Sound of Scars” as Puriya Dhanashri, Todi, and
Charukeshi; these ragas are shown in Example 6.5.99 Based on pitch collection alone, the raga
that best fits is Puriya Dhanashri. However, in this contemporary context, changing pitch
collection and order is not uncommon, especially in the surface-level pitch content of progressive
music.
Example 6.5: Puriya Dhanashri, Todi, and Charukeshi (a) Puriva Dhanashri
(b) Todi
(c) Charukeshi
The Cb (dha) and D (ni) in the sitar passage at measure 26 are not atypical of the melodic
gesture in a presentation of Miyan Ki Todi. The pitch collections of both Miyan Ki Todi and
99 Mute the Saint, “Sound of Scars,” Bandcamp, December 5, 2016, https://mutethesaint.bandcamp.com/track/sound-of-scars.
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Puriya Dhanashri allow for either of the two of the ragas to be present here.100 Example 6.6
shows the entrance of the sitar in “Sound of Scars,” exemplifying gestures one might typically
hear in either of the two ragas.
Example 6.6: Mute the Saint, “Sound of Scars,” m. 26, sitar entrance (01:08-01:15)
The use of the third raga, Charukeshi, is not as obvious as the other two. The only
passage in “Sound of Scars” that uses a different pitch collection than that found in Puriya
Dhanashri is the bridge section at measure 76 (03:21). The collection of pitches in Charukeshi is
akin to the melodic major scale (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, b6, b7). To my ears, this collection evokes mode
mixture, with elements from both the major and the minor scale. Measure 76 immediately
introduces the natural 2nd for the first time in the piece, indicating that a different pitch collection
is in use. The difference here is that Eb cannot function as sa with the appropriate pitches to fit the raga. Taking sa as Bb, the pitch collection works. Additionally, two of the Mukhya-Ang, or essential note patterns of the raga, begin with an ascent from re to ga; this figure is found in the brief sitar line that begins at measure 84 toward the end of the bridge section, with the notes C and D. It is repeated at measure 88 over the next pass of the harmonic progression. In a later section, I discuss in detail the reconciliation of simultaneous Bb and Eb harmonic areas found here.
One of the difficulties in discerning the tāla in this music is that the tāla is an element of
North Indian classical music that is usually made evident by the tabla, the accompanying
100 Tanarang, “Raag Charukeshi,” accessed November 5, 2020, http://www.tanarang.com/english/charukeshi_eng.htm.
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percussive instrument. Because there is no tabla, I view the rhythm section (particularly the
drums) as outlining the repeating rhythmic cycle, supplemental to the tabla.
Example 6.7: Groove variation in tīntāl and sitar, mm. 26-33, “Sound of Scars” (a) Groove variation in tīntāl.
(b) “Sound of Scars,” mm. 26-33, sitar (01:08-01:30)
“Sound of Scars” is anomalous among the other songs on Mute the Saint’s EP, and
indeed most djent-era progressive metal in that it does not deviate from its temporal structure
through grouping change, tempo change, or other common means. There are moments of double-
and half-time, but these simply emphasize an adjacent beat level or rhythmic value. Significant
events such as phrase boundaries, textural changes, and harmonic changes mostly occur in even
hypermeasures of four, eight, and sixteen measures. Given that tīntāl is a 16-beat cycle, it is a logical choice and aligns with the musical events one might expect at the hypermeasure. The rhythms in “Sound of Scars” tend to become faster and denser as the composition progresses –
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both at the level of the single iteration of the tāla as well as the entire composition. A common
variation on grooves played within tīntāl is to play a more rhythmically active final two vibhāgs,
as shown in Example 6.7(a).101 Comparatively, Example 6.7(b) shows measures 26-33; in measure 33, the rhythm is greatly accelerated, emphasizing the conclusion of the cycle. The passage from measures 44-51 has a similar rhythmic acceleration at its conclusion.
Finally, I consider another aspect of the raga that pertains to the meaning of the word
itself: color. Seen, like many Hindustani musicians, associates each raga he uses with a particular
mood; some scholars suggest that effective performers will evoke the mood of a raga and solicit
an emotional response from the audience.102
Not only does Seen explicitly state the ragas in use, but he also gives detailed descriptions about what is being evoked through “Sound of Scars.” The title itself elicits a despondent feeling, and Seen associates the moods of Puriya Dhanashri and Todi with sadness and “resigned acceptance.” Excerpts from an interview with Seen explain the affective design in greater detail:
Sound of Scars, as the name suggests, is a song about uncertainty, sufferings, helplessness and an outlet to aggression. Starting from a heavy burst of aggression, taking you to and through a journey of the sound of suffering, reaching a point of uncertainty where you thought that everything would resolve and you will never have to face those demoralizing moments again, but it soon ends to a heavy breakdown – which symbolizes helplessness and the realization that fear and the very frustrating and demoralizing bad happenings in life won’t ever stop happening, but it’s only you who will have to grow stronger and keep facing it without giving up!103
101 This is my attempt at representing the rhythmic articulations of a common theka of tīntāl. It should be noted that this transcription does not include any information about the various timbres that would actually be used in a tabla performance. The claim that this is a popular variation comes from tabla player Rajvinder Singh. Rajvinder Singh, “Teentaal Lesson Professional Theka Fillers and Tukra. How to use Baya. Tabla Lesson in Hindi English,” YouTube video, April 2, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I063xO-etLA. 102 Bor, The Raga Guide, 1. 103 Metal Injection, “Mute the Saint Shows Sitar is Very Metal with Sound of Scars Music Video,” accessed November 5, 2020, https://metalinjection.net/video/mute-the-saint-shows-sitar-is-very-metal-with-sound-of-scars- music-video.
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I hear the “point of uncertainty” as the bridge at measure 76, the point in the song that uses raga
Charukeshi. Seen seems to associate this raga with uncertainty and hope. The correlation of
these ideas with a comparably thin texture and relaxed rhythmic plan has a historical precedent
in tonal music and has been observed by other scholars. Of the Adagio in the “Confinteor” in
Bach’s Mass in B Minor, Joel Lester notes that the reduced texture and long steady rhythms of
the Adagio “can be heard to tone-paint a moment in which time seems to stand still – the moment
between knowing that something will happen, waiting for it to happen…”104 Lester mentions that the word “expecto” can be interpreted into English as “hope.” The parallel in this section of
“Sound of Scars” is that the texture thins and the rhythms become slower and repeating, just as in the Bach example. This section is shown in Example 6.8.
Example 6.8: Thinned texture at m. 76 in “Sound of Scars” (03:21-03:31)
104 Joel Lester, “Tone-painting the Mysterious: The ‘Et-expecto from J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor,” Bach 51, no. 1 (2020): 31.
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Having applied my admittedly limited knowledge of North Indian classical music
structures to “Sound of Scars,” I now incorporate these concepts into an analysis based on
Western concepts and analytical methods. I use North Indian structural features, reductive voice-
leading analysis, and metrical analytical models to identify significant structural features of the
song and how they relate to its meaning. A potential digression here is the interaction of these
three approaches to an examination of Mute the Saint’s music. I conclude with some thoughts on
this. As in my previous analyses, I first examine pitch elements and then proceed to issues of
rhythm and meter.
Though other scholars have done studies wherein structural and voice leading analysis
are applied to Indian classical music, I do not take the same approach here. These studies outline
structural levels based on the harmonic conventions of Indian musical traditions, which, in the
case of traditionally orchestrated Indian music, is a more suitable approach than using Western
harmonic structures. Rather than looking at “Sound of Scars” in this way, I adhere to the
conventions of Schenkerian-based voice leading analysis.
“Sound of Scars” does lend itself to triad-based harmonic and voice leading analysis, but not without issues. Most of the pitches in the primary melodic voice (i.e. the sitar) constitute a collection that sounds foreign to the recurrent Eb tonic and its seldom-heard dominant Bb. The notes of this collection (Fb, G, A, Cb, and D) evoke an E minor pentatonic scale with enharmonic spellings and thus give the impression of what Joseph Straus might label as a
“Model 1” triadic relationship.105 Straus identifies prolongation in selected passages of
Stravinsky’s music wherein one structural fifth functions harmonically and supports a melodic
105 Joseph N. Straus, “Harmony and Voice Leading in the Music of Stravinsky,” Music Theory Spectrum 36, no. 1 (2014): 4.
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structural fifth. The number of semitones that offsets these two structural fifths is represented by
“Model [N].” The structural fifths in “Sound of Scars” are thus Eb-Bb and Fb-Cb.
Straus’s model works under the condition that the prolongational relationships are synchronic, rather than diachronic; in other words, they are not goal-directed in a consideration of a large-scale tonal plan. “Sound of Scars” is not so ambiguous, with constant returns and reiterations of Eb or Bb to indicate an underlying tonic. Another helpful model to consider is found in David Forrest’s article on prolongation in Benjamin Britten’s choral music. Like the works of Stravinsky considered by Straus, the selections of Britten’s choral music under examination by Forrest can be considered polytonal. But unlike Straus, Forrest uses symmetrical interval cycles (consecutive sets of major 2nds, minor 3rds, etc.) as the melodic element that are prolonged instead of a melodic structural fifth. Forrest traces the complete statement of a symmetrical interval cycle, with its completion representing tonal closure.106
My approach draws from that of Forrest and Straus, with some modifications. Though
one could hear symmetrical interval cycles made of major thirds or tritones in “Sound of Scars,”
I hear the structural triad E-G-B (with enharmonic spellings) supported by the structural fifth Eb-
Bb, and analyze the voice leading accordingly. Like Forrest, I do understand this song as goal-
oriented, with Fb as an elaborated upper neighbor tone to Eb. Much of the elaboration comes in
the form of an arpeggiated triad on Fb, often with passing tones as well. The semitone
separation, with its abrasive sound, is an apt musical representation of a scarring wound; the two
structural fifths are in close proximity, yet painfully separated.
106 David Forrest, “Prolongation in the Choral Music of Benjamin Britten,” Music Theory Spectrum 32, no. 1 (2010): 7.
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Example 6.9: Opening passage of “Sound of Scars” (00:00-00:25)
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The opening passage, from measures 1 through 9, serves to establish the underlying Eb tonality with G as the main prolonged note. This is evidenced by the ascent to G in the first measure and to the upper octave G in the second measure, where the melody changes direction.
The G also functions locally as the minor third of the Fb triad, reinforcing the dual tonality that prevails for most of the song. Cb 5 is the lowest note of the opening passage in the sitar, acting as a springboard from which the melody ascends. At the conclusion of this passage in measure 10, the Cb comes to rest on Bb, which establishes the cover tone over G. The A in this bridge section continues the emphasis of the E (Fb) pentatonic collection; its function as an upper neighbor to G remains evident throughout the remainder of the song. The sitar line of the opening passage is shown in Example 6.9. The reader can assume that examples that lack a bass line are taking place over an Eb pedal.
The next section utilizes a common harmonic idiom in metal: the tritone.107 Beginning at measure 18, the tritone Eb-A functions as a simultaneous representation of the dual tonality in preparation for the sitar solo at measure 26. Here, the Cb again ascends to Fb with gestures similar to the opening passage. In measure 32, A replaces Cb as the melodic floor, reinforcing its importance as the link between the Eb and Fb tonalities. A reduction of this passage is shown in
Example 6.10.
Example 6.10: Reduction of “Sound of Scars,” mm. 18-33 (00:46-01:29)
107 Just as the tritone had significance in Periphery’s “Insomnia” with regard to representing a longing for change, so it does here, but the topic of frustration is more associated here.
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After a brief reiteration of the bridge in mm. 34 and 35, a new section begins with unison
Ebs. The sitar then breaks from the unison with Fb, which descends to D. The skip over Eb sounds as though the Fb is attempting to resolve but missing its mark. Here I refer the reader
back to Seen’s description of the meaning in this song quoted previously. On the surface, it
seems that his descriptions stem from the overarching form of the song; but here the surface-
level melodic gestures foreshadow the theme of thwarted hope and expectation. This moment is
shown in Example 6.11.
Example 6.11: “Sound of Scars,” mm. 36-37 (01:34-01:39)
Measure 52 marks the beginning of the guitar solo, which breaks from the Fb-Cb
structural fifth in favor of a Phrygian-Dominant mode in Eb. This is evidenced by the presence
of Bb rather than Cb, as well as this mode’s common use in metal, as I mentioned earlier.
However, the peaks of the arpeggios hint at the presence of the Fb collection, emphasizing the
notes Fb and G, with the peak on the main tone G in measure 54. The G reached here is
reinforced on the surface in measure 58, and again in measure 62. The strong presence of G not
only supports its function as the main prolonged note of the entire piece but also serves as a
linking third between the Eb- and Fb-based triads. This passage is shown in Example 6.12.
At the end of the guitar solo, the sitar takes over with the Fb triad again, with similar
unresolved-upper neighbor gestures to those at measure 37. Measure 76 marks the conclusion of
this solo section, where the texture thins and the mode changes. This section marks the “point of
uncertainty” spoken of by Seen. Notably, the ascending line C-D-Eb that begins in m. 84 does
not proceed to F, which would continue the string of parallel thirds; instead, it descends to Db,
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foreshadowing the frustration of this section and the return of the Fb collection at measure 92.
This ascending line is shown in Example 6.13.
Example 6.12: Beginning of guitar solo in “Sound of Scars” (02:17-02:28)
Example 6.13: “Sound of Scars,” mm. 84-87 (03:42-03:52)
A two-measure sitar solo introduces the climactic section; the Fb collection is used again, including the G that has been sustained throughout. When the final riff begins at measure 94, Gb is included in the collection, slightly obscuring the function of G. Previously, the simultaneous presence of the Eb and Fb tonalities were linked by G in that G functioned as the major third of the former and the minor third of the latter. Now, Gb separates this connection as the minor third of Eb; to my hearing, this duality of thirds is actually the first time in the song that the two triads are equally present in the musical surface.108 Prior to this, it was as though they each ‘borrowed’
108 I hear the presence of the Eb minor triad as implied by Eb and Gb, with an assumed or imaginary Bb.
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the G natural as the third. Seen’s description of this moment is that it is a realization of
helplessness and conflict; the two triads in conflict with each other represent this musically. The
riff is shown in Example 6.14; because the instruments are in unison, only the sitar line is shown.
Example 6.14: Climactic riff of “Sound of Scars” (04:09-04:22)
The song ends with a return to the Eb-A tritone, with another improvisational sitar line at measure 134. This solo is quite similar to the initial solo line at measure 26 in that it contains the same ascending line from Cb to Fb and it reaches a peak at G5. Ultimately, the duality of G
natural as both major and minor third serves to “frustrat[e] and demoraliz[e].”109
6.4 Temporality
I have shown how the topics of conflict, hope, and frustration are represented in the pitch content of “Sound of Scars.” In the following temporal-realm examples, I incorporate significant correlations from the pitch realm to support my findings. Perhaps more than the music from the other bands I have discussed, Mute the Saint temporally coordinate musical events with regard to pitch, rhythm, meter, texture, and dynamics.
As noted earlier, metrical techniques are a staple of progressive metal. In the midst of his discussion on metric modulation in Dream Theater’s music, Gregory McCandless notes that
109 Metal Injection, “Mute the Saint.”
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“prog[ressive music]” has a “penchant for creating an aural emphasis on meter.”110 Metric
modulation is an effective way of creating this effect, and it is used by Mute the Saint in “Sound
of Scars.” It is important to note the relationship between tempo and texture throughout the song:
thicker textures are associated with faster tempos. This point is obvious from the beginning of
the song, but the texture-thinning effect of unison voices at m. 6 prepares the metric modulation
that comes into full force at m. 8. The passage at mm. 7-9 is one of only two passages in the song that is harmonized with something other than Eb. The fact that the second of these passages is the “point of uncertainty” from m. 76 speaks to the importance of this first passage. Due to its short duration, I transcribed this passage as hemiolic in 4/4, but it would certainly be viable to consider it a modulation to 3/4, with the tripleted sixteenth note becoming the standard sixteenth note. If the change in harmony indeed indicates uncertainty, a metric modulation is an effective temporal representation. Example 6.15 shows the hemiolic passage. The drum part changes from a synchronized drum fill in m. 7 to a fully realized backbeat on beat three of m. 8, supporting the notion of a modulation. To one versed in the traditions and structures of North Indian classical music, this moment is not uncertain, but indeed a typical rhythmic gesture that does not deviate from or alter the tāla. It is an example of a tihai, a rhythmic gesture that is iterated three times at the end of the tāla. Though hemiolas like this one are not entirely absent in djent, this type of modulation would not typically return to the original metrical plan in most progressive metal contexts.111 I consider this a moment of uncertainty because, upon the first listening, it took me a
few measures to acclimate to the modulation.
110 McCandless, “Rhythm and Meter,” 109. 111 Consider again the modulation that takes place in Tesseract’s “Proxy.” The modulation lasts from mm. 44-67.
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Example 6.15: Hemiola/metric modulation in “Sound of Scars” (00:18-00:25)
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Among the metrical representations of frustration that are accompanied by changes in texture or harmony is that at m. 64. This passage follows the guitar solo, wherein the sitar is absent. As noted above, the sitar reintroduces the Fb triad with explicit and clear statements of the pentatonic scale of which the triad is a subset. This allows the meter to do the work of portraying frustration. In this passage, there is no pulse level on the surface that aurally maintains
4/4. Instead, measures are grouped into twos, with an alternation of 9/8 and 7/8, neither of which convey a traditional backbeat or division.
Example 6.16 shows mm. 64-65, where this metrical technique begins. The dotted red line shows the aurally perceived bar line. Much like the aforementioned scenario wherein prior knowledge of the tāla could inform real time metrical organization, it is difficult to place this passage in 4/4 based on hearing alone.
Example 6.16: Metrical frustration in “Sound of Scars” (02:48-02:49)
The final example of metrical conveyance of frustration that I discuss is at the breakdown at m. 94. This passage is similar to the one shown in Example 6.16, but it takes place over eight measures rather than two. Another significant difference is that a 4/4 backbeat in half time in the drums is present, allowing the listener an underlying metrical grid against which to hear the rhythmic activity of the other instruments. Six measures in, the riff begins again on beat two.
124
This repetition of the riff is cut short, with only two and three-quarters measures, just enough to complete an eight-measure complex altogether. Despite the presence of the backbeat, the meter is obscured such that the notated meter does not reflect the heard meter. Example 6.17
shows the first iteration of this riff complex. Again, dotted red lines show bar lines based on how
a listener might hear this section. One possible hearing is four measures of 4/4, one measure of
5/4, two measures of 4/4, and one measure of 3/4.
Example 6.17: Metrical helplessness in “Sound of Scars” (04:09-04:30)
125
Recall that Seen used the word “helplessness” to describe this section. Jennifer Robinson and Robert Hatten identify a trajectory that can exist in music, allowing the music to express complex the emotions of an implied persona. They specifically mention hopefulness and helplessness as examples of these emotions.112 The idea of a story as conveyed by a trajectory is
112 Jenefer Robinson and Robert S. Hatten, “Emotions in music,” Music Theory Spectrum 34, no. 2 (2012), 83.
126
certainly in line with Seen’s description of the musical plan of “Sound of Scars.” As mentioned
before, conflict is conveyed by the two juxtaposed triads; the return of these triads in the final
section could convey helplessness to overcome a persistent conflict, especially following a
moment of seeming resolution. The metrical irregularity at m. 99 contributes to this feeling as
well.
6.5 Conclusion
I have attempted to show how different musical systems can be brought together to compose and analyze one musical entity. Rishabh Seen’s formal training in North Indian
Classical music is highly influential in governing most of the pitch and rhythmic content of
“Sound of Scars.” The instrumentation (with the exception of the sitar), timbres, and textures, are consistent with the other bands I have discussed, alluding to the metal tradition.
Of all the offshoots of popular music, progressive metal is among the most exotic. Metal musicians often search for an “outside” sound by employing pitch collections that lie beyond
Common Practice Western tonality.113 Because the use of scale degrees such as the flattened
second or the diminished fifth are common to metal, they do not sound unfamiliar to metal
listeners, though their use may stem from a specific musical tradition, which is likely the case here. Likewise, the progressive breed of metal seeks an “outside” sound in the temporal dimension. It is likely that Rishabh Seen is approaching this music by playing over the regular
rhythmic cycles in the drums in the same way one would play over the tāla with the tabla. While
listeners who are not familiar with North Indian music may be disoriented by some of the North
Indian features, metal listeners are not as likely to be surprised by their presence in this music.
113 For example, guitarist Shawn Lane discusses extended techniques on the guitar to achieve this “outside” sound. Leather Rebel, “Shawn Lane Power Licks Lesson Part 5,” YouTube video, accessed November 5, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSI_2VSOk98.
127
Examination of other songs by Mute the Saint would certainly shed more light on the balance between the different elements of these two musical traditions in their music, but it suffices to say their music offers a unique contribution to the Djent style that is accessible to listeners from both backgrounds.
128
CHAPTER 7
CONCLUSION
The emergence of djent as a metal style presented metal listeners with surface-level musical features that were previously unexplored or underexplored. Along with these surface- level features are many deeper connections in the pitch and temporal realms. I have identified some of these connections herein and introduced analytical tools and concepts that can aid in listening to and analyzing djent and other metal styles as well.
The transcription preference rules can serve as a springboard for the transcription and consequent analysis of other styles of metal. These rules represent my listening preferences and are based on musical features that appear to be consistent across the body of music I explored.
Their application to other metal styles could be revealing about the conventions of the broader genre of metal. For example, the music of Slipknot, one of the most commercially successful metal bands of the 2000s, differs greatly from that of djent; however, there are some similarities between the two. A survey of their music reveals that the threshold for the hi hats reflecting the tactus may be different than what the tactus rule outlines for djent. The threshold may be somewhere closer to 120 bpm, unlike the 100 bpm from the tactus rule. It is difficult to determine because the median tempo of Slipknot’s music is close to 135 bpm, and few songs close the gap between 100 bpm and 120 bpm. Further exploration of metal bands that differ from djent in tempo could offer a greater sample size with which to refine a tactus rule that is more universally applicable, and the same might be said for all of the transcription preference rules.
I have shown how Periphery’s Insomnia and Tesseract’s Of Matter musically represent the textual topic of change. These bands convey this topic musically through devices such as melodic direction shift, the use of the tritone, change in meter, and change in pitch center. The
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topics of change and longing are prominent throughout the music of djent and progressive metal bands from the end of the 2000s decade. Consider the lyrics of these songs from the 2009 album
The Great Misdirect from progressive metal band Between the Buried and Me114:
From the simple idea of Change Blindness, our minds are not as they seem. (“Obfuscation”)
When can I escape? …Filling a void I can’t put my finger on… (“Swim to the Moon”)
The lyrics of the album Apparition from progressive metal band The Contortionist also follow these topics:
…I awake from my slumber tonight…Desperate for this change… (“Eyes: Closed”)115
An analytical examination of the music these bands and other djent-era metal bands could reveal similar voice-leading and metrical connections to those I have identified in my analyses herein.
In “Eyes: Closed” by The Contortionist, there is a change of key, mode, and tempo that precedes the lyrics above. This suggests to me that at minimum, the music of The Contortionist is designed to reflect the topic of change in some way, even if further investigation would reveal unique approaches to musical representation of topics within their music.
Transcription and analysis of the music of these djent bands have revealed some of the deeper connections of pitch and temporality within this music. The act of transcribing, especially assigning a specific key and time signature, necessitated guided decisions about global key structures and visual representations of the temporal experience the music provides. With these representations in place, voice-leading and metrical analysis with established analytical methods became possible. The messages of change, frustration, hope, and longing are shown through
114 AZLyrics, “Between the Buried and Me Lyrics,” accessed November 5, 2020, https://www.azlyrics.com/b/betweentheburiedandme.html. 115 AZLyrics, “The Contortionist Lyrics,” accessed November 5, 2020, https://www.azlyrics.com/c/contortionist.html.
130
large-scale motivic connections and complex metrical techniques such as dissonance and modulation. The approach of each djent band is unique, but the lyrical topics are consistently represented through these connections and techniques.
131 APPENDIX
FULL TRANSCRIPTIONS
132 “Insomnia” by Periphery
Intro: mm. 1-13
Opening groove: mm. 14-21
Verse: mm. 22-37
Riff development: mm. 38-45
Pre-chorus: mm. 46-68
Chorus: mm. 69-76
Bridge: mm. 77-92
Verse 2: mm. 93-100
Pre-chorus 2: mm. 101-123
Chorus 2: mm. 124-131
Closing section: mm. 132-18
FOR REVIEW ONLY
133 = 150 q Vocals 1 b & b b 43 ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑
Vocals 2 b & b b 43 ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑
Guitar 1 b & b b 43 ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑
Guitar 2 b & b b 43 ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑
Guitar 3 b & b b 43 ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑
b 3 ˙. ˙. ˙. ˙. ˙. ˙. ˙. ˙. ˙. ˙. & b b 4 ˙ œ œ ˙ œ œ ˙ œ œ ˙ œ œ ˙ œ œ ˙ œ œ ˙ œ œ ˙ œ œ ˙ œ œ ˙ œ œ Ambience œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ? 3 ˙. ˙. ˙. ˙. ˙. ˙. ˙. ˙. ˙. ˙. bbb 4 ˙cresc.. ˙. ˙. ˙. ˙. ˙. ˙. ˙. ˙. ˙. Bass Guitar ? 3 bbb 4 ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑
Drum Set ã 43 ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑
Percussion ã 43 ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑
FOR REVIEW134 ONLY FOR REVIEW135 ONLY FOR REVIEW136 ONLY FOR REVIEW137 ONLY FOR REVIEW138 ONLY FOR REVIEW139 ONLY FOR REVIEW140 ONLY FOR REVIEW141 ONLY FOR REVIEW142 ONLY FOR REVIEW143 ONLY FOR REVIEW144 ONLY FOR REVIEW145 ONLY FOR REVIEW146 ONLY FOR REVIEW147 ONLY FOR REVIEW148 ONLY FOR REVIEW149 ONLY FOR REVIEW150 ONLY FOR REVIEW151 ONLY FOR REVIEW152 ONLY FOR REVIEW153 ONLY FOR REVIEW154 ONLY FOR REVIEW155 ONLY FOR REVIEW156 ONLY FOR REVIEW157 ONLY FOR REVIEW158 ONLY FOR REVIEW159 ONLY FOR REVIEW160 ONLY FOR REVIEW161 ONLY FOR REVIEW162 ONLY FOR REVIEW163 ONLY FOR REVIEW164 ONLY FOR REVIEW165 ONLY FOR REVIEW166 ONLY FOR REVIEW167 ONLY FOR REVIEW168 ONLY FOR REVIEW169 ONLY FOR REVIEW170 ONLY FOR REVIEW171 ONLY FOR REVIEW172 ONLY FOR REVIEW173 ONLY FOR REVIEW174 ONLY FOR REVIEW175 ONLY “Of Matter” by Tessaract
Proxy
Intro: mm. 1-31
Opening riff: mm. 32-43
Middle section: mm. 44-67
Return to opening riff/transition: mm. 68-86
Slow section with modulation: mm. 87-118
Closing section: 119-127
FOR REVIEW ONLY
176 FOR REVIEW177 ONLY FOR REVIEW178 ONLY FOR REVIEW179 ONLY FOR REVIEW180 ONLY FOR REVIEW181 ONLY FOR REVIEW182 ONLY FOR REVIEW183 ONLY FOR REVIEW184 ONLY FOR REVIEW185 ONLY FOR REVIEW186 ONLY FOR REVIEW187 ONLY FOR REVIEW188 ONLY FOR REVIEW189 ONLY FOR REVIEW190 ONLY FOR REVIEW191 ONLY FOR REVIEW192 ONLY FOR REVIEW193 ONLY FOR REVIEW194 ONLY FOR REVIEW195 ONLY FOR REVIEW196 ONLY FOR REVIEW197 ONLY FOR REVIEW198 ONLY FOR REVIEW199 ONLY FOR REVIEW200 ONLY FOR REVIEW201 ONLY FOR REVIEW202 ONLY FOR REVIEW203 ONLY FOR REVIEW204 ONLY FOR REVIEW205 ONLY FOR REVIEW206 ONLY FOR REVIEW207 ONLY FOR REVIEW208 ONLY Retrospect
Intro/verse: mm. 1-35
Breakdown: mm. 36-49
Verse 2: mm. 50-71
Middle/development section: mm. 72-103
Chorus: mm. 104-136
Final verse: mm. 137-14
FOR REVIEW ONLY
209 FOR REVIEW210 ONLY FOR REVIEW211 ONLY FOR REVIEW212 ONLY FOR REVIEW213 ONLY FOR REVIEW214 ONLY FOR REVIEW215 ONLY FOR REVIEW216 ONLY FOR REVIEW217 ONLY FOR REVIEW218 ONLY FOR REVIEW219 ONLY FOR REVIEW220 ONLY FOR REVIEW221 ONLY FOR REVIEW222 ONLY FOR REVIEW223 ONLY FOR REVIEW224 ONLY FOR REVIEW225 ONLY FOR REVIEW226 ONLY FOR REVIEW227 ONLY FOR REVIEW228 ONLY FOR REVIEW229 ONLY FOR REVIEW230 ONLY FOR REVIEW231 ONLY FOR REVIEW232 ONLY FOR REVIEW233 ONLY FOR REVIEW234 ONLY Resist
Transition from “Retrospect:” mm. 1-3
Intro/verse: mm. 4-23
Pre-chorus: mm. 24-33
Chorus: mm. 34-63
Outro: mm. 64-74
FOR REVIEW ONLY
235 FOR REVIEW236 ONLY FOR REVIEW237 ONLY FOR REVIEW238 ONLY FOR REVIEW239 ONLY FOR REVIEW240 ONLY FOR REVIEW241 ONLY FOR REVIEW242 ONLY FOR REVIEW243 ONLY FOR REVIEW244 ONLY FOR REVIEW245 ONLY FOR REVIEW246 ONLY “Tempting Time” by Animals as Leaders
Intro: mm. 1-10
Opening riff: mm. 11-30 (lead guitar enters at m. 21)
Second section: mm. 31-64 (unaccompanied guitar solo at m. 55)
Chorus/guitar solo section: mm. 65-92
Middle/development section: mm. 93-123
Chorus 2: mm. 124-139
Closing section: mm. 140-150
FOR REVIEW ONLY
247 FOR REVIEW248 ONLY FOR REVIEW249 ONLY FOR REVIEW250 ONLY FOR REVIEW251 ONLY FOR REVIEW252 ONLY FOR REVIEW253 ONLY FOR REVIEW254 ONLY FOR REVIEW255 ONLY FOR REVIEW256 ONLY FOR REVIEW257 ONLY FOR REVIEW258 ONLY FOR REVIEW259 ONLY FOR REVIEW260 ONLY FOR REVIEW261 ONLY FOR REVIEW262 ONLY FOR REVIEW263 ONLY FOR REVIEW264 ONLY FOR REVIEW265 ONLY FOR REVIEW266 ONLY FOR REVIEW267 ONLY FOR REVIEW268 ONLY FOR REVIEW269 ONLY FOR REVIEW270 ONLY FOR REVIEW271 ONLY FOR REVIEW272 ONLY FOR REVIEW273 ONLY FOR REVIEW274 ONLY FOR REVIEW275 ONLY FOR REVIEW276 ONLY FOR REVIEW277 ONLY FOR REVIEW278 ONLY FOR REVIEW279 ONLY FOR REVIEW280 ONLY FOR REVIEW281 ONLY FOR REVIEW282 ONLY FOR REVIEW283 ONLY FOR REVIEW284 ONLY FOR REVIEW285 ONLY FOR REVIEW286 ONLY FOR REVIEW287 ONLY FOR REVIEW288 ONLY FOR REVIEW289 ONLY FOR REVIEW290 ONLY FOR REVIEW291 ONLY FOR REVIEW292 ONLY FOR REVIEW293 ONLY FOR REVIEW294 ONLY FOR REVIEW295 ONLY FOR REVIEW296 ONLY FOR REVIEW297 ONLY FOR REVIEW298 ONLY FOR REVIEW299 ONLY FOR REVIEW300 ONLY FOR REVIEW301 ONLY FOR REVIEW302 ONLY FOR REVIEW303 ONLY FOR REVIEW304 ONLY FOR REVIEW305 ONLY FOR REVIEW306 ONLY FOR REVIEW307 ONLY FOR REVIEW308 ONLY FOR REVIEW309 ONLY FOR REVIEW310 ONLY FOR REVIEW311 ONLY FOR REVIEW312 ONLY FOR REVIEW313 ONLY FOR REVIEW314 ONLY FOR REVIEW315 ONLY FOR REVIEW316 ONLY FOR REVIEW317 ONLY FOR REVIEW318 ONLY FOR REVIEW319 ONLY FOR REVIEW320 ONLY FOR REVIEW321 ONLY FOR REVIEW322 ONLY “Sound of Scars” by Mute the Saint
Opening passage: mm. 1-9
Bridge 1: mm. 10-17
Section 2: mm. 18-33
Bridge 2: mm. 34-35
Section 3: mm. 36-51
Guitar solo: mm. 52-63
Sitar solo: mm. 64-75
Bridge 3: mm. 76-93
Closing section: 94-142
FOR REVIEW ONLY
323 FOR REVIEW324 ONLY FOR REVIEW325 ONLY FOR REVIEW326 ONLY FOR REVIEW327 ONLY FOR REVIEW328 ONLY FOR REVIEW329 ONLY FOR REVIEW330 ONLY FOR REVIEW331 ONLY FOR REVIEW332 ONLY FOR REVIEW333 ONLY FOR REVIEW334 ONLY FOR REVIEW335 ONLY FOR REVIEW336 ONLY FOR REVIEW337 ONLY FOR REVIEW338 ONLY FOR REVIEW339 ONLY FOR REVIEW340 ONLY FOR REVIEW341 ONLY FOR REVIEW342 ONLY FOR REVIEW343 ONLY FOR REVIEW344 ONLY FOR REVIEW345 ONLY FOR REVIEW346 ONLY FOR REVIEW347 ONLY FOR REVIEW348 ONLY FOR REVIEW349 ONLY FOR REVIEW350 ONLY FOR REVIEW351 ONLY FOR REVIEW352 ONLY FOR REVIEW353 ONLY FOR REVIEW354 ONLY FOR REVIEW355 ONLY FOR REVIEW356 ONLY FOR REVIEW357 ONLY FOR REVIEW358 ONLY FOR REVIEW359 ONLY FOR REVIEW360 ONLY FOR REVIEW361 ONLY FOR REVIEW362 ONLY FOR REVIEW363 ONLY FOR REVIEW364 ONLY FOR REVIEW365 ONLY FOR REVIEW366 ONLY FOR REVIEW367 ONLY FOR REVIEW368 ONLY FOR REVIEW369 ONLY FOR REVIEW370 ONLY FOR REVIEW371 ONLY FOR REVIEW372 ONLY FOR REVIEW373 ONLY FOR REVIEW374 ONLY FOR REVIEW375 ONLY FOR REVIEW376 ONLY FOR REVIEW377 ONLY FOR REVIEW378 ONLY FOR REVIEW379 ONLY FOR REVIEW380 ONLY FOR REVIEW381 ONLY FOR REVIEW382 ONLY FOR REVIEW383 ONLY FOR REVIEW384 ONLY FOR REVIEW385 ONLY FOR REVIEW386 ONLY FOR REVIEW387 ONLY FOR REVIEW388 ONLY FOR REVIEW389 ONLY FOR REVIEW390 ONLY FOR REVIEW391 ONLY FOR REVIEW392 ONLY FOR REVIEW393 ONLY
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