Many of you that listen to exclusively classical music will think that metal music is taboo, but if you actually take the time to understand the music itself, it will become clear that there is quite a bit of structure to metal music. One might say that I wouldn't be able to comprehend the thoughts of a person who listen to classical music, but, as strange as it may seem, I listen to classical music quite frequently. (J.S. Bach is a genius, I greatly enjoy his violin and harpsichord concertos as well as many of his keyboard works, but let's not get into that for now and save that for another post.)
Before even starting metal music, Maria and Tommy introduced me to alternative rock which was how i was exposed to music other than classical. Humans certainly have very developed brains, but they cannot enjoy something without any repetition. Whether it's music or a painting, the human brain has to be able to find a pattern within the art before he/she can truly enjoy it. The first song that I ever took the time to listen to a couple times to find the pattern was "Come as you are" by Nirvana. As any human being, I was not used to this genre of music and had my eyebrows raised during the entire time the song was playing. Knowing that Maria and Tommy are not insane people, I decided to give it another go. I think I listened to it 4 times before I could understand it and enjoy it. Perhaps knowing that a classical music lover like myself can learn to enjoy alternative rock and metal might trigger trying new music ;)
So, allow me to start on the topic of Apocalyptica which, if you haven't noticed yet, is the title of this post. Apocalyptica in a nutshell is a band that plays metal music using classical instrumentation, specifically cellos. To the average person, this sounds incredible. Metal music with CELLOS?? I am here to prove that indeed, we now have cello players who started a metal band. Apocalyptica is not exactly the hardest metal you can get. The softness of the cello prevents the music from sounding as harsh as it could and the lack of permanent vocalists, bassists, and guitarists makes it difficult for the band to sound like the stereotypical metal band. If the idea of trying something new that is not too far away from your comfortable zone sounds appealing, try this piece of work by Apocalyptica.
This particular one called "Path" is actually not the original "Path" by Apocalyptica. This one has only the cello part. The video shown here shows all the aspects of this band that makes it unique. The wild head bobbing and crazy fast bowing show the metal side of them while the cello instrumentation and softer sounding music show the classical side. You can also tell that the style is not classic and involves many syncopated rhythms which also shows why this band is not listed as classical.
Perhaps you read this and would like to try metal music, perhaps you just think I am insane person who should have just stuck with classical music, but either way, I hope you learned that metal music isn't just random guitar riffs and screaming men with long hair ^_^
No comments:
Post a Comment