It has come to my attention that some masses are still upset about the conflict between SLAM METAL and DEATHCORE. While they may look like to the novice observer, the accuracy is that they couldn`t be more different - in fact, they genuinely have aught at all to do with each other (srs). Think of it like Islam and Christianity: they some common roots, but at the end of the day they actually have aught to do with each other and will never see eye-to-eye.
In a nutshell, deathcore is what happens when some pretty boys want to be rockstars, and believe that it`s super cool and fit to be in a "cast metal band." The end effect is basically generic death metal with some equally generic breakdowns, but since the guys in the isthmus are cunning and make a lot of tattoos, kids eat it up and they sell tons of t-shirts at their Warped Tour booth when they`re not busy banging their jailbait groupies.
On the other hand, slam metal is grimy, blue-collar death metal that is pretty much the most extreme, inaccessible and brutal metal subgenre on the planet. Slam is pure brutality: none of the pagentry or larger-than-life personas of black metal, gimmicky costumes of neo-thrash or artsy nonsense of drone, stoner rock and all that, just CRUSHING FUCKING SLAMS. Even diehard metal fans (like the readers of this site) hate slam, so if you are in a slam band it`s because slam is in your blood, because you are never going to get a dime or get famous from it.
While deathcore and shot are nearly completely heterogeneous, let`sacknowledge that there is a low number of coarse ground (at least at asuperficial level. In both camps, you`ll get lots of mesh shorts,sweatpants, weed references, and merch that prominently featurescontroversial slogans in Impact font - but that`s about where it ends. To me, the differences could not be more obvious, but evidently some people even have difficulty making the differentiation betwixt the two. Because I enjoy giving support to my community, in this post, I will go over a few easy ways that you can separate the two apart!
PART 1: THE MUSIC
First things first: you must see the conflict between BREAKDOWNS and SLAMS. Breakdowns are single-note, palm-muted, chugga-chugga riffs, essentially the like thing you`ve been hearing since "Raining Blood" and Pantera`s "Domination" only tuned down a small lower.
It is the region where the singer says some form of anthemic slogan and all the little kids mosh their balls off. In event this conception is not open to you, here are 30 examples, all of which pretty much sound the same - should get the show across.
SLAMS are also palm-muted riffs, but usually on the chromatic scale (as heard on Pantera "A New Level") rather than single-note chugs. They are actually more about creating a chunky texture than any sort of real line or discernable "song" in the formal sense. Basically, imagine tuning down to A or B and only sort of randomlyplaying power chords up and kill the first 5 frets or so on the bottomstrings- that`s more or less what slam is all about.
In price of placement and overall songwriting, slam is more about stringing together one slam riff after the next, creating a relentless, crushing steamroller kind of feel. There`s really not much resembling a "rock song," as opposed to deathcore, which uses more or less traditional rock song structures. Deathcore songs have verses, choruses, bridges, and use breakdowns as just that: an overt "here is the mosh part" kind of thing. As you can see from this song, it wouldn`t really be exact to anticipate the slam riffs breakdowns, because they aren`t breaking anything down- the essential feature of thrash metal is that the whole song is nothing but slams.
Slam often uses extensive syncopation (which is essentially accenting the up-beat, rather than the down-beat), such as many of the riffs in this song. Syncopation is what makes things like breakbeats sound "funky," so that`s probably explains why people frequently say that slam "sounds like rap-metal," even when it doesn`t at all. (That said, I`m far from an agency on music theory, so please feel free to set me on this one if I throw this one wrong)
Another bill on arrangement/composition: slam never, ever uses the skank beat (sounds too often like old school dinosaur metal). Slam is primarily mid-tempo slam riffs, with blasts/gravity blasts used as accents.
Like I said earlier, deathcore is essentially just little Hot Topic kids playing what amounts to generic death metal. This song could easily of the 9 zillion bands who regurgitated Cannibal Corpse and At The Gates riffs ad nauseum over the preceding 10 days or so- it has all the familiar elements like tremolo riffing, shrieks, and skank beats as good as super clean, sterile production. All in all it`s just dull, predictable "death metal by the numbers" until you get to the breakdown at 3:00. And that, my friends, is deathcore in a nutshell!
The new thing in deathcore is copying Meshuggah, ala this new Whitechapel song. I remember this is a nice development, because it makes it much easier to get a contrast between deathcore and slam- cue butthurt djent nerds getting up in arms about how Whitechapel is dissimilar from Periphery or whatever. No care, just notice that if a lot has gauged ears, skinny jeans and sounds like kids at Guitar Center who only heard about "polyrhythms" and bought 8-string guitars, it`s good to say that they are nu-deathcore. Expect to see a lot more of this matter in the following few years.
PART 2: THE VOCALS
The other important difference is vocals. Deathcore kids, being more concerned with looking cool and having sweet merch than their actual music, generally get the loose way out when it comes to vocals. Instead of true guttural vocals, they use weak, inhaled bree-bree vocals- this Annotations Of An Autopsy song is possibly the consummate example. Deathcore bands also use high-pitched screaming a lot- I presume they view it looked cool when Killswitch Engage did it so they copied it.
When it comes to vocals, slam is all around the lowest, sickest fucking gutturals possible. No melody, no variation or dynamics, DEFINITELY no intelligible lyrics that little girls would be able to sing along to. There is never any high-pitched screaming, clean vocals, hardcore-style shouting, or anything but sick, sewer-sludge gutturals. Period.
Please notice that slam bands do not use pitch shifters to give their vocals lower, that is a goregrind thing.
PART 3: CULTURE, FASHION, ETC
Anothergood way to order the conflict between slam and deathcore is bylooking at their merch. This Devourment shirt is like one little step upfrom the retarded scrawlings of a 14 year-old stoner doodling on theback of his remedial English textbook during detention- nothing remotelycool or fashionable about it, just a 1-color print of some shittydrawing. Also, it`s probably printed on some cheap XXL shirt that`s supposed to fit 40 year-old forklift operators, not a soft, slim-fit American Apparel tee.
Onthe other hand, deathcore bands such as Carnifex have dozens ofdifferent merch items, almost always featuring brightly-colored cartoonillustrations and the band`s logo in some fake "death metal" font. It`seasy to think a 15 year-old daughter with choppy hair and skinny jeanswearing this shirt. The Devourment shirt above? Not so much.
Thisis a bad one: The giant, misogynist slogan in Impact says deathcore,but his chin beard and 1970s birthdate says slam (or perhaps even nu-metal/hard rock). Would want to do moreresearch to definitively establish the call.
Despised Icon is another interesting case. If you just listened to the call by itself, you`d think "very competent, if somewhat sterile and generic death metal." But then when you watch the video, you are assaulted with a battery of New Era hats, polo shirts, "urban-inspired" arm movements, and stretched ears - oh and a fucking DEEZ NUTS shirt! Once you see the whole picture, including their appearance, it`s light they are a deathcore band.
Typical instance of what you`ll get in a deathcore band`s "fan photos" album: guy from the band chilling with some smashable jailbait who thinks he is a god. Please notice that both the fan and the guy from Suiside Silence are wearing pink - a dead giveaway that we are NOT dealing with slam.
Just in typeface you thought I was jocular about the whole "deathcore fans = jailbait in pink tank tops" bit, well_ do you think me yet?
And here is the depressing contents of NJDOTS` "chilling with the fans" album. This is what sort of groupies you can look from acting in a slam band. So many "relaxed fit" cargo pants in one place. Looks like they are standing on the position of some desolate road in Elizabeth, NJ- not quite as glamorous as having a sold-out House Of Vapours in the background.
PART 4: THE Live SHOW
If you always go to a deathcore show, expect something along these lines: the band performing in full daylight to a vast crowd whose average age is probably around 8th grade. Little girls are screaming the singer`s name, singing every word, and the moment the ring is done playing the kids mob their merch booth and buy everything in site. They might as easily be a mini-Bon Jovi.
Cephalotripsy playing a sick basement show, bringing the pitt riffment and straight DGAF-ing San Ysidro style. A deathcore band would never meet a point like this, since mass in deathcore bands desire to be rockstars and there is nothing rockstar about this shit. People in slam bands just need to dig that sickness so they are pretty much land for whatever. No booking agent, no useless "manager," no 8-band package tour or tied a stage, just guttural slamming brutality. They probably didn`t even get paid for gas money.
CONCLUSION: DEATHCORE VS SLAM, SIDE BY SIDE
Hot, skinny guys with hand tattoos and v-neck shirts? Tremolo picking, screaming and skank beats? Huge breakdown preceded by an anthemic lyric that`s perfect to put on the second of a shirt in Impact font?? Smells like deathcore, brah!
Devourment ft Wayne Knupp (RIP) on vocals- THIS IS FUCKING SLAM! Old, ugly, pissed off dudes in baggy cargo pants SLAMMING THAT FUCKIN SICKNESS while the gang of drunk Jiffy Lube employees push-moshes. Five minutes or pure pitt riffment with no keyboards, screaming, breakdowns, or melody. JUST CRUSHING SLAMS. Oh, and not a single daughter in the crowd.
Can u tell the conflict betwixt these two exciting genres????? Which do is better, slam or deathcore??? Who would u rather share a prison cell with, Wayne Knupp or Mitch Lucker? Which genre has the best mixture of mesh shorts? Why did I spend so much time and push on this topic????
-Sergeant D.
Sergeant D.`s Stuff You Will Hate =CRUSHING FUCKING SLAMS.
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