Djent

The term Djent describes a specific, hard- chipped, muted chord on the guitar. It represents an onomatopoeia and the first time was used by guitarist Fredrik Thordendal the band Meshuggah. To the term around a movement founded in the metal scene, which is based on the roots of Progressive Metal.

The movement was created by the solo projects of several musicians who took up music with various programs on your own computer, and won over various forums the early 2000s, for the first time in popularity. Today it is a firmly established in the metal scene, which spreads mainly through the Internet, but also excels in their own music festivals, as well as regular tours.

• 4.1 Djent as a genre
• 4.2 Criticism of the increasing popularity

Pronunciation

Since the pronunciation of the word is not well defined, two different ways of pronunciation have prevailed within the scene over the years. In the most common form of the first two letters are a dj to which the suffix "- ent" follows (in phonetic transcription: [ dʒɛnt ] ). In a further possibility an additional " D" is appended in front of the term, which is separated from the remainder of the spoken word; hence: d- djent ( in phonetic transcription: [ di - dʒɛnt ] ). Besides the most common forms, however, there are also other ways of pronunciation.

Stylistic features

The typical sound of a single tone of Djent is characterized essentially by connecting a power chords with an additional fifth of which extends normally over four strings of the guitar. Through the generated with the heel of the hand palm muting and the increased attack of the strings of power chord is provided with a double octave is given the typical Djent sound. As the foundation for the typical sound of Djent is often published in 1994, EP None, and the studio album a year later published Destroy Erase Improve, in particular the songs Aztec Two-Step and Soul Burn, the band Meshuggah called. According to Misha Mansoor sounds each note as the word Djent these songs on closer listening.

In the present, Djent honors next to his signature sound primarily by the complexity of the guitar riffs and the frequent use of polyrhythms. Another feature is the frequent use of seven - and achtsaitigen, rare six-string electric guitars, which are mostly tuned in addition deeper.

History

Formation

About the official forums of the band Meshuggah came the early 2000s, the American musician Misha Mansoor and the British musician Acle Kahney is the first time the term " Djent " in contact, in which was discussed its typical sound, the guitarist Fredrik Meshuggahs Thordendal would be denoted by the term, and how this is generated. Inspired by this and releases of the band Sikth they started record your own music on the computer. Acle Kahney founded as a result, his project TesseracT, while Misha Mansoor under the pseudonym bulb, the name of his former band, regularly new compositions on the online platform Soundclick hochlud which he sided with the term Djent and offered for free download. Also, also from the UK musician Paul Antonio Ortiz started at the same time his solo project Chimp Spanner and started his own music using computer programs to compose your home and to make them public then on various online portals.

Through various forums, such as, among others, which the band Meshuggah or the guitarist John Petrucci, and the Toontrack or the software manufacturer that specializes in musical instruments Forums Harmony Central Musician who first came into contact with each other. They began exchanging with each other and discuss about the latest products, which should make it sound according to the typical sound of Djent their music even more music. In addition, they helped each other in the composing of new tracks and jointly developed new playing techniques and refined further dealing with the computer programs used. 2004 announced Acle Kahney to have found the Frenchman Julien Perier a singer when he previously gave to his singing by e -mail him a revised version of the song Sunrise. A year later, Misha Mansoor founded his band Periphery, while also increasingly developed a band from Acle Kahneys project TesseracT.

Further development

About the Internet scene quickly grew in popularity and there were founded more solo projects along the lines of Misha Mansoor, Acle Kahney and Paul Antonio Ortiz. So the musician Al Mu'min in 2007 founded his own solo project under the name The HAARP Machine, which mixed with Djent Far Eastern sounds. Also in 2007, the guitarist Tosin Abasi started his own solo project under the name Animals as Leaders, after his former band Reflux disbanded, which combines forms of jazz with progressive metal. Use of Misha Mansoor, who had actively worked to create the album and produced this, was published in 2009 the self - titled debut album, Animals as Leaders. Moreover, the first edition of the Euro Blast Festival A year earlier took place, which takes place annually in Cologne and is the world's largest of its kind. In 2009, also founded the British musician John Browne, who had previously played with Acle Kahney from the band Fell Silent, and a native of the U.S. guitarist Josh Travis the multinational project element, but which they broke off in early 2010 and John Browne henceforth with altered Line -up allowed to proceed under the name of the monument. Also the electro scene became aware of the movement. An example is the project of French musician Rémi Gallego, which connects under the name The Algorithm electro sounds with features of Djents.

The end of 2009 the online platform got- djent.com went online, which established itself as one of the major exchanges within the scene. It was founded by the Belgian Sander Dieleman after it decided with some other users within a group of site Last.fm to create a web portal, which should make fans of the scene easier to communicate with each other. Since then, it has been possible to present even for lesser-known bands to the scene, then broke a flood of new bands. Shortly before Misha Mansoor had signed with his band Periphery in Sumerian Records a record contract on which a year later, the self - titled debut album followed. Also Acle Kahneys band TesseracT came with the German record label Century Media under and Paul Ortiz received his instrumental solo project Chimp Spanner a recording contract with the British independent label Basick Records, which at that time increasingly on music from the area of ​​Djent movement concentrated. Other well-known bands, let the elements of the Djents flow into their songs, are After the Burial, Born of Osiris and Veil of Maya.

Controversy

Djent as a genre

Due to the boom of the scene focuses on the real meaning of Djent in the background. Instead, many already see the movement as a separate music genre, resulting in the scene to controversial discussions. When asked whether Djent is a genre that opinions vary widely. An opinion, which was conducted through a survey with users of the platform, as well as leaders and experts on the scene got- djent.com, confirmed the different conceptions of Djent.

Sander Dieleman, founder of the platform, sees in this heavily debated discussion cleavage of supporters and opponents of this view, the latter want to get the real meaning of Djent. The British Guardian newspaper printed in an edition in March 2011 an article about the movement in which she called Djent as " Micro genre" of metal. Misha Mansoor also said in the article that had developed its own genre for a certain chord in his opinion of the former name. Tosin Abasi, founder and guitarist of Animals as Leaders, considered the discussion of a more subjective position. A genre is formed in his opinion, if the music is characterized by a number of artists have common characteristics, which is present in case of movement, so that he considers it not wrong to call Djent as a subgenre of Progressive Metal. Lisa Coverdale, Associate at Basick Records, sees the movement of Djent, which is still characterized by very masculine estimates, not a genre of its own, as a genre must be open to all necessitate. As a result of the discussion was the Indian musician Keshav Dhar early 2011, renamed to have the name of his band Hydrodjent in Skyharbor because Djent was increasingly seen as a distinct genre and the name of his former music project therefore was no longer appropriate.

Criticism of the increasing popularity

Also, the increasing popularity are the musicians and fans of the scene critically. Maz Star, an employee of the British radio station Total Rock, regrets that both many new bands as well as fans of the once very small, demarcated from the rest of the metal scene, an Internet phenomenon have made, which is only a question of time is when the interest disappears it. Olly Steele, guitarist of Monuments, also shows its dismay that many bands use the upswing of the scene and as part of this call in order to achieve their own profit. Paul Antonio Ortiz, however, sees the boom within the scene also a great opportunity for many unknown bands who want to make music their contribution to this movement.

Equipment

With the beginnings of the Djent movement also developed the possibilities of home recording, has made it possible a creation of the scene. Both Misha Mansoor, and Acle Kahney and Paul Antoni Ortiz used in their first recordings for the drums, the program Drumkit from Hell the software manufacturer Toontrack, which was co-developed by drummer Tomas Haake of the band Meshuggah and with the complete drum tracks of their album Catch thirtythree was taken. It also was used on the album Ziltoid the Omniscient by Devin Townsend. Misha Mansoor also dabbled in the developed by the software company Native Instruments Battery 3 program then started all three musicians with the release of the software developed by Toontrack Superior Drummer 1 and its successor version to use this from now on.

They used the newly released POD series from Line 6, which allowed them even without guitar amplifier to produce music for the recordings of the guitar parts. With such a Acle Kahney took on, for example, the clean guitar sections for TesseracT. Nowadays both Acle Kahney and Misha Mansoor a version of the Axe-Fx Ultra Fractal of the company use for their recordings. For his guitars used Misha Mansoor, among others, the company Bare Knuckle Pickups while Acle Kahney Pick- ups, the Swedish company Lundgren used, which also uses the band Meshuggah.

Further use

Not infrequently the term Djent in conjunction with other words occurs within the scene as a pun. Thus, parts of the scene described frequently as djentlemen, which is a composition of the words " djent " and "gentlemen ". Also developed from the word the adjective " djenty " which is often used to refer to the sound of music as particularly close to the Djent coming.

Thall

The term " Thall " often occurs within the Djent scene in connection with the band Vildhjarta and nowadays is synonymous to the name of the band. The term was used by the band on social networks and videos in circulation and has since been spread by the fans of the band over the internet on. He frequently appears as a comment under Posts of the band or is used as a substitute for other words. The exact meaning of the word is still not clear. Only the band members know the true meaning of the word, but they do not want to give away, as the term would otherwise likely to lose its meaning in his own words.

Criticism

The guitarist Fredrik Thordendal the band Meshuggah, which once brought the movement into roles is positively amazed and proud to peer, which has developed out of its concept. In an interview he declared himself pleased that he was able to inspire other musicians to his band to play music on the model of himself and his band. However, not all the bands of the new scene show enthusiasm: The post- metal band Rosetta, when asked what they think because of Djent whether to call in the future not just doom metal " Dunnn ". The singer Randy Blythe of the band Lamb of God sees Djent also just another, in his opinion, unnecessary genre. It just Those are merely a concept. The guitarist of the band Sybreed Thomas Betrisey explained that for him, the music does not it sounds like a " djent ", but rather for a " quack quack quack - ". Furthermore, the scene often struggling with the accusation that she was " legacy of Nu Metal ", which also has a difficult position in the metal scene.

List of known Djent bands

• After the Burial
• Animals as Leaders
• Chimp Spanner
• Monuments
• Periphery
• Skyharbor
• TesseracT
• Textures
• Uneven Structure
• Vildhjarta