Drone metal
Encyclopedia
Drone metal is a style of heavy metal
that melds the slow tempos and heaviness of doom metal
with the long-duration tones of drone music
. Drone metal is sometimes associated with post-metal
or avant-garde metal.
ed or screamed. Songs often lack beat or rhythm in the traditional sense and are typically very long. The experience of a drone metal performance has been described as not unlike listening to an Indian raga
in the middle of an earthquake, by novelist John Wray
, in The New York Times. Wray also states, "It's hard to imagine any music being heavier or, for that matter, very much slower." A pioneer band of drone metal called Sunn O)))
has indicated a kinship with sound sculpture
. Jan Tumlir indicates a "sustained infra-sound
rumble of sub-bass
–-so-called brown noise".
, Deep Purple
, Celtic Frost
, Flower Travellin' Band
, the Melvins
, Swans
, and Skullflower and minimalist composers such as Phill Niblock
, Charlemagne Palestine
, La Monte Young
, and Tony Conrad
.
from Sunn O)))
collaborated on an installation with artist Banks Violette
, who has likened drone metal to the work of Donald Judd
. Tumlir locates a precedent in Robert Rauschenberg
. Violette points out, however, that drone metal is "as much a physiological phenomenon as an acoustic one", with an attendant physicality. O'Malley has also mentioned an appreciation for Cormac McCarthy
and Richard Serra
. Rhys Chatham's Essentialist included projections by Robert Longo
. Jim Jarmusch
's 2009 film The Limits of Control
features music by a number of drone metal groups. Jarmusch said, "I love these kind of visual landscapes they make, and they really inspired things for me for my film ..., because when I write I'm listening to things that inspire me in the direction of whatever world I'm imagining. Boris and Sunn O))) and Earth were really instrumental in me just finding a place in my head."
Drone metal was first established by Earth
, a group from Seattle, formed in 1990, which has been described as "minimalist post-grunge
". Earth took inspiration from the sludge metal
of Melvins and the minimalist music
of La Monte Young
, among other sources. Stephen O'Malley
's group Burning Witch
, formed five years later, also in Seattle, continued in this tradition, incorporating unusual vocals and bursts of audio feedback
. The group initially recorded for the prominent powerviolence
label Slap-a-Ham
. O'Malley's subsequent group, Sunn O)))
, initially formed as a tribute to Earth, is most responsible for the contemporary prominence of the drone metal style. Godflesh
is also a stated influence on many groups. Boris
, from Tokyo, also developed a style of drone metal, parallel with the Seattle groups, as did Corrupted
, from Osaka.
(Toronto), Jesu
(UK), Black Boned Angel
(Wellington, New Zealand), Khanate
(New York City), Growing
(New York City), KTL
(Washington/London), Ascend
and Eagle Twin
(USA), Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine
(Nottingham, England) and Moss
(Southampton, England) are prominent drone metal groups who formed in the early 21st century. Noise musicians, such as Kevin Drumm
, have also worked in the style. Rhys Chatham
's Essentialist project is a contribution to drone metal by an elder composer, attempting to "arrive at an a priori
essence of heavy metal, reducing it to a basic chord progression".
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
that melds the slow tempos and heaviness of doom metal
Doom metal
Doom metal is an extreme form of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other metal genres...
with the long-duration tones of drone music
Drone music
Drone music is a minimalist musical style that emphasizes the use of sustained or repeated sounds, notes, or tone-clusters – called drones. It is typically characterized by lengthy audio programs with relatively slight harmonic variations throughout each piece compared to other musics...
. Drone metal is sometimes associated with post-metal
Post-metal
Post-metal is a music genre, a mixture between the genres of post-rock and heavy metal.Hydra Head Records owner and Isis frontman Aaron Turner originally termed the genre "thinking man's metal", demonstrating that his band was trying to move away from common metal conventions...
or avant-garde metal.
Characteristics
Typically, the electric guitar is performed with a large amount of reverb or audio feedback while vocals, if present, are usually growlDeath growl
A death growl, also known as death metal vocals, guttural vocals, death grunts, and harsh vocals among other names, is a vocalisation style usually employed by vocalists of the death metal and black metal music genre, but also used in a variety of heavy metal and hardcore punk subgenres.Death...
ed or screamed. Songs often lack beat or rhythm in the traditional sense and are typically very long. The experience of a drone metal performance has been described as not unlike listening to an Indian raga
Raga
A raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
in the middle of an earthquake, by novelist John Wray
John Wray (novelist)
John Henderson , better known by his pen name John Wray, is a novelist and regular contributor to The New York Times Magazine. Born in Washington, D.C., of an American father and Austrian mother, he is a citizen of both countries...
, in The New York Times. Wray also states, "It's hard to imagine any music being heavier or, for that matter, very much slower." A pioneer band of drone metal called Sunn O)))
Sunn O)))
Sunn O))) is an American doom metal band known for its synthesis of diverse genres including drone, ambient, noise, and black metal. Supported by a varying cast of collaborators, the band has two core members: Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson .-History:Sunn O))) is named after the Sunn...
has indicated a kinship with sound sculpture
Sound sculpture
Sound sculpture is an intermedia and time based art form in which sculpture or any kind of art object produces sound, or the reverse...
. Jan Tumlir indicates a "sustained infra-sound
Infrasound
Infrasound is sound that is lower in frequency than 20 Hz or cycles per second, the "normal" limit of human hearing. Hearing becomes gradually less sensitive as frequency decreases, so for humans to perceive infrasound, the sound pressure must be sufficiently high...
rumble of sub-bass
Sub-bass
Sub-bass is a term used to describe audible sounds below 90 Hz and extending downward to include the lowest frequency humans can hear, typically 20 Hz. Sound systems often feature one or more subwoofer loudspeakers that are dedicated solely to amplifying sounds in the sub-bass range...
–-so-called brown noise".
Musical influences
Drone metal music blends elements from a variety of musical influences, including rock/metal artists such as Black SabbathBlack Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
, Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
, Celtic Frost
Celtic Frost
Celtic Frost was a metal band from Zürich, Switzerland. They are known for their heavy influence on the extreme metal genres. The group was first active from 1984 to 1993, and re-formed in 2001. Following Tom Gabriel Fischer's departure in 2008, Celtic Frost decided to break up again...
, Flower Travellin' Band
Flower Travellin' Band
is a Japanese heavy psych outfit that was first active in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They reunited in 2007. Vocalist Joe Yamanaka died on August 7, 2011 after a battle with lung cancer.-History:...
, the Melvins
The Melvins
The Melvins are an American band that formed in 1983. They usually perform as a trio, but in recent years have performed as a four piece with two drummers. Since 1984, singer and guitarist Buzz Osborne and drummer Dale Crover have been the band's constant members...
, Swans
Swans (band)
Swans are an influential American post-punk band initially active from 1982 to 1997, led by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Gira. The band was one of the few groups to emerge from the early 1980s New York No Wave scene and stay intact into the next decade. Formed by Gira in...
, and Skullflower and minimalist composers such as Phill Niblock
Phill Niblock
Phill Niblock is a composer, filmmaker, videographer, and director of Experimental Intermedia, a foundation for avant-garde music based in New York with a parallel branch in Ghent, Belgium.-Biography:...
, Charlemagne Palestine
Charlemagne Palestine
Charlemagne Palestine is an American minimalist composer, performer, and visual artist...
, La Monte Young
La Monte Young
La Monte Thornton Young is an American avant-garde composer, musician, and artist.Young is generally recognized as the first minimalist composer. His works have been included among the most important and radical post-World War II avant-garde, experimental, and contemporary music. Young is...
, and Tony Conrad
Tony Conrad
Tony Conrad is an American avant-garde video artist, experimental filmmaker, musician/composer, sound artist, teacher and writer...
.
Connections with other art forms
Stephen O'MalleyStephen O'Malley
Stephen O'Malley is a musician, predominantly a guitarist, producer and composer from Seattle, Washington who has conceptualized and participated in numerous drone doom, death/doom, and experimental music groups....
from Sunn O)))
Sunn O)))
Sunn O))) is an American doom metal band known for its synthesis of diverse genres including drone, ambient, noise, and black metal. Supported by a varying cast of collaborators, the band has two core members: Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson .-History:Sunn O))) is named after the Sunn...
collaborated on an installation with artist Banks Violette
Banks Violette
-Biography:Violette was born in Ithaca, New York and studied at the School of the Visual Arts in New York earning at BFA in 1998, and graduated with an MFA from Columbia University in 2000.-Work:...
, who has likened drone metal to the work of Donald Judd
Donald Judd
Donald Clarence Judd was an American artist associated with minimalism . In his work, Judd sought autonomy and clarity for the constructed object and the space created by it, ultimately achieving a rigorously democratic presentation without compositional hierarchy...
. Tumlir locates a precedent in Robert Rauschenberg
Robert Rauschenberg
Robert Rauschenberg was an American artist who came to prominence in the 1950s transition from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art. Rauschenberg is well-known for his "Combines" of the 1950s, in which non-traditional materials and objects were employed in innovative combinations...
. Violette points out, however, that drone metal is "as much a physiological phenomenon as an acoustic one", with an attendant physicality. O'Malley has also mentioned an appreciation for Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy is an American novelist and playwright. He has written ten novels, spanning the Southern Gothic, Western, and modernist genres. He received the Pulitzer Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction for The Road...
and Richard Serra
Richard Serra
Richard Serra is an American minimalist sculptor and video artist known for working with large-scale assemblies of sheet metal. Serra was involved in the Process Art Movement.-Early life and education:...
. Rhys Chatham's Essentialist included projections by Robert Longo
Robert Longo
Robert Longo is an American painter and sculptor. Longo became famous in the 1980s for his "Men in the Cities" series, which depicted sharply dressed businessmen writhing in contorted emotion.-Early life and education:...
. Jim Jarmusch
Jim Jarmusch
James R. "Jim" Jarmusch is an American independent film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor and composer. Jarmusch has been a major proponent of independent cinema, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s.-Early life:...
's 2009 film The Limits of Control
The Limits of Control
-Cultural references mentioned in the dialogue:* Suspicion by Alfred Hitchcock* Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky* The Lady from Shanghai by Orson Welles* La Vie de Bohème by Aki Kaurismäki* La vida no vale nada by Rogelio A...
features music by a number of drone metal groups. Jarmusch said, "I love these kind of visual landscapes they make, and they really inspired things for me for my film ..., because when I write I'm listening to things that inspire me in the direction of whatever world I'm imagining. Boris and Sunn O))) and Earth were really instrumental in me just finding a place in my head."
1990s
Earth (band)
Earth is an American musical group based in Seattle, Washington, formed in 1989 and led by guitarist Dylan Carlson.Earth's music is nearly all instrumental, and can be divided into two distinct stages...
, a group from Seattle, formed in 1990, which has been described as "minimalist post-grunge
Grunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...
". Earth took inspiration from the sludge metal
Sludge metal
Sludge metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that melds elements of doom metal and hardcore punk, and sometimes incorporates influences from southern rock, stoner rock and grunge. Sludge metal is typically abrasive; often featuring shouted vocals, heavily distorted instruments and sharply contrasting...
of Melvins and the minimalist music
Minimalist music
Minimal music is a style of music associated with the work of American composers La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass. It originated in the New York Downtown scene of the 1960s and was initially viewed as a form of experimental music called the New York Hypnotic School....
of La Monte Young
La Monte Young
La Monte Thornton Young is an American avant-garde composer, musician, and artist.Young is generally recognized as the first minimalist composer. His works have been included among the most important and radical post-World War II avant-garde, experimental, and contemporary music. Young is...
, among other sources. Stephen O'Malley
Stephen O'Malley
Stephen O'Malley is a musician, predominantly a guitarist, producer and composer from Seattle, Washington who has conceptualized and participated in numerous drone doom, death/doom, and experimental music groups....
's group Burning Witch
Burning Witch
Burning Witch was an American doom metal band from Seattle, Washington, active between 1995 and 1998.-History:Burning Witch formed on Capitol Hill, Seattle in early 1995. After the breakup of the doom/death band Thorr's Hammer in 1995, Stephen O'Malley, Greg Anderson and Jamie Sykes formed Burning...
, formed five years later, also in Seattle, continued in this tradition, incorporating unusual vocals and bursts of audio feedback
Audio feedback
Audio feedback is a special kind of positive feedback which occurs when a sound loop exists between an audio input and an audio output...
. The group initially recorded for the prominent powerviolence
Powerviolence
Powerviolence , is a raw and dissonant subgenre of hardcore punk. The style is closely related to thrashcore and grindcore.-History:...
label Slap-a-Ham
Slap-a-Ham Records
Slap A Ham Records was a hardcore punk, thrash metal and grindcore label from San Francisco, California owned and operated by Chris Dodge of Spazz, Despise You, Lack Of Interest and several other bands.-Discography:Published albums include:...
. O'Malley's subsequent group, Sunn O)))
Sunn O)))
Sunn O))) is an American doom metal band known for its synthesis of diverse genres including drone, ambient, noise, and black metal. Supported by a varying cast of collaborators, the band has two core members: Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson .-History:Sunn O))) is named after the Sunn...
, initially formed as a tribute to Earth, is most responsible for the contemporary prominence of the drone metal style. Godflesh
Godflesh
Godflesh are an English industrial metal band from Birmingham, England. Originally known as Fall of Because, they formed in 1988 by Justin K. Broadrick and G.C. Green and disbanded in 2002. Godflesh's innovative music is widely regarded as a foundational influence on industrial metal and post-metal...
is also a stated influence on many groups. Boris
Boris (band)
is a Japanese experimental rock band, known for often combining and switching between different music genres including drone metal, sludge metal, noise rock, psychedelic rock, ambient and pop...
, from Tokyo, also developed a style of drone metal, parallel with the Seattle groups, as did Corrupted
Corrupted (band)
Corrupted are a Japanese doom/sludge metal band. They are known for their antipathy towards mainstream acceptance, even in their subgenre, which naturally tends towards obscurity. This is reflected not only in their dark and oppressive musical style but their reclusive nature, avoiding interviews...
, from Osaka.
2000s
NadjaNadja (band)
Nadja is a duo of Aidan Baker and Leah Buckareff . Nadja began in 2003 as a solo project for Baker to explore the heavier/noisier side of his experimental/ambient music performed mainly on the electric guitar...
(Toronto), Jesu
Jesu (band)
Jesu is a post-metal band formed in 2003 by Justin Broadrick following the breakup of Godflesh. Jesu was the name of the last song on the final Godflesh release, Hymns, and Broadrick decided to adopt it as the name of this project....
(UK), Black Boned Angel
Black Boned Angel
Black Boned Angel is a Wellington-based drone metal project of New Zealand experimental musicians Campbell Kneale and James Kirk . Originally a duo with Kirk, recently Black Boned Angel has expanded to include Jules Desmond...
(Wellington, New Zealand), Khanate
Khanate (band)
Khanate was a drone metal supergroup that brought together James Plotkin and Alan Dubin, two members of the defunct band OLD, as well as Tim Wyskida and Stephen O'Malley )) fame)....
(New York City), Growing
Growing (band)
Growing is a drone music/ambient music/noise music band formed in Olympia, Washington, and currently based in Brooklyn, New York. The group was founded in 2001 by Kevin Doria , Joe Denardo , and Zack Carlson...
(New York City), KTL
KTL
KTL is a musical duo consisting of Stephen O'Malley ))) and Peter Rehberg , originally formed to create the music for a theatre production titled Kindertotenlieder by Gisèle Vienne and Dennis Cooper...
(Washington/London), Ascend
Ascend (band)
Ascend is an American experimental doom metal collaboration between singer/guitarist Gentry Densley and Greg Anderson . Their album Ample Fire Within was released by Southern Lord Records and featured a guest appearance by Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil...
and Eagle Twin
Gentry Densley
Gentry Densely is an American singer, guitarist and composer. A longtime fixture on Salt Lake City, Utah's punk, metal and experimental music scenes, Densely has been involved in numerous bands but is best-known for leading the groups Iceburn, Ascend and Eagle Twin...
(USA), Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine
Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine
Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine are an English drone doom supergroup, formed in 2001 and featuring musicians from other metal bands.They take their name from the second song from the Earth album Earth 2...
(Nottingham, England) and Moss
Moss (band)
Moss is a three-piece English doom metal band that formed in 2000. Influenced by H. P. Lovecraft and the occult, songs usually average the 20 minute mark and incorporate dense and otherworldly atmospheres...
(Southampton, England) are prominent drone metal groups who formed in the early 21st century. Noise musicians, such as Kevin Drumm
Kevin Drumm
-Biography:Emerging from the city's improvised music scene, in the 1990s he became one of the world's pre-eminent prepared guitar players. Since then his work has expanded to include electroacoustic compositions and live electronic music made with laptop computers and analog modular synthesizers...
, have also worked in the style. Rhys Chatham
Rhys Chatham
Rhys Chatham is an American composer, guitarist, and trumpet player, primarily active in avant-garde and minimalist music. He is best known for his "guitar orchestra" compositions...
's Essentialist project is a contribution to drone metal by an elder composer, attempting to "arrive at an a priori
A priori and a posteriori (philosophy)
The terms a priori and a posteriori are used in philosophy to distinguish two types of knowledge, justifications or arguments...
essence of heavy metal, reducing it to a basic chord progression".
See also
- Avant-garde jazzAvant-garde jazzAvant-garde jazz is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. Avant-jazz often sounds very similar to free jazz, but differs in that, despite its distinct departure from traditional harmony, it has a predetermined structure over which ...
- Black ambient
- GrungeGrungeGrunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...
- JapanoiseJapanoiseis a portmanteau of the words "Japanese" and "noise": a term applied to the diverse, prolific, and influential noise music scene of Japan. Primarily popular and active in the 1980s and 1990s but still alive today, the Japanoise scene is defined by a remarkable sense of musical freedom...
- New Gothic ArtNew Gothic Art-Manifesto:The Neo Gothic Art Manifesto was written by gothic artist Charles Moffat in 2001, who also coined the term "Neo Gothic" in an effort to differentiate it from gothic architecture...
- Noise rockNoise rockNoise rock describes a style of post-punk rock music that became prominent in the 1980s. Noise rock makes use of the traditional instrumentation and iconography of rock, but incorporates atonality and especially dissonance, and also frequently discards usual songwriting conventions.-Style:Noise...