Music

Metal for beginners

13/09/2016 written by Joëlle Burkert
Men with beards, beer and wildly shaking their overlong hair. The cliché of metal is widespread - and true.

It's easy to recognize the classic metalhead: with a beer in his hand at the front, his hand raised to a forkful of chips. But metal is not just beer and burping. This genre has countless subcategories. The bands we present here show just how diverse metal is. They can all be seen in Switzerland soon.

Amon Amarth: Melodic Death Metal



At an Amon Amarth gig, you feel like you're on a battlefield. Massive Swedes, burly Vikings as they are known in the book, treat us to genuine melodic death metal. This style combines the classic characteristics of death metal, such as heavily distorted guitars, guttural vocals and fast double bass patterns, with the adjective "melodic", which describes the use of minor scales in two-part riffs, solos and vocal lines. In their songs they talk about Vikings and Norse mythology. Tumba in Sweden is the place where it all began. It was here that the three founding members Ted Lundström (bass), Olavi Mikkonen (guitar) and Johan Hegg (vocals) came together in 1988 to form the band Scum, which became Amon Amarth in 1992.

Hard facts

The Swedes got their name from J. R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, where a volcano is called Mount Doom, which can be translated to "Amon Amarth" in Sindarin (fictional language invented by Tolkien for the world "Arda").

AMON AMARTH
Tue, 15.11.16 / Salle Métropole, Lausanne
Wed., 16.11.16 / Komplex 457, Zurich
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Opeth: Progressive Death/Rock Metal


What began as death metal with Mikael Åkerfeldt in 1990 has developed into one of the most creative metal bands of our time. In their typically long compositions, they combine progressive, folk, blues, classical and jazz with the death metal components of their origins.

Opeth was founded in Sweden, where former singer David Isberg invited Mikael Åkerfeldt to a rehearsal session as bassist. Unfortunately, Isberg neglected to tell his band about the invitation, including the band's bassist at the time. In short order, Isberg fired the entire band and started a project with Åkerfeldt.

Today, the band consists of Mikael Åkerfeldt (vocals), Martín Méndez (bass), Martin Axenrot (drums), Fredrik Åkesson (guitar) and Joakim Svalberg (keyboards).

Hard facts

Åkerfeldt himself described Opeth's first gig as "probably the worst performance imaginable". Åkerfeldt stood with his back to the audience to give the drummer signals, as he didn't know the band's songs. And that wasn't all: the bassist hid behind the stage curtain for the entire performance. The audience took the microphone and threw used snuff at the band.

OPETH
Sun., 13.11.16 / Volkshaus, Zurich
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Meshuggah: Extreme Metal



It's hard to escape the groove of Meshuggah. Labeled as extreme metal, the band became internationally known for their fusion of fast death metal, djent and progressive elements. Djent is a child of Meshuggah, onomatopoeically describing a hard strummed, muted chord on the guitar, first used by guitarist Fredrik Thordendal. Meshuggah are famous for their innovative style, complex song structures and polyrhythms, and the name comes from the Yiddish word for "crazy". Today the band consists of Jens Kidman, Fredrik Thordendal (guitar, background vocals), Tomas Haake (drums, additional vocals), Mårten Hagström (guitar, background vocals) and Dick Lövgren (bass).

Hard facts

Meshuggah were listed in the top ten most important hard rock bands in Rolling Stone magazine, and the Alternative Press even named the Swedes the "most important band in metal".

MESHUGGAH
Mon, 5.12.16 / Konzertfabrik, Pratteln
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Architects: Mathcore



When most metalheads think of core, they immediately think of plugs (extended earlobes), violent dancing (punches, kickboxing holds and high kicks as a dance in the middle of the audience) and "bubis". The diversity of the core is often forgotten. TheArchitects play mathcore, also known as chaoscore, which draws on influences from extreme, progressive and technical death metal. Alternating between pure vocals and "screaming" accompanied by groovy, rhythmic riffs, the Architects have been winning core hearts since 2004. The band consists of Sam Carter (vocals), Tom Searle (guitar), Dan Searle (drums), Alex "Ali Dino" Dean (bass) and Adam Christianson (guitar).

Hard facts

The Architects are not only one of the biggest heavy bands in England, but also one of the most political. All members of Architects live a vegan lifestyle and always tour with their ecological footprint in mind, their songs deal with environmental and socio-political problems.

ARCHITECTS
Mon., 7.11.16 /Complex 457, Zurich
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In Extremo: Medieval Metal


"I am not a thug, but I am free, this cup passed me by." ("Frei zu sein" by In Extremo.) With their medieval sounds and lyrics, In Extremo are one of the most commercially successful bands in medieval rock. Medieval rock combines instruments from modern rock music with historical instruments such as the bagpipe.
In Extremo was founded in 1995 and consists of "Das letzte Einhorn" (Michael Robert Rhein), "Van Lange" (Sebastian Oliver Lange), "Die Lutter" (Kay Lutter), "Dr. Pymonte (André Strugala), "Flex der Biegsame" (Marco Ernst-Felix Zorzytzky), "Yellow Pfeiffer" (Boris Pfeiffer) and "Specki T.D." (Florian Speckardt). (Florian Speckardt).

Hard facts

Many of their texts originate from the European Middle Ages and early modern times. For example from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ("Pied Piper").

IN EXTREMO
Thu., 20.10.16 / Komplex 457, Zurich
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Sabaton: Power-Metal


With singer Brodén's characteristically raspy voice, paired with keyboard tracks and the band's energetic performance, Sabaton create power metal as we know and love it. Power metal has a European origin and combines fast tempo with rather high vocal pitches and puts an emphasis on melodies, often supported by keyboards.The band, formerly called Aeon, was founded in 1999 and hails from Sweden and today consists of Joakim Brodén (vocals), Pär Sundström (electric bass), Chris Rörland (electric guitar), Thobbe Englund (electric guitar) and Hannes Van Dahl (drums).

Hard facts

Although Sabaton only sing about war in their songs, the band completely rejects accusations of glorifying war. Their name is also warlike: Sabaton is the iron shoe that was worn as part of the armor in the Middle Ages.

SABATON
Fri., 3.2.17 / St. Jakobshalle, Basel
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Translated with DeepL