Five Metal Songs That Transition Into Unexpected Musical Styles
Regular readers of this blog will note that I love music, and I love heavy music the most. Metal, metalcore, punk, hardcore, whatever. This week, I thought it would be interesting to share a couple of songs that are classified as heavy metal/metalcore songs, but before the runtime is up they all transition into another musical genre.
I’m not counting typical genre blending, like emo or punk blended with metal. Those have both been done to death. I’m looking for songs that blend heavy music with genres not typically found within heavy music. Here’s what I came up with. If you can think of others, please share them in the comments!
First up, Atlanta’s The Chariot. You may know their singer, Josh Scogin, as the original vocalist of the metalcore act Norma Jean. They are now defunct (unfortunately) but Mr. Scogin is now touring as ’68. Their song First starts as a chaotic metalcore song but ends as an Ennio Morricone Western score. Very strange, but it works.
Next up is August Burns Red’s new song, Separating the Seas. Pennsylvania’s August Burns Red is the hardest working metalcore band you’ll ever hear. (Their output is astounding.) The band is pretty open about being a Christian band, so it’s not shocking that they’d incorporate a Jewish folk melody into their song. What is shocking is how well it works.
Next up is North Carolina’s Between the Buried and Me. I was fortunate to see them play recently, my review is here. I could have selected a number of songs by them, as they’re known for genre-bending. I picked the weirdest example: Ants of the Sky. Towards the end of the song, it transitions into a folksy banjo song. During their live set, the audience started square dancing. It’s hilarious. For some, it works. For others… not so much. I dig it.
Is it cheating if all of their songs use an unexpected genre? It’s my blog, so I say it’s not. HORSE The Band bills themselves as Nintendocore music. That’s exactly what it sounds like. I could have picked any of their songs, so I picked my favorite. Metalcore blended with 8-bit video game music. I’m rarely in the mood for this, but every now and then it’s a lot of fun.
Last but not least is Chicago’s Yakuza. They incorporate jazz or world music elements into most of their songs. There are quite a few bands who mix jazz with metal, and I think Yakuza does it second best, second only to The Dillinger Escape Plan. The song Monkeytail is an example of a mixture of avant-garde jazz blended with thrash metal.
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