Groove metal

Groove metal
Genre Info
Stylistic Origins	Thrash metal NWOAHM
Cultural Origins	Early 1990s, Texas, U.S. And much of the Southern United States
Typical Instruments	Vocals Guitar Bass Drums
Mainstream Popularity	{{{4}}}
Derivative Forms	Brutal death metal Nu metal
Subgenres
Djent
Fusion Genres
{{{7}}}

Groove metal

Pantera

Groove metal, sometimes also called neo-thrash or post-thrash, is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal derived primarily from thrash metal and within the NWOAHM movement that began in the early 1990s.  

The genre achieved success in the 1990s and continued to be successful in the 2000s. only influenced by NWOAHM, groove metal features hoarse singing and screaming, down-tuned guitars, heavy guitar riffs, and syncopated rhythms. Unlike thrash metal, groove metal is usually slower. Pantera is often considered the pioneer of groove metal, and groove metal expanded in the 1990s with bands such as White Zombie, Machine Head and Sepultura. The genre continued into the 2000s with bands such as Lamb of God, DevilDriver and Five Finger Death Punch.

Groove metal is very much heavily influenced by thrash metal, but focuses more on heaviness than speed, although fast songs are still common within the genre. Emphasis is placed on heavy guitar riffs, often accompanied by syncopated rhythms, and guitar solos are common. The guitars are generally more tuned than in thrash metal, and the vocals are usually screams, growls, screams or very hoarse singing.

. Groove metal is a blend of several genres from the 1980s, including heavy metal, thrash metal, biker metal, death metal and hardcore punk. Albums such as Exhorder's Slaughter in the Vatican, Pantera's Cowboys from Hell, Sepultura's Arise, and Artillery's We Are the Dead first incorporated groove-based rhythms into thrash metal with the main beats of biker metal. However, it wasn't until later albums like Exhorder's The Law, Pantera's Vulgar Display of Power, Sepultura's Chaos A.D., White Zombie's La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol. 1, and Machine Head's Burn My Eyes that groove metal took its true form.

One of the first influences of this subgenre was the We Are the Dead demo by the Danish thrash metal band Artillery in 1982. We Are the Dead maintained elements of thrash although it had a little more melody and darkness, reminiscent of Black Sabbath. A few years later, the American band Pantera would take an unexpected turn, especially with their 1988 album "Power Metal", which marked their debut with Phil Anselmo on vocals and which took them away from the Glam that had characterized them until that moment, laying the foundations. of the genre, later the American thrash metal band Exhorder would do the same with two works to take into account: Slaughter in the Vatican and The Law (1990 and 1992 respectively). There is a controversy about the sound of both bands among fans due to the similarity that Pantera's two works Cowboys from Hell (1990) and Vulgar Display of Power (1992) respectively have with the two Exhorder works released in the same years, although Nobody denies that these four works left an important legacy for the subsequent development of groove metal. For its part, Machine Head would be responsible for popularizing the genre with the release of its debut album Burn My Eyes. Credit is also given to the Americans Exodus, from their album Force of Habit.

In 1992, White Zombie released their third studio album, La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One, which was a commercial success and in turn, became the band's first album to chart on the Billboard 200, peaking at number 26. in 1993. The sound of the album is a mix of groove metal and heavy metal. This album also contributed to the popularity of the genre and the singles "Thunder Kiss '65" and "Black Sunshine" received heavy rotation on rock radio and MTV, the former earning the band their first Grammy Nomination for Best Metal Interpretation.

In 1993, Brazilian band Sepultura released Chaos A.D., in which the band developed their sound from thrash to groove metal. Sepultura recently released their most popular album, Roots, in 1996, which strangely combined heavy metal, groove metal, death metal, brutal death metal, thrash metal and nu metal; received criticism from fans because it was too different from older Sepultura albums such as Beneath the Remains.

Another band to take into account is Grip Inc., a band formed by Dave Lombardo after his departure from Slayer, who have four albums in which they play a mixed groove metal with Hispanic overtones.

Unlike thrash metal or speed metal bands and many of the subgenres of heavy metal, groove metal is not as riff-oriented. Artists of the genre tend to have a style heavily influenced by mid-tempo thrash riffs, accented with fifths chords, guitars tuned in low keys (Drop D or standard D tuning), syncopated chord patterns, guitar solos positioned in mid-tempo and dissonant bridges or abrupt cuts, usually mid-tempo. It is a popular belief that groove metal is a bridge between thrash metal and nu metal since it influenced the genre in the same way as grunge, funk metal and rap metal. Some claim that groove metal is what nu metal musicians take as the greatest influence.

The "groove" as they call it in English, is something that cannot really be defined, it is something that "feels", as stated by the bands of that genre. Instead of focusing on extreme speed, (like speed artists) they focus more on not-so-fast but equally heavy double kick drums, and deep, psychedelic guitar riffs, instead of focusing on ultra-fast riffs, (like speed artists). thrash artists) creating riffs particularly called "groovy".

Musical traits

Groove metal bands tend to play mid-tempo thrash riffs focusing on a hard heaviness and groovy syncopation. Guitarists generally play low syncopated power chord patterns and mid-paced guitar solos, and occasionally use most heavy palm muting. The tone is typically described as thick and mid-scooped down with boosted bass and trebles, usually under a harsh distortion. Solid state amplifiers using transistors are commonly used to gain this asymmetrical harmonic clipping sound, although tube amps are used sometimes as well. Like most other heavy metal bass styles, groove metal bass lines typically follow the rhythm guitar riffs but are sometimes used as introduction to a guitar riff or as intermezzi when the guitar riffs are de-emphasized. The use of bass distortion is common. Vocals usually consist of thrash metal-styled shouts, hardcore-styled barks, and clean singing. Groove metal drums typically use double-bass drumming, with emphasis on using the double bass drum in waves, rather than rapid fire double bass and blast beats used in the extreme metal styles. Uncommon time signatures and polyrhythms are typical for some bands; generally these bands put heavy emphasis on the changing beat. Groove metal typically follows in a medium tempo, but can vary from band to band or song to song.

Similar stylings and offshoots

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Nu metal

Some groove metal bands had influence on nu metal bands and some bands took many elements of groove metal, including the use of low, down-tuned guitars, groovy riffs and lyrical attitudes. Some groove metal bands such as Machine Head and Fear Factory experimented with nu metal briefly during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Machine Head can be seen as a "direct link" to later nu metal bands, combining groove metal with hip hop elements.

Sludgcore

Many sludgecore bands resemble groove metal, since many make use of down-tuned power chords and mid-tempo or slow rhythms and song structures, although the sludgcore is generally slower in tempo and more minimalistic than groove metal. However, sludgecore formed earlier than groove metal and most sludge bands have a more distinct hardcore punk influence than thrash metal. Many groove metal bands such as Pantera took influence from sludge metal.

Djent

The riffing style of many current djent bands also has some similarity to groove metal and certain bands, such as A Life Once Lost, Veil of Maya, Vildhjarta, and Xerath. Born of Osiris are considered to be both djent and groove metal. Both bands released albums at the time djent reached mainstream popularity in the mid-1990s, and prominently feature hardcore or even heavy metal style vocals, yet their musical style and guitar riffs more closely resemble groove metal than the majority of djent bands.

Djent as a style is characterized by progressive, rhythmic, and technical complexity accompanied by a use of polymetric groove. An example is the song "Cafo" by Animals as Leaders. It typically features heavily distorted, palm-muted guitar chords, syncopated riffs, and poly-meters alongside virtuosic soloing. Another common feature is the use of extended range guitars that are seven-string, eight-string, and nine-string, or even more strings.

Brutal death metal

Brutal death metal is very similar to death metal, there are brural death metal bands that mix with deathrash, groove metal, thrash metal and heavy metal. But brutal death metal is more focused on speed and blast beats, while brutal death metal uses grooves influenced by styles such as groove metal and metallic hardcore of the 90s and slow tempos and bands like Suffocation and Dying Fetus that are usually confused with the typical breakdowns of genres such as hardcore punk, hard rock and death-doom whose genres were also influenced, but in another context. Additionally, the overall sound of brutal death metal is lower in tone, slower, and less complex than brutal death metal.

Groove metal key artists

• A.N.I.M.A.L.
• Brujeria (Raza Odiada and later)
• Cavalera Conspiracy
• Chimaira
• Damageplan
• DevilDriver
• Exhorder (The Law)
• Fear Factory
• Five Finger Death Punch
• Gojira
• Grip Inc.
• Lamb of God
• Machine Head
• Meshuggah
• Pantera (Cowboys From Hell and later)
• Pissing Razors
• Prong
• Pro-Pain
• Sepultura (Chaos A.D. and later)
• Six Feet Under

• Slipknot
• Skinlab
• Soulfly
• The Haunted
• White Zombie (God of Thunder and later.) .
• Volbeat