/lit/ - Literature

>>5123375
You'll always get flamed for making comparisons, but I agree with you that metal is intellectually rich. Though much of it is completely subversive, atheistic, etc... by and large, one of the most prevalent themes of metal is strength of character. I mean, to even go on stage and play metal to the public says something about a person.

Metal is definitely a form of guitar music/rock n' roll... I see it as the logical conclusion of the typical five-piece rock band. More like a reductio ad absurdum.

Now, progressive metal has pushed far, far away from traditional 4/4 rock structure and into the abstruse mathematical realm, like you pointed out. Meshuggah pretty much changed the game forever that way. Guitars are being tuned lower and lower to share the same spectral space as the kicks and bass, and riffs are starting to syncopate accordingly. Quick, trashy stacks of china cymbals keep the count while the kicks and snares play in polyrhythms. Since there's the ability to create ridiculously heavy grooves with nothing but the 7 or 8-string guitars and strong drummers, there is more space for atmosphere in synthesizers, effects, vocals. That's what you see happening with bands like Periphery, TesseracT, The Contortionist, etc.

What comes next will be the logical extreme of that style, and something new will happen.

The ride never ends.