I actually do miss this style of shredding in metal. I’ve been listening to a lot of A7X lately and I can’t help but feel like the old style is missed.
Yeah man, for me the older a7x songs are still the better ones. I like to have a balance in shredding bands and other types. There is a reason my fave bands is the gazette followed by versailles, jinjer and nightwish. A very good balance i would say.
I think it wen't over NN's head that the classic Malmsteen-style arpeggio shred that Bernth does is him injecting his "forever out-of-style" shredding into the modern metal
Bernth is right about the implications of continuous downtuning and additional strings. Valid tools, but not a replacement for good phrasing, which can risk getting lost in the depths of the low end. This is basically part of the discourse on what constitutes "heavy"; lower sounds, or nastier phrasing? I sit in the second camp, standard tuning is fine if your chugs are actually good and you can phrase with tensions. imo it says a lot that so much traditional death metal holds up despite being in C - E standard, when modern metal might be tuned, strung, or shifted like a whole octave down. Like there was the option for us to mix bass better and no-one took it.
Yeah, Converge and Dillinger rip most 7/8 string bands to shreds. It’s all about the phrasing, the contrast between the higher and lower registers on the instrument. And the and drums and bass are often boring
@@qerzuk It's more like, what conversation? The idea that lower notes = heavier is largely taken at face value. fwiw I think a 7 string in D standard is pretty great, but that's because it gives room to dip and come back up, so it's not a case of E standard or bust. But to use that kind of device you need to be doing more than 0010, y'know
@@LorenaSalvier Well, "modern" Metal actually has become much *more* metal, literally, by adding more metal strings and lower tuning, which brings out the ultimative metal sound out of the guitar, producing much heavier metal riffs and stronger vibrating frequencies (because thicker strings produce stronger vibrating sounds through the speakers/sub-woofer) So modern metal bands today are the ultimative climax of Metal sound. Which makes the riffs more "groovy" But it does have some disadvantage unfortunately, because it sacrifices melodic leads, so a lot of melodics are lost, which makes the average modern metal song more boring. Although there are still a few rare exceptions (Melodic Metalcore, Post-Hardcore and Melodeath I guess?) where melodic leads are still used with heavy riffs rogteher
@@alternativerockemo6783 honestly to ME this ultimate challenge to downtune the most out of the guitar, adding strings and gain as far as eyes can see while keeping the most articulate sounds (mostly sterile and ball-less, again to me) doesn't make it any more "metal". To me Black Sabbath sounds Metal, obscure, sinister. Modern metal not much, just more extreme wannabe.
@@LorenaSalvier By today's standards, Black Sabbath (and all the other "classic" bands from the 60's~80's) sound more like today's Soft Rock bands in comparison to what the modern Metal sound offers, this is how far modern Metal has progressed. In fact, even today's Rock bands using downtuned guitar riffs sound much heavier than what classic "metal" bands like Black Sabbath did in the '60's, which says a lot. In the 1990's new sub-genres emerged that revolutionized Metal music forever: the Nu-Metal sub-genre (and later Metalcore and Death Metal) started using heavier and harder guitar tuning, which made the sound much heavier and more metallic. Afterall this is what metal is supposed to sound like, it's supposed to be heavier and harsher and more extreme than the normal Rock genre. I understand that you obviously orient yourself towards older "classic" bands, probably because you are an old boomer growing up in the 70's-80's and harbor a lot of nostalgic emotions and feelings, which of course influences your biased opinion (just a guess), but from an actually neutral and honest point of view, the old classic metal bands don't even come close to what modern Metal sound can offer in range today. It's obvious that you have a different taste of "Metal" bands and music and that's totally fine, everyoe has different taste. But again, from a neutral and open-minded point of view, modern Metal music sounds much more metallic because it is heavier, harder, harsher, more distorted, more aggressive, more brutal, and has a much colder and darker atmosphere, basically exactly what Metal should sounds like. That's the whole essence of metal music. It's cool that you still like and appreciate the old classic bands, they had their purpose and definitely deserved respect, afterall they helped to shape what exists today. But as I said before, they sound much more like “Soft Rock” for today's standards than what the modern Metal genre can actually offer in range and sound today. That's just a fact
Metal is over half a century old; the basic concept of heavy guitar chords and angry/excited lyrics has lost its shock value in the public eye, even if many don't personally like it. The oldest metalheads are quite old, and many have retained their taste for metal... yet are innocent, productive members of society. It's no longer really rebellious on principle... though the way I see it, I almost look at so much classic metal as being the cry of impending doom, of revelations and tribulations that not all can see, while modern metal is post-apocalyptic, where its basic premise is already understood.
@mtw6654 it makes perfect sense when all the metal you hear now just sounds overly processed and muddy. Yes good players shine. Example being periphery Or Jesse from erra But so many bands have great players but imo the overly processed guitar just all sounds the same
I strongly disagree, the peak of metal is right now, the current form of today's metal in 2023. Never before has Metal ever sounded so "metallic" and cold as it does today. Literally adding more metal strings that produce heavier metal riffs with lower frequencies (generating stronger vibrating riffs because a thicker string produces stronger vibrations throguh the spraker/sub-woofer) so you can now literally hear and feel the vibrations of the metal riffs if you have a good sub-woofer system. Basically, this is the purest form of metal sound ever possible with today's technology.
Modern metal doesn't suck. The metal community sucks. Worst fan base in music. Always parading around telling everyone how "warm and welcoming" they are while ripping apart every artist in the genre that has the audacity to evolve their sound or release more than three albums.
I couldn't agree more with Bernth, metal needs a rebirth, djent is fucking killing the metal. I love good breakdowns and triplets, but there needs to be more substance.
Nonsense 🙄 That's why there are many different metal genres with many different styles and sound, so there is something for everyone. If you don't like dkent, simply don't listen to this metal genre... It's really not that difficult, is it? Just move on and enjoy the other metal genres that you like more
@alternativerockemo6783 yeah, that sounds great except it's becoming every band. BTW, that's also my opinion, idk why everyone these days gets so butt hurt about a different opinion.
@@weareeternalband586 "that sounds great except it's becoming every band" It's not. You either just know very few bands, or are fixated on one or two subgenres and have no awareness of metal outside of that.
I'm not sure a lot of modern metal is even as modern as we think it is. Take the old Fear Factory song digimortal, stick Courtney LaPlante on that instead of Burton and everyone would think Spiritbox just put out the freshest thing of 2023 (I love spiritbox btw). Lorna Shore is just essentially symphonic metal with Travis Ryan vocals. I'm not really aware of anything going on in 2023 that is particularly original or isn't a rehash of something from 20 years ago.
Metal still peaked with me at the hand of blood ep by bullet for my valentine. Kicked so much ass and had so much power without sounding gimmicky or heavy fir heavy sake. And it had tempo!!!!!
The song is good, but I can only listen to so much shredding till it sounds stale to me haha! I was kinda hoping for some melodic solos that are still technical, something like Intervals would do, something with story not just throw a lot of notes in there.
Cause it's a lazy video that would fit in ten years ago, while also trying to provoke a reaction to market his own stuff. People tend to dislike that kind of thing.
Anything in the Grind/Noise/Gore scene is still pretty raw even nowadays. I think Grindcore is pretty much the last hope for extreme music to be honest.
I agree with him on the down tuning. I find it's becoming pretty ridiculous these days. Or has been pretty ridiculous... Lowest I go is drop g, I will not do bass notes on a guitar. It's just stupid lol. But again, it depends on how it's implemented into a song I guess. Still though, if you're doing what everybody else is doing what's the point ? ( That sounds a little pessimistic, but it's not my intent... Sorry )
Tbh I really hate his way of advertising, every single one of his videos are clickbaits for boomers and his sound is kinda obsolete, I'm not gonna talk about the technical level because nobody would argue that he's incredibly skilled, I just feel like he can't mix his techical skills with an actual modern approach at the songwriting side
Funny how the lower strings parts hit harder than the shredding 🙃. BTW, modern metal includes bands like Plini, Invervals, Kiko Loureiro, AAL, all of which have much more melodic playing (not just guitar exercises played at the speed of light) and know how to incorporate shredding to that.
It does always amuse me when people say things such as "why modern music/metal sucks". There are so many different types of metal/music out there it's a pretty nonsensical thing to say. I've never listened to any of the core genres so I've never run into any of the things mentioned in this song.
It's like 50/50 bands sound has got immensely better by a long shot. I think there are still good bands that are newer as well. Just not as well known unfortunately
His point went right over your head 🤦🏻♀️ he "still shreds" even though it's apparently outdated and not used in modern metal. He didnt get it wrong, you did.
I think metal is dead now because all we got now a days is Hardcore/Screamo, Thrash, plus Black and Death metal. That's it. When I was growing up there were tons of metal genres, glam and hair to power and progressive to nwobhm/european metal, industrial, doom, I could keep going on. Somewhere the other genres just disappeared and these growly vocals switching back and forth from clean (or clearer vocals) became the norm along with the overly downtuned crunchy guitar riffs and somewhere in the song trying to shoehorn in some metallica slayer like shredding. Throw in some distortion and auto tuning and you have the perfect generic shit sandwich. What happened to catchy guitar melodies and harmonies and large epic vocal singers? It's no wonder kids listen to more rap and hip hop now then metal.
@@alternativerockemo6783 It's not dead but it's dying. When you look at any billboard sales lists hard rock and heavy metal bands rarely make it in the top 40. New young bands aren't coming in and taking the place of older rock acts that are dying or retiring. It's a sad state.
@@KadeRiley-hq8gc Again, just because Rock and Metal aren't being played on Mainstream anymore, doesn't mean that Rock and Metal is actually "dying". There are still millions or even billions of people around the world loving and enjoying Rock and Metal to this day. And there are still many modern popular Rock and Metal bands that have attracted millons of fans and supporters on the internet. This is what matters!
" all we got now a days is Hardcore/Screamo, Thrash, plus Black and Death metal. That's it. " LOL. So because you don't bother to look beyond whatever five commercially successful US bands are marketed to you, you assume those five bands represent everything there is to know about "modern metal" and nothing exists outside of that.
What I don't like about modern metal is that the overall danger and universal urge to push it forward is gone. Any sweater wearing geek in a ritzy New York apartment can write a metal song on their lap top. No one is doing anything new or even trying. Everyone is all about re-creating the past. Everyone dresses the same. Everyone either writes about depression or fantasy fairy dragon kings and queen garbage. Metal needs a shake up.
Western metalheads that could not enjoy & tired of the same-y metal music in the West? Move your focus to Japan and listen to their diverse Metal bands. My recommendation: 1. Lovebites - Holy War 2. Galneryus - The Follower, Destiny, Struggle for the Freedom flag 3. Hanabie - We Love Sweets 4. Ningen Isu - Heartless Scat 5. Unlucky Morpheus - Black Pentagram, Angreifer, The Black Death Mansion Murder 6. SIM - The Rumbling 7. Maximum the Hormone - Shimi
Shredding is exactly the reason metal is dying. For new listeners metal is aggressive vocals and showing off and all of this is boring and empty. At least some bands are trying to save the genre somehow.
Skill never goes out of style. I still shred! Yeah!!!❤❤❤❤ playing one string sounds the same, same, boring. Time to change it up. Musicians playing real intruments. What a concept!!
Was this the modern metal equivalent of the "old man yells at cloud" meme? Either way I feel we need to see more people return to standard and write heavy shit. Dillinger did it for like 99% of their career and I feel with the level of skill shown by musicians today there is always potential to explore while still doing what modern metal does.
😅 but does it shred ... i guess so. Made my day. I love Bernth shreds, they are not only many notes but he arpeggiates around his cord changes which make them sound awesome and like in this song or Parkway Drive carry a melody from the vocals to the guitar.
@@darkflame2067 Yes, German culture is well known for their good sense of humor, relaxed atmosphere, and not taking things too seriously. I'm going to guess you've never been to Germany.
Why modern metal sucks: Lack of interesting solo's, lazy song writing, drumming is mostly blast beats, riffs are also lazy. Tone and overall sound and composition is lazy and boring. That's the reason people listen to older stuff. There is ZERO comparison.
Technical or difficult does not equate to good. There’s a reason that low tuned chugs or simply open 0s are used so much in metal music.. it sounds badass. Yes, it’s unoriginal and simple, but no normie listener cares about whether a song is difficult to play when they hear it.
It’s all too derivative of the tropes and very obvious that someone was thinking, “Hey, what if I throw this beat and rudimentary midi synth track over it.” “That’ll make it unique!” 🎉 Or what if I copy Vivaldi and make it sound sterile and lame? It’s too tryhard, yet too unpolished. Everyone’s forgotten that you’re actually supposed to be playing a fucking song. It’s got to go somewhere and take the listener places. Yet it’s entirely devolved into a showcase of techniques, like some lame apple showcase and what tool wants to sit through one of those? Too much time is spent nitpicking every little thing to perfection without any thought to what the entirety of the composition is supposed to be. Also, it is all done in a vacuum. Most of the good shit was a part of some movement, like Bay Area thrash as a reaction to glam, black metal as a reaction to religion, Black Sabbath wanted to say fuck the hippies and listened to the scores of horror films, and each had social momentum, giving it meaning and balls. But post modernism allows for no reactionaries and only allows for its art to be aligned with it, and everything must be self aware and sterile and let you know it’s smarter than you. Everything sucks now.
For sure modern metal is extremely generic; bands only focus on being heavier down tuning instead of making good music and all the bands are just copycats.
These ultra low inaudible tunings are extremely tiring. I'm so tired of bands not making songs and just doing thee flub flub djent garbage. Like djent is cool but its so over done and derivative at this point modern metal needs a huge evolution that moves past the djent garbage. Metalcore has ceased to be metalcore as it has pretty much completely gotten rid of 1 of the 2 most important parts for a metalcore song to be metalcore and that is the hardcore part. breakdowns do not equal metalcore.
Modern metal sucks because most of it has nothing to say. It's become more technical grunge garage. Modern bands that do thrive are mimicry of 80's stuff.
Modern model most of the time sounds the same and doesnt experiment or try new things. Plus theres barely riffs anymore. Its breakdown after breakdown. Sweeppicking and tapping with high pitch squeels.
I think that Bernth is great teacher and an amazing guitar player but I think that a lot of his music is kinda lame and a lot of students that he teaches sound very same-y
Modern metal is garbage, core genres and non radio friendly metal is and has been pushing the scene forward since what 2010? Modern metal is dead, and the core genres everyonr called a fad or garbage are now king. Deathcore Metalcore Slamcore The amount of core style bands that are bringing heavy music back to life is unreal
Next we're gonna get him to make a "reaction" video of you making a "reaction video" of him making a "reaction video" of you making a "reaction video" of him making a "reaction video" of people making " reaction videos". Let's all intellectually ascend !
I am sitting here listening to Armored Saint, Savatage, Accept, Pretty Maids, Helloween, and Riot as this video plays in between me helping customers. It's the fastest I have clicked on one of your videos..... simply because.... MOST modern metal does suck.
i really dont like bernth, hes a great guitarist but all his videos tell "Do not do this, do not do that" etc. hes not a guitar king, im sure he has good tips but the arrogance in his teaching is bumping me out so much
So, let me get this clear, you downtune and use a pitch shifter to go 69 octaves below standard, and than you you use a WHAMMY PEDAL so you could PITCH SHIFT HIGHER?! Smh..
If you're a 22 year old guitarist who has only listened to this style - modern metal is OK. If you're a regular person listening it f-ing sucks. NO melody = boring, useless wanking.
That's kinda Bernth's gag, make a video with a "schtick" and makes a song out of it. Agreed on the mad production though, its getting a bit busy these days