Heaviness Outside of Metal
Amongst the metal community, we look at the genre itself as a way to always talk and debate out “who’s heavier” and “how deep” a song is to them. Whether it’s a song, that is soaked in distortion and guttural vocals, but is dense lyrically. Tackling themes of loss, death, depression and hopelessness in genres like deathcore and black metal. While also tackling the violent nature and disturbing side of the world in genres like death metal and grindcore.
Although, metal isn’t the only genre that tackles heaviness in its subject matter. Some artists might not be “metal” in their presentation or sound, but can deliver a sonic punch to the gut in either the emotional or heavy lyrical content. They might punish the ears with an abrasive, harsh and heavy sound that, though not extreme in the metal sense, can be hard to process or might get the attention of metalheads who didn’t expect such a bold and brash strike of unhinged heaviness. Or tug at the listener’s heartstrings with their lyrical message, vocal performance or relatable story. I wanted to look at some acts that encapsulate this unique delivery and I think, though are not heavy or extreme metal, might inspire you to check these artists out outside of the normal metal sound we all know and love.
The first artist, and the inspiration for this feature, is Lingua Ignota. This one-woman project, helmed by Kristin Hayter, started in 2017 and grew in popularity following the release of her self-released debut album Let The Evil of His Own Lips Cover Him and it’s follow-up that same year All Bitches Die. Through her grassroots following and her unique hybrid sound of darkwave, industrial and folk influences, her popularity grew and got the attention of Profound Lore Records. She released her third album Caligula in 2019 and received critical acclaim upon release. The album’s sound was soaked in hostility and unhinged anger. Combining elements of death metal, industrial and harsh noise, mixed with her dark wave and neoclassical trademarks. The album was also an emotionally heavy and burdening record. With Hayter’s lyrical themes dealing with themes of misogyny, hatred, abuse and violence that were sparked from an abusive relationship she was in. Caligula is an almost sonic-personification of the emotional turbulence and crushing weight that she was going through at that time.
From the opening, ethereal, almost ritualistic nature of “Faithful Servant Friend of Christ”, Hayter brings a dark and brooding vocal cadence and harmony that almost creates anxiety and unease in harmony. Songs like “Do You Doubt Me Traitor” showcases Hayter’s vocals beautifully, with just a simple piano and light percussion as her vocals become truly unhinged. Sounding like she is having a true, mental breakdown in her vocals. Demonstrating pure anger, sadness, mental anguish and self-harm just in her vocals alone. Becoming almost hard to listen to, knowing the context and lyrical themes she was going through at that time.
“Butcher of The World” delivers a harrowing, banshee-like scream right from the get-go amongst pounding percussion. It gives a haunting visual of going through hell to get to heaven in an almost cinematic performance musically and with Hayter’s vocals just delivering such a dynamic and award-winning performance in matching the organized chaos of the song itself. And “Days of Tears and Mourning” is just atmospheric black metal with sludgy/post-metal elements. The album is just a complex, emotional roller-coaster that can be very hard to get through due to it’s aggressive sound and lyrical content, but I do believe is a record that needs to be heard at least once. Hayter captures the true mental horror a person can deal with when it comes to emotional and physical abuse, along with the darkness and toll it will take on yourself if you are able to get out of that kind of relationship.
She would release one more album, Sinner Get Ready in 2021 to critical acclaim, before ending the project to move on to other projects, along with freeing herself from writing and performing this material that brought such strife and anguish to relive that time in her life (which as you listen to Caligula, you can understand why). Currently, she released a new album Saved! in 2023 under the name Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter, which is a departure from the Lingua Ignota sound, but was a good record and worth checking out.
The next act is an act that is considered one of the forefathers of the Japanese harsh noise movement, Merzbow. The brainchild of Masami Akita, formed in 1979, the project has been prolific in productivity with over 446 studio albums. Merzbow’s sound has been known to some as “anti-music” and “noise”, due to it’s lack of musical structure or theory and it’s harsh, deafening and ear-destroying sound. Though an avant-garde legend, Merzbow would collaborate with experimental acts like Sunn O))), Melvins and Boris to grindcore acts Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Full of Hell and Discordance Axis.
Merzbow would be introduced to an American audience with his first album on Relapse Records, Venereology in 1994. But it was the follow-up Pulse Demon in 1996 that seemed to be the breakout record for Merzbow in America. At eight songs, the album was just punishingly loud and deafening from the get-go with a caustic and decibel-piercing sound.
From the opening of “Woodpecker No. 1”, the listener is just bombarded by shrieking, highly distorted and piercing noises with a thumping and pulsing drum that just becomes more jagged and unintelligible. It is a sonic shock to the system for new listeners of not only Merzbow, but the Japanese harsh noise scene in general. Chaotic and abnormal in composition, it becomes harsh and heavy with distortion that almost mimics screaming that is suffocated in distortion & reverb. Just a sheer sonic attack on the listener’s ears. “Woodpecker No. 2” continues the barrage of chaos, but somehow almost becomes structured noise in a sense and just doesn’t let up.
Songs like “My Station Rock”, “Yellow Hyper Balls” and “Ultra Marine Blues” are just sheer technological juggling amongst a sea of striking, warping and electrical distortion. Soaked in feedback, but adding a cavernous and unknown feeling that almost challenges the listener to keep going down the rabbit hole to see how jagged and uncontrollable this album can get.
Merzbow continues to be a defining name in the noise genre, being one of the pinnacles of the genre. With his most recent album Sporangium being released this year on Old Europa Cafe. Though his music (or noise if you wanna call it that), is hard to process and is definitely not for everyone, he truly pushes the human ear on what sound can be turned into. From taking a simple noise and tweaking the sound to create a sound so punishingly loud and sharp that it makes it hard to listen to, or form what some would call music at all, Merzbow truly embodies avant-garde and shows the creativity and sheer, unmitigated heaviness in challenging the listener’s concept (and hearing) with his music.
Amigo The Devil is a country/folk act that takes the genre into a dark and macabre direction. Telling stories of drugs, violence and death through folk instrumentation like banjos and acoustic guitar. Creating an almost dark, campfire storytelling that created the genre Murderfolk. Which has grown in popularity with acts like Amigo, along with other acts like The Bridge City Sinners and Harley Poe.
Releasing countless EP’s, Amigo The Devil (real name Danny Kiranos) released his debut Volume 1. A compilation of his previous EP’s, the album showcases not only his weary traveler-style voice, and somber but upbeat music, the dark and dreary subject matter began to show in his lyrics. The graphic description of spousal abuse on “Perfect Wife”, the suicide-pact and stalker mentality of “The Dreamer” and the escapades of infamous serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer on “Dahmer Does Hollywood”. The darker subject matter drew comparisons to the late Johnny Cash, who would cover songs about death and murder like “Delia’s Gone”.
He would follow-up his debut that same year with Everything is Fine. The song “Cocaine and Abel” became a huge hit. Continuing the dark themes in his music, the tale of love that turns sadistic and violent on “You are Perfect Too”, a preacher succumbing to his demons and God turning his back on him on “Preacher Feature”; to the power of manipulation and control in “Hungover in Jonestown”. With better production quality and even catchier beats, it’s almost an evil bait-and-switch of a great beat until you truly realize what he is actually singing about.
Amigo The Devil is still active, releasing Born Against in 2021 and his most recent record Yours Until The War is Over in 2024. With his themes still staying bleak, his music quality has just gotten better with each release. Along with improved production with each release and constant touring. An act worth checking out if you like a little more chill take on the darkness of society and the evils that we face in humanity.
An act that not only pushes the sheer hostility and violence in sound, but horrific imagery is the act Deathpile. A power-electronics project, this two-man project embodies utter chaos and aggression with the band’s amplified use of synthesizers to create an abrasive, pissed-off and ear-destroying sound. The band reached prominence with the release of their 2003 album G.R.. A concept album about infamous Washington serial-killer Gary Ridgeway, also known as “The Green River Killer”, who murdered 49 women from 1982 to 1998.
”The First Whore” is harsh-noise, with Jonathan Canady’s vocals sounding almost unhinged and screaming akin to a dark and ominous tirade over a sea of warping bass and distortion feedback. Creating a visual of someone unraveling mentally and with the music adding the fear of something horrible about to happen. Almost demented ramblings of a madman in moments like on “Addicted”. Building a sadistic and evil-esque inner-monologue, resembling some of the demented thoughts Ridgeway had during his heinous actions.
“Known Victims” is the longest track on the album. An almost twelve-and-a-half minute track that features audio of the list of women that were killed and where the bodies were found. With the eerie and ominous low-bass beneath the audio, it adds to the evil and darkness of how prolific Ridgeway was on his sixteen-year murdering spree. It is a great example of ambience and sometimes how little effects and minimalism can add such an impact to the tone and message of a track.
Deathpile truly does deliver an evil and dark audio journey through the mind of a serial killer. Capturing not only the mental state of a serial killer, but sonically delivering the rantings and rambling of a disturbed individual so eerily done well. Like Merzbow, the record might be hard to get into or process the sheer sonic attack of the band’s sound, but the band wants you to feel that way. From Canady’s vocals delivering that uneasy, anxious and scared feeling as he embodies the sadistic nature of a serial killer, the inner-monologue that is haunting and truly terrifying at some points, and just the utmost frightening aesthetic with the walls of distortion accenting the sheer terror that creates an empathetic feeling for the victims of Ridgeway.
The last act I’ll be talking about today is Tennessee noise rock/avant-garde act Today is The Day. With a sound that dabbles in metal elements (see 1997’s Temple of The Morning Star & 1999’s In The Eyes of God), the band does lean more towards the experimental sound with moments of heaviness on many of the band’s albums. The record I want to talk about is the band’s sixth album, their 2002 double-album Sadness Will Prevail.
The album was inspired by a period of time when front man Steve Austin was stuck in his home due to a severe snow storm with his family. In an interview with knac.com in 2003, Austin broke down the true themes he expressed while writing Sadness Will Prevail:
I think it’s just one of these weird testimonies of isolationism. We all live these isolated lives. We don’t even talk on the phone anymore. Everything’s all about email and instant messenger, and every other way of communicating without being human back and forth. I think the idea; the way it was going was during a really nasty winter about three years ago. I was trapped in my apartment. I felt like Jack Nicholson from The Shining ready to kill all my family members. It’s just a trapped, can’t get out, stuck, trying to figure out what’s going on feeling. You’re looking inside of yourself to try and take a human assessment of what you stand for and what you believe. A lot of the songs I guess you could say introspective. One of them is “Death Requiem.” That’s a song that I wanted to think about if I was dead, what would be the end result of that. I wrote my own death requiem.
As you listen to this double album, you do begin to truly embody the isolation and crippling loneliness that many people would relate to during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. Feeling of true isolation and almost a new fear of agoraphobia and the way the world was almost shut down during that time. A hard album to listen to due to it’s heavy sound, crushing album length and lyrical content, Austin truly captures the hopelessness and true turmoil we mentally face day to day.
Like he mentioned in the interview, “Death Requiem”, lyrically hits like a wrecking ball in sheer nihilistic and dark tonality. “Criminal” has such a chugging, sludgy metal guitar riff, before switching into blast beats and almost swaying guitars as lyrics sound like the mental ramblings of someone who is relapsing on their addictions. While certain pieces like “Distortion of Nature” just deliver that sitting in an empty room, being lit by the static of a TV, just paint a true example of sheer emptiness mentally and socially. While “Butterflies” is almost chaos incarnate, from wind chimes starting the piece, to sheer utter vocal snarling and experimental drum playing.
“Flowers Made of Flesh” truly embodies dread, nihilism, depression and self-harm just in the opening cinematic build. Before amplifying the sheer heaviness of Austin’s screams and highly-distorted vocal effects. Though the double-album does try to give you moments of reprieve and hope like with “Your Life is Over”, it is never truly enough to pull you out of the downward spiral you are listening to.
As I relistened to this album(s), it truly is a hard pill-to-swallow release. Dividing not only the fan base for it’s sheer experimentation and harsh sound, but the lyrical content and message of the album(s) brings out some of the darkest thoughts and memories that a lot of us have gone through with these themes. Making it a record that you have to be “in the mood” for or prepare yourself for the sheer sonic onslaught that Today is The Day is gonna hit you with for over three hours. It truly brings to life the sheer sadness and darkness of the human psyche that we go through with these emotional heavy-hitters. Tackling thoughts that we try to bottle up inside, before eventually the bottle bursts open and we have to come to face the demons we have hidden for so long.
