Genres you'd like if it wasn't for...

Isn't "breakdowns without slowdown" contradictory? What really bugs me about some deathcore groups though is that they'll get like five seconds into a song and suddenly there's the breakdown. No buildup to it or anything.

The issue here is that deathcore is defined by breakdowns, they put the -core in deathcore. Take them out and you just have brutal/technical death metal.

On the other hand, putting breakdowns in death metal doesn't automatically make it deathcore, see Dying Fetus.

The breakdowns that made it into metal and many of its numerous hopefully-soon-to-be-executed bastard children came from New York Hardcore if I remember correctly.

If I recall correctly, a breakdown doesn't necessarily need slowdowns, it's just that most -core bands seem to love it. August Burns Red do lots of breakdowns at normal tempo.

True that a lot of bands keep the same tempo, but the drums may still go into half-time (probably the wrong term for it but can't think of the right one right now) or something.

Raining Blood is the oft-trotted-out example of a Metal song with a good breakdown. I can't really argue.

I don't really know if I'd call that a breakdown as much as just a staggered riff transition. Breakdowns are more JUNJUNJUN... JUNJUNJYN pseudo Pantera style chugs usually.

As Master Inferno noted, breakdowns in deathcore generally suck because they have no forethought or buildup, crafted as they often are by individuals with a poor grasp of song structure and cohesion. A breakdown at the right point of the song that sticks to the original tempo can be devastating; a sudden, unwarranted dip below 100 bpm full of augmented 4th chugging is almost always atrocious.

edited 8th May '12 9:07:26 AM by AsTheAnointed

Even then though, breakdowns don't really hold up as well to other sudden-speed-drops such as ominous lurching doom metal dirges like in classic Incantation.

I'd like old school west coast Hip-Hop a lot more if the beats didn't have so many high pitched segments.

I'd listen to more Metal if it weren't for the harsh production.

Van Halen has some pretty clean production as far as metal goes. You ever give them a shot?

Van Halen is Hard Rock / Hair Metal, not metal.

No sir. "Breakdown" just means you take the song down to a lower level of volume and energy for a while. It's perfectly possible to do that without changing the tempo. AC/DC did (does?) this a lot in their live shows; their talent for 'breaking songs down and building them up again' is respected by many. And they rarely change the tempo! Watch this from 2:49 to 5:34 for the Most Triumphant Example:

edited 7th Nov '12 1:01:47 PM by MidnightRambler

From the Hair Metal page:

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edited 7th Nov '12 1:15:29 PM by 0dd1

Hair Metal lacks many key characteristics of Metal (Double bass drumming, drop D tuning etc).

I wouldn't say that drop D tuning is an essential characteristic of metal. I've just never heard a single Hair Metal song that's high enough on Mohs Scale Of Rock And Metal Hardness for me to call it "metal". I file most of it under Hard Rock.

Anyway, if you want cleanly produced metal, try Helloween, or Ensiferum, or some of the heavier Judas Priest stuff (e.g. Painkiller).

edited 7th Nov '12 1:20:10 PM by MidnightRambler

I already listened to Helloween but I'll give the others a try.

edited 7th Nov '12 1:32:05 PM by KingNerd

Well, regardless, it still has "metal" in its name.

Yeah, but I think that's a Non-Indicative Name.

Anyway, if I really get going about my Insistent Terminology when it comes to genres I won't stop for hours, so I'll just stop here.

@King Nerd: Lots of contemporary metal bands do produce their albums very cleanly. I figure everything done by the Devin Townsend Project sounds pretty clean, even at it most chaotic and intense. Of course, Strapping Young Lad is another story...

Fair 'nuff