Introduction of media Script

The posts in this blog are to compare and show the similarities between two very different kinds of music: Technical deathcore and the twentieth century virtuoso. Though the may seem different they are in fact quite similar in their sense of complication and in their extreme technicality.

The Link in their Music

The two pieces I will use for my comparison are Seized and Devoured by Rings of Saturn (Track one on the CD ) and Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 by Sergei Rachmaninoff (Track two on the CD ).My reason for choosing these pieces is because it shows the virtuosity of the composers and players. Rachmaninoff's technical composing is revered among most piano players because of this and a few of his other pieces. Rings of Saturn are know for their brutally fast and technical music. Seized and Devoured may not be their most technical song but all their music is extremely technical and this song is no exception.

Genres

Technical deathcore is named such because they come from the genre of death metal which evolved into deathcore and they also aim to be as technical as possible. They also still keep their music to have a purpose. I asked the band personally what they thought their genre was and their response was as follows: “We kind of think genre classification has gotten a little ridiculous in the metal scene so we call ourselves aliencore in a kinda satirical kind of way. If you want to be more exact tho we would be called technical deathcore” -Lucas Mann(Rings of Saturn guitarist).
As a twentieth century virtuoso, Rachmaninoff was also are very technical in this context, where I am speaking of a composer rather then a violinist or pianist (even though Rachmaninoff is also a virtuoso on the piano). The piece is a concerto so it's genre is predetermined and with no composer to ask we cannot know if Rachmaninoff wanted it to be anything different then what we call it today.

Definition

Virtuosos are people who are skilled at what they do, generally in the fine arts. The virtuoso is someone who at all times is trying to be better then the common person of their trade. Now we would generally call them masters of their trade or “Gurus”. The term is not always a good thing though because some people use it to describe someone who would chose to try to make their art; in this case music, more technical and ignore the feelings and deeper meaning of the music itself.

The Artists

Rachmaninoff is considered one of the most talented pianist to this day where as Rings of Saturn may not be the very best at what they do but their music is still very virtuosic. They both try to go above and beyond the normal in their music. With Rachmaninoff it was through making the melody of his music to be almost and interweaving puzzle instead of a straight forward listen. Like Rachmaninoff, Rings of Saturn does this to but for them it is the intricate guitar and bass riffs and blast beats that make their music so virtuosic. 

Concerto No. 3: The Hard Part

This is considered to be one of the most, if not the most, technical and musically demanding concertos for any player to play. Along with the taxing technicality the concerto also last around 40 minutes if the player does not use the cuts that Rachmaninoff authorized, thought these cuts are generally not made anymore they were mostly during the first recordings of the piece.

In the Rachmaninoff piano Concerto No. 3 the large major chords make it's cadenza very hard to play because of the fact that the player has to jump back and forth between the chords. It also adds more technicality thus needing even more dedication and concentration from the player.

Seized and Devoured: Wicked Fast Fingers

 Seen below is a photo of the tab for Seized and Devoured by Rings of Saturn which is sweep picking during the “outro” of the song. This technique may not be advanced but they are playing mostly like this through out and it demonstrates a keen memory to remember all the notes and to be able to play them without fail. The riffs are common in more technical metal but Rings of Saturn seems to beyond what the ordinary Techdeath and deathcore bands would have.