Riff Analysis 024 - Confessor "Alone"
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ต.ค. 2024
- Technical doom and some thoughts on the history of heavy, technical music.
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Here's a live vid of this amazing song: • Confessor - Alone (Off...
Steve Shelton, drummer for Confessor here. Thank you for being interested enough in our music to break down one of my favorite songs to play! It's always a little surreal to hear people who know what they are talking about break down our music, because we definitely do NOT know what we are doing. Our weirdness comes from our varied influences and the fact that the two most important things to us have always been being heavy, and being a little "off". Thanks for sharing this and for turning some new people on to our music, as well as any other band they would never have heard of if not for your channel. Reaching like minded people through exploring music's endless possibilities is what it's all about!
Aaayyy honored to hear from you! Thank you so much for the comment and for the mindblowing music!
Confessor/Condemned is a masterwork.10/10.You are an incredible drummer🤘
One of my favorite bands of all time. A gem
@Confessor How nice of you to react! I just stumbled across this video because today I finally did something I wanted to do for a long time: find out the exact drum part for the Condemned intro. Despite your instruction (th-cam.com/video/_54BL0aOt5E/w-d-xo.html) I couldn't figure it out exactly. But thanks to a new update of my favorite guitar tab software (Guitar Pro 8), which now allows audio to be imported and have some nifty features to align it, I could finally work it out. Man... this is tricky! There's a few things that make it so complex and difficult to find a pattern:
* Even though there are, what I would like to call, building blocks (which you explain very good in the instruction video), the pattern how it repeats is never entirely the same.
* The ride and when guitars enter hi hat every 3rd 8th note makes it pretty confusing.
* I had to decide what time signatures I would write it in. I started in 9/8 (because in the video you speak of groups of 4 and 5 and an occasional group of 3) but I didn't get it quite well and it got confusing. So I decided to stick strictly to the groups, and have the snare always as 1 (again, as you mention in the instruction video). That seems to work and helps a lot in understanding it.
The result you can find here: imgur.com/a/yJoozNa
That's something! As one can see, the pattern is really tricky and even when the guitars enter the pattern is never repeated the same.
Mind also the tempo changes, which clearly indicates you didn't play with a click track. It's not entirely accurate, since it's a hell of a job to align it and I just only recently got this update so I need to get better at it. Not a bad thing, I think it makes it sound more human. I mean... it's probably for a lot of drummers hard to play correct ;-)
CONFESSOR will forever go unmatched. My favorite band of all time. 🖤
Finally Confessor getting some appreciation!!!!
I practice in Confessor's old rehearsal space and they're now across the hall. I run into Steve Shelton probably once a month. They're still as incredible as ever!!
That's awesome! Great to hear they're still going! Would love to hear the stuff they're working on these days!
It was indeed my introduction to Confessor. Calling it technical doom sold me to watch the video. Cool stuff
Same. Super sick stuff
Condemned's intro is almost some kind of proto djent rhythmically
Underrated doesn't even come close. I first heard them on the "Gods of Grind" compilation. Vocals were always an acquired taste but the drumming and rhythms were so good.
Thank you for drawing my attention to a band I have never heard of! Please continue. I DEMAND CONTENT RELATED TO THEORY IN HEAVY MUSIC
Condemned is a great unique album .the slow technical music is just perfect .
speaking about extreme metal albums that stood the test of time and are still very much relevant - Nespithe by Demilich! plenty of harmonic and rhythmical weirdness to cover there
great video as always, mate!
Fantastic, weird-ass band. Like the guitars, the drums are conceptually mind-bending even when they're not physically taxing.
I used to go and see these guys all the time whenever they would perform in Nashville, TN. They were simply incredible. I would really love it if another album was in the works and on the way. Whether they release another work, or not; they have my respect for what they have contributed.
I've been listening to Confessor for few days constantly. Can't have enough of this band, uniquely awesome!
-I can't believe. Tabs for CONFESSOR!
Thank You, Man!
So underrated band.
Speaking of doom-y type stuff, I’d love to see a deep dive on the Melvins - I’ve long since lost the issue but in Bass Guitar Magazine many years ago Trevor Dunn (of Mr Bungle, Fantomas, and other bands, including a few tours and records with the Melvins) talked about how challenging the songs were for him to learn with a classical music background as Buzz and Dale don’t read music, they play by ear and learn by rote. The song in question, “Hag Me,” shifted time signatures every few measures until the end and even that was sort of a way of brute-forcing it into a coherent framework. They do a lot of cool stuff that I’d love to see analyzed like this. Keep up the great work!
Ugh love hag me
I love Confessor. Glad to see them get covered!
Never heard Confessor until watching this vid. Glad I did, cause holy $#!+ !! I love the blend of all the different influences that comes through in their music. A shame they haven't released more recent material.
Confessor is a grossly underrated band, awesome you give them some attention. I think the vocals throw some people off (I love it) and it's complex music which for some people is hard to digest (I love this even more ;-)). When I first heard them on the Gods of Grind compilation album back in the day I was sold. Especially Condemned is still one of my favourites.
One remark: I think they play 2 steps down (CFBbEbGC), and not 1 step down drop C (CGCFAD). A dropped tuning has a different quality which makes it sound not exactly right. As far as I can tell from this video (th-cam.com/video/NQM7XkQhjvA/w-d-xo.html) it seems on the lower 2 strings for power chords they don't bar like in a dropped tuning, but have a fingering common to a standard tuning. It was quite regular then for especially Death Metal bands to go as low as possible, some went even down to 2,5 step down (Carcass). Now it's more common to use 7 or 8 string guitars to go low. I think also dropped tunings weren't used quite often in those days thrash/death/doom, that was more a thing of alternative music (e.g. in grunge, alternative metal like Helmet, Tool) and sometimes an odd song in the aforementioned styles (e.g. The Thing That Should Not Be by Metallica).
How have I never heard Confessor before?! I'm going to get this album right now.
So glad you brought them up, I use to say Bjørk is meeting metal ;-). I love that record, you can here it very much without being tired, cause of the many (in that time it was made) "strange" ryth/riifs
Love this album, and yeah it's crazy how unique it still is in spite of being so old. Lots of bands have haphazard rhythms or shrill vocals but the exact combination of the two here is really something special, it's always amusing to see people reacting to it for the first time. No idea they put out a second one though, even if it's watered down I need to go check that out.
This band is new to me. Seems like - this after only a cursory listen - there is some interesting stuff going on harmonically as well as rhythmically. The singer often sounds like he’s in a different key than the guitar and bass - and pointedly, deliberately so. To my ears anyway, it makes for a very cool, emotional vibe. The norm in metal tends to be either no-pitch vocals, or if they're melodic, remaining well inside the parameters of harmonically basic. Hearing a band deviate from that - especially so long ago - is quite something.
Absolutely! I've definitely gotta do a video about these vocals at some point. There are a bunch of parts on this album where the vocal melodies are these kind of straightforward tonal sounding things, but with like nothing to do with the riffs.
@@metalmusictheory5401 what strikes me are the moments where that atonality/bitonality evoke a strong emotional response. To me it's literally the same feeling as with some really beautiful classical music; a deep vibe that’s not just emotion, but something truly transcendent.
I wanted to comment about your head movement till I saw it was written in the video in moment 06:30.
I noticed when you play triplets your head moved kinda downwards and when you play 2 notes per bar your head moved sideways. This can explain rhythm to a deaf person hahah
Awesome video. I enjoy this channel.
Finally someone attempts to talk about what the Confessor experience is like! Thank you for your hard work in these videos and your ingenuity. Confessor are a huge influence for some of us.
I doubt Confessor listened to Meshuggah. I'd recommend checking out the early doom metal band Trouble if you'd like to hear where some of Confessor's approach comes from. In any case even with Trouble understanding, they are sui generis.
Ooh wasn't aware of Trouble but they're sick! Thanks!
@@metalmusictheory5401 Glad you checked them out. To complete the puzzle, imagine taking Trouble and putting them through the blender of the most advanced thrash of their day. The de rigeur influence o the time (both for Confessor and Meshuggah I'd wager) was Watchtower - Control and Resistance and the earlier album and demos. If not directly, then through the And Justice For All filtering of the same approach of the times. This strain was called 'techno-thrash' at the time, with practitioners like Coroner, Sieges Even, Deathrow, Obliveon, Mekong Delta, etc etc. Big in Europe, especially Germany, though the initiating force was from Austin Texas.
If you listen to early Confessor you'll notice they're more at thrash tempo, then they slowed that technical stuff down. Nobody else did, and that makes them unique, so the influence is kind of like Trouble going through the technothrash blender.
🙂🤘
Great video. I was looking for a review of the album that described these details at length and you did a much better job than I could have hoped for.
Excellent job; you were able to explain the feeling of being on the slow, off-the-rails rollercoaster ride that is listening to Confessor.
Thanks for the work! It is impressive to see how you are able to analyze the weirdest stuff. I am old, so Confessor was the right band to differentiate from the Speed Metal guys... Probably it is hard to analyze, because they didn't thought about theory or structure - it had to sound sick! Mission accomplished, my 2ct.
Confessor/Condemned is an album I have played the shit out of,for years.One of my friends recently declared it was his favorite metal album of all time.I couldn't disagree.Its an album that requires alot from the listener,but if it ever "clicks"..its on🤘(Also,I live in NC,where theyre from and have seen them live.They were awesome).
Such an underated band!
WOOO!!! I love Confessor so much. Great to see you covering them!
Even though I am not a musician, I just subscribed to your channel.
we wrote most of that out as 1 or 3 etc like you showed at 3:49 at least that is how I foggily remember it! Hey Steve!
That's awesome! I'd love to talk to you (and Steve and everyone) about this album as part of my dissertation research-basically I'm talking to a bunch of bands to get perspectives on writing, learning, and thinking about tricky music like this. Send me an email at calderhannan@gmail.com if you might be interested!
Man, thank you for putting this together! The point you make at the end feels so apt. I had never heard Confessor before and they are great, but they sound like an evolutionary dead-end. It's like nobody picked up their torch.
I've heard Tom waits described in a similar way, that he's a Rockstar from a timeline where Little Richard was more popular than Elvis.
Great comparison! So cool to think about this stuff in terms of alternate timelines, I hadn't explicitly thought about it like that but it definitely makes sense!
Holy hell, I didn't have an idea such a band existed! It kinda reminds me of Prong's "Beg To Differ" which was released slightly before this one. Prong did survive, for a while longer at least, but they didn't explore this sound much further. And when they reformed, they released a bunch of albums with Boring Metal :) (No offense to the Prong lovers out there) So who knows, maybe if Confessor didn't break up maybe they would become bored with this kind of music eventually?
Yyyyyyyyyyyyup time to look up that Steve Shelton drum DVD again yessir
youve introduced me to a lot of great bands
First song I heard from this band was "Suffer". Damn, was it out there. I loved it though. Excellent video on your part.
Would love to see a breakdown of something from Ion Dissonance! “Suffering the art of letting go” has some really weird stuff going on
Definitely on the list!
@@metalmusictheory5401 I second this along with "steps" by intronaut
Glad that you took the time to analyze this great band. I discovered them back in 2005 when tey released unraveled and although im bassist i fell in love with shelton crazy patterns on drums. I then listened their debut album and alone is one of their trademarks. Fun video to watch as always!
Technical doom - who would've thought
Kinda predicted that DT example - such a memorable and also common example of an odd rhythm pattern!
Thanks for the introduction to Confessor. I am one of the lucky 10000. I love your channel.
Steve Shelton is a fucking legend
thanks for another great video. in your conclusion you wondered what would have happened if they stuck around, and how that could have changed how things evolved. it got me thinking about that whole 'era' of 90s underground/indie music (across many genres). there were a lot of 'local' music scenes that ended up having a lot of influence on the future, a lot of very experimental bands and genres were born, rapidly evolved, and died. it was a very interesting time.
I love how concise your videos are! I’d love to see a satyr video!
Thanks! Will definitely do one at some point, and I've got a little bit about one of their riffs in my Metal Ear Training p1 vid!
Thank you for the great video and introducing me to Confessor!
Wow found new kick-ass band. Thanks and I hope your channel keeps going on forever❤️
I remember listening to this band around 2011/2012, pretty sure they were recommended to me by my old bands vocalist who was more into hardcore. Hadn't thought about them since then really so thanks for unlocking a memory
love that I've adequately branded myself as "the Confessor fan" that Brendan Sloan (Convulsing) just put this directly on my wall. Thank you
So flattering, on all fronts! |m|
@@metalmusictheory5401 anyway listening to the ~2004 album now. it's less disorienting but still,
@@needleofsalt Still slaps though!
Another great video! Would love to see one that further explores how vocals shape the perception of rhythm.
Thank you for exposing me to confessor its to good. No wonder elliot hoffman loves this band.
Your channel fucking rules. Also, when are we gonna see the Dodecahedron vid?
Vanitas
@@Randinator Or anything from Kwintessens
God why is everyone here in love with the same bands I'm in love in. Dodecahedron please!
Unrelated to the instrumentation, you briefly mentioned the vocal style. The tone and delivery on this album reminds me of Craig Owens, particularly on the album All's Well That Ends Well by Chiodos. I don't think the influence is intentional, but more of a coincidence. Comparing Craig Owens to Scott Jeffreys is probably not a popular idea among metal enthusiasts.
i might have to give this a listen. thanks :D.
Love you
@4:35 Hey man, that was legit.
Bassically only Trve Cvlt 90's kids will get this joke.
confessor = gods
also need to mention that i love this channel and would love to have something like this around when i was starting to learn the guitar. awesome! keep it up please.
Didn't know about confessor too! :D really interested in checking them out, but I can't seem to find their first album anywhere, not even on youtube. Any idea where I could get it? I'm from Portugal, so, probably not in stores xb
Yeah it's hard to find! It was on bandcamp for a while which is where I got it, but seems they took it down. There's a remastered/compilation version on Spotify etc. called "Uncontrolled" that has most of the songs from the debut it looks like
@@metalmusictheory5401 thank you so much! :D I'll check it out! Great fan of you work, please do continue with these! I've learned so much already trying to use the techniques and ideas from your videos, really the greatest youtube discovery for me in the last 3 years! You rock my man! Cheers from Portugal!
hola podrias analizar la banda blotted science???
on the list!
Woah, confessor is the shit !
Uh...
Loincloth?
hey that just reminded me I have ice cream in the freezer
could you take a swing at disharmonic orchestra
Looking swole buddy.
I totally forgot about confessor, haven't heard this in over a decade!
Do you like Lychgate? Perfect fodder for this channel I would think.
So good! And yep I dig Lychgate, just started listening to them a few months ago and it takes me a while to get familiar enough with a band to say anything about them but they're on the list!
@@metalmusictheory5401
That's cool, I'd recommend their first album. It's not the most technical, but it's got the best song writing and atmosphere imo.
On a related note: have you ever considered doing a theory video on some less technical music? Genuine question. There's still a lot to be said about the theory of "easy" metal songs, as it were. Plus, your channel is called "metal music theory" and not "prog music theory" after all...
@@hairyboy666 haha that's a good point. I have a bunch of non-prog stuff on my to-do list but I haven't gotten very far with any of those scripts-I feel like it's hard to find stuff to say that isn't already all over the place on TH-cam, and like all the requests I get and the music I know best are prog. But I definitely will do some! What bands do you have in mind?
@@metalmusictheory5401 oh man, there's so much I can think of... here are some off the top of my head:
1) how are Revenge able to keep writing new and interesting material with such a rigid set of musical constraints? what are these constraints? Can you rely on traditional music theory to describe them adequately?
2) Does there exist a "Slayer scale"? Or: is there any logic to how they pick which note comes next.
3) Different uses of microtonality in non-"prog" bands, like Xasthur before he went folk, or morbid angel's "rapture".
4) Have you ever tried to work out all of the time signature changes on Mayhem's wolf's lair abyss album? Why are they there?
I could go on with these for a long time...