10 years ago every “Real” metal-head was criticizing 7 string guitar players because of the nu-metal movement. Hell, even these days people look down at them for it. In the past year or so musicians have stepped it up, saying; “If you don’t like 7 strings…here’s one more.”.  Let’s look at a few things in the current metal scene with more than 6 strings.

• Catalepsy is a dethcore band that has 3 seven string guitar players. It’s not like they are Iron Maiden with 3 astounding 6-stringers. You really can’t decipher between the three players. Seems like a waste to me, but they put on a good live show. I’m not sure exactly what they sound like on CD as I’ve had little interest in them.
• Dino Cazares plays an 8 string Ibanez in Divine Heresy (and other bands) and has played 7 strings in the past.
• High On Fire’s Matt Pike uses a custom 9 string guitar from first act…which is pretty much just a 12 string without the E, A and D string being strung normally. It’s actually quite interesting. He does this for a chorus type effect being that he is the sole guitar player in the band.
• Scale The Summit’s Chris Letchford uses a custom made 8 string guitar and band mate Travis Levrier uses a 7 string. Also Prosthetic Records newly signed progressive/instrumental band Animals As Leaders uses both 8 and 7 string guitars.

So is it only acceptable for a band to use more than 6 strings as long as they are using them in a non nu-metal way. Progressive metal bands are allowed to use them because they are actually doing more than chugging with them? I honestly don’t care either way as along as it sounds good, but I’m just kind of wondering what everyone’s opinion is on this.

Image: Guitarcenter.com

Post from: Metal Martyr

Dry raped you say? Yeah, it’s just like dry humping, only it’s not consensual and it was from a dude behind me. I don’t really think he meant to, but he was excited to see Hatebreed and was pushed up against me and jumping up and down a lot so it really felt like I was being dry humped. It’s expected though when you’re at a crowded venue with a big band and your up against the barrier. It made me rather uncomfortable but it didn’t last long. He must have got off quick.

So Hatebreed was an awesome show last night, but let me start from the beginning because there was 5 bands and all of them were really good. Catalepsy kicked off the show and they were really heavy in a deathcore way…and in to aerobics. All the guitar players liked to do the jogging in place thing while playing the rhythm riffs. If you’re new to this band too, you will find that they have three guitar player and they all play 7 strings. Now I don’t know the concept behind this but it’s not like Iron Maiden, 3 guitar players. I don’t see the necessity of three guitar player in a band like this. Especially an opener. Sometimes you have to look at it in a business way and think that that’s one more person to pay, one more mouth to feed on the road. But they played well and got one dude moshing his ass off all by himself.

Next up was War Of Ages. I talked to Leroy, the singer before the show for a few minutes. Nothing special. Facedown Records was cool enough to get me on the guest list and I wanted to get an interview with the band but I really didn’t know enough about them, so I thought it would be better not to this time. They had a bass trigger issue so things started a little late and it seem that they only played a 15 or 20 minute set. They had their prayer before they started playing and then commenced to kick ass. There still wasn’t too many people yet but more were trickling in. The show started at 6:30 and most of the time they start shows there at 8:00.

After War Of Ages finished up, Soilent Green started setting up and this big drunk asshole was talking a bunch of shit and starting to get on people nerves to include mine. He kept saying how he smoked joint with Phil Anselmo on the stage a long time ago. He was probably one of the most annoying drunks I’ve encountered at a show in a long time. I’m not an aggressive person. I’m 5′7″ tall and weigh about 170 and I know my limitations, however I’ve never wanted to beat the hell out of a drunk dude so much in my entire life. That’s how annoying he was. Anyway, Soilent Green was good and played well, but I’m not a big fan of their music, so they were probably the least favorite of the bands that played last night.

Emmure came on after Soilent Green and were really cool. They kind of bring an almost urban vibe to their music. The only thing was that the singer, “Big Al”, seemed as if he was using more of the high pitch scream/growl than usual. I don’t know if his vocal cords were taking a beating from being on the road a lot or what. But other than that they played great and put on a good show.

Hatebreed took about 30 minutes or so to come on after Emmure. Mr Drunk-shit disappeared for awhile and it was kind of peaceful for a bit. By this time the venue was starting to look more full. Chants of HATEBREED!-HATEBREED! started up but died out before the band took the stage. When Hatebreed took the stage the place erupted. I honestly can’t remember what song they opened with but they played most of the classics and some from cd’s and ep’s before Perseverance, which I didn’t know. They played Doomsayer, Live For This, Defeatists, As Diehard As They Come, This Is Now, among the others and closed the show with Destroy Everything and I Will Be Heard. Everything sounded tight and there was some crazy pit action going on behind me during their set. The band looked like they were having a good time as well. When Jamie wasn’t singing he was smiling. It has been a few years since they came through NC. This was my first Hatebreed show and Aside from the dry-raping, I had a blast. My neck is sore and my voice is raspy. As you can see I didn’t take any pictures. There is a good reason for the lack of pics. Cameras were not allowed in the Hatebreed show. It kind of sucked but at the same time it was nice not having to carry that damn thing around.

Post from: Metal Martyr