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In a Metal Group, What Do You Think is the Most Important Role?

Which role is most important in metal?

  • Vocals

    Votes: 4 44.4%
  • Lead Guitar

    Votes: 4 44.4%
  • Rhythm Guitar

    Votes: 1 11.1%
  • Bass

    Votes: 1 11.1%
  • Drums

    Votes: 4 44.4%
  • Keyboards/Other

    Votes: 1 11.1%

  • Total voters
    9

TheGreatCthulhu

Composer of the Night.
Joined
Jan 22, 2016
Location
United States of America
Gender
Very much a dude.
When it comes to a metal group, which instrument or role do you think is the most important?

Guitars? Bass? Drums? Vocals? Keyboards/Other exotic instruments?

Once you vote, leave a reason why you think it's the most critical role.

I have my opinion on this, which I'll share depending on what kinda discussion this creates.

Keep it loud guys! :)
 
Songwriting and mixing. Don't matter how good you are at playing an instrument if the songs you write aren't good. And, if you can't make the instruments complement each other then it's a jarring listen. Nothing's more annoying than one instrument drowning out everything else. Unless it's a solo or instrumental break, the focus should be how the sounds interact with one another (and even then, the backing instruments should be supporting the soloing instrument/performance).
 

TheGreatCthulhu

Composer of the Night.
Joined
Jan 22, 2016
Location
United States of America
Gender
Very much a dude.
Songwriting and mixing. Don't matter how good you are at playing an instrument if the songs you write aren't good. And, if you can't make the instruments complement each other then it's a jarring listen. Nothing's more annoying than one instrument drowning out everything else. Unless it's a solo or instrumental break, the focus should be how the sounds interact with one another (and even then, the backing instruments should be supporting the soloing instrument/performance).
Assuming it's competently mixed and mastered, which do you feel is the most critical role, or what you instinctively shift focus to unconsciously?
 
Joined
Oct 14, 2013
Location
Australia
Trick question, they're all important.
Maybe a better way to phrase this, which one do you instinctively focus on more? :)

Now we have that little misunderstanding all cleared up.
For me it's always the drums. I've always wanted to be drummer but I'm just not built for it. I don't have the huge arms and huge legs that's required for it. A lot of people don't realise how much your pedal foot/leg gets a workout when you are drumming.
I'm not saying it's the most critical role as all are equally important. Just for me it's the one I use to ground myself in the song and every other part just layer on top of that.

why you think it's the most critical role.
Well you mean thing I most focus on . . . of cause you do.
For me the drums ground me when I listen to a song. You could say they form the structure or you could say it's the spine of the song. Is the song fast or slow? Does the rhythm of the song change part way through? Also if you know sheet music you'll know most songs music and lyrics are played to the beat of the drums.

Pick an instrumental of any song you like and then try to sing the words to ther song in your head while listening to the instrumental. Even if you have to read the words, that's ok. You'll soon see how some songs are way easier to sing than others. That's because everything lines up with the drums. Well the better songs do that is.

Yeah sing in your head . . . I have to do that as my singing voice is garbage so I don't do it.

The same can be said for my favourite genre of music - electronic (and other similar styles). I always dig the beat there the most.

Songwriting and mixing.
Correct but in my opinion the 4 parts of a song all need to be equally good. All 4 are equally as important.
1. Vocals (how it's sung, not the writing of it)
2. Music (how it's played, not the writing of it)
3. Song writing (music and lyrics)
4. Post production (mixing, track engineering etc etc)

If any of the 4 are off, you'll notice it. Though it takes a more keen ear to pick which of the 4 is responsible for the issue in the song.
 
Last edited:

Storm_Echo

Gamer of Videos
Joined
Feb 21, 2020
Location
Ethereal Plane
Definitely the drum, providing the backtrack for almost everything, setting the pace and tone of a piece, and having a lot of control over how the other pieces sound mixed in. If your drum track is bad, everything will feel off beat and out of place.

It's like linemen in football, or the bass player in a jazz band. Underappreciated at times, but critical to the success of the operation. A good drummer can carry a song all by themself, even with bad to mediocre accompaniment.
 

TheGreatCthulhu

Composer of the Night.
Joined
Jan 22, 2016
Location
United States of America
Gender
Very much a dude.
@TheGreatCthulhu can we have the answer yet?
What I think are the most important?

Easy. Drums and bass.

For several reasons.

I know most people will tend to focus on the guitars and the vocals, while very important, they aren't the foundation of a composition.

Without rhythm, we have no interesting music, and it's a drummer's job to set the rhythm, set the tempo, and keep everyone on time. This is why for drummers, especially in metal, timing is important, as is hit strength. A lot of people will play drums with a light touch, and that's the wrong way to go with metal drums.

I like it when drummers are in rock-solid time and are just pounding the crap out of their kit. It sounds the best, and gives the drums a complex, rich timbre.

It's also why in metal drummers always play steady rimshots on the snare, where they're hitting the head of the drum and the rim of the drum at the same time. This results in an explosive, tight snare sound that will help the engineer in mixing later. You just gotta have the drummer to stop hitting the drums with his purse!

Bass I believe is the most underrated instrument in heavy metal. I can't fathom why as bass adds girth to the drums, and a gigantic bottom end to the guitars, making the band sound huge.

A good bass tone, played by a great bass player is arguably the most important role there is.

Which also pisses me off, because a lot of people starting bands have this problem. A group of friends decides to start a band, what ends up happening is this:

The talented guys wind up on guitars or drums, the guy that can sing or growl, winds up on vocals, and the awful guitar player winds up on bass.

And it's those jerks that don't give the instrument the respect and dignity it deserves. They don't maintain their instruments, leading to strings that are 10 years old sounding like crap, basses that I'm surprised still are working, and routinely can't play their parts.

If one aims to be a kickass heavy metal bass guitar player, one ought to listen to the likes of Steve Harris from Iron Maiden, Lemmy Kilmister from Motorhead (RIP), Al Cisneros from Sleep, Cliff Burton from old-school Metallica (RIP, when 'Tallica used to be awesome), David Ellefson from Megadeth, Justin Chancellor from Tool, Ian Hill from Judas Priest, and other many great and talented bass players to get inspired.

All of these bass players have several things in common. They're always in key, on time, they drive the rhythm of the song, they add girth to the drums, making the drummer sound better, and they add girth to the guitars, making the guitarists sound better.

In other words, if you don't have a rock solid foundation, the other things that are building on top of that are going to crumble.
 

MapelSerup

not actually Canadian
Joined
Feb 19, 2020
Although every instrument is important, I'd have to go with lead guitar. It stands out the most and is really what you think of when you think about heavy metal. The drums are almost as important, but I feel like they tie everything together, instead of taking the front lines with the melody like the guitar does.
 

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