I am looking for some polyphonic DM. any suggestions?

There's a DM help thread. This would go in there, wouldn't it?

Well, this is the recommendation section. This area is meant to increase the effectiveness of searching for specific inqueries, and to be a more open locale for individual recommendation threads. The help threads are good, yes, but this is also acceptable.

Check out Demilich. Incredible counterpoint skills.

I wasn't sure.

Yes, Demilich is interesting. Would early At the Gates count?

I have only listened to "The Red in the Sky is Ours" a handful of times, and I can't really recall if it's exceptionally 'polyphonc'. I think any death metal band that places a large emphasis on counterpoint (multiple different melodies playing simultaneously) would be what he's asking for.

I've only listened to some of that album, as well.

Does Cosmic Atrophy use much counterpoint (I've only heard some of the stuff)?

Occasionally, yeah we do. However it isn't a huge part of our sound. I think, though, that we do it more than most other death metal bands.

The first Amorphis almost always has distinct two guitar parts going on simultaneously. Usually doomy strumming or chugging with delicate lead melodies weaving around them.

And yes, early At The Gates is very polyphonic.

i am a long time fan of Demillich and not too really big on At The Gates.

No death metal band uses polyphony as much as Martyr. I would particularly recommend Feeding the Abscess, which is the most polyphonic of their albums. From the very beginning of "Perpetual Healing [Infinite Pain]," it's evident just how different truly polyphonic death metal is from the rest of the genre. It sounds really weird.

Also, I've got to say that At the Gates is a really shitty recommendation in this thread. Their counterpoint is very poorly constructed.

um they use parallel harmony almost exclusively. they do have independent bass lines but that's about it.

No metal band really uses polyphony at all. I haven't heard much of Martyr, but At the Gates and Demilich sure as hell don't live up to my idea of polyphony.

Sorry, but having just listened to Feeding the Abscess, I've got to say that you're completely wrong. There are, in fact, tons of places where the various guitar parts do not strictly harmonize with each other. Sometimes, it's not that noticeable but a careful listener will notice frequent use of polyphony on that album.

WHAT.

Okay, from the looks of things, no one here (save rexxz) seems to really know what "polyphony" means. Most notably, it does NOT mean "counterpoint."

Polyphony refers to using multiple voices. In that sense, ALL METAL IS POLYPHONIC. A power chord is polyphonic. That is what the term means.

What everyone seems to think is polyphony is actually called COUNTERPOINT. Thankfully, at least rexxz has pointed this out. Why no one else seems capable of picking up on this, I have no clue. While some parallel motion is acceptable in counterpoint, the main defining feature is that the two (or more) lines move separately of each other, but in relation so as to create pleasing harmonic intervals.

Forgive me for bitching like this, but this is a very important distinction, and nothing screams ignorance quite like using these terms incorrectly. It's like the difference between vibrato and tremolo... except an even bigger gap between them.

Yes, on a semantic level the word is not used how it is being applied in this thread, however it should be pointed out that "polyphonic" has been used to characterized contrapuntal movement since the baroque era, accuracy aside. It's a very common acceptable term even if it's not 100% correct... much like how you will see people use the word melodic to denote an artist/song/etc. that places higher emphasis on strong melody.

That being said, I wouldn't call parallel harmonies (not melodies) to be polyphonic, that's what is called homophonic within the context of orchestration.

However, this is all strayng off the intended path of the thread. It's pretty clear he wants bands that use a lot of counterpoint, so instead of getting into an argument over the words (not saying anyone is doing that just yet, but that we shouldn't do it at all) let's just keep that in mind.



With the two explanations above (mine and Ribos), Demilich most certainly uses it.

http://www.myspace.com/martyrcanada

Not really hearing it? Only two songs there. They're better than I remembered though; like jazz-rock made metal enough to be palatable.

At the Gates was the first thing that came to mind from the thread title. Morbid Angel use some two-guitars-needed riffs, esp in the newer stuff I think, and I spotted some similar stuff in Crypticus the other day (but only at points)