#64 - Technology and stuff. Drone Unit
Now, todays recommendation may be stretching it a bit, in terms of what can be considered a Modern Metal artist but I think this one shows enouigh influences coming from my three pillars to qualify at least as peripheral Modern Metal, and it is really interesting in some respects so I just want to show it to you.
I'm talking about the project Drone Unit, which I just discovered. This is, not kidding, fully electronic (meaning: no actual instruments used) Metal that actually doesn't suck. Which is almost a first for me. Usually those all-programmed/electronica-sounding-like-metal projects end up sounding really forced and bland. But not this one. This one man project actually embtaces the limited range of guitar-like sounds possible with non-guitars and focuses on a purely synthetic, dehumanized overall sound, softening the edges a bit with some distorted harsh vocals.
There are many things this makes me think about. The most prominent would be how close some of the sounds produced come to projects that use actual guitars. Bands that aim for a very synthetic sound like Endolith, Synthetic Breed or, in some instances, Neosis end up sounding quite similar to what Drone Unit does. I guess this tells you something about modern production techniques and also about the hugeness of the Industrial influence still reverberating through Modern Metal. But it also shows something else, a bit more technical. As it is quite interesting how Drone Unit goes about creating that sound. The staccato riffing sound is realised primarily using kick/bass drum. Which lets it become really obvious just how reliant the mechanical sound of typical Modern Metal riffing is on drum work and the typical bass-drum-shadowing-guitar way of integrating and using drums. Which is likely strongly connected with the precussive nature of much of its riffing.
Here Drone Unit's debut album:
Mechanical Corpse by Drone Unit
