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Readers' Choice

THE DUBSTEP DEBATE RAGES ON: GRINDSTEP?!?!?

 Friday, April 1st, 2011 at 12:30pm by

 

(from TheChive.com)

Like it or hate it, dubstep has made its presence felt in the metal scene and it is not going anywhere any time soon. Ever since I first posted about “djentstep” it seems like we’ve been getting just about one reader “this is so aewsome you gotta check it out their the best!!!” email per day with another link to a metal/dubstep mash-up. And as Axl reported yesterday, even Korn are getting in on the dubstep party to the displeasure of ears everywhere.

One of the better dubstep jamz to come our way is this interpretation of one of my favorite Darkest Hour songs, “Convalescence,” done by Arkturus. Reader Isaac Lunsford sent this in, and apparently the DH dudes were so tickled by it they posted it on their own Facebook page:

Not bad, right? Kinda like cocaine I wouldn’t go jamming this every day, but it’s fun once every now and again. Download it here if you’re so inclined.

Next up we have reader Scottie G who sent in a link to his own “grindstep” jam “The God Delusion – Occam’s Razor:”

The God Delusion – Occam’s Razor (FREE DOWNLOAD – GRINDSTEP!) by scottieg

To me the programmed drums make this song feel not very grind-y (despite the fact that one-man grind projects often use programmed drums). It’s definitely metal mixed with dubstep, though, that’s for sure… but I’m not sure quite what exactly the point is. It feels sloppily mashed together.

Call me old, but I still don’t quite get the dubstep/metal correlation. Wouldn’t dubstep fit better with, like, rap? Is it because dubstep — like metal — is easy for stay-at-home nerds to do up on the computer? Is it a momentary fad that’ll soon pass? Is it a legitimate cultural phenomenon? Chime in with your thoughts on metalstep below.

-VN

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  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ben-Robson/1375985482 Ben Robson

    the arcturus song doesn’t really sound like dubstep, just techno

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ben-Robson/1375985482 Ben Robson

      erm, ARKTURUS, i mean. apparently they’re a different band or something :P

    • Isaac Lunsford

      You’re right its not, its dance. Looks like the MS guys accidentally labeled my song as Dubstep, considering all my other songs are.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Julian-Selig-Smoger/1038806831 Julian Selig Smoger

    dubstep can be amazing when done right. just check out skrillex or chasing shadows. this darkest hour remix is bloody terrible. it’s not even dubstep. it’s more industrial or edm. dubstep is characterized by ridiculous bass, sparse drums, and all around evil. that song was just lame.

    • http://dystrophy.bandcamp.com devin townsend’s lost skullet

      +1 Skrillex

      if you had to categorize and compare, the closest thing i would call “metal” in dubstep is Datsik. bassdrops ftw

      • Len Bennard

        no. Boregore is the closest thing to metal in dubstep.

  • matty2fatty

    I think everyone should wait until someone who can do both really well combines them somehow. That grind clip wasn’t good grind or good dubstep, so of course the combination was going to suck.

    I think the Commissioner stuff that came out last year is probably the direction an original metal/dubstep combo would go, as that Big Chocolate kid seems to have a really good handle on both (I think his dubstep tracks are great)

    • B-dizzle

      Commissioner is awesome!

      • Krang10

        Big Chocolate has some great stuff. I was hanging out with a girl and she knew him so she texted him and he sent his new album to me, has some really cool songs. That Darkest Hour remix is no good at all…not dubstep at all.

        +1 Skrillex
        Nero is also good.

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Vanderven/502827008 Mike Vanderven

          “Call me old, but I still don’t quite get the dubstep/metal correlation. Wouldn’t dubstep fit better with, like, rap? Is it because dubstep — like metal — is easy for stay-at-home nerds to do up on the computer? Is it a momentary fad that’ll soon pass? Is it a legitimate cultural phenomenon? Chime in with your thoughts on metalstep below.”

          i blame Big Chocolate, and maybe that Skrillex dude, cuz he used to be in that one band i dont know the name of right now.

          now all the super awesome hipster sceno kids wanna get laid and have an excuse to listen to something other than deathcore

  • Tom

    Yeah, that first song isn’t dubstep at all.
    The second one is just bad death metal with shitty keyboards and a little bit of dubstep type synths. They have about as much to do with dubstep as disturbed to with death metal.

  • J

    so uh… when does the metal part start? this just sounds like shitty nintendo music.

    • Aether Jake

      Anyone that says nintendo music is shitty hates fun

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jeremy-Schnoor/100000513072818 Jeremy Schnoor

        Anyone who says, “anyone who says nintendo music is shitty hates fun,” has no life.

        • http://last.fm/user/melocure ryanb

          I am a lifeless meat popsicle, and I can confirm this.

  • http://www.worksofein.com WOE

    didnt Godflesh already nail the metal/dubstep thing quite some time ago?

    • namelessness

      It was drum and bass.

      • Dirtman73

        You did realize that Dubstep is just the modern-day term for Drum and Bass, right?

        • Mongorian

          idiot

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Tim-Shanks/1273561133 Tim Shanks

          wrong.

          • Dirtman73

            I may be wrong, but it’s irrelevant because it all sounds like mediocre button-mashing shit to me.

        • jxk

          Completely wrong, but to be fair a large portion of former dnb producers do dubstep now, so I can understand a non-fan getting it confused.

        • Person

          you cant be serious, how are there so many people who cant tell the difference between dubstep and dnb??, open your freakin ears!

      • http://nothingwrongwithfire.tumblr.com HoovesCarveCraters

        It was also AWESOME.

        I’m not feeling this stuff. I don’t mind industrial metal too much, but then it went downhill into Attack Attack! territory and now they just said, “fuck the metal part”.

        On a brighter note, more remixes like the Arkturus one might hit clubs and who knows? Maybe we’ll get a whole bunch of new people into metal.

  • El Wray

    It all just sounds like the demo songs that came on my Casio keyboard that I got for Christmas 1984.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Dan-Burton/784250631 Dan Burton

    Dubstep is the new Gabba. In the mid 90s Death Metal bands were obsessed with doing Gabba remixes. I even have a DJ only 12″ of Fear Factory gabba remixes which was released on a Gabba label called Mokum. Earache released some Industrial Strength stuff, and released the Hellspawn comp which was techno and gabba remixes of Earache bands, including the likes of Napalm Death, Brutal Truth and Morbid Angel.

    As WOE has said, if you listen to Godflesh’s ‘Love and Hate in Dub’ and Scorn’s early albums like ‘Vae Solus’ and ‘Colossus’ they all had elements of very early Dubstep. In the early 00′s you had Hydrahead style bands obsessed with glitch remixes, such as the Locust’s ‘Well I’ll be a Monkey’s Uncle’ with Kid 606 etc on the record and DJ Speedranch working with Dave Witte and Jimmy Plotkin. Pitchshifter have done a boot load of electronic remixes, and if you listen to the track ZX81 from their ‘www.pitchshifter.com’ record its a total precursor to Dubstep.

    In conclusion, metal’s clash with electronica has been going for a long time and will continue to do so. This is not new.

  • dk

    Bassnectar’s Seek and Destroy Dubstep, live video. Look at this non-metal crowd.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-4e_bCI_pQ

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Keith-Brown/537636633 Keith Brown

      Woah… Awesome

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Tony-Manka/100000083183511 Tony Manka

    lol at metalheads poking at dubstep. theres not a single womp in these songs! drum and bass and dubstep are vastly different as well. apparently i need to send you guys more/better dubstep and lose me more metal cred!

    • Krang10

      Do it, I’m always down to check out new stuff. It better be good though.

    • Isaac Lunsford

      Hey I’m the the creator of the Darkest Hour remix, Arkturus (Isaac Lunsford). Unfortunately, MS incorrectly labeled my dance track as dubstep, probably because all of my other tracks are dubstep. Go listen to my other tracks if you want some womping.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Faux-King-Christoph/1567502385 Faux King Christoph

    Im surprised no one mentioned The Algorithm. It is an awesome one-man project that mixes metal with a bunch of different techno styles including Dubstep and does it very well. I highly recommend the Critical Error album.

  • Braston

    I fucking hate dubstep.

  • Jewers

    There’s 10 seconds of dubstep in both of those songs combined

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jonathan-Fuentes/504424253 Jonathan Fuentes

    The Convalescence remix is kinda cool (sounds like a Tiesto song) but it’s not dubstep. Please don’t do an article on gorestep though, it’s like if someone took the worst dubstep possible, and somehow made it even worse.

    So far the only good dubstep/metal combinations I’ve heard are The Algorithm and Commissioner.

  • Andrew

    Dubstep is to music as Jersey Shore is to television.

    • gnarlk

      oddly enough, dubstep just reminds me of whatever oomph, oomph “more bass” type music most guidos blast in their cars….

  • The I

    Dubstep doesn’t really have a sonic relationship with metal, but I’d say that dubstep:electronic music :: metal:rock music. It’s pretty “heavy” in comparison to other subgenres, and evolved in the English underground as a response to the boring clubbiness that drum’n'bass was becoming.

    Ironically, it’s become kind of boringly clubby itself, but there are definitely some talented DJs out there. As for whether it’s a legitimate cultural phenomenon, I’d say so. Being a college student, I can tell you pretty well that it’s my cohort’s first recognizable musical invention.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kurt-Horimoto/702126482 Kurt Horimoto

    dubstep is the death metal of electronica.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Darren-Gordon/722297475 Darren Gordon

    This is all awful brostep and this post should be shot into the sun. None of this is dubstep, and that includes Datsik and Skrillex.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Dan-Roshin-Wolfson/557092638 Dan Roshin Wolfson

    Car Bomb mixed with Dubstep would be cool

  • Scottie G

    I made that Grindstep tune over a weekend. Props to MetalSucks for posting it!!

    While I agree that ‘brostep’ is a sheer bastardisation of the genre, I can also disagree with people saying that it’s not “Dubstep”.

    I’ve been a drum and bass head/dubstep fan for a few years now and agree that people like Datsik and Skrillex are definately pushing Dubstep it in another direction than the original Dub/Reggae vibes that it originally had, but is that necessarily a bad thing? I think not!

    I also vehemently disagree that it’s in any way destroying the genre… it’s simply innovating it and pushing it in another diection.

    Look out for The God Delusion EP this summer – expect more dirty fucking synths and brutal breakdowns if that’s your sort of thing… and if it’s not then suck my fucking cock!!!

    Much love,
    Scotty G <3

  • Killbot

    this shit sucks. plz listen to Eustachian. yes, thats the only word i capitalized.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Tom-Snuggles-Verstralen/100001966052213 Tom Snuggles Verstralen

    lol @ people saying that Dubstep is the of electronic music.

  • wordMCface

    MMOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRTAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL KOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATT!!!!!!!

  • jondabudz

    People who dont hear the correlation between dubstep and metal are stupid. Dubstep is a heavy style of electronic music much like metal is to rock. Personally i think its pretty dope just getting overplayed.

    • killbot

      but there is are other electronic acts that are WAY more heavy than dubstep. like speedcore and digigrind. check out passenger of shit or jet jaguar kr-3 kill spree

      • Admin

        Heavier – but not complete bullshit?

  • Blocktopus

    Honestly it’s not even that bad. I remember when I hated dubstep, before I had even heard a song. So basically I was just an immature fuck assuming dubstep sucked ass, and then I actually listened to some and now I love it.

    Djendstep is pretty cool

  • Blocktopus

    Honestly it’s not even that bad. I remember when I hated dubstep, before I had even heard a song. So basically I was just an immature fuck assuming dubstep sucked ass, and then I actually listened to some and now I love it.

    Djendstep is pretty cool

  • Shoryuken

    I’m in a metal band and i make dubstep songs as a side project. I’ve been trying for a while to mix the 2 together and it is extremely difficult to make something that sounds decent. I’m actually in the middle of making a song right now and i think i’ve finally cracked it. As far as the dubstep half is concerned I’ve realised the best way to do it is to treat the guitar and heavy vocals just as you would a bass wobble or sound effect. And to keep the metal up and make sure theres still riffs, it’s not exactly difficult to write breakdown rythms at 140bpm. Checkout my stuff on youtube:
    http://www.youtube.com/user/ShoryukenMusic
    Theres a drum and bass song (called DnV) on there with a metal/dubstep breakdown at the end, and i’ll be uploading this new 1 im workin on by the end of the week.

  • Shoryuken

    I’m in a metal band and i make dubstep songs as a side project. I’ve been trying for a while to mix the 2 together and it is extremely difficult to make something that sounds decent. I’m actually in the middle of making a song right now and i think i’ve finally cracked it. As far as the dubstep half is concerned I’ve realised the best way to do it is to treat the guitar and heavy vocals just as you would a bass wobble or sound effect. And to keep the metal up and make sure theres still riffs, it’s not exactly difficult to write breakdown rythms at 140bpm. Checkout my stuff on youtube:
    http://www.youtube.com/user/ShoryukenMusic
    Theres a drum and bass song (called DnV) on there with a metal/dubstep breakdown at the end, and i’ll be uploading this new 1 im workin on by the end of the week.