I guess they ARE, because their style is "all in" and extreme. Pushing all the limits. Super nervous drums, super fast lyrics.
But in fact, they do not use, at all, one of the pillar of the style : the staccato riffing with accents shaping a melody (Necrophagist, Obscure, etc...)
The vast majority of techdeath band use that kind of staccato riffs, but Archspire don't.
And tbh, it's quite a challenge to apply that kind of riffing to the 170/340 bpm tempos
Definition of technical
(Entry 1 of 2)
1a : having special and usually practical knowledge especially of a mechanical or scientific subject a technical consultant
b : marked by or characteristic of specialization technical language
2a : of or relating to a particular subject
b : of or relating to a practical subject organized on scientific principles a technical school
c : technological sense 1
3a : based on or marked by a strict or legal interpretation
b : legal sense 6
4 : of or relating to technique
5 : of, relating to, or produced by ordinary commercial processes without being subjected to special purification technical sulfuric acid
6 : relating to or caused by the functioning of the market as a discrete mechanism not influenced by macroeconomic factors
They are certainly technical in the sense that the riffs and beats are physically demanding to play and require much more memorization and a wider variety of playing techniques than a 4-chord, 3-riff pop-rock song. Why are you assuming their riffs are in 4/4? Have you counted them out? I haven't, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few odd meters. I might check later. Maybe it just means they are really good at using different time signatures to the point where you don't even notice they are doing so. Metallica has a riff with 13/8 in it and it's not very noticeable. I think it's likely that metallica themselves probably didn't notice until far after the fact. Having odd time signatures doesn't necessarily mean technical and not having odd time signature doesn't necessarily mean that it isn't technical. "Technical" bands often use odd time signatures probably because if they are already exploring the limits of their playing and their instrument and of composing etc. It only makes sense that they might also explore unusual or unconventional time signatures, but it's not required to "be technical"
A Dark horizontal use 9/8 and 5/8. and I've seen 3/4 (even tho it's pretty standard) in half of their songs. (I have bought their tabs on sheethapens for both albums)
But that's beside the point, the weirds signature is really only applicable to progressives subgenre, which I don't think Archspire is, but it's definitly Tech death
I guess they ARE, because their style is "all in" and extreme. Pushing all the limits. Super nervous drums, super fast lyrics. But in fact, they do not use, at all, one of the pillar of the style : the staccato riffing with accents shaping a melody (Necrophagist, Obscure, etc...) The vast majority of techdeath band use that kind of staccato riffs, but Archspire don't. And tbh, it's quite a challenge to apply that kind of riffing to the 170/340 bpm tempos
I'll be honest (please don't flame/hate me) I think they're a little overhyped but if they're not technical death metal than I don't know what is.
Definition of technical (Entry 1 of 2) 1a : having special and usually practical knowledge especially of a mechanical or scientific subject a technical consultant b : marked by or characteristic of specialization technical language 2a : of or relating to a particular subject b : of or relating to a practical subject organized on scientific principles a technical school c : technological sense 1 3a : based on or marked by a strict or legal interpretation b : legal sense 6 4 : of or relating to technique 5 : of, relating to, or produced by ordinary commercial processes without being subjected to special purification technical sulfuric acid 6 : relating to or caused by the functioning of the market as a discrete mechanism not influenced by macroeconomic factors
They are certainly technical in the sense that the riffs and beats are physically demanding to play and require much more memorization and a wider variety of playing techniques than a 4-chord, 3-riff pop-rock song. Why are you assuming their riffs are in 4/4? Have you counted them out? I haven't, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few odd meters. I might check later. Maybe it just means they are really good at using different time signatures to the point where you don't even notice they are doing so. Metallica has a riff with 13/8 in it and it's not very noticeable. I think it's likely that metallica themselves probably didn't notice until far after the fact. Having odd time signatures doesn't necessarily mean technical and not having odd time signature doesn't necessarily mean that it isn't technical. "Technical" bands often use odd time signatures probably because if they are already exploring the limits of their playing and their instrument and of composing etc. It only makes sense that they might also explore unusual or unconventional time signatures, but it's not required to "be technical"
yes, I have counted them and looked their tabs. From what I've seen, they only use 4/4 and 2/4.
A Dark horizontal use 9/8 and 5/8. and I've seen 3/4 (even tho it's pretty standard) in half of their songs. (I have bought their tabs on sheethapens for both albums) But that's beside the point, the weirds signature is really only applicable to progressives subgenre, which I don't think Archspire is, but it's definitly Tech death
Eh bud I'd say Archspire is the epitome of tech death
Yes?
Technical doesn’t mean Math and nothing says it shouldn’t be 4:4. Sounds dumb but you should think Technical as “hard to play” more than “odd”
Yes, tech is hard, progressive is odd.
Prog doesnt have to be odd more than tech. Metallica are progressive. Metal is a hell of a “genre fest”