Djent

Development

Fredrik Thordendal, lead guitarist of Swedish band Meshuggah, coined the term. In a 2018 interview by Rauta, Meshuggah guitarist Mårten Hagström apologized for the band's role in creating the "djent" style of guitar playing, calling it "a drunk misunderstanding".

Other bands important in the development of the style are Animals as Leaders, Periphery, Tesseract, and Textures, with Periphery and Animals as Leaders both emerging at the beginning of the coining of the phrase "Djent" and both hailing from the Washington DC Suburban area.

The scene has grown rapidly, and members of the original online community, including the bands Chimp Spanner, Sithu Aye, and Monuments, have gone on to tour and release albums commercially. Other bands influenced by djent include A Life Once Lost, Veil of Maya, Vildhjarta, and Xerath. Born of Osiris have also been described as being inspired by the djent movement. and DVSR are djent bands that use rapping as a primary vocal style.

Characteristics

Djent as a style is characterized by progressive, rhythmic, and technical complexity accompanied by a use of polymetric groove. An example is the song "Cafo" by Animals as Leaders. Another common feature is the use of extended range guitars that are seven-string, eight-string, and nine-string, or even more strings.

Metal Injection stated that tropes of the genre include "nouns" band names and neon artwork.

Reception

Bands such as Tesseract and Animals as Leaders have received positive critical reception and multiple awards. Post-metal band Rosetta is noted as saying, "Maybe we should start calling doom metal 'DUNNN'". In response to a question about "djent", Lamb of God vocalist Randy Blythe stated in 2011, "There is no such thing as 'djent'; it's not a genre". Deftones guitarist Stephen Carpenter similarly opined in 2016 that "I thoroughly can get djent, I even have great appreciation for the bands, and I mean Meshuggah is one of my favorite bands. But it's just not a genre. It's just metal". In an interview with Guitar Messenger, Periphery guitarist Misha Mansoor said:

In a later interview with Freethinkers Blog, Mansoor stated that he felt djent had become "this big umbrella term for any sort of progressive band, and also any band that will [use] off-time chugs [...] You also get bands like Scale the Summit [who are referred to as] a djent band [when] 80% of their stuff sounds like clean channel, and it's all beautiful and pretty, you know [...] In that way, I think it's cool because it groups really cool bands together [...] We are surrounded by a lot of bands that I respect, but at the same time, I don't think people know what djent is either [...] It's very unclear". Later in the interview, he stated, "If you call us djent, that's fine. I mean, I would never self-apply the term, but at the same time, it's just so vague that I don't know what to make of it". In 2023, Periphery directly referenced the term's controversy with the subtitle of their seventh studio album, Periphery V: Djent is not a Genre.

Tosin Abasi of Animals as Leaders takes a more lenient view of the term, stating that there are specific characteristics that are common to djent bands, and as a result the term can be legitimately used as a genre. While stating that he personally strives not to subscribe exclusively to any one genre, he makes the point that a genre is defined by the ability to associate common features between different artists. He says that in this way, it is possible to view djent as a genre describing a particular niche of modern progressive metal.

References

References

1. Hammerpublished, Metal. (22 July 2017). "Currents: making waves in the djent-metal underground".
2. "What is Djent {{!}} Djent Hub". Djent Hub.
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4. [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/mar/03/djent-metal-geeks "Djent, the metal geek's microgenre"]. ''The Guardian''. 3 March 2011. Retrieved 26 June 2011
5. (23 July 2018). "MESHUGGAH's MÅRTEN HAGSTRÖM On 'Djent': 'We're Very Sorry For Creating That Genre; We Didn't Intend To – Our Bad'".
6. Camp, Zoe. (24 July 2018). "Meshuggah Apologize for Djent: It Was "Drunk Misunderstanding"".
7. Angle, Brad. (23 July 2011). "Interview: Meshuggah Guitarist Fredrik Thordendal Answers Reader Questions". [[Future US]].
8. GuitarWorld Staff Member. (16 March 2011). "TesseracT Unveil New Video". [[Future US]].
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10. Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Concealing Fate". [[Rovi Corporation]].
11. Bland, Ben. (3 October 2011). "Textures - Dualism (Album Review)". Stereoboard.com.
12. Colgan, Chris. (24 June 2011). "Born of Osiris: The Discovery". [[PopMatters]].
13. (6 October 2010). "TESSERACT's ACLE ON THE BIRTH OF TESSERACT AND THE DJENT MOVEMENT". [[Metalsucks]].
14. Debenedictis, Matt. (23 February 2011). "A Life Once Lost Took 'an Outsider's Point of View' During Time Off". [[AOL]].
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16. Hart, Josh. (6 October 2011). "Vildhjarta Unveil New Album Details, Post Teaser Video". [[Future US]].
17. Rivadavia, Eduardo. "II review". [[Rovi Corporation]].
18. Rosenberg, Axl. (17 October 2011). "Djent-rappers Hacktivist Kind Enough to Put the Word Hack Right There in the Name". [[MetalSucks]].
19. Islander. (9 November 2012). "Hacktivist". [[No Clean Singing]].
20. CroOZza. (25 November 2013). "DVSR - Got-Djent.com".
21. Pasbani, Robert. (5 May 2014). "Is Nü-Djent The Next Big Thing?".
22. Bowcott, Nick. (26 June 2011). "Meshuggah Share the Secrets of Their Sound". [[Future US]].
23. (2022-04-26). "KILLSWITCH ENGAGE's JESSE LEACH On Early 2000s Metalcore: "The Good Bands Found Their Sound Over Time"".
24. "What is your opinion of Djent?". Rosetta band.
25. Blythe, Randy. "Lamb of God's Randy Blythe on Djent". smn news.
26. (23 February 2016). "Deftones' Stephen Carpenter On "Gore": "I Didn't Want To Play On The Record To Begin With"".
27. Mansoor, Misha. "MARC OKUBO (VEIL OF MAYA) & MISHA MANSOOR (PERIPHERY) INTERVIEW". guitar messenger.
28. "Periphery interview part 3 of 3." FreethinkersBlog. 19 February 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bE0Q_9nQ9U. [https://web.archive.org/web/20210430151117/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bE0Q_9nQ9U Archived] from the original on April 30, 2021
29. Abasi, Tosin. (12 September 2012). "Tosin Abasi's Opinion of Djent".