Riff Analysis 043 - Abyssal "Veil of Transcendence"

[@AlexTechNicol]

Abyssal is fuckin awesome. And so are you. That’s just something you’re gunna have to live with.

[@metalmusictheory5401]

Aw shucks

[@JustLilGecko]

The moment they line up again is so emotionally intense

[@scottnoisecastle191]

since watching this video, I've listened to this song 3 times. the thing that struck me is the management of dissonance and consonance in every plane of composition of this track- the riff that appears after the musicbox is bpm dissonant, metrically dissonant, and tonally dissonant, and then gradually each of those resolve- the 80 bpm introduces something that's a little closer with a tritone over the same tonic as the musicbox, then a minor third appears, then the tremolo tonic guitar, and then finally it locks in together. classic tension/resolution.

[@scottnoisecastle191]

I have a lot to dig through on your channel, it's my new favorite. great scholarship on some under-analyzed music!

[@Shane-zo4mg]

I love that you said "low in pitch space"

[@cbrohawn96]

You might be interested in Elysia Crampton’s DJ edits as E+E (would suggest “Edited/Remixed 2008-2012”) - some of those tracks have some really disorienting combinations of source material of divergent aesthetics as well as some analytically confounding interactions between the layers, not that I’ve ever subjected that stuff to analytical scrutiny. In general, this section reminds me of experimental DJing and sound collage stuff, although their determination to have the two divergent streams converge back on each other shows more of a taste for precision.

[@peterlloyd5371]

Dude FUCK YES for dissecting this song, it's my favorite Abyssal track; I remember hearing it for the first time and being totally caught off guard / confused! Keep up the awesome work, love these videos. -Pete from Replicant (stoked you enjoyed our latest album!)

[@metalmusictheory5401]

Oh hell yeah! Thank you so much, and thanks for putting out such sick music yourself!

[@TheApostleofRock]

BROOOO. Sweet. Malignant Reality fuckin slapped

[@Necrodelirium]

Glad you analyzed this one. This has to be the best tension-resolution buildup I've personally heard.

[@bmfan]

When I saw this I knew it had to do with the music box section. Great vid, and I get some bonus Abyssal tabs too. Win/Win.

[@auellaitaela8035]

This video touches what I've always found the be among the most fascinating of musical aspects in metal, which is intensity. Intensity's not really something that can be easily defined, and can be accomplished in many different ways. Here we can see the intensity being achieved by the final release of the tempos coming back together after flirting for so many minutes. I'd be curious to hear you to a video specifically on the concept of intensity and how some different songs/bands achieve it through various means. A few of the most fascinating metal songs I can think of that have an interesting approach to intensity are Sabazius - Her Crimson Lotus Feet, with it's incredible 40-minute long build from a single bass track to a wall of guitars and a dozen layers of chanting, Kayo Dot - The Manifold Curiosity, which has an incredible swirl of riffs and themes with somewhat plodding drums that snaps back together in a single moment of blasting and instrumental unity, or the recent Ethereal Shroud - Chasmal Fires which manages to squeeze 27 minutes of music out of a half-dozen riffs through various permutations and variations while still creating an intense final few minutes despite using the same material from the rest of the song. Or almost anything by Mare Cognitum with the linear riffing built out of massive harmonies spread over 4 guitars + bass. Or the middle of Wolves in the Throne Room - Ahrimatic Trance where it pounds the two chords for a couple minutes with the drums going from a blast to a kinda atmospheric cymbal wash with the music seemingly straining at the seams. I'm not sure intensity can really be defined, but it'd be a treat to hear you explore it.

[@AshenRJ]

I think they do it the other way around. The death metal riffs come first from start to finish but without the outro. And then, they come up with the clean music box riff right after, didn't change the tempo probably out of curiosity and realized that they like the chaotic nature. Finally, they did the outro with the music box played just to make that sync'd finality more pronounced. Also, trem-picking over clean guitar sounds absolutely heavenly. It makes me wonder if there are other bands that do such thing.

[@Kozmotik]

Burzum does that in a simple-ish way

[@TheSquareOnes]

Yeah, I think writing the entire riff section first makes the most sense but I'd include the 3/4 with that. Then they could have synced the ambient loop with that part and just repeated it backwards, no need to worry about playing things in sequence yourself if the computer allows you to work non-linearly. Would be really interesting to hear from the band on this though, tech musicians are pretty insane so I wouldn't be that surprised if they actually just calculated it out and played it manually either.

[@metalmusictheory5401]

I actually had a really cool email exchange with GDC after I posted this where he went into the details-it was a much more calculated approach than I had assumed!

[@whitneysmiltank]

@@metalmusictheory5401 Really? That's awesome. Any chance for a follow-up video? :)

[@r.c.christian1198]

Upvote this if you want him to share his own music he's written!

[@metalmusictheory5401]

www.floridekstasis.bandcamp.com !

[@darlyngton_nyc]

Sheeeesh that was a magnificent analysis and playthrough

[@lamondsutherland4581]

I don't think it's quite the same thing as this, but a lot of this reminded me of the latter half of God Of Love by Liturgy, where there's a repeating tuned percussion motif in 3/4 that repeats over and over again, and the guitars and drums start off in sync, but then sort of feel like they veer off and then come back to playing along with the motif. I don't have the technical knowledge to describe exactly what is happening, but it gave me a very similar feeling to this. And I guess the dissonant strings that play quietly underneath the strummed acoustic guitars in Radiohead's How To Disappear Completely would be a a more mainstream example of two incongruous things happening at the same time. Thanks for another great video!

[@metalmusictheory5401]

Great examples! I'll have to listen to those more carefully!

[@TheAnnihilator12]

This has always been my favorite track on the album because of this bit. I had no idea how they made it come back together in the end and it is very cool to hear someone explain it and demonstrate it. Another fantastic video, well done!

[@dvdroshin]

would love to see you pick apart Ad Nauseam

[@metalmusictheory5401]

Eventually!

[@mykep9112]

This band deserves a ton of recognition

[@alirezabayat6388]

Well i guess this next level tension and release. Thank you for your videos btw, you introduce a lot of bands and music to me that i would never have found.

[@InveterateMendaciousness]

Intro to this track is also an ode to Impetuous Ritual’s “Ritual Of The Crypt”

[@Nac0589]

I really feel it like a huge tension-resolution. Big tempo dissonance being resolved. Really nice work! (as always)

[@metalmusictheory5401]

Absolutely!

[@daltonhall1771]

I covered this song a few years ago. The first set of riffs after the music box melody were a huge task, and I'm kinda glad that you heard a lot of different things in it than I did (along with a lot that was the same). Thank you for the thoughtful analysis on a track that's been bending my mind for over half a decade.

[@metalmusictheory5401]

My transcription definitely left a lot to be desired! I saw the tab the band used after and I missed a lot of details!

[@asherplatts6253]

When I was in college for jazz performance, I was placed in a double piano trio, and we had this idea to do Charles Ives shit where we would start out playing a song at the same speed and one trio group would speed up at the end of each time through the head and the other would slow down, but we had to end at the same time. It was an exercise in selective hearing, figuring out which piano and drums to listen to (I am a bassist) and which to ignore. I imagine they may have had the music box loop on, and just ignored it until they wanted to synch back up.

[@metalmusictheory5401]

For sure! Yeah I had a jazz trio where we did something similar (inspired by a John D'Earth tune), but we treated it as a game, where one person held onto a vamp, and the other two tried to make him lose the tempo. Was especially hard when the drummer was trying to pull you out of a steady tempo lol.

[@Intaminator]

Oh fuck yeah. Should've seen this analysis coming to be honest, but still... so rad to see it happen. That part totally blew my brain when i first heard it. I thought a KZbin video had gone off in one of my open tabs when it kicked in.

[@FreepowerUG]

Very cool and I dig the side by side performance at the end! A fun discussion of the musical mystery and a more interesting outcome than expected 👍

[@metalmusictheory5401]

Thanks so much!

[@zyphos9444]

I don't know enough about music theory to understand everything you talk about but I've been learned some interesting things from your videos and I love how much you look like you're enjoying yourself when you play the riffs!

[@drezzylol]

I feel like they wrote the tremolo and the clean part at the same time. Then they recorded it and just dragged the clean part back in a DAW. At least that's what I'd have done.

[@WesleyKhalil]

This is my favourite video from your channel. You presented me some really good music, and the elaboration on curious things about them makes them special. But this one, this must be one of the most original things i heard in music in years. AND I LOVE PLAYTHROUGHS! I know it takes a lot of effort, but always make them when possible. I keep coming back here to watch you play that section from time to time, and its awesome. Great channel!

[@nihilisticinquisition7150]

It might also have been achieved by backwards engineering: At first, there was that black metal part and CDG (Abyssal is a soloproject as far as I am aware) added the music box theme as an additional layer to it. He then could have thought, it would be cool to introduce the music box theme in a break a bit earlier in the song. Maybe from there on he just copied it (which in a DAW can be done very easily) for dem atmospheres and maybe found, that only a few additional metres needed to be added for it in order to line up perfectly, hence these tempo- and time-changes and very linear riffage. That's just what came to mind for me however. Anyway, great video and analysis as always! :)

[@metalmusictheory5401]

I had a cool email exchange with him after I posted this video and he explained the process in detail-it seems it was a lot more calculated than I thought, and that it was composed forward!

[@sonder152]

Did not at all expect a John Zorn reference, what a pleasant surprise.

[@whitneysmiltank]

One of the best metal song ever in my opinion. A rare type of structure/progression. It really brings the order from the chaos in the most obvious way. The contrast is loud and clear and makes it really effective. Usually this kind of structure will be more subdued but I like how they brought it to the extreme. Awesome video! Any chance you do some more old stuff? Like Demilich? You've earned yourself a subscriber. It's rare to find someone who can dissect the structure of a song/section like this, especially for metal. You said you wanted to talk about this more, maybe the idea development? If you pause at 7:04 you can see the idea of the final riff, before the "locking", develop. Rhythmically presented at 0-1-0-1-0-1... then goes to 1-0-2-1-0-3-2-1 and that 3-2-1 prefaces the 9-0-8-0-7 of the last development of that idea, which is the 8-0-8-0-7-0-8-0-9-0-8-0-7-0-8-0. Cheers!

[@metalmusictheory5401]

Definitely will do a Demilich video some day! And I've got another old classic weird death metal band video in the more immediate future...

[@whitneysmiltank]

@@metalmusictheory5401 Good to hear!

[@cool_sword]

This is one my favorite songs in this style. Really glad you analyzed this. Also Infinite Jest on bookshelf lmao got em

[@lime7111]

Love this album and this song/part always stuck out to me. Now I know why! Your videos are always interesting to watch even if I may not understand everything in detail. I was wondering if you might take on some of Portal's catalogue at some point, that would be cool to see.

[@krzysztofsobolewski4739]

Neurosis did a somewhat similar thing in "Raze the Stray" from "Enemy of the Sun", but there it's much lighter weight

[@ShredEngineerPhD]

13:37 godlike

[@Deadcoetus]

You should check out the Panzerballet version of Take five. It's also played at two tempos simultaneously

[@uneaob]

Wow I never realized how much was going on here in this section. I always thought it was an interesting part and it's something that draws me to extreme metal's tendency to juxtapose between extremely simple beautiful melodies with crushingly heavy and discordant sections, but few, if any bands try to do them at the same time and make it work like Abyssal did. This video made me go back to the album and give it a re listen and I only appreciate it more now. I'm struggling to find an example off the top of my head, but it seems like Abyssal did the same thing just two songs later in A Causal Landscape. The droning synth with the choir that swells in and out continues to play even after the metal instrumentation comes in. The tempos also seem to not line up much like in the section in the video. To my ear the nature of the synth/choir meshes better with the guitars/drums so it's not quite the same effect, but it still doesn't feel quite like traditional harmony. Maybe it could be looked at in a future rapid fire riffs episode?

[@metalmusictheory5401]

Such a killer album! And you're absolutely right that they do the same sort of thing on A Causal Landscape!

[@YavorArseniev]

Great work as always!

[@sonder152]

There are plenty of examples in post-war modern classical music of ensembles or orchestras being divided up either in sections of pieces or for an entire piece, in different tempos. Two examples I instantly think of are Gruppen (and Trans) by Stockhausen, or many of Lutoslawski's orchestral works (including sections of some of his symphonies). But it's definitely not a common think to find in popular genres, even in prog metal doesn't touch multiple tempos really at all, despite things like polyrhythms being quite trendy.

[@metalmusictheory5401]

Nice, I didn't know those specific pieces. Definitely true that it's less true in popular genres-the tyranny of the grid is hard to escape when you're recording in a DAW or writing in notation software, though I actually just talked to someone a couple weeks ago who's working on this sort of thing in a metal context (band is called Yawn, they have one album called Materialism out), very cool stuff.

[@VastChoirs]

This album is an absolute masterpiece. Both the album preceding it and the album following it at just "good" but don't stand out as genre defining really special albums.

[@steveng6721]

I love your channel because not only do you go over really interesting musical moments, my listening library gets expanded significantly

[@ThrashXCV]

nice video! i really like the content you cover and the visual split with effects during the playthrough at the end! if there is one thing i think would help your content really shine, id say get a cheap lighting stand to put behind the camera and the tripod and maybe get a chair to chill in while you talk! with your main talking shot being slightly tighter, itll look slightly less weird rather than seeing you standing with your arms to your sides, but that is just a framing thing! you speak clearly and obviously know your shit!

[@metalmusictheory5401]

Thanks for the suggestions! Yeah always playing with lighting, and pretty constrained for space in my apartment and feel a little like standing awkwardly has become part of my brand (and it started because I wanted to make sure everyone could see my shirt while I'm talking because my guitar normally covers it) lol but maybe someday I'll switch!

[@BaronvonBlutwurst]

That mid break seems to be a modified version of Motley Crue-Home Sweet Home

[@metalmusictheory5401]

haha I hear the similarity

[@jroy3116]

Killer band and killer analysis 👍🤘

[@ggrimhailer203]

Man, you're awesome

[@metalmusictheory5401]

You're awesome!

[@wakyblarg]

I'd like to hear your take on the end riff of Post(?) Organic by Decapitated.

[@metalmusictheory5401]

Love that album and always forget about it-thanks for the reminder! And oh yeah that's the like polytempo kind of section, super sick!

[@BunchyMutt]

oh man. All of this is soooo tasty. Your tone is brutal too these days. Did you change things up signal chain wise?

[@metalmusictheory5401]

Thanks! Been experimenting every video and gradually getting closer to something that I like-just tweaking small stuff with Neural DSP plugins, how I mix with the recording audio, etc. Also a little while ago I got a splitter pedal so I can hear myself play while I'm recording and still send to the DAW which helps a lot lol

[@Rome_Plows]

What kind of Jackson is that? Loving your tone on this vid

[@metalmusictheory5401]

Thanks! Finally did some work setting up the guitar so the intonation sounds good. Jackson Pro Series Dinky, tone is neural DSP omega.

[@BRO77TX]

You look like you got horns the way you are standing in front of that guitar, lol

[@ronbent]

This is the one

[@Wishmasters]

Which band is that on the tshirt? Damn I can#t read it :(

[@nihilisticinquisition7150]

Spectral Voice

[@metalmusictheory5401]

Good catch!

[@hjalmarwidmark5906]

So beutiful

[@jonathanmoore9320]

Where can I find that John zorn reference

[@metalmusictheory5401]

Looks like it's not on YT anymore-hard to find, but it is on Amazon still it seems: www.amazon.com/Baphomet-John-Zorn/dp/B0892DHMGC/ref=sr_1_1?crid=35OSTCXKCCOLB&keywords=john+zorn+baphomet&qid=1653933792&sprefix=john+zorn+baphomet%2Caps%2C133&sr=8-1

[@Blackerer]

Calling this "Riff Analysis" kind of stretches the meaning, doesnt it :D? And no, I dont think Ive ever heard anything so extreme like this. Nothing so "disjointed". Have to admit, the feeling is pretty lovecraftian.

[@metalmusictheory5401]

haha I have that thought every time I put up a new "riff analysis" video

[@matthewpowell2527]

Vildhjarta do incongruous things at the same time

[@metalmusictheory5401]

But incongruous things at different tempos? Got any examples?

[@matthewpowell2527]

It might just be switching tempos, but I get a similar sense of "am I going crazy or is that actually there" during the first couple of riffs in Branmarkt

[@sinistermephisto65]

These songs are so inaccessible to me. Oh well

[@walterworrall]

Bro, just go to the search bar!

[@sinistermephisto65]

@@walterworrall dude i meant musically and aurally. like i cant get past my dislike of them to even want to consider analysis

[@indridcold777]

I feel like that's part of the point. Plenty of times, I've had to *will* myself into running back music just to see what was truly happening. It's definitely worth it, but there's some convergence of challenge, thirst for understanding, and masochism all swirling together.

[@psychrot]

@@sinistermephisto65 how did you get here then?

[@sinistermephisto65]

@@psychrot genius question. i came for the analysis and the theory not the songs. A little imagination would have saved you asking