"Djent" is not a genre, you dimwits

A long-underway negation of a long-overwrought attempt at a genre term

I know, I know: Criticizing "djent" as a genre term is just SO last year. Well, if I cared about what was hip and trending, I would not be a metalhead. But even so, I've had this article in the ol' pipeline for too long by now. Since long before last year.

I would love to – and ideally, I should be able to – start and finish with the headline and nothing else. But for the sake of fairness, I'll dig into it a bit here.

Commencing from ground zero, then, what is this so-called "djent"? For starters, let's look at Wikipedia:

Djent (/dʒɛnt/) is a subgenre of progressive metal, termed for an onomatopoeia of the guitar sound that characterizes it. While sources such as The Guardian and Guitar World describe djent as a genre, some notable musicians including Randy Blythe (Lamb of God) and Stephen Carpenter (Deftones) say it is not.

(Source references removed for readability)

Alright, so the very first paragraph in the article on the genre in the world's most comprehensive and referenced encyclopedia of all times tells us three decisive facts up front:

• A) We're dealing with a designation of a subgenre of a subgenre.
• B) Its entitling is an onomatopoeia.
• C) Prominent metal musicians disavow the term.

Already at this point, the term and the usage thereof are in big trouble. Starting with point A, when we start sub-labeling labels that are already sub-labels, we're not being clever or making things any easier on ourselves; we're simply inventing terms for the sake of inventing terms, applying a logic, the consequence of which invites for sub-labeling ad infinitum, potentially opening for hundreds of different sub-sub-labels.

(It should also be noted, that as comprehensive as the metal umbrella term is, metal itself, originating in '60s hard rock music, is, in principle, already a subgenre.)

And furthermore, in casu "djent", the term is derived from the goddamn guitar tone of ONE fucking band – Meshuggah.

This brings us to point B. Because as stated above, if justifying yet another metal-sub-subgenre doesn't take more than a certain guitar tone – of a single group, all the more so – we could go around naming new sub-subgenres according to specific, potentially differentiating factors in the featured sounds of individual bands.

Well, there's long been a 6-digit number of bands listed on Metal Archives – and steadily growing. No, not all of those are original enough to merit their own label. But if Meshuggah is, where does that leave us?

Indeed, this one band Rosetta hit the nail on the head by stating in response to their opinion on "djent", "Maybe we should start calling doom metal "DUNNN."

This brings us to point C. For a start, let's just look at the statements from aforementioned Randy Blythe and Stephen Carpenter. The former, supposedly inspired by his blood/alcohol level at the time, tweeted this as early as 2011:

"THERE IS NO SUCH FUCKING THING AS 'DJENT'. ITS NOT A GENRE. I'm sorry, it's STUPID AS FUCK. Metal already WAY over classified. Look dude- all this BULLSHIT 'Deathcore' & 'Djentcore' & fucking 'Cantplayinreallifebutcanonacomputer-core' it's just a NAME."

(sic)

Five years later, the latter stated the following (in a wording whose refinement compared with Blythe's reflects that of his own band compared with Blythe's ditto):

"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."

Carpenter also stated in the same interview, "I love all the metal that's being played now. I wish everybody would stop saying "djent" though. That's just dumb."

We've heard the name Meshuggah more than a coupla times here already, and for many a good reason. Going back to Wikipedia, you can see its list of 44 "djent" bands here – most of which, by the way, are complete no-names on a historical scale, any qualities of theirs aside.

As you'll see, 42 of these bands are formed in this century (32 formed between 2001 and 2010; 10 formed in 2011 or later). ONE other of these bands – A Life Once Lost – was formed in 1999. And this last ONE little band among these – name of, indeeed, Meshuggah – was formed in 1987.

That right there raises some questions. Primarily, why was everyone else so goddamn late to the party?? Well, to be fair, according to djenthub.com, "It wasn't until the release of "Nothing" in 2002 that Meshuggah really took on their now signature sound and forged the genre of djent we now know today."

Okay. So let's hear it from Meshuggah themselves, then. As already referenced, the pseudo-word "djent" is an onomatopoeia coined in 2001 – before the release of "Nothing" – by none other than Meshuggah guitarist Fredrik Thordendal in a tipsy attempt to describe the sound of palm-muting the lowest B-chord on a 7-string guitar. In 2018, in a vain attempt to salvage things, his co-guitarist Mårten Hagström openly apologized for the genre term, calling it a "drunk misunderstanding". But Hagström was too late, Thordendal's brain burp having already been taken literally by a generation of metal bands.

Also, yes, metalheads drink a lot. That aside, though, that right there should be a decisive nail in the coffin of the "djent" term.

But there's more. Because, when looking at "djent"-related sources and resources, it becomes clearer and clearer that "djent" has more to do with gear and computer plugins as much as how the actual music behaves in practice. According to The Guardian,

"[T]he genre and its distinctive sound has been driven forward by bedroom guitarists using virtual amp setups and computer recording programmes, then trading songs, riffs and tips on online forums – a kind of Second Life for guitar geeks."

Indeed, according to Sander Dieleman, webmaster of got-djent.com,

"Djent is really an online phenomenon […], and it's very easy to produce professional-sounding music in your bedroom. If you want to play djent, all you need is a guitar, a computer, a guitar interface and understanding neighbours."

Not taking anything away from online technology here. After all, the internet has allowed for the spreading of metal music at least as much as tape-trading in the '70s and '80s – likely much more so. But the more we start to move away from the territory of sweaty rehearsal rooms and into pure, convenient digital manipulation, we're moving farther and farther away from the essence of rock'n'roll – and farther and farther into the territory of the polished, calculated logic behind contemporary pop music.

Apart from Meshuggah, one of the most prominent bands in the so-called genre is Periphery. And in a 2010 interview with Guitar Messenger, Periphery guitarist Misha Mansoor stated the following:

"I was looking for gear that was djenty. I was like: 'Are these pickups djenty?' For some reason it caught on, but completely in the wrong way, because people think it's a style of music and they think it's a style of music I play."

And as late as in 2023, Periphery themselves titled and subtitled their 5th LP "Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre".

One question remains, then: What else should we call it?

Well, apart from the guitar sound, what else would categorize the so-called genre? Going back to Wikipedia, "djent" is "characterized by progressive, rhythmic, and technical complexity accompanied by a use of polymetric groove".

Look. We've long already had the terms prog metal and groove metal going on here, people. If you wanna be more specific than that – which is more than fine with me – how about calling it progressive groove metal? Or if it's progressive rather than groovy, how about – I dunno – groovy prog metal?

Yes, the word "groovy" is highly associated with tie-dye shirts and Buddha stamps. But… you don't HAVE to use that word. The element of groove has been a component of metal since Pantera started cultivating it in the early '90s. And if metal is progressive, there's a chance that it not only incorporates groovy passages, but that it's so distinct from classic, original heavy metal that simply calling it progressive metal will do just fine. Unless growls and dissonant riffs are a mainstay, in which case we can call it progressive death metal. See, another lil' combo of subgenre terms that have been alive and kickin' long before most of you got your bone on.

... How's about just sticking with those, then??

I realize that this debate naturally segues into the general debate of the formation of genre terms and their often more or less arbitrary numerations. For the sake of staying on topic, I will address those in a later article. Because there are more redundant genre terms being thrown around, and those are at least as redundant as "djent".

It's not a genre, y'all. And the people who are allegedly playing it even say so themselves.

(Background image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meshuggah_Full_Force_2023_13.jpg, public domain)