Elements in music performance - Big Break Project

Level 2 Performance comparison:

Performance 1 : Blackthorn - Gorgon The Ascendant: https://youtu.be/nmzzvOzA1Yw

What elements can you hear working within this performance?

Instrumentation - Guitars, Bass, Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals/Growls, Very Fast paced double pedal Bass Drum kicking, Snare, Crash Cymbals at certain points, Ride Cymbal being played fast, as well as used to count them in, also synthesizers and violin/string section at certain points.

Production - high quality and all instruments can be heard.

Good production on singing - Lead Vocal cuts through and stands out well

Strong rhythm - supported with electric guitar, which is palm muted, distorted and low tuned and heavy sounding.

Blast beats on the drums make the sound song frantic and energetic.

Eerie soprano vocals make the song sound spooky and eerie, as well as hypnotic.

The growls/harsh vocal by Elvira, when she sings the words “Gorgon, the ascendant” add a terrifying and almost threatening effect to the song.

What makes this a good performance?

The fast paced and aggressive blast beats on the drums, as well as Varaska herself wearing goat horns (generally also costumes of the band as a whole), make the performance sound good.

The performance is also very well produced, sounding almost like a studio recording, with the vocals that cut through and stand out as well as the harsh growls by Elvira during the chorus, which also sound good but add the element of horror.

The visual stimuli in the performance are also very good - the flashing lights add to the franticness and speed of the song, as well as the cosplay (already mentioned Varaska’s horns) but also their gothic dresses/clothes. The element of visual performance adds to the supernatural feel of the song, with the band doing a magick ritual in the middle of the song, as though to summon the gorgon, so that it watches over their performance.

Performance 2 : Iron Maiden - Flight Of Icarus: https://youtu.be/X9oGkvpkefg

What elements can you hear working within this performance?

Instrumentation: three electric guitars, Bass guitar, drums and backstage keyboards. Also Vocals.

The three electric guitars - one being a lead, the other two being rhythm, give a powerful and heavy rhythm.

Galloping blast beats from Nicko Mcbrain, give the song a fast pace and an energetic feel, like in most Iron Maiden songs.

Galloping beats on bass drum using single pedal.

Galloping bass line, using three fingers, instead of a pick, by Steve Harris, give the song a fast pace and energy as well as rhythm.

Bruce Dickinson’s powerful vocals give the song power and energy as well as an aggressive edge.

What makes this a good performance?

The pure power and energy of the band - the galloping blast beats using single bass pedals, as well as a galloping bass line, give the song a “galloping” feel, making it fast and energetic and heavy, like many Iron Maiden songs (e.g. The Trooper, These Colours Don’t Run, The Mercenary, Run to The Hills, etc.), that makes the performance very good.

The production of the band; the live sound is very good - Iron Maiden are known for sounding better live, as it has also been stated in an interview by Steve Harris, that most of their songs have been produced and written to be played live. Bruce’s powerful, belted vocals with an exaggerated vibrato, cut through and stand out in the performance as well as live in general.

Like in the Blackthorn performance, there are many visual stimuli which make the performance great - They pyrotechnics give the song a breathtaking edge, as well as Bruce shooting fire from arm mounted flamethrowers. The lights are flashy and make the song aggressive and “in your face”. Also the suspended Icarus model, hovering above the stage, reminds the audience of what the song is about.

Performance 3 - Shawn’s Group: https://drive.google.com/open?id=10Rp8N2EUxaIFf7tY8xcvrLHKnPWF9sRd&authuser=0

What elements can you hear working within this performance?

Instrumentation - guitars and bass guitars, as well as drums and percussion and vocals

Heavy riffing on the guitars, giving it a powerful, heavy and melodic rhythm.

“Choking” the cymbals, at the beginning of the song giving it a shortened crash

Choked cymbals are also used to accentuate the riff from the guitar.

Simple but effective drum beat and lots of catchy riffs.

What makes this a good performance?

There is good teamwork and communication between the band - everyone is organised and there are no slip ups. The song has a few simple but catchy riffs, that allow the song to become memorable and stick in the audience’s heads. The vocals are also good to listen too and stand out in the song, as well as the guitar riff, which also stands out. The cymbals are used to accentuate the guitar riff, giving it a dramatic and heavy edge.

Comparison:

Although the three are all heavy metal/rock performances, they differ, being all different sub genres of the same genre, for example, they differ sonically - In the Blackthorn performance of Gorgon The Ascendant, the band used heavy, distorted, dark and low tuned guitars, as well as synths and strings to make it atmospheric. The vocals in Gorgon The Ascendant where both clean and harsh, giving the song an eerie, as well as a terrifying and aggressive vibe. This differs from the Classic Metal/Power Metal performance from Iron Maiden, which had an open and reverbing sound, being played in a large concert hall. Maiden used much higher pitched guitars as well as a fast paced and galloping bass and drum sound. They omitted Blackthorn’s double pedal bass drum rolls, replacing them with single pedal gallops. They also where less atmospheric, having only a keyboardist backstage. The studio performance of Shawn’s group differed from the latter two, as it was less heavier and much more classic metal/hard rock influenced. It omitted maiden’s three guitar setup, with a powerful rhythm, as well as lacked a lead guitarist, but instead had a single rhythm guitar playing a heavy riff, which was accentuated by cymbal chokes. Both Maiden and Shawn’s group used a single bass pedal, however Shawn’s group had a much slower pace than Maiden and Blackthorn, whereas blackthorn had full on blast beats and maiden used a galloping drum beat. Shawn himself also had a different vocal style than both Maiden and Blackthorn - Iron Maiden’s vocals where belted out and powerful, whereas Shawn’s where more mellow, but also more cleaner than Elvira’s growls in Blackthorn and much lower than the soprano vocals, which made Shawn’s group less atmospheric and less spooky.