Metal spilling into punk music

Over the course of rock music history metal has influenced punk and vice versa. For instance, it was metal and hard rock music that first began to use minor keys heavily and dissonant scales. Soon punk took up the minor keys and the dissonant sounds via hardcore punk and crust punk. Many crust punk bands are labeled thrash also, because of similar chord progressions.

Back when Soundgarden came out they mixed black sabbath riffs with the asethetics of punk. By the time they had come out metal had moved on past the black sabbath sound (except doom metal, sludge metal, and stoner metal) and had become faster and more technical. The music itself had changed along with the sound of punk. Punk was taking ideas from other music combining it with the Do it yourself attitude.

A recent development in punk taking influence from metal music is this year's Warped Tour. As mentioned in http://www.guitarworld.com/warped-tour-best-metal-tour-year, there are now so-called metal bands on the Warped Tour. However, if you talk to a die-hard metalhead they would say all of those bands on the Warped Tour aren't real metal and that they are emo, or something else.

This article shows another example of punk taking ideas from metal. Most of these bands on the warped tour that are being referred to as metal are really metal core, or hardcore that is influenced by metal. This style tends to be less technical and have more emphasis on the feeling. By the time these bands had come out, metal had changed again, becoming more technical and more demanding. Just take a listen to Revocation or Abysmal Dawn. They are two modern day metal bands who are very technical. In addition, the breakdowns which are common with these metalcore bands tend to be frowned on by a lot of metalheads. However, the metalcore bands are considered metal because they are heavy and aggressive.

One of the quoted from the article relates to what was mentioned above. For example, "August Burns Red was more direct, but just as impressive. Like an old school thrash band, ABR has the ability to deliver a memorable choruses without diminishing the power of their music." August Burns Red suposedly sounds like an old school thrash band. However, the thrash sound can also be punkish, as evidenced by crust bands who are considered thrash also.

So even though the Warped Tour bands might be heavy they might not neccessarily be metal, they are more likely metal-influenced.

Gibson SG Melody Maker Review

Recently I found myself in Guitar Center browsing Gibson guitars when I saw the Sg Melody Maker. I'm a huge fan of the SG body shape and I knew I had to try out an SG such as the Melody Maker model which only had a volume control knob and a single humbucker pickup in the bridge position.

I brought one down from its display stand and plugged it into a Peavey 6505+ and turned on the Lead Channel. I turned the volume knob on the guitar all the way up and I commenced to play some very distorted power chords. The sound coming out of the amp surprised me. Even though it didn't have a tone control it had a very great sound for rhythm playing. The chords were fat, but also had a great crunch and the neck was thick which allowed for more sustain and made playing chords satisfying.

I played some basic power chord progressions for a little while and then I proceeded to play some lead guitar. Bends were easy to execute because of the thicker neck and even with the different bridge setup it was easy to bend and keep the guitar and tune.

I dialed in a scooped tone for metal and aggressive punk and it handled the tone very well.

In all it's great instrument for anyone who is looking for a great rhythm guitar axe, someone who doesn't care about tone, or wants to have a guitar where they don't have to switch pickups. However, regardless of if you prefer to play lead, it's better suited to be a rhythm axe.

Final Verdict:
Great if:
you want to play rhythm guitar
Don't like tone knobs on guitars
if you hate guitars with lots of controls

Bad if:
You want a 24 fret guitar
Want to switch or use two pickups for soloing