, lead guitarist of Swedish band Meshuggah, is considered the originator of the djent technique. However, the band did not coin the term itself; the djent scene developed from an online community of bedroom musicians, including Misha Mansoor, whose success with Periphery brought djent "from the virtual world into the real one." In a 2018 interview by Rauta, Meshuggah guitarist Mårten Hagström jokingly apologized for the band's role in creating the djent genre. In a similar interview question by Zoe camp of the Revolvermag he gives the specific occasion when he says, 'I think it's kind of hilarious. Hilarious how? Well, for one, Thordendal was shit-faced when he came up with the term. "It was our lead guitar player, Fredrik, being drunk back in the day, talking to one of our old-school fans, trying to explain what type of guitar tone we were always trying to get, and he was desperately trying to say: 'We want that 'dj—' 'dj—,' 'dj—,' 'dj—,'" Hagström explained, imitating a riff. "And that guy was, like, 'What's he saying? Is that a Swedish word? Must be. Sounds like dj_, maybe 'djent'? Maybe something like that." Other bands important in the development of the style are Sikth, Mnemic, Animals as Leaders, Tesseract, and Textures. The scene has grown rapidly, and members of the original online community, including the bands Chimp Spanner, Sithu Aye, Gizmachi, and Monuments, have gone on to tour and release albums commercially. Other bands that often use 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. Furthermore, Hacktivist and DVSR are djent bands that use rapping as primary vocal style.
Characteristics
Djent as a style is characterized by progressive, rhythmic, and technical complexity accompanied by a dense layer of polyphonic groove. An example is the song CAFO by Animals as Leaders. It typically features heavily distorted, palm-muted guitar chords, syncopated riffs, and polymeters alongside virtuososoloing. Another common feature is the use of extended range seven-string, eight-string, and nine-string guitars.
Reception
Some members of the metal community have criticized the term "djent", either treating it as a short-lived fad, openly condemning it, or questioning its validity as a genre. But other bands such as Tesseract and Animals as Leaders have gained positive reviews, such as awards and highly acclaimed albums. 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." In an interview with Guitar Messenger, Periphery guitarist Misha Mansoor said: In a later interview with Freethinkers Blog, Misha Mansoor stated that he felt djent had become "this big umbrella term for any sort of progressive band, and also any band that will off-time chugs You also get bands like Scale the Summit a djent band 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." Tosin Abasi of Animals as Leaders also takes a more lenient view of the term, stating that there are specific characteristics that are common to "djent" bands, therefore implying legitimate use of the term 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. In this way, it is possible to view djent as a genre describing a particular niche of modern progressive metal.
