A fairly recent thing people have started doing to music is the art of slowing songs to the ends of hilarious, turning shit into something beautiful, or just making something way heavier. The tweaking started in rap and hip hop under the guise of Chopped & Screwed, and really made a lot of the trash sparkle with a new life, when handled by someone who knows what they are doing. other times, it’s just terrible. Another method, as most people who had a turntable as kids knows, take a 45rpm and set it to 33rpm speed (a much slower rotation). Depending on the song, you get something slow and prolonged, or you get ridiculously heavy song just by changing speed. In this article, we shall look at various youtube songs and full albums that have had this treatment, to see what a minor tweaking changes! Click further after the break!
*Note: before we go further, I do not own any of these tracks or their rights, respectively. That belongs to the bands and labels, and the credit for the vids goes to the authors who published them to YouTube. I have embedded straight from YouTube, so all artistic credit is maintained and cited. Enjoy!*
Slowing a song seems to add a weird, pent up energy to faster songs, like the thrash variety, so lets start with Metallica’s album, Ride the Lightning, which also happens to be my favorite album ever by them:
Now, the playing time is much extended, which makes it even better before you hit play. But, the raw heaviness derived from just playing at a slower rpm gives it a basement demo style from the sludgiest perspective. The titular track, Ride the Lightning, is just monstrous. Here, when slowed, you get all the cool little things they do, which can be lost in the mix when it’s played normal speed. It also becomes easier to play, if you want to play along with it, and shows you that fast music can be adapted easily enough. The other huge track, For Whom th eBell tolls, is actually what started this road of inquiry for me. This is metal distilled down, taking gimmick or camp out of the equation (not saying either is vintage Metallica), and shows you that a heavy song is a heavy song, no matter your pace. Its ripping into you like a slow line of Barbed wire, each riff another not of rusted metal. Its brutal elegance.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEWlx_SYOJ4[/youtube]
Another classic, Angel of Death by almighty Slayer, comes off like a grindcore song on Slo Mo (drug from Dredd… I know you watched it. Don’t lie to me.). It’s like mercury blended with syrup. All the metal there needs to be, familiar flavors, but slow and thick, sticking in the speakers almost. And Tom Araya sounds possessed by almost a cliche satanic figure. It’s awesome!
Overall, the effect of slowing songs really doesn’t add much, but it does serve to highlight the playing, as we see with our next video:
And not going to lie, it gets weird when Phil’s vocals kick in. This example wasn’t ever meant for the 30% club, but the aspect is fucking doom as all fuck. Dime and REx’s riffs are heavy at whatever damn speed you have, and again, I get a distinct grind feel from it. Like getting an articulate player so fucked up that he has to play simple slow stuff, and he’s PISSED about it. It just gets more and more vicious as it goes, while Phil comes through a haze of whisky and Quaaludes. Its very much a song to listen to when partaking of things that read like a math problem.
Moving on, another thrash classic, Holy Wars by Megadeth:
Not a whole lot of difference when Megadeth is slowed down, except the band sounds more like it was written and performed by mostly bassists. Just sounds like a very well done cover at a slightly slower speed. Mustaine sounds exceedingly clear on this one, and really it’s just not too different. On to the Next!
Strapping Young Lad, Love:
Dear lord, that just got real. SYL have always been heavy, but this gets real dirty heavy. Almost Meshuggah style, with again, Satan on cough syrup type vocals. It’s like having morphine turned into a sound wave and them pumped directly into your skull. This is the show you don’t want to go alone to, no telling where you’ll end up, or where your clothes will be afterwards. Probably my favorite track outside of Ride the Lightning earlier.
Does any of this add to the songs or the genres? Not really. But does it put a different spin on stuff we have heard millions of times? Hell yes. Nothing has to reinvent the wheel, but if it gives the ride something different and fun, let it happen. and do you know why? BECAUSE NO ONE ASKS ME?!
Bonus: the track that got me started down this weird road, listenable Bieber!
(I know you enjoy him… secretly… in your closet…)
Real Bonus: Slayer in the style of SUNN 0)))
