Djent: Has it Ruined Metal or Improved It?

There’s a debate currently raging over at Gear Gods, where two of the site’s writers have gone head to head in the battle to end all battles: has djent ruined or has it improved metal?

In one corner, new scribe Zeke Ferrington makes the argument that djent has been bad for metal as a whole. Here’s a sample of his case:

Its Declining Popularity Might Drag Meshuggah Down With It

For a long time Meshuggah were singular. They had an aura of mystery. They were unfuck-withable.

Now a flood of bedroom producers in V-necks, with Slate Drums, and Mayones guitars have over-saturated the market with a secondhand imitation of their style. It’s gonna end up really dating Meshuggah’s sound because they’re so similar.

And, when the Djent sound becomes passé, there’s a good chance that Meshuggah’s popularity will wane with it.

Defending the good name of djent is none other than Gear Gods EIC Trey Xavier, who claims the sub-genre has done a whole lot to move metal forward. In his opening argument, he claims djent has raised the bar for metal guitar playing:

It Raised The Bar For Interesting Rhythm Guitar

Metal is many wonderful things, but between the ol’ power metal power chord ring, death metal tremolo picking, and metalcore chugging, there needed to be a new kind of groove. Bands like Periphery and Animals as Leaders popularized big, jazzy chords and polyrhythmic syncopation over the stale riffing of traditional metal. I was ready to fucking jump ship to jazz for good if I had to hear another trite double-picked thrash riff.

So: where do you stand? I think we’re long past Peak Djent already, although I don’t have an answer for what the next big trend in metal will be.

Do you djent, or is that some poser pussy shit? Sound off below.