Rock and metal by no means have a monopoly on heavy music. Many of the most devastating artists operate in a universe beyond genre.
After we looked at the heaviest artists within the confines of heavy metal, we decided to look at what’s going on outside of the genre.
Without a guitar in sight, here are some of the heaviest non-metal musicians the world over:
Moor Mother
Philadelphia’s Camae Ayewa is a modern master. Her work with free jazz mavens Irreversible Entanglements walks comfortably in musical tradition whose searing intensity eclipses anything that guitar based music has ever or will ever touch. As Moor Mother, she expertly skirts the realms of crushing industrial, jazz, and rap to transcend genre and convey pain, rage, and love in the spirit of the greatest poets the world has ever known.
Pharmakon
The long-reigning lord of death industrial, New York native Margaret Chardiet did the impossible and brought the cynical disgust of power electronics out of the deepest recesses of the underground and into the public discourse. A master of her craft, Margaret’s skill in sound design provides the backdrop for vocal performances of night terror-inducing intensity. Listen to Beastial Burden and learn what it means to live in fear of your own body.
Dälek
For over two decades Newark’s experimental rap progenitors Dälek have infused earth-shattering beats, swirling soundscapes, and a furious lyrical flow to create some of the heaviest music ever produced. True masters whose singular vision and complete unwillingness to compromise both manages to transcend and elevate genre. Imagine Public Enemy making the score to Hellraiser and you might have an idea of what Dälek brings to the table. This is just about as heavy as it gets.
Lingua Ignota
Years ago, academic Kristin Hayter produced an MFA thesis called BURN EVERYTHING TRUST NO ONE KILL YOURSELF. Comprising 10,000 pages of cut-up pornogrind lyrics along with police reports documenting her own experience with intimate partner violence. A classically trained vocalist and musician, Kristin utilized a complex weave of sound and visuals in order to present BURN EVERYTHING to a live audience. The rest is history. Kristin Hayter is a true visionary. As Lingua Ignota, she has created some of the most powerful and important work of our time.
clipping.
A group that defies categorization, clipping. utilize elements of power electronics, death industrial, and dada cut ups as a framework for the creation of some of the most intense rap ever created. Ever wonder what it would be like to hear an amazing rapper flow over Whitehouse’s “Wriggle Like A Fucking Eel”? Well, thanks to clipping. you now have your answer.
