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Misir Blog 2

Cacophony is a heavy metal band formed in 1986 by guitarists Marty Friedman and Jason Becker. Their song Speed Metal Symphony was released on the album Speed Metal Symphony in 1987. It is considered one of the best neoclassical metal songs in the genre, and both guitarists the best in the genre as well. I heard this song in my junior year of high school as I was going into my deep heavy metal trance. I was extremely impressed my it due to how technically demanding it is and how it only took two people to come up with a song like that.

The song is in 4/4 timing, however it is very difficult to tell with how much is going on in the song. The song is basically an explosion of sounds from the guitars, which are at the forefront of the song. Although the song stays in 4/4 time, it does speed up and slow down throughout the song. It starts off slow, speeds up to a mid tempo range in the middle of the song, speeds up towards the end o=of the song, and slows down again, which feels, or sounds, a lot like a rollercoaster. It has a lot in common with most heavy metal songs in terms of rhythm, otherwise, by 1987 standards, this was a completely new thing.

The piece is basically the two guitarists interacting with each other, with the bass and drums keeping the rhythm going. Marty and Jason are harmonizing by playing the same guitar lines, trying to keep up with each other. It uses heterophonic guitar lines. The song alternates between guitarists, one playing single notes on his guitar while the other shreds, and then they’ll switch, letting the other guitarist shred while the other plays the rhythm. At the end it does turn into a cacophonic noise to bring the song to a climactic ending.


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