![Veil of Maya]()
DON’T CALL THEM DJENT
Why is it that bands and fans get so up in arms about something as meaningless as sub-genre classification? The chances are pretty good that you’re going to wind up sticking in one if you tour with similar groups and, say, record and co-write with said sub-genre’s pioneer. So, either Veil of Maya’s axeman Mark Okubo was having some fun at this writer’s expense or he’s somewhat delusional. Having gone into this interview with a detailed focus about the band’s place in the erratic tech-metal world, called “djent,” it was a complete killing blow to the pace of the conversation when Okubo denied Veil of Maya’s involvement with the movement entirely. Subsequently, a seemingly endless 15-minute discussion about nothing followed.
“I think it’s cool that we get to be a part of it but, for me, it seems like most bands that are trying to be djent bands are just trying to rip off Periphery. That’s never something we were trying to do,” said Okubo.
Paradoxically, Okubo’s band – filled out by Brandon Butler (vocals), Danny Hauser (bass) and Sam Applebaum (drums) – worked with Periphery’s own guitarist Misha Mansoor on Eclipse (2012), their most recent album. Prior to that, they were strongly associated with deathcore.
The impact of Mansoor’s involvement is audible. He co-wrote the record, which resulted in an evening out of the band’s heavier elements and a balance between brutality and melody.
Incorporating all the essentially progressive elements including left-field time signatures, bizarre tempo changes and extended slow bits in the middle of harder songs which morph into breakdown laced hardcore style chug riffs, Eclipse is the band’s most ambitious record to date.
Okubo notes that his writing style has led him to take more of an unorthodox approach to this playing and practising. It’s a writing style utilized by many bands under the djent tag, given the extreme complexity of the music.
“The way I play guitar is I like to write music that I can’t necessarily play right off the bat,” he explains. “I try and learn how to play it afterwards.”
It makes sense, given Okubo’s tendency to work up and down the fretboard through scales to make his more progressive sounding lines. In addition to that, he also incorporates a healthy amount of tremolo picking and open chord progressions.
It’s a writing recipe that Okubo hasn’t swayed far from since their debut release, All Things Set Aside (2006).
Lyrically, the band reaches into everything from deep real life experiences to extreme pop culture references, the latter of which are most intriguing. On their 2010 release, [id], lyrics reference everything from 1998 PlayStation video game, Xenogears, to the ever-popular TV drama, Dexter.
Nevertheless, it still seems that it doesn’t matter what the band does, they’re always going to wind up on the wrong side of the labels with other bands to which they don’t consider themselves similar. It’s an all too common problem that encapsulates the metal scene and something they may never escape.
Hear Veil of Maya with the Contortionist and Glass Cloud on Sunday, May 12 at Broken City (613 – 11 Ave. S.W.). It’s an early show; doors are at 2 p.m.
By Brandon McNeil
