Critique Of "Tis Calling" Song

Formal:

"This Calling" is performed by the band All That Remains. It is a hard rock, melodic death metal piece. The opening section of the piece is a ten second, screamed, intro. The piece is not only sung, but for most of the song, it is screamed in a very large range going from the higher octaves to the very low bass octaves. From high notes to guttural growls, the vocalist covers everything. All That Remains is comprised of 5 band members and it contains 2 guitarists, 1 bassist, a drummer and a vocalist as well as a sound engineer for the mixer of the echo for the solo vocalist.

This song offers a solo for each band member and their particular instrument. It contains a 30 second guitar solo which is performed by playing multiple rifts at once. The next solo is performed by the drummer, a steady increasing beat, which is then succeeded by the bassist. In the middle of the song the tempo begins to slow and the music decrescendos into a smaller sound. By doing this the focus is mainly driven towards the solos offering them to be most concentrated on. Soon after, the drummer ceases which allows the guitarist and vocalist to come together. At this point the vocalist and guitarists sing/play the same chords and perform the same melody as each other making it a more pronounced section in the song.

The lyrics, because they're screamed, are hard to decipher because when screaming diction can not come through. The only time when understanding of the lyrics comes about, is during the chorus, which is sung.

Contextual:

The song, "This Calling" has lyrics that are extremely deep and full of meaning. Although the song is sung with much aggression, as heard through the screaming, the aggression is what makes the lyrics and vocal style so intriguing. The song is about the dishonesty of one person and the craving for the pain and temptation to continue on in their life. But there's hope, the hope to be with the one person who could change that and the "calling" that could bring that person out of the rut of pain and sorrow. That this person could someone so trusting that the scars from the past would disappear.

A few of the band members, before they were formed together back in 1998, were out on their own trying to make it big and along the way were experiencing let downs in both their music and personal life. The guitarist and vocalist had grown up in broken homes and had both experienced the heartache of family tragedies and were unable to put faith in their families most of the time (alcoholism, divorce, and cheating of spousal units were quite prevalent problems). This caused lots of built up rage and resentment. "Spread the pain, spread the pain".

I believe that the lyricists for this song is suffering from emotional scarring from their past. That they can only wear the mask of deception for so long until it gets to the point that they want out and want something better in life, "My strengths have been

tested, I believe this calling will see me through." I think that the hostility and anger that is expressed in the music is the only way to relieve the hurt that they have experienced in the past. The band says that the passion put in behind the music is what makes people love their style.

Judgment:

"This Calling", is a song that contains tremendous