ABSTRACT
This chapter contains interviews with British metal producer, guitarist, and vocalist Josh Middleton (Sylosis, Architects) regarding his interpretation of heaviness in metal music and his approach to mixing ‘In Solitude’. Middleton identified three distinct forms of heaviness. The first is associated with nu metal bands like Korn and Slipknot, whose energetic and emotionally captivating music conveys authentic feelings of intensity, aggression, anger, and liveliness. The raw and relatively unpolished productions of these bands resonate deeply with him. The second form of heaviness, prevalent in contemporary metal productions, prioritizes sonic weight, thickness, and density. This approach often relies on heavily edited performances to achieve machine-like precision, employing loudness, walls of sound, compression, distortion, and waveform clipping to enhance density and impact. In contrast, the third form is found in raw, unpolished, and abrasive low-fidelity (black metal) productions. For Middleton, the heaviest metal music combines the authentic, emotionally charged performances of nu metal with the dense, meticulously crafted productions typical of contemporary death metal. He also emphasized that heaviness is not confined to the metal genre, pointing to electronic music as a notable example. In particular, its dynamic build-ups and drops influence emotional response and contribute to a sense of heaviness. Middleton highlighted the similarities between the two genres, noting that dynamics play a central role in achieving heaviness through effective songwriting. His mix of ‘In Solitude’ exemplified a thoroughly contemporary approach by relying heavily on digitally created tones for both guitars and bass, with the drum shells entirely replaced by samples, which highlights his preference for a polished, high-impact sound.
