Ancestors (band)

Lore & Background

Ancestors began as a three-piece project in the summer of 2006 with Justin Maranga, Nick Long, and Brandon Pierce. They soon added Englishman Chico Foley, who had met Brandon after taking up temporary residence in Los Angeles, and later Jason Christopher Watkins. The band released their debut album, Neptune with Fire, in Europe in April 2008 on North Atlantic Sound (a division of Tee Pee Records) and in the United States in August 2008 on Tee Pee Records. The artwork was created by Arik Roper, known for work with Sleep, High on Fire, and Earth.

In October 2009, Ancestors released their second album, Of Sound Mind, on Tee Pee Records. The double LP was produced by the band and Pete Lyman, with artwork by Derek Albeck. It featured cameo performances by David Scott Stone (Melvins, Unwound, Slug), Sera Timms (Black Math Horseman), and cellist Ramiro Zapata. In 2010, the band parted ways with Chico Foley, and synth/guitar player Matt Barks joined. They recorded the Invisible White EP, released June 26, 2011 via Tee Pee Records, produced by Kenny Woods.

Reader's Guide

Ancestors occupied a distinctive space in the American doom metal scene by integrating progressive rock, psychedelic rock, and heavier stoner and doom influences, while also incorporating experimental and musique concrète elements. Despite these influences, the band stated they never set out to achieve a specific sound when writing music. Their discography, released primarily through Tee Pee Records, includes albums such as Neptune with Fire (2008), Of Sound Mind (2009), In Dreams and Time (2012), and Suspended In Reflections (2018). The band's lineup evolved over time, with members contributing guitar, bass, keyboards, synthesizers, drums, and vocals. Their legacy lies in their genre-blending approach and collaborations with notable artists in the heavy music underground.

Did You Know?

• Ancestors' debut album artwork was created by Arik Roper, who also worked with Sleep, High on Fire, and Earth.
• The band's 2011 EP Invisible White was produced by Kenny Woods.

A Genre Landscape in Constant Motion

Heavy metal emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and since then it has branched into a vast family of subgenres. These styles can be hard to separate cleanly from one another, as they frequently overlap and share common DNA. What distinguishes one from another tends to be a combination of factors: the instrumentation used, tempo, how songs are structured, vocal delivery, lyrical themes, guitar technique, and drumming approach. The term "heavy metal" itself operates on two levels today. Broadly, it functions as an umbrella covering every subgenre that has grown from the original style. Narrowly, it refers specifically to the more traditional, conventional sounds that hew closest to the genre's roots. This dual usage reflects how the music has expanded far beyond its origins while still maintaining a recognizable core identity that unites the entire family tree.

Alternative Metal: Where Metal Met the Underground

Alternative metal crystallized in the mid-1980s and found its mainstream audience in the early 1990s. At its heart, the style fuses heavy metal with alternative rock and, in some cases, genres that have no obvious connection to metal at all. A signature sound is the heavily downtuned, mid-tempo chug of guitar riffs, paired with melodic vocals and song structures that defy conventional metal norms. Many of the genre's earliest practitioners came out of Los Angeles. Bands like Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Faith No More, Helmet, Life of Agony, Rollins Band, and Tool helped define the sound. The genre has continued to evolve, with later acts such as Breaking Benjamin, Chevelle, Godsmack, and System of a Down carrying the torch into new decades while maintaining that blend of heaviness and alternative sensibility.

Nu Metal, Rap Metal, and the Fusion Frontier

Nu metal and rap metal represent two distinct but related paths of musical fusion. Nu metal, sometimes called aggro metal, weaves together alternative metal, groove metal, grunge, industrial, funk, and hip-hop elements. Its sonic palette includes off-pitched guitars, massively amplified beats, syncopated riff-based structures, and vocal styles that range from melodic singing to rapping, screaming, and death growling. Seven-string guitars, turntables, sequencers, and samplers sometimes feature in the mix. Korn, a Bakersfield-based group, was the first act to receive the nu metal label, arriving in 1993 within the alternative metal scene. Rap metal, by contrast, is almost always fronted by rappers and typically excludes turntables and sampling, though keyboards appear. It lacks the melodic singing and growling common in nu metal. Bands like Rage Against the Machine, Anthrax, Crazy Town, and Skindred exemplify the style.

Avant-Garde and Black Metal: Pushing Boundaries

At the experimental and extreme ends of the metal spectrum, avant-garde metal and black metal push the genre's boundaries in different directions. Avant-garde metal, also called experimental metal, draws on progressive rock, jazz fusion, and extreme metal—especially death metal—to incorporate unconventional instruments, non-standard song structures, and innovative vocal techniques. Scenes have flourished in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Oslo, and Tokyo, with pioneers including Boris, Celtic Frost, Earth, Helmet, Maudlin of the Well, Neurosis, Sunn O))), and Voivod. Black metal, meanwhile, is defined by fast tempos, shrieked vocals, tremolo-picked distorted guitars, blast beat drumming, and raw production. Its first wave in the 1980s included Venom, Bathory, Mercyful Fate, Hellhammer, and Celtic Frost, while a second wave in the early 1990s was spearheaded by Norwegian acts like Mayhem, Burzum, Darkthrone, Immortal, and Emperor. The genre has faced hostility from mainstream culture due to misanthropic and anti-Christian lyrical content, and some pioneers have been linked to church burnings and murder, though most musicians and fans reject the neo-Nazi ideology that some have tried to associate with the scene.