It's hard to categorize The Algorithm as electronic, dance, industrial, or metal because the band effortlessly merges and transitions between these genres throughout their songs. "Trojans," the single off their album Polymorphic Code, is worth checking out for its crazy electronic barrage of rhythmic complexity. The incredible drum and guitar playthroughs by the band's drummer and touring guitarist, respectively, are worth checking out, too.
[2-10-14 Edit: Rémi Gallego, the production/mixing musician in The Algorithm, was kind enough to share his thoughts on writing and performing "Trojans"! His commentary is at the bottom of the article.]
[2-10-14 Edit: Rémi Gallego, the production/mixing musician in The Algorithm, was kind enough to share his thoughts on writing and performing "Trojans"! His commentary is at the bottom of the article.]
Artist: The Algorithm
Song: "Trojans"
Vocals: none
(Time stamps are from the music video.)
0:06 - 0:49
Endless repetition, the copying of DNA from generation to generation. A mutation at 0:13 fails to propagate. Awakenings with the drums. I love the beginning of the beat at 0:35 with the hits on the bell of the ride cymbal, shifting the feel from a foggy stirring into a march forward.
0:50 - 1:03
Writing about music this complex is pretty hard. I envision 
walking through a forest flickering between 16-bit and convincingly realistic, the bass guitar a dark rumbling through the leafy woods. The alternation between pauses and fast, high-intensity kick drum rolls at 0:58 ooze ominous. Your vision flickers at 1:01, multicolored fractals flying away from you before you quickly scale a hill to overlook the clearing below. (I know the picture on the right isn't a forest but bear with me.)
1:04 - 1:36
This is one of my favorite progressive metal riffs. From your perch, you overlook cascading memories, waterfalls of code. The guitars are flickering electric reds and blues appearing and disappearing as they unfold in the deluge. The drums alternate between double bass pushing forward and single bass catching you as you've been reciprocally pushed back, like hopping on one foot. The snare at 1:13 is you snapping back, the conflict finishing with a flourish at 1:17 before the whole process restarts. The rolling drum fill at 1:20 (HT-HT-HT-HT, kick-kick, MT-MT-MT-MT, kick-kick, LT-LT-LT-LT) parallels the memories, code, and electricity disappearing from view.
1:37 - 2:09
A ring announces the arrival of a new paradigm. Your vision fades as you enter a casual progression, calm travel through deepening layers of the subconscious before you're jolted awake at 1:47, pulled from the depths like a fish caught on a hook. Attached to a machine, the middle of a surgery, uncertainty and confusion before you blissfully fall back asleep and can traverse your unconscious uninterrupted. The rings (e.g. at 2:00) are like the peaks of mountains coming up out of clouds as you're flying overhead but then disappearing back underneath the white.
2:10 - 2:26
Connection established. Not sure what to write about this besides the fact that I wouldn't mind dancing to this in a club in Berlin.
2:27 - 2:55
In progressive metal, some level of unpredictability keeps things fresh. Bands like Between the Buried and Me take it to a new level, most memorably with the notorious hoedown in their song "Ants of the Sky." In "Trojans," it's interesting that the kick drums are so simple from 2:30-2:36, especially when compared to how difficult they are in the rest of the song. The first few times I listened to the song, I kept expecting to be tripped up with sudden double bass.
walking through a forest flickering between 16-bit and convincingly realistic, the bass guitar a dark rumbling through the leafy woods. The alternation between pauses and fast, high-intensity kick drum rolls at 0:58 ooze ominous. Your vision flickers at 1:01, multicolored fractals flying away from you before you quickly scale a hill to overlook the clearing below. (I know the picture on the right isn't a forest but bear with me.)1:04 - 1:36
This is one of my favorite progressive metal riffs. From your perch, you overlook cascading memories, waterfalls of code. The guitars are flickering electric reds and blues appearing and disappearing as they unfold in the deluge. The drums alternate between double bass pushing forward and single bass catching you as you've been reciprocally pushed back, like hopping on one foot. The snare at 1:13 is you snapping back, the conflict finishing with a flourish at 1:17 before the whole process restarts. The rolling drum fill at 1:20 (HT-HT-HT-HT, kick-kick, MT-MT-MT-MT, kick-kick, LT-LT-LT-LT) parallels the memories, code, and electricity disappearing from view. 
1:37 - 2:09A ring announces the arrival of a new paradigm. Your vision fades as you enter a casual progression, calm travel through deepening layers of the subconscious before you're jolted awake at 1:47, pulled from the depths like a fish caught on a hook. Attached to a machine, the middle of a surgery, uncertainty and confusion before you blissfully fall back asleep and can traverse your unconscious uninterrupted. The rings (e.g. at 2:00) are like the peaks of mountains coming up out of clouds as you're flying overhead but then disappearing back underneath the white.
2:10 - 2:26
Connection established. Not sure what to write about this besides the fact that I wouldn't mind dancing to this in a club in Berlin.
2:27 - 2:55
In progressive metal, some level of unpredictability keeps things fresh. Bands like Between the Buried and Me take it to a new level, most memorably with the notorious hoedown in their song "Ants of the Sky." In "Trojans," it's interesting that the kick drums are so simple from 2:30-2:36, especially when compared to how difficult they are in the rest of the song. The first few times I listened to the song, I kept expecting to be tripped up with sudden double bass.
Insanity. The music video has some awesome visuals at this part. The snare drum doesn't always hit on the downbeat, instead sometimes appearing just before or after.
3:24 -4:06
The synth here repeats in an unpredictable pattern, the computerized hi-hat/snare stumbling in like a frenzied tapdancer. The drums arrive at 3:40 to give structure. In the music video, I love how drummer Mike Malayan smiles at 3:57; he always looks like he's having such a blast whenever he plays the drums.
4:07 - 4:26
Not quite awake, consciousness flickering like a fluorescent light in a graffitied metro. Four quick hits on the splash cymbals preface the return of the drums (which I really love at this part). A series of quick steps follows the pause at 4:20 before utter nonsense - in a good way - at 4:24. I imagine it like rolling a ball up a hill, making it nearly to the top before the ball splinters into pieces, chunks falling back down the hill as you try to hold onto as much of the ball as you can.
4:27 - 4:40
After the crazy free-form drumming of the previous section, the drums restore structure with steady hits on loose hi-hats. The splash cymbals spice it up at 4:30-4:32 as again, the ball rolling up the hill begins to unravel. Suddenly: it's over.
If you liked this and want something more metal, check out "Access Granted" by The Algorithm. Something more electronic/dancey would be "Logic Bomb."
3:24 -4:06
The synth here repeats in an unpredictable pattern, the computerized hi-hat/snare stumbling in like a frenzied tapdancer. The drums arrive at 3:40 to give structure. In the music video, I love how drummer Mike Malayan smiles at 3:57; he always looks like he's having such a blast whenever he plays the drums.
4:07 - 4:26
Not quite awake, consciousness flickering like a fluorescent light in a graffitied metro. Four quick hits on the splash cymbals preface the return of the drums (which I really love at this part). A series of quick steps follows the pause at 4:20 before utter nonsense - in a good way - at 4:24. I imagine it like rolling a ball up a hill, making it nearly to the top before the ball splinters into pieces, chunks falling back down the hill as you try to hold onto as much of the ball as you can. 4:27 - 4:40
After the crazy free-form drumming of the previous section, the drums restore structure with steady hits on loose hi-hats. The splash cymbals spice it up at 4:30-4:32 as again, the ball rolling up the hill begins to unravel. Suddenly: it's over.
If you liked this and want something more metal, check out "Access Granted" by The Algorithm. Something more electronic/dancey would be "Logic Bomb."
Photo/gif credits:
- Real/computer world - The Thirteenth Floor
- Fractal gears - reddit: steakmane
- Blue ring - tumblr: Galimateque
- The Algorithm - Basick records: "Trojans" music video
- Spike curve - reddit: author unknown
UPDATE 2-10-14:
Producer/mixer Rémi Gallego comments: "Hey Matt, thanks a lot! That's a really good article, I really enjoyed it. :-)
I wrote trojans on a really bad speaker system in a tiny room when I lived in Toulouse, France. I was a bit pressured by the label as they needed a track to release for when i signed with them. This pressure allowed me to focus on the writing in a really intense way, I remember locking myself up for days in my bedroom and editing the track over and over again. The final version of the track being extremely different from the first draft. It's a track that shows well the obsessiveness of writing that kind of complicated music, and I like it for this very reason.
My favorite is the part that start at 2:56. Simply because it's really intense and it's really fun to jump around on stage, I like the contrast with the previous section."
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