“All Shall Scream!”: Transposable Lessons from Pierre-Luc Senécal’s Hate.Machine for Growlers Choir

Eric Smialek

doi:10.4324/9781003354451-22

“All Shall Scream!”: Transposable Lessons from Pierre-Luc Senécal’s Hate.Machine for Growlers Choir

Eric Smialek

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review

Abstract

Pierre-Luc Senécal’s Hate.Machine (2020) for metal band and growlers choir can be thought of as an étude for choral composition with extreme metal vocals. Using a recording by the Dremeka Choir, score excerpts, and correspondence with the composer, this chapter examines how Hate.Machine generates creativity and expression from the affordances of multiple voices and the acoustics of vowel formants. Key moments include a choral display of power, contrasts of texture, and a maximally heavy instance of closure. It explores how figurvowels operate along a continuum of low heaviness, high intensity, and a striking combination of both; it introduces a phonetic-genre space for diagraming static and morphing vowels; and it argues that r-colorings can extend the impression of maximal heaviness. Arguing that the choir functions analogously to vocal layers in a studio metal recording, this chapter offers transferable concepts and methodologies that can be used to analyze vocal expression in commercial recordings of extreme metal.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	The Routledge Handbook to Metal Music Composition
Subtitle of host publication	Evolution of Structure, Expression, and Production
Editors	Lori Burns, Ciro Scotto
Publisher	Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
Chapter	18
Pages	309-326
Number of pages	18
Edition	1st
ISBN (Electronic)	9781003354451, 9781040354513
ISBN (Print)	9781032407203, 9781032407210
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003354451-22
Publication status	Published - 13 Jun 2025

Publication series

Name	Routledge Music Handbooks
Publisher	Routledge

Access to Document

10.4324/9781003354451-22Licence: Unspecified

Cite this

Smialek, E. (2025). “All Shall Scream!”: Transposable Lessons from Pierre-Luc Senécal’s Hate.Machine for Growlers Choir. In L. Burns, & C. Scotto (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook to Metal Music Composition: Evolution of Structure, Expression, and Production (1st ed., pp. 309-326). (Routledge Music Handbooks). Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003354451-22

@inbook{3c9b8cc3a6224bea9c0a9c085be5d56f,

title = "“All Shall Scream!”: Transposable Lessons from Pierre-Luc Sen{\'e}cal{\textquoteright}s Hate.Machine for Growlers Choir",

abstract = "Pierre-Luc Sen{\'e}cal{\textquoteright}s Hate.Machine (2020) for metal band and growlers choir can be thought of as an {\'e}tude for choral composition with extreme metal vocals. Using a recording by the Dremeka Choir, score excerpts, and correspondence with the composer, this chapter examines how Hate.Machine generates creativity and expression from the affordances of multiple voices and the acoustics of vowel formants. Key moments include a choral display of power, contrasts of texture, and a maximally heavy instance of closure. It explores how figurvowels operate along a continuum of low heaviness, high intensity, and a striking combination of both; it introduces a phonetic-genre space for diagraming static and morphing vowels; and it argues that r-colorings can extend the impression of maximal heaviness. Arguing that the choir functions analogously to vocal layers in a studio metal recording, this chapter offers transferable concepts and methodologies that can be used to analyze vocal expression in commercial recordings of extreme metal.",

keywords = "Pierre-Luc Sen{\'e}cal{\textquoteright}s Hate.Machine, growlers choir, metal vocals",

author = "Eric Smialek",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 selection and editorial matter, Lori Burns and Ciro Scotto; individual chapters, the contributors.",

year = "2025",

month = jun,

day = "13",

doi = "10.4324/9781003354451-22",

language = "English",

isbn = "9781032407203",

series = "Routledge Music Handbooks",

publisher = "Routledge, Taylor \& Francis Group",

pages = "309--326",

editor = "Lori Burns and Ciro Scotto",

booktitle = "The Routledge Handbook to Metal Music Composition",

address = "United Kingdom",

edition = "1st",

}

Smialek, E 2025, “All Shall Scream!”: Transposable Lessons from Pierre-Luc Senécal’s Hate.Machine for Growlers Choir. in L Burns & C Scotto (eds), The Routledge Handbook to Metal Music Composition: Evolution of Structure, Expression, and Production. 1st edn, Routledge Music Handbooks, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, pp. 309-326. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003354451-22

“All Shall Scream!”: Transposable Lessons from Pierre-Luc Senécal’s Hate.Machine for Growlers Choir. / Smialek, Eric.
The Routledge Handbook to Metal Music Composition: Evolution of Structure, Expression, and Production. ed. / Lori Burns; Ciro Scotto. 1st. ed. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2025. p. 309-326 (Routledge Music Handbooks).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review

TY - CHAP

T1 - “All Shall Scream!”

T2 - Transposable Lessons from Pierre-Luc Senécal’s Hate.Machine for Growlers Choir

AU - Smialek, Eric

PY - 2025/6/13

Y1 - 2025/6/13

N2 - Pierre-Luc Senécal’s Hate.Machine (2020) for metal band and growlers choir can be thought of as an étude for choral composition with extreme metal vocals. Using a recording by the Dremeka Choir, score excerpts, and correspondence with the composer, this chapter examines how Hate.Machine generates creativity and expression from the affordances of multiple voices and the acoustics of vowel formants. Key moments include a choral display of power, contrasts of texture, and a maximally heavy instance of closure. It explores how figurvowels operate along a continuum of low heaviness, high intensity, and a striking combination of both; it introduces a phonetic-genre space for diagraming static and morphing vowels; and it argues that r-colorings can extend the impression of maximal heaviness. Arguing that the choir functions analogously to vocal layers in a studio metal recording, this chapter offers transferable concepts and methodologies that can be used to analyze vocal expression in commercial recordings of extreme metal.

AB - Pierre-Luc Senécal’s Hate.Machine (2020) for metal band and growlers choir can be thought of as an étude for choral composition with extreme metal vocals. Using a recording by the Dremeka Choir, score excerpts, and correspondence with the composer, this chapter examines how Hate.Machine generates creativity and expression from the affordances of multiple voices and the acoustics of vowel formants. Key moments include a choral display of power, contrasts of texture, and a maximally heavy instance of closure. It explores how figurvowels operate along a continuum of low heaviness, high intensity, and a striking combination of both; it introduces a phonetic-genre space for diagraming static and morphing vowels; and it argues that r-colorings can extend the impression of maximal heaviness. Arguing that the choir functions analogously to vocal layers in a studio metal recording, this chapter offers transferable concepts and methodologies that can be used to analyze vocal expression in commercial recordings of extreme metal.

KW - Pierre-Luc Senécal’s Hate.Machine

KW - growlers choir

KW - metal vocals

UR - https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Handbook-to-Metal-Music-Composition-Evolution-of-Structure-Expression-and-Production/Burns-Scotto/p/book/9781032407203

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105008841758&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.4324/9781003354451-22

DO - 10.4324/9781003354451-22

M3 - Chapter

SN - 9781032407203

SN - 9781032407210

T3 - Routledge Music Handbooks

SP - 309

EP - 326

BT - The Routledge Handbook to Metal Music Composition

A2 - Burns, Lori

A2 - Scotto, Ciro

PB - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group

ER -

Smialek E. “All Shall Scream!”: Transposable Lessons from Pierre-Luc Senécal’s Hate.Machine for Growlers Choir. In Burns L, Scotto C, editors, The Routledge Handbook to Metal Music Composition: Evolution of Structure, Expression, and Production. 1st ed. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. 2025. p. 309-326. (Routledge Music Handbooks). Epub 2025 Jun 12. doi: 10.4324/9781003354451-22

“All Shall Scream!”: Transposable Lessons from Pierre-Luc Senécal’s Hate.Machine for Growlers Choir

Abstract

Publication series

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Towards an Analytical Methodology for Vocalists' Live Movements in Extreme Metal

Towards an Acoustic-Semantic Space of Extreme Metal Vocal Styles

A Spectrographic Analysis of Vocal Techniques in Extreme Metal for Musicological Analysis

Musical Aspects of Vowel Formants in the Extreme Metal Voice

Extreme Metal Vocals: Genre as a Candle in the Dark