Ok, so im in a band, very thrash influenced. Some of our songs are straight forward thrash numbers, then I decided I wanted to incorporate other influences into my music to try be a bit more original (Time sig changes, DM influences, melodic influences(computer games/films etc etc) so I went and wrote a bunch of songs with thrashy parts and also different parts to them. Our straight forward thrash songs we really like, and others do too and we really enjoy playing them, they go down well live. We also love doing our more experimental/original(maybe) incorporated songs, and some songs are sorta in between with really simple straight forward thrash with the odd experimental/time sig change thrown in. The thing is, is it important to just stick to one style of music stylistically or is it ok to play straight forward songs and more technical songs which try to be more unique. Bands seem to just stick to one style, IE tech bands seem to have all there songs as technical. Any thoughts?

Well.... i'm coming across this problem with my band. We are ALL over the fucking map when it comes to music. Its got punk influences with blues here and there, ska, 80s metal, rock, folk, and whatever else singer wants to throw in there.

I think its fairly important to come up with an identity with a band. Often times when you go out and listen to a band and they're all over the fucking map its hard (in my opinion) to get really into their music as a whole, rather a few songs they do really well, and wish they focused on more things like that.

I mean from what you described it doesn't sound all that different but i could be wrong. I'd say i wouldn't worry about it unless you're music is just too confusing to even explain. (which in my bands case it is..)

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Yeah well, would people find it odd for say a band like Necrophagist to start writing simple sounding death metal songs aswell as having crazy songs like they actually have? Thats sorta what I mean. I joined the band after the other guitarist and drummer had been jamming a while, and they had written these kick ass straight forward metallica, slayer etc influenced thrash songs, and we play some of them. A while before I joined, I started heavily getting into bands like Death, Cynic, Atheist etc and thought, hmm i'll try be more original and draw influence from bands like this plus other music I love and mix it in with thrash influenced riffage. I showed some of my songs to the band I eventually joined(the one im in now) and they loved the stuff I'd written. So we basically use the other guitarists more straight forward stuff, some of my straight forward stuff with a bit of tech parts, and some of my more tech/experimental thrash.

Maybe if you started blending the two it wouldn't seem so odd. I don't see it being that difficult to use both styles and making your own out of them.

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Music should be allowed to live its own life, the way I see it. If what you get when you write feels good to you, feels like it says what you want it to say then you should let it be like that. Note, "writing music" solely to get on a stage and shake your hair in front of people is not OK in my book. I hate posers.

Me and another dude started working together just a couple of weeks ago, and it's quite interesting. To generalise broadly, he writes ballads and I write trash and funk. Someway though, we meet in the middle somewhere and have everything from a simple song about travelling around the world, to a raw trash piece giving the fuck you to certain elements and tendencies in today's society. Perhaps an even more extreme example of what you're talking about - however, it doesn't have to be a problem, so long as you're true in what you're doing. Just select the songs for gig sets and albums with a pinch of intelligence and I think it can be a pretty good asset instead.

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ever listened to opeth?

they have that pretty weird progressive death metal like stuff and also some really awsome acoustic passages and have lyrics like "beast rip appart my feeble heart"( ). they can blend those styles pretty good and still get a good bonus out of that (pretty sucessful).

maybe the only tricky part is blending the styles properly and i think that mixing trash with prog is easier than mixing death with "lame" acoustic. lol

Just go with the flow dude. Eventually things will become more integrated together when you find what works and what doesn't and things will in turn become more integrated.