Can’t Spell Ron Jarzombek? That’s Ok, He Can Do It For You!

I was drawn to Ron Jarzombek’s music the moment I found it at age 12, mainly because he looked like a mad scientist, and I was excited that someone let a mad scientist make a metal record.

I find it interesting that people don’t talk about Jarzombek more, or that so many people are totally unaware of his music when I invoke him in conversations about my favorite guitar players. I mean, Jarzombek is not exactly Trve Cvlt Uvdergrnd – this is a dude who led some of the most seminal tech and prog-metal bands of all time – namely, Watchtower in the 80’s and Spastic Ink in the 90’s. And we’re now in the midst of a major reinvigoration of interest in those kinds of bands, with the rise of Animals as Leaders, Periphery, et. all!

It’s also weird given that he is reasonably active. These days, Jarzombek’s main metal project is Blotted Science, which is like, insane instrumental technical death metal (you read that right) that also features Cannibal Corpse’s Alex Webster, alongside a littany of drummers like Charlie Zeleny, Hannes Grossman, and allegedly, Chris Adler at one point.

In addition to his bands, Jarzombek keeps up with non-album Internet Music projects. In my opinion, he’s unquestionably paved the way for bands like Scale the Summit, Devin Townsend Project, Animals as Leaders, Revocation, etc. to expand methods for presenting their music and musicianship in the post-Napster, post-iTunes, post-Spotify, whatever world that we’re in. He’s released iPhone apps with exclusive material, he’s provided run-downs and playthroughs demonstrating his Circle of Twelve Tones (the system he uses to write music for Blotted Science), he’s got free tabs, and he’s been doing it since the mid-2000’s, before it really became standard to do so.

Anyway, this is all to say that you should check out Ron’s latest video and theory rundown, for “In the Name of Ron,” a weird and pretty little tune that he wrote by imposing the letters of his name onto a staff. It’s appropriately within his style these days – a tiny dispatch of musical experimentation that he’s been tinkering with.