Metal core

Metalcore is a musical subgenre that mixes hardcore punk with elements of extreme metal, mainly thrash metal. The term is a portmanteau of heavy metal and hardcore punk.

Apparently the term got its current meaning in the mid-1990s (to describe bands like Earth Crisis, Deadguy and Integrity), the foundations of the genre were laid in early 1989 with the work of Integrity. The fusion of metal with hardcore had already existed years before in different forms, such as crossover thrash with a greater influence of hardcore punk (also known as "old school" hardcore) and thrash metal of the late 1980s. Metalcore is distinguished from other punk metal fusions by its emphasis on breakdowns: slow, intense parts that lead to mosh.

History

Forerunners (1977-1984)

Black Flag, Bad Brains and the pioneers of hardcore, admired heavy metal bands like Black Sabbath, and tried to add a bit more complex compositions to the original punk. English street punk bands such as Discharge and The Exploited also took inspiration from metal. The Misfits began taking elements from Motörhead, becoming a crucial influence on thrash metal. However, these bands only took minor metal influences and did not they were considered as a hybrid between metal and hardcore as such. For this reason, punk and metal cultures remained separate until the mid-1980s.

Crossover thrash (1984-1989)

The first fusion between metal and hardcore occurred with the crossover thrash scene, which spawned in Berkeley at a club called Ruthie's, in 1984. The term "metalcore" was originally used for refer to these bands. Hardcore punk bands such as Corrosion of Conformity, Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, The Accüsed, and Suicidal Tendencies played alongside thrash metal bands such as Metallica and Slayer. This influenced the New York hardcore skinhead scene, which also originated in 1984, and included bands such as the Cro-Mags, Murphy's Law, Agnostic Front, and Warzone. The Cro-Mags were the most influential of these bands, using elements of Bad Brains, Motörhead, and Black Sabbath. The Cro-Mags also supported the straight edge movement formed by Minor Threat. Other New York straight edge bands included Gorilla Biscuits, Youth of Today and the Crumbsuckers who pioneered the youth crew style, a subgenre of cross-influenced hardcore punk. over thrash and melodic hardcore, which would soon take more influence from heavy metal. 1985 saw the birth of breakdown, an amalgamation of Bad Brains' reggae and metal influences. Agnostic Front's Cause for Alarm, a collaboration with Peter Steele, was seen as a start in the fusion of hardcore and metal.

Metallic hardcore (1989-2000)

Between 1989 and 1995, a new wave of hardcore bands emerged, creating more complex and violent compositions, which became known as "metallic hardcore" or also as "new school hardcore". These included Unbroken, Chokehold, Integrity, Earth Crisis, Converge, Madball, Starkweather, Judge, Bloodlet, Strife, Rorschach, Cave In, Vision of Disorder, Hatebreed, Disembodied and Candiria among others. Integrity took as its first influence the hardcore created by Cro-Mags and the thrash metal of Slayer, with elements of Septic Death, Samhain, Motörhead, and Joy Division. Earth Crisis, Converge, and Hatebreed also used elements of death metal. Biohazard, Coalesce, and Shai Hulud were also important groups in the early days. from metalcore. These groups are sometimes referred to as "metallic hardcore" or "metallic hardcore" bands to differentiate them from what is called "metalcore" today.

West Flanders, Belgium was home to the hardcore H8000 scene, which took a strong influence from extreme metal, as well as a straight edge vegan lifestyle. Some of these bands pioneered metalcore and deathcore, such as Congress, Liar, Blindfold, Shortsight, Regression, and Spirit of Youth. Good Life Recordings was an important label. in the diffusion of the material of the bands of the scene.

Melodic Metalcore (2000-present)

At the end of the 1990s a third wave of metalcore bands appeared, placing a special emphasis on melody, called by genre connoisseurs and some media as "melodic metalcore".

The North American group Day of Suffering was one of the first to try to merge melodic death metal with the sound of hardcore punk, initiating a process of rapprochement between both styles, materialized in groups such as Undying and Prayer for Cleansing. Apart from the fusions between death metal and metalcore, others appeared, such as the groups 40 Below Summer, Torch, Insane and Black Bomb A, which began to combine metalcore and deathcore with nu metal.

In the mid-2000s, melodic metalcore emerged as a commercial force, as major independent labels signed bands in this genre, such as Shadows Fall with Century Media, Unearth with Metal Blade, and Killswitch Engage with Roadrunner. This last band marks a turning point in the evolution of melodic metalcore, with the introduction of melodic vocal choruses in addition to the fusion between hardcore punk and melodic death metal, thus creating the basic formula that many other bands would later adopt such as Trivium, Still Remains, Darkest Hour, Poison the Well, Underoath, Atreyu and Avenged Sevenfold. To the influence of melodic death metal, particularly In Flames and At the Gates, is added the frequent use of clean vocals and much less distortion than the old ones. bands and a better production when recording the albums, unlike the previous metalcore groups, and even marking distances with other metalcore groups with melodic death metal influences such as Himsa, Dead To Fall, Confronto and Fear My Thoughts, who put more emphasis on the speed and brutality of the music.

Some of these groups such as Shadows Fall have spoken about their fondness for 1980s glam metal. Melodic metalcore bands have been described as "reviving 1980s metal clichés", such as the "great use of of smoke machines, incredible solos, and the use of "tres bass drums" on the battery".

Circa 2004, melodic metalcore became quite popular with Killswitch Engage's The End of Heartache and Shadows Fall's The War Within debuting at numbers 21 and 20., respectively, on the Billboard. Later, Underoath's album Define the Great Line, released in 2006, reached number 2 on the Billboard 200, while Scream Aim Fire by the Welsh band Bullet for My Valentine, released in 2008, peaked at number 4. That same year the album Shogun by the American band Trivium peaked at #23 on the Billboard 200 and the #1 on the UK Hard Rock charts. For their part, the albums An Ocean Between Us and The Powerless Rise by As I Lay Dying, reached positions 8 and 10 of the same ranking. Hatebreed and In This Moment have reached significant heights on these charts. Metalcore bands have had prominent festival slots at Ozzfest, Download Festival, and the Warped Tour.

Continuing popularity and emergence of sub-genres (2010s-present)

Many exponents of melodic metalcore bands broke up like As I Lay Dying or changed their sound, such as Atreyu, Avenged Sevenfold, Bullet For My Valentine or Black Veil Brides towards hard rock while Trivium experimented with others genres such as progressive metal, groove metal or heavy metal.

However, by the late 2000's metalcore was abandoning its heavy metal and melodic death metal influences typical of melodic metalcore and was incorporating elements of genres such as post-hardcore, melodic hardcore, pop punk / emo, alternative rock and even electronic music. Other bands like August Burns Red, For Today, Miss May I, Bury Tomorrow, Parkway Drive, I Killed The Prom Queen, Caliban or Architects maintained a style more similar to the melodic metalcore of the 2000s.

Sumerian Records noted that in the late 2000s "there has been a surplus of electronic hardcore". Attack Attack! he is often credited as the major American contributor to this style of metalcore with his album "Sunday Came Suddenly" 2008 Many more bands came out in a similar style like Asking Alexandria, Of Mice & Men, The Devil Wears Prada, Memphis May Fire, Blessthefall, We Came As Romans, Crown The Empire, The Word Alive, among others.

The Devil Wears Prada's 2011 album Dead Throne (which sold 32,400 in its first week) reached number 10 on the Billboard 200 chart. Asking Alexandria also achieved success, with its 2009 title track "Final Episode (Let's Change the Channel)" which was certified gold by the RIAA The band's 2011 album Reckless & Relentless, peaked at number 9 on the Billboard 200.

Many other metalcore bands emerged, incorporating sounds from other musical genres and achieving great success. Motionless in White and Ice Nine Kills incorporated gothic and horror film influences into their music, Oceans Ate Alaska from progressive metal and math rock Falling In Reverse and Attila elements from hip hop music, Woe, Is Me and Issues of R&B/soul and pop, A Day To Remember and Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! They were characterized by their mix of pop punk and metalcore, and groups like Bring Me The Horizon dabbled with elements of post-rock, electronic music, and symphonic music.

Metallic Hardcore Revival (Late 2010s - Present)

Bands like The Ghost Inside or the French Rise of the Northstar achieved success with a musical style very similar to the metalcore of the 90s.

In 2018, an article in Kerrang! referred to a revival of an earlier style of metalcore, described as "a dark and powerful combination of hardcore's honest fury and thrash's ruthless riffing", citing Vein, Vatican, Thirty Nights of Violence and Chamber as the pioneers of the style. The Odyssey also cited Code Orange, Knocked Loose, Varials, Jesus Piece, Counterparts, Employed to Serve, and Kublai Khan as groups having achieved significant success within the genre.

Code Orange achieved critical acclaim and success with their Roadrunner Records debut with Forever in 2017 mixing metalcore with sludge metal, grunge, industrial metal and groove metal The title track from Forever was also nominated for a Grammy for Best Performance of Metal in 2018

Features

Sound

The metalcore sound is popularly described as "a field of war devastated by bombs and military missiles"

Instrumentation

Metalcore bands usually have two guitarists, who frequently play riffs and sometimes solos fast and heavy influenced by thrash metal. Metallic hardcore bands usually play hardcore punk riffs with high distortion, while melodic metalcore bands usually play riffs inspired by melodic death metal. Bassists often follow the guitar on the beat. The drummer usually plays double pedal or double bass drums with fast rhythms, usually d-beats, as part of their hardcore influence.

Voices

Lead vocals in metalcore are generally heartbreaking. Guttural vocals became common in the 1990s. Metalcore bands generally combine these with melodic vocals.

Lyrical content

Metalcore initially emerged from youth crew hardcore, with many bands adhering to the straight edge movement, though Integrity was a notable exception. Earth Crisis promoted vegetarianism and animal rights, which had a clear effect on bands like Converge. Converge was also notable for focusing on personal angst and failed experiences of romantic love. One Life Crew and other hardcore neo-Nazi skinhead groups were controversial for their right-wing political views. Dwid Hellion, leader of Integrity, claimed the "Holy Church of Doomsday Terror", which is related to Satanism. Several members of contemporary metalcore have Christian beliefs: Zao, As I Lay Dying, Underoath, August Burns Red and Norma Jean are the most famous examples.

Subgenres and fusions

Mathcore

Mathcore, also called technical metalcore (technical metalcore) or progressive metalcore (progressive metalcore), is a subgenre of metalcore characterized by its high level of technical interpretation. It began with the mid-1990s work of Botch and The Dillinger Escape Plan. The term mathcore was suggested by analogy with math rock. It is characterized by fast technical riffs and unusual time signatures. Mathcore is much more chaotic and irregular than metalcore, although it is still just as harmonic, taking influence from melodic metalcore. Many times it becomes mathcore/grindcore because of the aggressiveness it acquires. Bands like Between the Buried and Me, Behold... The Arctopus and The Number Twelve Looks Like You are traditional examples of mathcore bands.

Deathcore

Deathcore, an amalgamation of metalcore and death metal, with some influence from Grindcore that was pioneered by Despised Icon and Job for a Cowboy in the early 2000s. Although still a subgenre of metalcore, deathcore is heavily influenced by by death metal in its speed, harshness, and approach to chromatics, use of palm muted riffing, dissonance, and frequent pitch shifts. Deathcore frequently uses breakdowns and melodic riffs. Other examples include As Blood Runs Black, Through the Eyes of the Dead, Suicide Silence, Carnifex (band), All Shall Perish, Chelsea Grin.

Other groups were also influenced by black metal and were called blackcore. We can name bands like Abigail Williams, Bleeding Through, Atvena's Wake or even Motionless In White in their early works. The genre became popular thanks to bands like Carnifex, Lorna Shore, Make Them Suffer or Betraying the Martyrs.

Electroniccore

Electronicore, synthcore, or electronic hardcore is characterized by typical metalcore instrumentation, breakdowns, and the use of sequencers, electronic tone-generating synthesizers, autotuned vocals, and screamed vocals. Enter Shikari pioneered their fusion of trance with post-hardcore. Attack Attack! popularized the genre with its blend of techno, electropop, and dance. Later many other bands such as Abandon All Ships, Casino Madrid, Fear and Loathing In Vegas, Eskimo Callboy, Asking Alexandria, Capture The Crown, Make Me Famous or Upon This Dawning adopted a similar sound.

Italian band Hopes Die Last and Japanese band Crossfaith incorporated elements of dubstep into their sound while American band I See Stars experimented with drum & bass, dubstep and different genres of EDM.

The Browning and We Butter The Bread With Butter opted for a heavier sound mixing metalcore with deathcore and industrial metal

Nu Metalcore

By the early 2000s there were already groups like 40 Below Summer, Torch, Insane and Black Bomb A that began to combine metalcore and deathcore with nu metal.

The Japanese band Maximum The Hormone achieved mild popularity after performing the opening and ending theme songs of Death Note. This band mixes metalcore with nu/rap metal, funk rock, grindcore, hardcore punk and j-pop.

However, it wasn't until the appearance of Emmure, Attila and later Suicide Silence on their album The Black Crown that this subgenre began to gain popularity. Bands like Of Mice & Men, Issues and Motionless In White on their later works gained moderate popularity in the 2010s using elements of nu metal. Other examples we can mention Stray From The Path, My Ticket Home and others from the mid-2010s such as Blood Youth, Cane Hill, Sworn In, DangerKids, Islander and Ocean Grove.

British groups like Holding Absence, Lotus Eater and Loathe (the latter with its mix of metalcore, nu metal, progressive metal and shogaze) according to NME and Metal Hammer are bringing about a "new wave of British heavy music& #34;

Progressive Metalcore

Progressive metalcore, technical metalcore or "djentcore" is a fusion of progressive metal and metalcore characterized by "atmospheric" elements, complex instrumentation and djent-influenced breakdows. After the Burial are a pioneer of the genre, formed in 2004 and according to AXS, "After The Burial play progressive metalcore and have been a key contributor to the djent sound" Representative bands of the genre are Textures, I, The Breather, Born Of Osiris, Veil Of Maya, Northlane, Make Them Suffer (in their latest works), Spiritbox, Architects, Crystal Lake, Volumes, ERRA and Invent Animate

Pop Culture

Several comedians and musicians have made videos and songs parodying the genre gaining popularity on YouTube, including Jared Dines and Jarrod Alonge. In 2015, Jarrod Alonge released his album Beating a Dead Horse on his YouTube channel. The album features seven different fictional bands created by Alonge to satirize the tropes and characteristics of the genre.

Thanks to the Fearless Records album series Pop Goes Punk, various artists have covered famous pop, hip hop or EDM songs in the metalcore genre

Local scenes

Australia

The Australian scene has produced a large number of groups such as Thy Art Is Murder, Make Them Suffer, Parkway Drive, I Killed The Prom Queen, Justice For The Damned, Alpha Wolf, Void of Vision, Confession, The Amity Affliction, Dream On, Dreamer, In Hearts Wake, Ocean Grove, Capture, Dealer, Polaris, Northlane or The Brave.

France

The most popular bands in the genre are Betraying The Martyrs, Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! and Rise Of The Northstar. Others followed, such as Novelists (FR), LVNDMARKS, Resolve! or Ten56 (Aaron Matts side project). During the pandemic, various groups emerged such as Ashen, Two Trains Left, Oakman (with emo and pop punk influences) or Glassbone (with metallic hardcore influences).

Japan

In addition to bands like Maximum the Hormone, Crossfaith or Crystal Lake, various J-Rock and Visual Kei bands have incorporated elements of metalcore, deathcore or electronicore into their musical and aesthetic style such as Dir In Grey, The Gazette, Sprit D& #39; Air, Lynch, 12012, SCREW, Delui, UNDIVIDED, Cell, Hybrid-Zombiez, Unsraw, Deathgaze, Nocturnal Bloodlust, Imperial Circus Dead Decadence and Dio – Distraught Overlord.

Germany

The German country gave rise to several bands of the melodic metalcore style such as Deadlock, Neaera, Maroon, Heaven Shall Burn, Caliban, Callejon or Any Given Day. Within the electronicore style emerged bands like We Butter the Bread with Butter and others with a more festive and comical style like Electric Callboy while War from a Harlots Mouth shows a sound closer to mathcore.

Russia

The genre became very popular in the country within the underground circuit, although others have achieved moderate popularity such as Stigmata, Amatory, Icon In Me, My Autumn, Slaughter to Prevail or The Korea.