- Home
- Welcome
- Community Blog
- JJ's Bizarre Blog #73 - Core of the Matter
Help Wizard
Step 1
Type in your question below and we'll check to see what answers we can find...
Loading article...
Submitting...
If you couldn't find any answers in the previous step then we need to post your question in the community and wait for someone to respond. You'll be notified when that happens.
Simply add some detail to your question and refine the title if needed, choose the relevant category, then post.
Just quickly...
Before we can post your question we need you to quickly make an account (or sign in if you already have one).
Don't worry - it's quick and painless! Just click below, and once you're logged in we'll bring you right back here and post your question. We'll remember what you've already typed in so you won't have to do it again.
FAQs
Please see below the most popular frequently asked questions.
Loading article...
Loading faqs...
Ongoing Issues
Please see below the current ongoing issues which are under investigation.
Loading issue...
Loading ongoing issues...
Help categories
Account & Payment
Using Spotify
Listen Everywhere
JJ's Bizarre Blog #73 - Core of the Matter
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Mark as New
- Mark as Read
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Printer Friendly Page
- Report Inappropriate Content
JJ's Bizarre Blog #73 - Core of the Matter
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
Wazzap, yo! Welcome to the latest and greatest installment of the Bizarre Blog! For this, we enter yet another genre blog and one I've been rearing to make for quite a while now. Allow me to introduce you to a genre whose name reverberated across the metal sphere. It defined the sound of an entire generation and for a time it was ubiquitous. It's left a footprint that can still be felt today. So get ready for some heavy riffs, bountiful breakdowns and techno beats! Straighten your hair, log onto MySpace and get ready to unleash all your angst, because we're talking about metalcore, as well as deathcore and all the derivatives!
To start off, let me break it down for you. As you may have guessed from the name, metalcore is a fusion genre, combining elements of metal and hardcore punk. While over time the label has become quite broad and frustratingly vague, the core elements remain the same - chugging, simplistic, heavy riffage, catchy song structures and an overall rhythmic sound that most often still retains no shortage of melody. Unlike most genres that came before it, guitar solos are quite rare and instead, bands employ a lot of breakdowns, which is to say slower sections with even heavier and more percussive riffs and heavy drumming, which signals the crowd to go nuts while moshing. The use of keyboards, synths and samples is quite common too. Vocals are among the most characteristic aspects, freely switching between harsh screams and shouts with melodic clean lines that might even sound poppy at time. Speaking of pop music, a lot of metalcore also strays away from one of the main tenets of metal, that being the dark lyrics about taboo topics, and instead venture back into more common themes like personal issues, romance, partying and positivity. But that's just the overview, so let's see how we got here and what this all means!
spotify:track:1FJ3JjGcHU8dbOtatmia6L:small
What took me so long to get to this blog was that I first wanted to introduce you all to its main component elements. The first and most important is punk rock, in particular hardcore punk. This is where the "core" part of the name derives from and where ultimately the genre was born. Punk remains at the center of the sound and this is where metalcore got its simple, aggressive instrumentation, its high intensity, relatively brief and very catchy songs, and of course the breakdowns came from here as well! This is also where it inherited all of the now iconic crowd activities like moshing, crowd surfing, stage diving, circle pits and "hardcore dancing". All except the last one are mainstays of metal as well (no karate in the pit!), but metalcore is truly the genre that took these and ran with them!
The second key component is melodic death metal. As I told you before, this is a genre that has had a monumental influence on all of modern metal and metalcore is the primary vehicle through which this came to be. The melodic, Iron Maiden inspired guitar riffs with their characteristic techniques, the free use of synths, the mix of harsh and clean vocals, the melancholic, introspective lyrics and song titles and the general blend of heavy and melodic within the songs. The original Gothenburg bands are the most influential and in particular At the Gates and In Flames were crucial to the now iconic metalcore sound. For good reason, accusations of "At the Gates worship" were quite common in the genre's formative years! Won't say that the pioneering bands copied their homework a bit, but I won't deny it either! Also, I blame those same two aforementioned bands for starting the trend of most metalcore bands being named after phrases and such.
Beyond those two main ingredients, metalcore as it's commonly known also feels like an amalgamation of all the most iconic genres of the 90s providing their best elements. Nu metal inspired its simplistic, punchy and intense riffs. I'd wager most of metalcore (and a lot of modern metal in general) stems from bands emulating the guitar tone of KoRn with the riffing style of SlipKnot. The lyrics of Deftones are vital too. Groove and thrash metal inspired the chuggy and percussive guitar work and fast, technical drumming metalcore as known for and thrash after all was itself the first hybrid between metal and punk to be born! Grindcore helped give the genre more intensity and grit and paved the way of how punk can become heavy enough to merge with metal. And on the other side, genres like melodic hardcore showed just how well melody can be integrated into the punk sound and pop punk demonstrated how the intense and energetic sound can be made catchier and much more commercially viable without losing the heart! All of these are building blocks on what we call metalcore today and one of the benefits of it being developed comparatively late in the history of metal is that it got to take all the best ideas from all these great movements that came before!
The first true developments of metalcore are a lot older than many might assume, coming around the early 90s across the US hardcore punk scene. Many regarded the genre as having become stagnant, so several bands decided to push the envelope by incorporating elements of metal into their sound and creating a new approach. It's kind of like crossover thrash, which is metal with emphasized punk elements, but it works the other way around, creating something quite different. Bands like Integrity, Ringworm, Starkweather and Earth Crisis were among the first to do so. The result was a sound firmly rooted in punk - fast, intense, heavy and relentless, but with a much lower and more rhythmic guitar sound and bountiful distortion that sounds almost Sabbathy at times. This genre is retroactively referred to as "metallic hardcore" and it's a pretty apt description. During this era though, the bands remained firmly punk rooted and songs were dirty, grimy, raw and aggressive while the lyrics were the usual hardcore recipe of politics, societal issues, rebellion and violence. It's almost hard to think that this is related to what came after, but it was a very grassroots movement and a unique one at that!
As the 90s rolled on, metalcore continued to be developed and refined and over time, it grew into its own sound unlike anything else. With the help of seminal bands like Poison the Well, Underoath and especially Converge, by the turn of the 2000s, metalcore was an established term and a growing movement, finding ways to further unite the metal and hardcore crowds under the same umbrella. By this time, the chugging riffs, the mix of clean and harsh vocals, the breakdowns, the melody, the emotional and personal lyrics, all the core elements were there and a clear line can be drawn from here to all bands that came after!
In the 2000s, metalcore truly began to explode in popularity, especially with the introduction of all the amazing elements of melodic death metal and a development of its own unique aesthetic, stylish and somewhat silly, starkly different from the hardcore tough guy vibe of the metallic hardcore days. Some called this more modern sound "melodic metalcore", a redundant term if you ask me. By the end of that decade, nu metal's golden age was clearly nearing its end, so this fresh new movement was there at the right place and the right time to take the torch and become the next big thing in metal! The simplicity was catchy and immediately appealing, the breakdowns tickled the lizard brains perfectly, the angsty and edgy lyrics spoke to the heart of the youth and the movement formed and all the craziest fashion ideas of the time now had a stage to be displayed on. Many decried it, but metalcore was undeniable and it was here to stay!
One absolutely monumental band that helped kickstart this revolution was the one and only Killswitch Engage! This Massachusetts boys trace their origins back to the late 90s and sought to take inspiration from everything around them to forge a unique sound. And boy did they! They integrated a lot of heavy influences from Swedish melodeath and were among the earliest At the Gates worshippers. Their songs were deeply personally and very emotionally driven, with the sound putting a greater focus on clean, melodic lines to emphasize this. Nonetheless, the riffs and breakdows were heavy and always mosh-worthy. Songs to bawl your eyes out and bang your head off at the same time. The incredible work of their iconic singers Jesse Leach and Howard Jones were the seminal soundtrack of entire generations. A vital character in this is the band's drummer-turned-guitarist and secondary vocalist Adam Dutkiewicz, especially because he's also the band's producer! He is key to establishing many of their core elements that went on to become common staples of metalcore as a whole - the polished yet potent production, the layered vocals, the use of reverb, the spoken word passages with that walkie-talkie filter on them, etc. I mean, it definitely helped that Adam D has also produced the greatest albums of like half the other iconic bands of this era, so there's that too! KsE were a unique experience at their start, less so today but not of their own fault. It's simply because almost every metalcore band that came after them tries to emulate their sound to some extent!
Another underrated, but equally as important band are the Washington DC legends Darkest Hour! Another late 90s formation, they were a very hardcore-driven bunch at the start, but quickly embraced the melodic death metal sound, becoming one of the bands that most freely and beautifully blends the sounds of both melodeath and metalcore, becoming one of the best bands of both genres! The riffs are always on point, the melodies are infectious and heart-pounding, the lyrics are poetic and memorable. Their sound has shifted over the years, sometimes heavy and moshy, sometimes melodic and melancholic, sometimes pure metalcore goodness, but whatever they put out, it's always guaranteed gold!
Before we proceed, I'd also like to shoutout the one and only Hatebreed! These merciless masters are among the very few acts of the old metallic hardcore movement in the 90s that managed to refine their sound without losing the power of it and achieved massive success in the process! They continue to make incredibly aggressive, pumping songs that fully carry the hardcore punk heart that started it all and have consistently been able to make banger albums that both punk and metal fans gravitate to. Jamey Jasta's characteristic barking is instantly recongizable and truly iconic! Without ever compromising on what makes them who they are, they remain one of the biggest names in metalcore!
So by now, metalcore was inescapable and countless bands were popping up all over the place. Over time, it became mellower, catchier and more approachable. It also formed a symbiotic relationship with internet culture, especially MySpace (yeah, remember that?), which helped both grow massively and ushered in this new subculture. More electronic elements and poppy choruses, as well as straightened bowl hair, colourful clothes, tattoos, accessories and crabwalks became the new standard. Hot Topic rejoiced. A unique aesthetic, a recognizable sound and tons of momentum. By the end of the 2000s, metalcore was the biggest thing around and young crowds just couldn't get enough of it. The modern "кораджия" was born. If you've been paying close attention, you may have noticed that practically all of the bands mentioned thus far are American and this is no coincidence. It was across many localized scenes across the United States that the genre was born and to this day, the US remains the biggest hotbed for metalcore and the birthplace of the vast majority of all the most significant bands that defined this era. They just couldn't get enough of it over there and like many things, the wave of popularity just propagated from there.
But of course you can't keep a hot new thing to yourself and it didn't take long for other nations to chip in with amazing bands of their own. The UK quickly became the second biggest hotbed, building off of their iconic hardcore scene and greater proximity and involvement with melodeath. Countless massive bands were born from the isles and became some of the most popular names during the genre's hayday, many developing a cult following not too dissimilar to The Beatles. Or...One Direction if you want a contemporary comparison. Melodic, infectiously catchy and primed for success, the power that the Brits brought was irresistible and undeniable!
One key player to mention are the absolutely legendary Welsh band Bullet For My Valentine! These guys were so massive, they more or less developed independently of the main movement, despite also being a part of it. I'm confident that before many of us ever heard the term metalcore for the first time, we already new of BFMV and were jamming to their amazing early 2000s bangers. They were heavy, yet infectiously melodic, their songs were anthemic and Matt Tuck's blend of clean and harsh vocals is just second to none! The influence they've had on the success of metalcore truly cannot be overstated!
From there, the hype train was barreling down the tracks and there was no stopping it! Metalcore grew globally, with Europe quickly delivering many massive bands of their own. Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Bulgaria and many more embraced the new movement and the young generation were happy to join the party and have a new sound to call their own. Some melodeath bands even pivoted towards it, despite inspiring the whole thing!
Soon after, all the way to Japan, Australia, Canada and every other corner of the globe was getting in on the fun and bringing their own unique approach to the fray. Very few genres before or since have managed to build such a massive global movement, especially not this quickly. Like it or not, metalcore was the genre of the day during this and the 2010s truly belonged to it!
Among the worldwide names, I must give a special place to the Australian legends Parkway Drive! Being a very early adopter all the way in the early 2000s, these guys are among the biggest names in all of metalcore and one of the most well renowned, being right up there with the other greats I mentioned so far. Their early sound is pure metalcore - riffy, heavy, intense and mosh worthy. Their breakdowns in particular are incredible and widely considered among the greatest and most iconic the genre has to offer! Frontman Winston McCall has cemented himself as one of the most recognizable voices in metalcore thanks to his gruff and aggressive delivery, completely forgoing any clean vocals! Over the years, they've also vastly improved their songwriting and even incorporated more classic metal elements for a truly arena-worthy sound. Parkway Drive have some of the best metalcore ever under their belt and I speak from experience, there's nothing like them live! Pure beautiful carnage!
Branching out from the main core, one thing we must discuss is djent. To put it simply, it's a new method of guitar playing that focuses on very low tuning and percussive, unusual riff structures, utilizing lots of palm muting and heavy distortion. In short, it's low and nasty, entering into almost infrasonic territory. This is a peculiar phenomenon that actually spawned completely separately within the progressive and extreme metal spheres, pioneered and coined by Swedish legends Meshuggah and helped by contemporaries like Gojira and Fear Factory, but it came about around the same time that metalcore did, so many of those bands (the Extraordinary Djentlemen some might call them) fell in love with this unique sound and made it a core part of their own identity! They helped normalize the use of seven, eight or even nine string guitars and extremely low tunings to achieve this rumble. Along with the complex and technical polyrhythms, it really fit the already percussive and rhythmic sound that metalcore was known for and it helped get those iconic breakdowns to the next level!
Speaking of djent, many bands have taken greater inspiration from progressive metal and incorporated much of its technicality, complex song structures, lengthy compositions and esoteric approach to their own sound, leading to the creation of progressive metalcore! Still as catchy and headbanging as the regular variety, these guys tend to make some really chaotic and truly out there songs that push the genre to its limits and present a very unique take on what metalcore can be! They also tend to be some of the most potent djenters in the realm, replacing soaring complex solos with unfathomable rhythmatic patterns that many fail to comprehend!
And on a similar note, a noteworthy spinoff is mathcore! As the name implies, this subgenre takes inspiration from the existing math rock genre and infuses the metalcore sound with chaotic time signatures, irregular patterns, erratic song structures and overall complexity and unpredictability. It's a very weird and unique sound and it's really engaging in its own special way. Plus it has a storied history dating all the way back to the original scene in the 90s, so this code has been running for quite a while now!
Beyond these, there are many other minor subgenres that I welcome you to dive into. Beatdown hardcore is a really popular one that revives the oldschool metallic hardcore sound with a fresh coat of paint, being much more aggressive, intense and brutal, with short merciless songs. Being already inspired by nu metal, some newer bands decided to take the two most divisive genres and make a hybrid, the wacky but fun nu metalcore. Synths and keyboards have been normalized within metalcore for a while, but some bands make that a bigger part of their sound, birthing the breakdown-infused club hits of electronicore. And if that's still too straightforward for you, plug into Nintendocore! Yes, that's a real thing, it's basically a similar electro-driven metalcore sound that uses lots of chiptune melodies and other video gamey sounds and samples to create a very specific vibe and they also love to sing about comparable personal themes like the original genre, but all through the lens of video game lore! So, expect a very unique sound teeming with pop culture references. Nostalgia is a hell of a thing, let me tell you! In any case, this goes to show the exceptional versatility that can be found in the scene!
And thus, we finally reach the big one! The biggest spawn of the metalcore world - deathcore! Using all of the components we've come know and love - the chugs, the riffs, the breakdowns, all the good stuff - it mixes in plenty of elements from death metal, such as the heavily distorted guitar sound, blast beats and general heaviness. The vocals also forgo the cleans and punk screams in favour of the iconic death growl and made the lyrics a lot more unsavoury too. It somehow sounded reminiscent of both metalcore and death metal, yet also felt like something completely different from both. Forming slightly after metalcore, the genre really came into its own in the late 2000s/early 2010s just as the whole scene grew. For those whole loved their breakdowns, brutal riffs and moshy songs but wanted something meaner and heavier, deathcore was just the thing!
It didn't take long for deathcore to explode in popularity all on its own and become almost as massive as metalcore did! Countless bands all over the world joined the brutal party with once again the US proving the most fertile ground for titans of the genre to form! They kept pushing to make things heavier, more brutal, more raw, more visceral. Vocalists pushed themselves to make the most outlandish, inhuman sounds their throats could produce while musicians sought to create the lowest, nastiest tones imaginable. It became its own huge thing, so for quite a few years, every flavour of scene kid was eating good, regardless of the spice level they like their music at!
There's more to say about it all, but overall this is where we stand with the greater metalcore scene today! No trend lasts forever and as the 2010s drew to a close, it was clear the heyday was at its end as the popularity dialed back a bit and some bands even moved on to different ideas. This of course doesn't mean that the genre has died of course, merely evolved! Many young bands, infatuated with the glory days, keep the classic sound alive while countless others seek to evolve it and find yet new directions to take. Phenomena like Spiritbox, Bad Omens and Wage War still find great popularity, smaller bands like Opal in Sky keep the underground scene alive and well while new age titans like Lorna Shore and Slaughter to Prevail breathe fresh life into deathcore! Even when a band nowadays doesn't explicitly brand themselves as metalcore or anything derivative, you still hear all the chuggy riffs, the syncopated rhythms, the breakdowns, the mix of clean and harsh vocals, the electronic elements and you just know exactly where they got it from! So come whatever may, but metalcore casts a long shadow and has left a lasting legacy that will remain for a long long time!
And that's about a wrap on the story of metalcore, deathcore and all the major derivatives! It's really quite been and continues to be quite the movement, something difficult to compare to anything else. In the grand scheme of history, very few genres were able to become so widespread, comparable perhaps only to glam metal and nu metal during their respective eras. If you weren't there for it, it's really hard to describe just how ubiquitous it was. There were new bands popping up all over the place and all the labels definitely helped push it as much as possible, since it wasn't hard to see how much potential was there. Every festival, every tour, every playlist, metalcore had permeated it all and was truly inescapable. Not saying it was a bad thing of course as there's a lot of good stuff to find and it was quite fun. I feel like, just how nu metal is an inseparable part of the culture of the late 90s and early 2000s, so too is metalcore inseparable from the culture of the late 2000s and 2010s. I also believe that it was precisely nu metal and metalcore that fundamentally changed the paradigm across the greater metal sphere. Clearly, the solo heavy, shreddy style of the 70s and 80s had taken a backseat to the chuggy, rhythmic, riff-driven and breakdown-rich sound that defines modern metal as a whole. Sonically and visually, metal is far different today from decades past and this is where it all came from. But when you get down to it, metalcore and deathcore are just fun! Pumping, energetic and catchy with tons of memorable lyrics to scream along to. Even though I have many opinions about many bands in this sphere, I adore so many of them and a special few have truly touched my heart and helped me through some pretty dark and tough times. So, I understand, I understand completely why it was a big deal and it's fun to say I was there for it all, having perspective on both how things sat before and after it. So hope you enjoyed this in-depth breakdown and walk away from this blog with greater appreciation for the genre as a whole! Enjoy it and explore it. Just, please don't call it screamo. Take care of yourselves, take care of each other and catch you all next time!
spotify:playlist:2tktXEc2KhZzcL2q8F1ma3