Metalcore
Metalcore is a broadly defined fusion genre combining elements of heavy metal and hardcore punk, originating in the 1990s United States and becoming popular in the 2000s. Metalcore typically has aggressive verses and melodic choruses, combined with slow, intense passages called breakdowns. Other defining traits are low-tuned, percussive guitar riffs, double bass drumming, and highly polished production. Vocalists typically switch between clean vocals and harsh vocals. Lyrics are often personal, introspective and emotive. It is debated whether metalcore is a subgenre of metal and hardcore, or a genre of its own. Many metalheads do not regard metalcore as a heavy metal subgenre.
In the late 1980s to early 1990s, pioneering bands were founded such as Integrity, Earth Crisis and Converge, whose hardcore punk-leaning style is sometimes referred to as metallic hardcore. These bands took influence from a range of styles and genres such as hardcore punk, thrash metal and death metal. During the decade, the genre diversified, with Converge, the Dillinger Escape Plan, Botch and Coalesce pioneering mathcore, while Overcast, Shadows Fall and Darkest Hour merged the genre with melodic death metal to create melodic metalcore.
During the early 2000s, melodic metalcore bands such as Killswitch Engage, All That Remains, Trivium, As I Lay Dying, Atreyu, Bullet for My Valentine and Parkway Drive found mainstream popularity. In the subsequent years, the genre saw increased success through social networking on Myspace and internet memes such as crabcore. During this time, artists began to draw influence from a wide variety of sources, which led to genre cultivating a plethora of fusion genres including electronicore, deathcore, Nintendocore, progressive metalcore and nu metalcore. In the 2010s and through to the 2020s, the genre saw even greater commercial success, with albums by Bring Me the Horizon, Architects, Asking Alexandria, the Devil Wears Prada and Of Mice & Men penetrating the top 10 of international albums charts.
Etymology
The term "metalcore" is a portmanteau of the words "metal" and "hardcore", and was originally tongue-in-cheek. During the 1980s, Maximumrocknroll had used early variations of the term, referring to Richmond band Black Pyramid as "heavy-metal core" in February 1985; Oxnard band False Confessions as "metal-core" in December 1985; Mesa band Desecration as "death metal core" in May 1986; and Austin band Last Will as "ghoulish metal/core" in December 1986.Phillip Trapp of Loudwire states that Shai Hulud guitarist Matt Fox is widely credited for playing a role in "popularizing" the term. However, in a 2008 interview, Fox claimed the term had already been in use before his band began releasing music. He recalled: "There were bands before Shai Hulud started that my friends and I were referring to as 'metalcore.' Bands like Burn, Deadguy, Earth Crisis, even Integrity. These bands that were heavier than the average hardcore bands. These bands that were more progressive my friends and I would always refer to them as 'metalcore' because it wasn't purely hardcore and it wasn't purely metal so we would joke around and say, 'Hey, it's metalcore. Cool!' But it was definitely a tongue-in-cheek term."
Alternatively, Jorge Rosado of Merauder claimed in 2014 interview that he and his band coined the term.
Luke Morton of Metal Hammer stated that the word "means different things to different people," highlighting the fact that the tag has been variously applied to stylistically dissimilar bands such as Killswitch Engage, Earth Crisis, Asking Alexandria and Parkway Drive.
Characteristics
Stylistic elements
Metalcore fuses elements of hardcore punk with heavy metal, as well as incorporating elements of groove metal, crossover thrash and melodic death metal. It is known for its use of breakdowns. There is debate as to whether metalcore is a fusion genre, a subgenre, or a genre of its own. According to Lewis Kennedy, although metalcore existed "in some form or another" throughout the 1990s, it was only during the early 2000s that metalcore became codified or distinguished as a genre with specific traits. He links this with the movement known as the "New Wave of American Heavy Metal".The genre is broadly defined, and throughout its history, various metalcore acts have fused elements of hardcore and metal in different ways. Some earlier metalcore bands, such as Botch and Cave In, were stylistically derived from traditional hardcore scenes, performing styles characterized by "relentless tempos and neck vein-popping vocals." Jorge Martins of Ultimate Guitar stated: "Some of those bands fused Slayer-based assaulting riffs with Pantera-leaning plummeting breakdowns and punk's ferocity and ethics, and a whole new beast was formed."
Some later acts, such as Killswitch Engage, gravitated towards a more accessible heavy metal sound, while also incorporating elements of Swedish melodic death metal and Boston hardcore. Many 2000s metalcore bands were heavily influenced by melodic death metal, and extensively incorporated elements of the style into their music.
Instrumentation and vocals
Instrumentally, metalcore generally has percussive guitar riffs and stop-start rhythm guitar. Metalcore is known for its emphasis on breakdowns, which are slow, intense passages during a song. According to Graham Hartmann of Loudwire, "when a band changes up the mood with some masterful composition, a breakdown can be brilliant as well as devastating." Drop guitar tunings are often used in metalcore. Most bands use tuning ranging between Drop D and A, although lower tunings, as well as 7 and 8 string guitars, are not uncommon. Drummers typically employ various techniques common in extreme metal and hardcore, such as double-kick drumming. Author James Giordano states that metalcore is usually played at slower tempos than the styles its artists draw influence from, such as thrash metal.Metalcore vocalists usually mix "clean" vocals—melodic, emotional singing—with "harsh" vocals—including shouting, roaring and screaming, a harsh vocal technique that became popular in the underground punk and metal scenes of the 1980s. Vocal performances in early metalcore acts were characterized by what has been described as a "raw, scream-meets-shout vocal style." Later metalcore bands often alternate between harsh vocals and clean singing, usually during the bridge or chorus of a song. Joe DiVita of Loudwire states that many people define modern metalcore by the tradeoff between screaming and clean singing. Although many modern metalcore tracks have choruses that contain hooks, some bands still do omit clean vocals entirely. Other bands use clean vocals very sparingly, done for the purpose of "coloring a mood," according to DiVita. Modern metalcore clean vocals have drawn comparisons to the mainstream emo and pop-punk music of the 2000s, which some have suggested may have deterred some fans of heavier music styles.
Unlike traditional heavy metal and extreme metal lyrics, metalcore lyrics are often personal, introspective and emotional.
History
Precursors: 1980s
Many of the originators of hardcore punk took influence from the sound of heavy metal, including Black Flag, the Bad Brains, Discharge and the Exploited, Furthermore, during the 1980s many genres originated merging the two styles, including crust punk, sludge metal and crossover thrash. Nonetheless, punk and metal cultures and music remained fairly separate through the 1980s.Bands in the New York hardcore scene in particular put a significant emphasis on the influence of metal, building their own take on hardcore, based around groove-driven, palm muted guitar riffs. Early on, this scene saw the development of the hardcore breakdown, an amalgamation of Bad Brains' reggae and hardcore backgrounds, which encouraged moshing. It was this New York-style hardcore that metalcore grew directly out of.
Origins: 1990s
One of the earliest metalcore scenes was that of Cleveland, Ohio. Fronted by Integrity and Ringworm, the sound of bands in the scene was distinctly darker than what the genre would become. Integrity's debut album Those Who Fear Tomorrow merged hardcore with apocalyptic lyrics and metal's guitar solos and chugging riffs to create one of the primeval albums in the genre. Revolver magazine writer Elis Enis stated that the album "influenced practically every breakdown that's been recorded since". Whereas, Ringworm's debut The Promise made use of a style closer to crossover thrash while also putting a heavy emphasis on breakdowns. The term "holy terror" refers to this specific style of metalcore which Integrity and Ringworm pioneered. The style is typified by soaring guitar leads, gravelly vocals and lyrics discussing western esotericism.Philadelphia's Starkweather were also an important early metalcore band, with their album Crossbearer which merged early metal's grooves and dark atmospheres with elements of hardcore. Rorschach also pioneered a distinctly dissonant and noise-influence niche into this early metalcore sound, which would go on to define noisecore and mathcore.
In 1993, Earth Crisis released "Firestorm", a song which became one of the most influential in metalcore. The band's militant vegan straight edge ethic and emphasis on chug riffs saw them immediately influence a wave of subsequent bands and gained coverage by major media outlets like CNN, CBS and MTV. The EP the song was a part of was also one of the earliest releases by Victory Records who go on to be a defining part of the metalcore scene in the coming years, through releasing many of the style's most successful albums.
Boston, Massachusetts too developed an early metalcore scene, led by Overcast who formed in 1990. Much of this scene were based around Hydra Head Records, which was founded by Aaron Turner after moving to Boston. Converge were one of the earliest and most prominent groups from the city, formed in 1990. Using Rorschach's music as their sonic template, the band's experimental attitude, emotional lyrics and attention to dynamics led to them becoming one of the most influential bands in the genre. Converge, along with Morris Plains, New Jersey's the Dillinger Escape Plan and Tacoma, Washington's Botch were three of the founding acts in the style's mathcore subgenre, with Kansas City, Missouri's Coalesce and New Brunswick, New Jersey's Deadguy being prominent acts transitioning towards the style. Converge's guitarist Kurt Ballou opened the recording studio GodCity Studio in 1998, and would go on to record many of the most influential subsequent hardcore records from the city.
New York City's Merauder released their debut album Master Killer in 1996, merging the sounds of metalcore, earlier New York hardcore and the newly emerged beatdown hardcore style. Of the album, Revolver writer Elis Enis stated "any self-proclaimed 'metallic hardcore' band of the last 25 years is indebted to Master Killer's steel-toed stomp." Along with All Out War, Darkside NYC and Confusion, Merauder were a part of a wave of bands defining a newer, increasingly metallic style of hardcore in New York that had long been one of the epicentres of the genre. Long Island's Vision of Disorder were also a prevalent band in the scene, being one of the first bands to incorporate clean singing into the genre, which would soon become a staple, as well as incorporating elements of nu metal. In a 2005 article by Billboard magazine, writer Greg Pato stated that "with seemingly every local teen waving the VOD banner circa the mid/late '90s, it seemed as though it was only a matter of time before VOD would become the band to take 'metalcore' to a massive audience".
Bridgeport, Connecticut's Hatebreed released their debut album Satisfaction is the Death of Desire in 1997. The album helped the band achieve underground success, selling 158,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and holds the record for Victory Record's best selling debut album. The band's style merged classic hardcore with beatdown and metalcore, while also overtly referencing metal bands like Slayer. In a 2015 Metal Hammer article, writer Stephen Hill stated "The difference between Hatebreed and many of their influences is that where a band like Madball were happy to co-exist with metal bands without feeling like they were part of the same scene, Hatebreed actively went out of their way to become the hardcore band metal fans listen to." Other influential metalcore bands of the time include Shai Hulud, Zao and Disembodied.
Orange County, California metalcore band Eighteen Visions contrasted the metalcore scene's usual hyper masculine aesthetic of "army and sports clothes" with "skinny jeans, eyeliner and hairstyles influenced by Orgy and Unbroken". This visual style led to the band being called "fashioncore". Jasamine White-Gluz of Exclaim! wrote that Eighteen Visions look "more like a boy band than a popular hardcore group. Critics tag the band for putting fashion at the centre of their music, but it adds a playful and interesting touch to a band that sounds much tougher than it looks." A scene of bands in Orange County including Bleeding Through, Avenged Sevenfold and Atreyu continued this in Eighteen Visions' wake, and influenced emo and scene fashion in the coming decade.
As the decade drew to a close, a wave of metalcore bands began incorporating elements of melodic death metal into their sound. This formed an early version of what would become the melodic metalcore genre, with Shadows Fall's Somber Eyes to the Sky, Undying's This Day All Gods Die, Darkest Hour's The Prophecy Fulfilled, Unearth's Above the Fall of Man, Prayer for Cleansing's Rain in Endless Fall being some of the style's earliest releases. CMJ writer Anthony Delia also credited Florida's Poison the Well and their first two releases The Opposite of December... A Season of Separation and Tear from the Red as "design the template for most of" the melodic metalcore bands to come. Alternative Press Magazine described melodic metalcore as the "breakdown-heavy counterpart" of melodic death metal, referring to the latter genre as the "founding ancestor" of the former. At the Gates' 1995 album Slaughter of the Soul was influential for many melodic metalcore bands. Malcolm Dome of Revolver wrote that without the album, modern North American melodic metalcore acts such as As I Lay Dying and All That Remains "wouldn't even exist."