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Metalcore

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Metalcore
Stylistic originsCrossover thrash[1]
Hardcore punk
Heavy metal
Thrash metal
Youth crew[2]
Cultural originsLate 1980s, North America
Typical instrumentsElectric guitar − Bass guitar − Drums (double kick)
Subgenres
Mathcore
(complete list)
Fusion genres
Deathcore - Melodic metalcore
Regional scenes
Massachusetts - New Jersey - New York
Other topics
Breakdown - Punk metal

Metalcore is an umbrella term used to describe fusion genres that incorporate elements of the hardcore punk and heavy metal genres. The term is a portmanteau of heavy metal and hardcore punk. The term took on its current meaning in the mid-1990s, describing bands like Earth Crisis, Deadguy and Integrity.[3] The earliest of these groups, Integrity, began performing in 1989.[4] Metalcore is distinguished from other punk metal fusions by its emphasis on breakdowns:[5] slower, intense passages conducive to moshing.[6]

History

Precursors (1977–1984)

Main article: Hardcore punk

Black Flag[7] and Bad Brains,[8] among the originators of hardcore, admired and emulated Black Sabbath. British street punk groups such as Discharge and The Exploited also took inspiration from metal.[9] The Misfits began to borrow from Motörhead, becoming a crucial influence on thrash.[10] Nonetheless, punk and metal cultures and music remained separate through the first half of the 1980s.

Crossover thrash (1984–1988)

Main article: Crossover thrash

Cross-pollination between metal and hardcore eventually birthed the crossover thrash scene, which gestated at a Berkeley club called Ruthie's, in 1984.[11] The term "metalcore" was originally used to refer to these crossover groups.[12] Hardcore punk groups Corrosion of Conformity,[13] Dirty Rotten Imbeciles and Suicidal Tendencies[14] played alongside thrash metal groups like Metallica and Slayer. This scene influenced the skinhead wing of New York hardcore, which also began in 1984, and included groups such as Cro-Mags, Murphy's Law, Agnostic Front[15] and Warzone.[16] The Cro-Mags were among the most influential of these bands, drawing equally from Bad Brains, Motörhead, and Black Sabbath.[17] Cro-Mags also embraced straight edge and, surprisingly enough, Krishna consciousness.[18] Other New York straight edge groups included Gorilla Biscuits, Crumbsuckers, and Youth of Today,[19] who inaugurated the youth crew style.[20] 1985 saw the development of the hardcore breakdown, an amalgamation of Bad Brains' reggae and metal backgrounds,[6] which encouraged moshing. Agnostic Front's 1986 album Cause for Alarm, a collaboration with Peter Steele, was a watershed in the intertwining of hardcore and metal.[21]

Converge at Neumo's in Seattle, Washington, 2008

Metallic hardcore (1989–2000)

Between 1989 and 1995, a new wave of metalcore bands emerged.[22] These included Integrity,[23] Earth Crisis,[23][24] Converge,[24] Starkweather, Judge, Bloodlet,[24] Strife,[23] Rorschach, Cave In,[25] Vision of Disorder,[25] Hatebreed,[25][23] and Candiria.[25] Integrity drew influence primarily from the hardcore of The Cro-Mags and the thrash metal of Slayer, with more subtle elements of Septic Death, Samhain, Motörhead, and Joy Division.[26] Earth Crisis, Converge, and Hatebreed[27] also borrowed from death metal.[28] Earth Crisis's 1995 album Destroy the Machines was particularly influential.[29] In Karl Buechner's words,

It was a very mixed reaction. I'm often misquoted as saying Earth Crisis was the first hardcore band with a metal sound. Of course we weren't the first, but I think we definitely took it to another level. We heard a lot of, 'These guys are trying to be Pantera,' which we all took as a great compliment![29]

Biohazard, Coalesce,[30] Shai Hulud and Overcast were also important early metalcore groups. These groups are sometimes referred to as "metallic hardcore".[31][32]

Melodic metalcore
Stylistic originsMetalcore (metallic hardcore era)
Melodic death metal
Cultural originsLate 1990s, North America and United Kingdom
Typical instrumentsElectric guitar − Bass guitar − Drums (double kick)
Fusion genres
Deathcore
Regional scenes
Australia - Germany - Massachusetts - Russia
Other topics
Breakdown - Punk metal

Melodic metalcore (1997–present)

In the late 1990s, a third wave of metalcore groups appeared, who placed significantly greater emphasis on melody. Such bands as Bullet for My Valentine, As I Lay Dying, Still Remains, Avenged Sevenfold, Eighteen Visions, Killswitch Engage, Lamb of God, All That Remains, Darkest Hour, Poison the Well, Trivium, Underoath[33] and Atreyu[34] are the most commercially successful practitioners of metalcore.[35] These groups took major influence, cues, and writing styles from melodic death metal bands, particularly In Flames and At the Gates.[34][33] Melodic metalcore frequently makes use of clean vocals,[36][37][38] and is significantly less dissonant than other metalcore. Some of these groups, such as Shadows Fall, have voiced an affection for '80s glam metal.[39] Melodic metalcore groups have been described as "embrac[ing] '80s metal clichés", such as "inordinate amounts of smoke machines, rippin' solos, [and] three bass drums".[35]

In the mid-2000s, metalcore emerged as a commercial force, with several independent metal labels, including Century Media and Metal Blade, signing metalcore bands. By 2004, melodic metalcore had become popular enough that Killswitch Engage's The End of Heartache,[40] and Shadows Fall's The War Within[41] debuted at numbers 21 and 20, respectively, on the Billboard album chart. Welsh metalcore band Bullet for My Valentine's second album, Scream Aim Fire, went straight to 4 on the Billboard 200.[42] Underoath's album Define the Great Line, released in 2006, peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 charts.[43] Hatebreed, God Forbid, and As I Lay Dying have also charted.[44][45][46]

Characteristics

Instrumentation

Metalcore bands generally feature two electric guitarists who often play fast riffs with dual leads.[citation needed] Bassists usually follow the rhythm guitar.[citation needed] The drummer usually performs using double-kick or double-bass drums.

Vocals

Vocals in metalcore are often screamed or shouted. Growling vocals became common among many 1990s metalcore groups.[citation needed] Melodic metalcore groups combine these with clean vocals.[36]

Zao, a Christian metalcore group

Ideologies

Metalcore initially emerged from the milieu surrounding youth crew hardcore, with many of the groups adhering to straight edge beliefs (that is to say, abstention from drugs and alcohol), though Integrity was a notable exception.[47] Earth Crisis proselytized for veganism and animal rights, which had an enduring effect on numerous bands, including Converge.[48] Converge was also notable for their focus on personal anguish and experiences of failed romantic love.[49] One Life Crew and other skinhead hardcore groups,[50] were controversial for their right-wing political beliefs.[51] Dwid Hellion, frontman of Integrity, advocated the "Holy Terror Church of Final Judgment", an outlook related to Satanism.[1] Several members of contemporary melodic metalcore groups are practicing Christians: Zao[52], As I Lay Dying,[53] Underoath[54] and Norma Jean[55] are the most famous examples.

Styles

Mathcore

Main article: Mathcore

Mathcore began with the mid-'90s work of Converge[56], Botch[57][58] and The Dillinger Escape Plan[59]. The term mathcore is suggested by analogy with math rock. Mathcore is characterized by speed technical riffing, and unusual time signatures.[60][61] Bands such as Ion Dissonance,[62] Fear Before the March of Flames,[63] Protest the Hero, and The Number Twelve Looks Like You[64] are additional examples of mathcore bands.

Deathcore

Main article: Deathcore

Deathcore, an amalgamation of metalcore and death metal[65], was pioneered by Despised Icon[65], Job for a Cowboy and The Red Chord in the early years of the 21st century. While remaining a subgenre of metalcore, deathcore is heavily influenced by death metal in its speed, heaviness, and approach to chromatic, heavily palm muted riffing, dissonance, and frequent key changes[citation needed]. Deathcore often features breakdowns and melodic riffs[66][67]. Other examples include As Blood Runs Black, Through the Eyes of the Dead, Whitechapel, The Red Shore, Dead To Fall, Bring Me The Horizon, Suicide Silence, Carnifex, All Shall Perish[citation needed], With Blood Comes Cleansing and Germany's Heaven Shall Burn[68]. Underoath also employed a strong deathcore-influenced sound on their first two albums.

References

  1. ^ a b "Blood Runs Deep: 23 Bands Who Shaped the Scene". Alternative Press. July 7, 2008. p. 110.
  2. ^ Christopher Pearson, "Beer and Loathing in New Jersey: Earth Crisis in Concert", January 20, 1999 [1] Access date: June 20, 2008
  3. ^ "Shai Hulud, interview with Punknews.org - 05/28/08". Retrieved 2008-09-21. As far as coining the term "metalcore" or coining a sound, I don't think we did. 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 than the average hardcore band. My friends and I would always refer to them as "metalcore" because it wasn't purely hardcore and it wasn't purely metal. It was like a heavier hardcore band with hardcore ethics and attitude but clearly a metal influence. So we would joke around and say "Hey, it's metalcore. Cool!" But it was definitely a tongue-in-cheek term.
  4. ^ "Blood Runs Deep: 23 Bands Who Shaped the Scene". Alternative Press. July 7, 2008. pp. 110, 118.
  5. ^ "The best part of every metalcore song is the breakdown, the part where the drums drop out and the guitars slow their frantic gallop to a devastating, precise crunch-riff and everyone in the moshpit goes extra nuts." - Tom Breihan. "Status Ain't Hood". "Live: Trivium, the Jackson 5 of Underground Metal". The Village Voice Daily Voice. October 11, 2006. [2] Access date: July 21, 2008.
  6. ^ a b "Mosh style was slower, very tribal – like a Reggae beat adapted to Hardcore. [...] It was an outbreak of dancing with a mid-tempo beat driven by floor tom and snare." - Howie Abrams, Blush, p. 193
  7. ^ Blush, American Hardcore, part 2, "Thirsty and Miserable", p. 63, 66
  8. ^ Andersen, Mark and Mark Jenkins (2003). Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital. "Postive Mental Attitude". p. 27. Akashic Books. ISBN-10: 1888451440
  9. ^ Glasper, Ian (2004). Burning Britain: The History of UK Punk 1980-1984. Cherry Red Books. p. 5. ISBN-10: 1901447243
  10. ^ Blush, "Hits from Hell", American Hardcore, p. 204
  11. ^ Blush, p. 115
  12. ^ Felix von Havoc, Maximum Rock'n'Roll #198 [3] Access date: June 20, 2008
  13. ^ Blush, p. 193
  14. ^ Christe, Ian: Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal (2003), p. 184
  15. ^ Blush, p. 186
  16. ^ Blush, p. 188
  17. ^ Blush, p. 189
  18. ^ "Cro-Mags were the first band to attract both Skinheads and Metalheads audiences; their music at the point where Hardcore nihilism met Metal power." Blush, p. 189
  19. ^ Blush, p. 194
  20. ^ Alternative Press, July 7, 2008, p. 109
  21. ^ Blush, p. 192
  22. ^ "Blood Runs Deep: 23 Bands Who Shaped the Scene". Alternative Press. July 7, 2008. pp. 110, 118.
  23. ^ a b c d "here the term (metalcore) is used in its original context, referencing the likes of Strife, Earth Crisis, and Integrity ...", Ian Glasper, Terrorizer no. 171, June 2008, p. 78
  24. ^ a b c Mudrian, Albert (2000). Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore. Feral House. ISBN-10: 193259504X. p. 222-223
  25. ^ a b c d Ross Haenfler, Straight Edge: Clean-living Youth, Hardcore Punk, and Social Change, Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0813538521 p. 87-88
  26. ^ "It was this simple formula that's single-handedly responsible for every band you hear combining heavy metal and hardcore today." "Blood Runs Deep: 23 Bands Who Shaped the Scene". Alternative Press. July 7, 2008. p. 110.
  27. ^ Hatebreed cites Entombed and Bolt Thrower. Q&A with Jamey Jasta, Miami New Times, May 27, 2008. [4] Access date: June 22, 2008
  28. ^ Karl Buechner of Earth Crisis cites Napalm Death, Bolt Thrower, and Obituary as prime influences. Mudrian also discusses Converge and Bloodlet and their relationship to death metal. See Mudrian, Albert (2000). Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore. Feral House. ISBN-10: 193259504X. p. 222-223
  29. ^ a b Gabriel Cardenas Salas, "Blasts from the Past," Terrorizer 180, February 2009, p. 96.
  30. ^ The History of Rock Music: 1990-1999
  31. ^ "EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH SHAI HULUD GUITARIST MATT FOX". Retrieved 2008-10-09. When we used to joke with the term, it was just a clever (or not so clever) way of describing a metallic hardcore, metal-influenced hardcore, or hardcore-influenced metal band.
  32. ^ J. Bennett, "Converge's Jane Doe, Revolver, June 2008
  33. ^ a b Metal Injection, August 28, 2007 [5] Access date: June 24, 2008
  34. ^ a b Allmusic Review, Atreyu, Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses [6] Access date: June 24, 2008
  35. ^ a b "Taste of Chaos", Revolver, June 2008. p. 110.
  36. ^ a b Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses review [7]
  37. ^ Metalrage, 12/30/07 [8] Access date: June 24, 2008
  38. ^ El Paisano, 9/12/07 [9] Access date: June 24, 2008
  39. ^ Dan Epstein, "The Brewtal Truth", Revolver, Nov. 2004, p. 65
  40. ^ The End of Heartache at Billboard.com
  41. ^ [10] at Blabbermouth.net
  42. ^ Scream Aim Fire at Billboard.com
  43. ^ [11] at Billboard.com
  44. ^ Supremacy at Billboard.com
  45. ^ Perseverance at Billboard.com
  46. ^ Sacrament at Billboard.com
  47. ^ "Blood Runs Deep: 23 Bands Who Shaped the Scene". Alternative Press. July 7, 2008. pp. 110, 118.
  48. ^ Kaban, Tyson. "Eat Your Veggies". Vue Weekly. Retrieved June 8 2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
  49. ^ Interview with Jake Bannon, Revolver, June 2008. p. 114
  50. ^ Blush, p. 192
  51. ^ Ferris, D.X. "The Godfather of Cleveland Hardcore". Cleveland Scene. Retrieved June 8 2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
  52. ^ Cogdale, Russ (2005-01-28). "Zao's music abrasive yet spiritual" (Interview). Retrieved 2008-07-08. {{cite interview}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |program= ignored (help)
  53. ^ FAQ - As I Lay Dying
  54. ^ Chamberlain, Spencer; Gillespie, Aaron (2006-07-17). "Interview With Underoath" (Interview). Retrieved 2008-01-28. {{cite interview}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |program= ignored (help)
  55. ^ http://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/articles/music/Blessing_the_Martyrs/8026/p1/
  56. ^ "Converge biography". Rockdetector.com. Retrieved 2007-08-23.
  57. ^ Botch - We Are The Romans Review
  58. ^ San Francisco Bay Guardian : Article : The Gap's attack on kids
  59. ^ TV3 > News > Story > Mathcore band the 'Dillinger Escape Plan' visit NZ
  60. ^ Events for this weekend in New York
  61. ^ http://www.thebatt.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticle&ustory_id=57c9a7c1-3b7d-4def-97f1-3783659abe8c
  62. ^ http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1543586/20061019/index.jhtml?headlines=true
  63. ^ "Fear Before The March Of Flames Bio" The Gauntlet. Retrieved on August 3, 2008.
  64. ^ Miller, Kirk. "The Number Twelve Looks Like You: Put on Your Rosy Red Glasses - You know, the kind Bootsy Collins wears..." Decibel Magazine. Retrieved on August 3, 2008.
  65. ^ a b metalinjection.net Cosmo Lee: "...All Shall Perish...Alienacja (Poland), Despised Icon (Montreal), and Whitechapel (Knoxville, TN)... They’re all textbook “deathcore,” fusing death metal and hardcore punk.
  66. ^ lambgoat.com "This is deathcore. This is what happens when death metal and hardcore, along with healthy doses of other heavy music styles, are so smoothly blended..."
  67. ^ THE METAL OBSERVER - Review - JOB FOR A COWBOY - Doom (EP)
  68. ^ Ed Rivadavia. "Heaven Shall Burn Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-05-31.

69. March 09 issue of Guitar World lists All Shall Perish as Deathcore, in the article titled "Death Squad."

Bibliography

  • Haenfler, Ross. Straight Edge: Clean-living Youth, Hardcore Punk, and Social Change, Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0813538521
  • Mudrian, Albert (2000). Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore. Feral House. ISBN-10: 193259504X
  • Sharpe-Young, Garry (2005). New Wave of American Heavy Metal. Zonda Books. ISBN-10: 0958268401

See also

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