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Metalcore
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Metalcore is an umbrella term used to describe fusion genres that incorporate elements of the hardcore punk and heavy metal genres; but this isn't a true metal genre. 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. The earliest of these groups, Integrity, began performing in 1989. Metalcore is distinguished from other punk metal fusions by its emphasis on breakdowns: slower, intense passages conducive to moshing.
lass="link1" onMouseover='showByLink("m2295956",this)' onMouseout='hide("m2295956")'href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Black_Flag_%28band%29">Black Flag and Bad Brains, among the originators of hardcore, admired and emulated Black Sabbath.
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Encyclopedia
Metalcore is an umbrella term used to describe fusion genres that incorporate elements of the hardcore punk and heavy metal genres; but this isn't a true metal genre. 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. The earliest of these groups, Integrity, began performing in 1989. Metalcore is distinguished from other punk metal fusions by its emphasis on breakdowns: slower, intense passages conducive to moshing.
History
Precursors (1977-1984)
Black Flag and Bad Brains, 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. The Misfits began to borrow from Motörhead, becoming a crucial influence on thrash. Nonetheless, punk and metal cultures and music remained separate through the first half of the 1980s.
Crossover thrash (1984-1988)
Cross-pollination between metal and hardcore eventually birthed the crossover thrash scene, which gestated at a Berkeley club called Ruthie's, in 1984. The term "metalcore" was originally used to refer to these crossover groups. Hardcore punk groups Corrosion of Conformity, Dirty Rotten Imbeciles and Suicidal Tendencies 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 and Warzone. The Cro-Mags were among the most influential of these bands, drawing equally from Bad Brains, Motörhead, and Black Sabbath. Cro-Mags also embraced straight edge and, surprisingly enough, Krishna consciousness. Other New York straight edge groups included Gorilla Biscuits, Crumbsuckers, and Youth of Today, who inaugurated the youth crew style. 1985 saw the development of the hardcore breakdown, an amalgamation of Bad Brains' reggae and metal backgrounds, 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.
Metallic hardcore (1989-2000)
Between 1989 and 1995, a new wave of metalcore bands emerged. These included Integrity, Earth Crisis, Converge, Starkweather, Judge, Bloodlet, Strife, Rorschach, Cave In, Vision of Disorder, Hatebreed, and Candiria. 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. Earth Crisis, Converge, and Hatebreed also borrowed from death metal. Earth Crisis's 1995 album Destroy the Machines was particularly influential. In Karl Buechner's words,
Biohazard, Coalesce, Shai Hulud and Overcast were also important early metalcore groups. These groups are sometimes referred to as "metallic hardcore".
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 As I Lay Dying, Still Remains, Avenged Sevenfold, Eighteen Visions, Killswitch Engage, All That Remains, Darkest Hour, Poison the Well, Trivium, Underoath and Atreyu are the most commercially successful practitioners of metalcore. These groups took major influence, cues, and writing styles from melodic death metal bands, particularly In Flames and At the Gates. Melodic metalcore frequently makes use of clean vocals, and is significantly less dissonant than other metalcore. Some of these groups, such as Shadows Fall, have voiced an affection for '80s glam metal. 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".
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, and Shadows Fall's The War Within 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. Underoath's album Define the Great Line, released in 2006, peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 charts. Hatebreed, God Forbid, and As I Lay Dying have also charted. Metalcore bands have also received prominent slots at Ozzfest, Download Festival, and Warped Tour.
Characteristics
Instrumentation
Metalcore bands generally feature two electric guitarists who often play fast riffs with dual leads. Bassists usually follow the rhythm guitar. 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. Melodic metalcore groups combine these with clean vocals.
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. Earth Crisis proselytized for veganism and animal rights, which had an enduring effect on numerous bands, including Converge. Converge was also notable for their focus on personal anguish and experiences of failed romantic love. One Life Crew and other skinhead hardcore groups, were controversial for their right-wing political beliefs. Dwid Hellion, frontman of Integrity, advocated the "Holy Terror Church of Final Judgment", an outlook related to Satanism. Several members of contemporary melodic metalcore groups are practicing Christians: Zao, As I Lay Dying, Underoath and Norma Jean are the most famous examples.
Styles
Mathcore
Mathcore began with the mid-'90s work of Converge, Botch and The Dillinger Escape Plan. The term mathcore is suggested by analogy with math rock. Mathcore is characterized by speed technical riffing, and unusual time signatures. Bands such as Ion Dissonance, Fear Before the March of Flames, Protest the Hero, and The Number Twelve Looks Like You are additional examples of mathcore bands.
Deathcore
Deathcore, an amalgamation of metalcore and death metal, was pioneered by Despised Icon, 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. Deathcore often features breakdowns and melodic riffs. 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, With Blood Comes Cleansing and Germany's Heaven Shall Burn. Underoath also employed a strong deathcore-influenced sound on their first two albums.
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
List of metalcore musical groups
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