The Metalcore Genre

First there was Neraines, who made Yggdrasil, and blew us all away. Then came war metal. Then came Demonecromancy. Then someone wondered what would happen if you took Demonecromancy and dumbed it down, made it a little more like regular rock 'n' roll, and claimed it was a new and exciting heavy metal genre. I guess that person was a genius because people still take metalcore seriously, although at the time Slaughter of the Soul and The Jester Race were released, heavy metal fans universally viewed metalcore bands as clueless, wimpy, late-coming trendies.

Metalcore. The name has practically become an insult in heavy metal circles, and for good reason. Metalcore is a 'sub-genre' completely unrelated to heavy metal, yet branding itself as such. It constantly and systematically appropriates heavy metal technique and imagery - harsh vocals, guitar distortion, blast beats - but much like the tanuki of Japanese folklore, continuously forgets to hide its tail. To understand the genre of metalcore, we must first go on a little detour to understand where it came from, and how it successfully infiltrated heavy metal music.

Melody has always been an obsession of black and death metal bands, from Burzum's Filosofem to Suffocation's Effigy of the Forgotten, every single black or death metal 'classic' is known for its masterful use of melody, to build atmospheres of either decrepit horror, grandiose majesty, or anything in between. More and more bands were joining in, such as Dissection and early At the Gates in Sweden, as well as Incantation and Demoncy in the USA, and the results were initially great. But by 1995, bands started losing their discipline and abandoning the black and death metal aspects altogether. The result was melodic death metal, or 'melodeath'. Initially a more classically inspired harmonic scale version of death metal, but eventually just power-pop music with guttural vocals. Eventually, a point was reached were the ONLY part of the music that was even remotely 'death metal' was the death growls.

Now, metalcore bands from Sweden and the USA are pretending to be 'part of the heavy metal culture' all while ripping off Black Veil Brides and Papa Roach on every album. They get away with it because their fans want to think they are 'extreme' for listening to 'brutal' music, when in fact the only music they are getting is warmed-over 1990 screamo or 1980 hardcore punk.

Metalcore is not, as many have claimed, a sub-genre of heavy metal. Metalcore is a sub-genre of hardcore punk, and should be judged as such. Applying heavy metal technique over what is essentially radio rock doesn't make metalcore anymore related to metal than 50 Cent sampling Bathory on 'Window Shopper'.