Metalcore: An Introduction

Our new series called An Introduction chronicles the important bands of genres and decades. It might cover what you grew up listening to – or what your parents grew up listening to. First up? It’s metalcore – arguably the most commercially successful genre of heavy music around today. With bands like Underoath and As I Lay Dying charting in the Billboard Top 10 in the last decade, these bands and albums may have made a huge commercial impact (some not so much, unfortunately), but all are important for their own reasons. Stay tuned for an overview of the genre.

Metalcore might be one of the most marketable forms of heavy music out there today, but 30 years ago, it didn’t exist, except in the form of upstart crossover bands like Suicidal Tendencies, Cro-Mags, and Corrosion Of Conformity (all of which would go on to record seminal albums in the near future). Metalcore is a lot of things, but its definition is basically a fusion of the extreme metal and hardcore punk genres. There’s certain bands that lean more on the hardcore side of the fence (usually the older bands like Earth Crisis and Strife), while it’s mostly the newer bands that lean more on the metal side (Killswitch Engage and Darkest Hour, to name a few).

If you’re over the age of 40, you might remember when metal and punk/hardcore bands absolutely despised each other. It wasn’t until the latter half of the 1980’s that you’d see hardcore and punk bands like Suicidal Tendencies and D.R.I. playing shows with the likes of Slayer and Testament.

The 1990’s were the major formative years for many of the prominent metalcore bands of today, though not all of them were necessarily “metalcore”. Bands like Biohazard, Overcast (which featured members of Killswitch Engage, soon to be hugely influential) and Integrity (often considered the most important metalcore band ever) were influenced by hip-hop, melodic death metal, and death metal. New Jersey’s Deadguy is often overlooked in the formation of metalcore (they were a band for barely 3 years), but their 1995 album Fixation On A Coworker is a stone cold classic of the genre, mixing metallic hardcore with strange time signatures. It’s one of the big reasons Victory Records was one of the most important labels for this sort of music, releasing seminal albums by Earth Crisis, Hatebreed, Strife, and Snapcase (whose 1997 album Progression Through Unlearning is another important album in the genre). To omit Sepultura from this list would be a huge mistake as well – their 1993 album Chaos A.D., though influenced by groove metal and thrash metal, was a large influence on many of the metalcore bands to come.

The last 15 years of metalcore have been honestly pretty awesome for me, especially the 2000’s. That’s when labels started snapping up bands like God Forbid, Poison The Well, and All That Remains (who have experienced varying degrees of success). Many of these bands are more influenced by the Swedish melodic death metal bands than anything else – especially bands like In Flames and Dark Tranquility. Headbanger’s Ball was still a thing, and bands like As I Lay Dying and Shadows Fall were actually being nominated for Grammy Awards.

But what are some of the more important metalcore albums of the last 15 years? What are the underrated gems? I’m here to break down it all for you, along with some personal stories about these albums and bands.

Honorable Mentions:
Himsa (Hail Horror)
Throwdown (Venom And Tears)
Poison The Well (You Come Before You)
Parkway Drive (Horizons)
Misery Signals (Controller)
Demon Hunter (The Triptych)
Norma Jean (O’ God, The Aftermath)
Bury Tomorrow (The Union Of Crowns)
Avenged Sevenfold (Waking The Fallen)
It Dies Today (The Caitiff Choir)
From Autumn To Ashes (Holding A Wolf By The Ears)
Every Time I Die (Gutter Phenomenon)
Chimaira (Chimaira)
God Forbid (Constitution Of Treason)
Converge (Jane Doe)
Cave In (Until Your Heart Stops)
Botch (We Are The Romans)
Shai Hulud (Hearts Once Nourished…)

Some of the aforemention bands lean more toward post-hardcore/mathcore than others (Poison The Well, Misery Signals, Every Time I Die, etc) and I struggled to decide whether I should put them here. It should be noted many of these bands traveled in the same circles – same record labels, touring partners, etc. Avenged Sevenfold is notable because they’re one of the biggest bands in the world today (even if their last few albums have been incredibly underwhelming), while Bury Tomorrow is one of the rising stars of this genre. Trustkill Records in particular was one of the leaders of metalcore, signing Eighteen Visions, Throwdown, and Bullet For My Valentine at one point, among others. Norma Jean took what bands like Converge and Botch (who never get enough credit for anything, unfortunately) and popularized mathcore, along with Dillinger Escape Plan. Throwdown’s Venom and Tears album is their best, in this writer’s opinion – it included more influences from bands like Sepultura and Crowbar, which is fairly unique for the genre – though 2005’s Vendetta is probably most influential here. Don’t forget about Himsa’s Hail Horror either – it took a lot of influence from the Swedish melodic death metal bands, but managed to create something all their own. It’s a shame they never quite got the credit they deserved.

Atreyu (The Curse)

Remember when Victory Records was one of the biggest labels on the planet 10 years ago? I do. Taking Back Sunday, Between the Buried and Me, and Atreyu! Their last two albums disappointed a lot of people (I played them until they broke, and then I put them on an iPod) but The Curse was a gateway for many people to metalcore as a whole. They also pulled off the singing/screaming dynamic better than most of their peers. Standout track: “Nevada’s Grace”

Darkest Hour (Undoing Ruin)

Sometimes a band just hits you with the opening song of an album, and doesn’t let up. Darkest Hour’s Undoing Ruin is that album, and “With A Thousand Words To Say But One” is that song. The surprisingly poetic and hopeful lyrics are a nice touch, too. Melodic death metal with some of the aesthetics of hardcore never sounded so good.

Shadows Fall (The War Within)

I waited many, many years to see Shadows Fall (end of 2013 supporting Killswitch Engage) and I was not disappointed one bit. They’ve had many good albums, but it was always 2004’s The War Within that caught my attention the most. I’m not sure if it still is, but it was once Century Media’s highest selling album ever. Standout track: “Enlightened By The Cold”

All That Remains (The Fall Of Ideals)

I was a little late to the party for ATR – a friend of mine and I were listening to them in my first year of college in 2008, and when I heard “Six”, I was hooked forever. Standout track: “Six”

As I Lay Dying (An Ocean Between Us)

With vocalist Tim Lambesis in prison, the story of As I Lay Dying is most likely over (though you should go check out Wovenwar ASAP). However, what As I Lay Dying accomplished in their decade long run is monumental. A Grammy nomination, sold-out tours, every festival imaginable – you name it, they probably did it. Plus, they created an album that the dudes from August Burns Red still listen to in An Ocean Between Us. Standout track: “Within Destruction”

Eighteen Visions (Obsession)

I could’ve easily gone with the metalcore stomp of Until The Ink Runs Out or Vanity here, but I’d rather go with the album that has the best songs, and that’s Obsession. You’ve never heard a breakdown quite like the one in “Tower Of Snakes”, but the song is surprisingly accessible, as are tracks like “I Let Go”. It doesn’t lack for heaviness though – it just contains more melodic choruses than their peers, done better. It should be noted that it was also their style choices that made them so influential to a number of bands – Asking Alexandria and Escape The Fate might not exist without them, and Motionless In White was named after the song of the same name. Standout track: “I Let Go”

Bullet For My Valentine (The Poison)

I remember hearing this for the first time on Fuse’s Uranium program and thinking, “Wow, this is heavier music that I can actually get into!”. Though their last two albums have been pretty bad, both The Poison and Scream Aim Fire surely influenced many of today’s prominent bands to pick up a guitar and play fast. If I had any musical talent, I would’ve done the same. It’s a shame they didn’t continue with this sound, instead deciding to water down their music quite a bit. Standout track: “4 Words To Choke Upon”

Killswitch Engage (Alive Or Just Breathing)

Some people swear by Howard Jones as vocalist of Killswitch Engage. I’m of a small minority who thinks both are equally skilled vocalists, for different reasons. Killswitch’s 2nd album was a landmark in the metalcore genre – their positive, forward-thinking lyrics were a big change from most bands of the time, and their musicianship was top-notch, too. Beautiful melodies, powerful vocals from Jesse Leach, and ignoring all trends helped Killswitch Engage get to the top of the metal heap. There was no silly posturing here – simply timeless, skillfully played, powerful metalcore. Standout track: The whole album, but especially “Vide Infra” and “The Element Of One”

Unearth (The Oncoming Storm)

Still relevant, still awesome. Much the same as Killswitch Engage but heavier, and with more hardcore influences. Their most recent album Watchers Of Rule is really good too, but The Oncoming Storm has to be included here. Also, my first band tshirt, still proudly hanging up in my closet. Standout track: “The Great Dividers”

Trivium (Ascendancy)

Shogun is on par with this, but my first time hearing “Like Light To The Flies” and then proceeding to put it on every mix CD I’ve ever owned was always gratifying. I have a huge collection of t-shirts from the band too (thanks, Mom, for taking me to Hot Topic and then buying me a few of these. You rock!), and I feel a special connection to Trivium, being from Florida. All in all, a classic metalcore album that brings to mind some of the greats – solos everywhere, interesting and diverse subject matter, and an instantly memorable show closer in “Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr” make Ascendancy an album every metalhead should listen to at least once.

Bleeding Through (Declaration)

Front to back, this is Bleeding Through’s statement album. The lyrics and tracks on the album are mainly about the places they’ve been, and it’s also mixed/produced by Devin Townsend. There’s more black and death metal influences on Declaration than any previous or succeeding albums, and a distinct lack of filler. There’s even a stellar final track in “Sister Charlatan” – it’s almost 9 minutes long, and encompassed everything Bleeding Through strived to do as a band. Standout track: “Reborn From Isolation”

That, my friends, is mostly what you need to know about metalcore. It may be a somewhat oversaturated genre currently, but these bands carried the torch for today’s stars. What albums would you include in your list that we may have missed?