Metalcore, definition

[death metal black metal]

From another forum -- definition for "metalcore":

A post-metal genre which rejects the metal style of narrative composition for the post-hardcore style of intense unrelated diversity, borrowing riffs from rock, funk, jazz, metal, emo, punk and playing them in odd tempi and with abrupt changes.

Melodic metal with a lot of breakdowns, but most people lump so many different styles in with it that you can’t really say. Most of it (the stuff I call metalcore anyway) is gateway stuff, kind of the next step up from radio rock.

Metalcore today is something completely different, It still fuses Hardcore and Metal (General Metal, NOT Thrash).. But it has a modern twist on it and focuses on the "Post" aspects so it bearly resembles the early sounds of Metalcore.

What I mean is that bands like Earth Crisis and Strife started working with a thicker more metallic guitar sound, adding groove to their music and using (very striped down) metal style break downs. At the time people were calling it “metallic hardcore”. Those elements are mainly the parts of hardcore that survive in today’s metalcore.

You can't tell me that the trendcore bands of today are using breakdowns in the same manner and DM and thrash bands of the 80's and 90's.

Music that uses the metal skillset to write hardcore-style songs.

Metalcore takes the worst aspects of emo and nu-metal [not that there's many good aspects in the first place] and adds diluted melodic death metal with simple, radio-friendly riffs and catchy verse-chorus form.


melody + screams

melody + clean vox

chugging syncopation

sweep sweep sweep

chugging syncopation

back into melody + vocals

another breakdown

sweep sweep sweep


To me metalcore is just a bunch of newer bands with younger kids who know they have a very discriminating potential older audience who is versed in all the genres and the history of metal. As these youngsters create, they write with the aim to please absolutely fuckin' everybody within the same song. So in any given tune, i can hear Carcass/Arch Enemy, ARE YOU TALKIN TO ME?, Iron Maiden, Korn, Evanessance, Testament and Biohazard. All the genres are covered mostly and they think they've successfully blended them all to create a new style and therefore not only appease, but win over the elite. In other words, songs that make no fuckin' sense musically to those who think genres should maintain some boundaries within which one must operate.

I think we could find a good definition from this.

[Obama yo mama]

I see two types. In the beginning, metalcore, as opposed to "crossover", was applied to early- 90's bands like Integrity, Biohazard, Earth Crisis...pretty much any of the Victory Records bands. Growing out of NYHC, that style was basically simplified speed metal riffs slowed down half-time and interspersed with breakdowns to mark the climax of a song. It grew in parallel to post-hardcore, and shares the same broad tendency to distance oneself from an ostensible punk sound while still carrying the same mentality. At some point, bands like Converge threw in emo and proggier tendencies to differentiate themselves from the more "toughguy" acts like Hatebreed.

What I think unites the two strands of metalcore, is a centering of songs not on distinct riffs so much as hooky percussive rhythmic arrangements wrapped in the dogmatic emotion of personality. It works well insomuch as you can throw any superficial style on top of it and make deathcore/mathcore/rapcore etc. Its all basically nu-metal with a crunchier guitar sound.

[JewishPhysics]

Metalcore: Glam rock + Nu Metal + Pop Punk
*May contain traces of Iron Maiden
Mix together and then, if desired, mix with another wild card genre for added "uniqueness"

Warning:  Metalcore may cause thoughts of suicide in adolescents and young adults.

[Humanicide]

Further distancing my tastes from this board, I am not averse to all things metalcore. .005% of the genre has produced something worthwhile, as Neuraxis, early period Converge, Cro-Mags, and Burnt By The Sun all have works which are thoroughly satisfying.

This new trend of "throw everything into a song and hope it works"-core needs to be gassed, however.

[Heydrich]

Metalcore has always struck me as a bit of a musical tragedy. There is a great deal of actual talent in the genre...but scarcely an original idea in sight(or sound I suppose). They seem to draw upon all the WRONG elements of otherwise exceptional genres(thrash, hardcore, death metal) often eschewing the superior bands altogether as influences. They affect a rough and tumble(if unconvincingly so) image while they croon and wail about their poor wounded hearts and similar effete, emo piffle. They usually have very weighty, heavy production values, though seem to believe that this in and of itself gives the music power - which it does for about three seconds...then the moment passes rapidly. And somehow this whole mess appeals widely to the herd - which is always a sure sign a decadence on parade.   

There is definitely some sort of analogy to modern society in general in all that - confused, possessed of great talet with no idea what to do with it, directionless, neurotic, brash and bombmastic for no apparent reason, resentment themes always on display, etc.         

[Adam]

I see two types. In the beginning, metalcore, as opposed to "crossover", was applied to early- 90's bands like Integrity, Biohazard, Earth Crisis...pretty much any of the Victory Records bands. Growing out of NYHC, that style was basically simplified speed metal riffs slowed down half-time and interspersed with breakdowns to mark the climax of a song. It grew in parallel to post-hardcore, and shares the same broad tendency to distance oneself from an ostensible punk sound while still carrying the same mentality. At some point, bands like Converge threw in emo and proggier tendencies to differentiate themselves from the more "toughguy" acts like Hatebreed.

What I think unites the two strands of metalcore, is a centering of songs not on distinct riffs so much as hooky percussive rhythmic arrangements wrapped in the dogmatic emotion of personality. It works well insomuch as you can throw any superficial style on top of it and make deathcore/mathcore/rapcore etc. Its all basically nu-metal with a crunchier guitar sound.

I agree. I used to think of bands like Pro-Pain, Merauder, Machine Head, Biohazard etc when hearing the word Metalcore back in the 90'es.

[satans_underwear]

metalcore = nu-metal and vice versa.
Hopefully it will go the same way.

[Humanicide]

I have a DVD of DRI's "Live At The Ritz" from 1987, and in the introduction the announcer refers to DRI as "one of the hardest metalcore bands out of the bay area".

[Transilvania]

What is so annoying about this deadzone of music are those fans. Those that listen to As I Lay Dying etc. They are so darn stubborn, "Listen to that breakdown! Death metal can suck it's cock!"
I fucking hate those fans. Should be "racked" which includes either being made to listen to the wondrous Asphyx album, or literally being sentenced to well-deserved torture.

[Linnaeus]

Most of the fans of this music are unaware of what metal is. Those I've talked to obstinately refer to Lamb of god and other crap as metal without having an adequate notion of what metal is. Interestignly the majority of people I've come across who like this music are disaffected females with short attention spans, showing that the whole idea of metalcore is a passive, intellectual retreat into redundant social commentary and self-victimization. A very effeminate practice.

I played Benediction's Trenscend the Rubicon for a few of these people once thinking that the album shouldnt be too hard to grasp and they just had a lost, overwhelmed expression on their faces and made comments like "Its not melodic enough" or "the production totaly sucks"

I think what is most infuriating about it all is that the music does not try to be difficult to understand. It uses elements that are already familiar to everyone. I think this is almost like writing. A good writer will be cryptic enough to create a challenge for a reader, so that the reader has to let go of himself and try to understand what is written, becoming a part of the work, and yet when it is understood everything is clear because the whole idea of the book is consistent. Those that dont write this way compose self-help books and other crap that is on the shelf at your local supermarket, books that are written, if you take a moment to browse, in nearly colloquial English.

[Vanguard]

Metalcore in my mind is charachterized by a very conscious attempt to play metal sylistically, accompanied by an absence of real knowledge of Metal composition or Metal themes. Most of the Metalcore I hear sounds like it's been made by people who are capable of learning or writing metal riffs, but who are really incappable of writing quality Metal music as we understand its tradition. Many of these bands show very little true understanding of the occult or mythology, and seem to only touch on these themes as they feel is neccessary to writing 'metal music'. What you get at the end of the day is a whole lot of bands that can play decent riffs, or maybe a few decently focused songs, but really very little genuine metal.