"Is metalcore as a genre dying out? Justin discusses the future for the genre. Featuring Poison The Well, Every time I die, Norma Jean and Alexisonfire."
THE SHAPE OF METALCORE TO COME
Metalcore. In both a positive and negative light, it’s a term that has become synonymous with any metal band containing elements of hardcore in its sound. After all, the term, fittingly, is a portmanteau, but is it still a relevant one in music today? And are bands tagged as having their music fit into this category bothered by it?
Spending my teen years in a fairly punk-aware high school meant, naturally, I would come across all forms (and sub-genres) of punk known to man (er, adolescent). Metalcore was one of the styles that stood out; although, at the time, it was a movement I was barely aware existed. The tired days of blaring pop-punk were becoming drawn out and monotonous. A natural yearning for a niche music taste took precedence in my life the way a spontaneous trip amounts for a person suffering from wanderlust. Luckily my hunger was met in the form of Florida hardcore quintet Poison The Well.
Every young person remembers the first album that made major headway by introducing them to a new stage or musical chapter in their life. For me, that album was The Opposite Of December — the breakthrough debut LP that etched Poison The Well’s name in the underground music scene permanently. Upon its release, my senses had seemingly opened up to acts like Every Time I Die, Norma Jean, As I Lay Dying and Glassjaw, while allowing me to differentiate and appreciate the sounds of other heavy acts I had already taken a liking to (Refused, Botch, Snapcase, Alexisonfire and Hopesfall, to name a few) to a far greater degree.
[quote] As time wears on, it’s becoming evident that only the creative acts within it will survive. [/quote]
I’ll never forget the first time I saw Poison The Well live in concert. It was a cold, winter Toronto evening in November 2003 at Toronto’s Zen Lounge (later renamed The Funhaus before eventually shutting down). I had arrived 10 minutes prior to the set of PTW’s support for the tour, Every Time I Die — a band hot off the release of its lauded sophomore album Hot Damn! The moment ETID took to the stage, with every member dawning an all-white attire (a throwback to their first LP Last Night In Town), I knew I was in for one hell of a show.
As expected, Poison The Well hadn’t disappointed in the slightest, playing songs from its entire catalog, including their (at the time) recently released album You Come Before You; although, the highlights of the set were undoubtedly when the band played “Botchla” and set-ender “Nerdy,” two tracks that led me to believe the floor was going to cave-in from the galvanizing crowd response.
In 2004, after the release of its third studio full-length, Poison The Well guitarist Derek Miller (one half of the noise-pop duo Sleigh Bells) left the band to pursue other opportunities. The disenchanted band found itself on an unannounced hiatus before storming back with Versions, a personal album of the year for myself in 2007. The band’s creativity in blending country-tinged riffs with its own hardcore staple resonated well, drawing critical acclaim from a number of music publications. Poison The Well has since released another LP before taking much needed break.
Every Time I Die‘s fortune has been a slightly better one. Rightfully so, the band is considered to be one of the most respected and hardworking acts in heavy music; its stock has been on the rise, releasing a full-length every two years since 2001 (save their latest opus, Ex Lives, which took the band three years to make after New Junk Aesthetic — and for good reason).
ETID’s brotherly duo of Keith and Jordan Buckley have become respected personalities in music, with the former writing for Alternative Press magazine and the latter launching his own merch website, ‘Jordan Buckley World Wide,’ which features clothing with all original art drawings created by the man himself. The rest of the members, meanwhile, put their efforts towards the ETID Pudcast — the band’s weekly podcast recording.
Another act that has impressed as of late is Southern-metal outfit Norma Jean. With every new release, the band continues to evolve its sound, finding something new to add that its preceding album did not have. Shortly after releasing its cult-classic debut Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child, then frontman Josh Scogin left the band to start The Chariot — another Douglasville-based metal act that has garnered attention in the scene. Norma Jean went on to replace Scogin with Cory Brandan. Success and chemistry, unfortunately, were not simply assumed with the band’s newest addition.
Norma Jean’s first two albums with Brandan, O’ God, The Aftermath and Redeemer, did little to impress (at least by my standards). However, during the writing process of its fourth studio album, The Anti Mother, I had received word the band had worked on a song with Deftones vocalist Chino Moreno. To say the least, the track restored some of my faith in the band, leading me to purchase its latest album, 2010’s Meridional. It’s safe to say Meridional is Norma Jean’s best work to date. The band is currently writing its sixth studio album, set for release in Spring 2013.
There’s no question the late 90s and early 2000s was a great time to follow metalcore; but as time wore on, the scene began to lose its novelty. The internet played a big role towards shaping music in ways no one had ever thought before, providing a platform for even the most underground-of sounds to become accessible. This musical globalization resulted in an influx of pretender-bands to augment the punk, hardcore and metalcore sounds (and in the worst possible way). The scene had reached its threshold and, thus, a decline began.
[quote] with rock, dubstep and electronic seemingly on the rise, is metalcore nothing but a doomed genre nowadays? [/quote]
A slew of bands began to turn up, accompanying a grotesque new wave of formulated metal consisting of monotonous, scream-ladden roars coupled with pretentious clean vocals that spawned, critically, a level of disapproval akin to that of auto-tune in rap and R&B. The overpopulation of an already saturated market, however, allowed for talented bands to stand out even more. The tandem of aggressive and melodic vocals, for example, provided by George Petitt and Dallas Green (of the now-defunct post-hardcore outfit Alexisonfire) was often looked at as a model exception for mixing heavy music with catchy hooks and melodies.
While Alexisonfire, even in its earliest days, was seldom ever considered a metalcore act, it certainly shaped its sound on the influence of metal, citing Quicksand, Combat Wounded Veteran and Orchid as bands it looked up to when creating its own blend of screamo-rock. But the question still begs to be asked: with rock, dubstep and electronic seemingly on the rise, is metalcore nothing but a doomed genre nowadays?
As time wears on, it’s becoming evident that only the creative acts (those mentioned in this article) within it will survive. Personally speaking, at 26-years-old, my musical tastes, as they naturally should, continue to evolve. Although I slowly find myself paying less attention to heavy music, I’ve discovered I ultimately still have a taste for it. The bands I grew up on will have that cliche “special place in my heart,” but I’m happy to report little of this sentiment has to do with nostalgia. What keeps me interested is these artists’ continual efforts to find ways to evade recreating what has already been done through drive, spontaneity and innovation.
I grew up on the sounds of Deftones. They influenced a lot of the bands you discussed. I remember Poison the Well touring with Deftones in the mid 2000s. Great tour!
Decided to give Norma Jean a shot after reading this. Good choice.
my name is Jordam Buckley and the reason i started listening to etid was because me and the guitarist share the same name. best decision ever.
Best comment ever, haha.
Great article. METAL!! lol
I still like listening to Glassjaw, Finch, Alexisonfire and I Set My Friends On Fire, but yeah, all those bands are defunct now! Enter Shikari are also a band I used to really like, looked like they were going to fill the niche as a new metalcore band. All their early EPs and the eventual first album ‘Take To The Skies’ were great, following on from the Alexisonfire melodic vs aggressive vocals. Awesome band
But unfortunately, everything that followed on from that album has been slowly becoming more radio friendly. And lyrics have morphed to ‘We have to save the world, the government is bad’ bollocks. Depressing stuff. And they are utilizing dubstep now… -_-.
So yeah, I agree with the article, the good metalcore bands are extremely hard to find, especially when they go off and do awful mainstream shite to gain more recognition
I still recommend Take To The Skies by them though.
Sad to see a lot of the respected bands in the genre calling it quits, but I’ll definitely check out Take to the Skies. Thanks for the recommendation!
Polllceeeeeeee! Great article. Poison the Well and Alexisonfire = the best ever.
Wow, reading this is like bitter nostalgia. I’ve spent a lot of time in the last year ruminating exactly what it is about older metalcore that will never be replicated. And I’ve come up with that it honestly has nothing to do with the genre, but rather it is the talent and unwillingness to re-hash that have kept so many of my favorite old heavy bands in rotation to this day. My first heavy cd was a burnt mix of both PTW’s Opposite LP and Distance EP, as well as Hopesfall’s No Wings ep stuck in at the end. I had never heard anything like it, I was dumbfounded by what I heard from each band. Ever since then both bands continued to floor me with new captivating music. No better example than PTW and the absolutely mind-boggling amount of ground they broke with pretty much every release. So whats wrong with metalcore today? It’s played by kids for the sake of being metalcore, they just want a trend to cling to. Bands like PTW, ETID, Hopesfall, Glassjaw came a long with a burgeoning scene and used their tremendous talents to shape it and then guess what? Move on and shape something new. Nowadays bands hop onto trends and end up releasing the same shitty breakdown fest every CD. I honestly have little faith I will like many newer metalcore albums in the years to come, but I am 100 percent confident I will be rocking my old metalcore until the day I die.
Every now and then good material surfaces, but at least the oldies will never die.
I feel very identified with this article cuz I still listen Finch, Unloco, Stutterfly, Alexisonfire from time to time when I feel nostalgyc. Also, there are some bands that still active but they dont make the same music they used to (like the Used, I was a big fan of them). Anyways, good article man!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metalcore You forgot a few bands but I’m glad to see The Chariot mentioned.
I think people just branched out though, more clean vocals, different sound etc. For me, I dislike hearing the same album. Every band has a “sound” but there is a difference between sounding like yourselves and doing another album just like your last.
Metalcore in my opinion is best represented by bands like Oh, Sleeper, As I Lay Dying, Killswitch Engage, All That Remains and Trivium. These are some more mainstream examples. Djent (dont hate) and pop covers are what I’ve been seeing alot more of lately. Norma Jean, Chariot and Every Time I Die are all Mathcore bands. I have foreseen the declne in Metalcore for a while now, it seems pop-punk and heavier stuff are dominating, the middle grounds are dying out.
To me, bands such as Parkway Drive are the future of this genre. Metalcore acts gigs are what people rate, and I’d watch Parkway Drive over and over even if they played the same songs, because of the buzz and excitement live metalcore can produce. Also UK’s Bury Tomorrow and Australia’s Northlane are ones too look out for within this genre. Great post by the way.
Ok this article, while well written I feel is massively misinformed. You do however bring up one really good point but I will get to that.
I am about the same age, and came up listening to the same bands you mentioned in this article. However, I have not given up on the genre. Metalcore like any other form of art is simply saturated. It does not mean it’s dead it simply means (sort of like you mentioned) that it makes the bands who are truly talented stand out more. But that is a beautiful thing. Music is meant to change and evolve and grow, and that is exactly what the genre has done. You can either adapt with it, and accept that it is not the same scene you got into when you got into it, or you can complain about it. It isn’t doomed, it is just growing. Of COURSE there are going to be a whole slew of bands that are “generic”, with formulaic breakdowns and choruses, but when you find a band that ISN’T like that it is so much more satisfying. With that said there are actually a TON of bands out there now that sound great, and are trying new things and who are keeping the heaviness that we’ve come to know and love alive. Not just with good riffs or good breakdowns, but with great, passionate lyrics, and unique screams. Bottom line; the genre is not doomed, its just growing up with us.
Bands like Attack Attack and Asking Alexandria started the downfall of good metalcore
I agree with Matt Parkway Drive is an amazing band that make great music.
Still my favorites of the core scene remain Killswitch Engage,AILD,PWD,August Burns Red – that in my opinion contain more of the metal side of music than core (That’s why I didn’t include my favorite band Trivium because I don’t like calling them core and they don’t want to be associated with core, they obviously have a more metal presence especially in their albums The Crusade and Shogun)
I guess Alexisonfire & Norma Jean wasnt Metalcore. Norma Jean Progressive metal / mathcore, Alexisonfire screamo. Theres no “hardcore thing” at those bands. As I Lay Dying, Killswitch Engage, All that Remains, Trivium has done a new record this year. and I believe they’re keep making a records. so, metalcore wasnt dying.
You definitely don’t know Parkway Drive, Bury Tomorrow or Architects, metalcore is not coming to an end too soon.
Why is “metalcore/Emo/Screamo” Even considered metal? It’s just the Jonas Brothers 3 octaves lower.
I know, right? Metalcore was obsolete even back when it was new. I for one, welcome to death of metalcore.
Underoaths Define The Great Line is one of the best heavy albums ever, but I think Periphery is the newest big thing so don’t give up on it!!
I’d just like to say this… EDWARD BUTCHER.
I Killed the Prom Queen and Eternal Lord…great bands.
so many great bands…I have yet to find any new bands as great as these. Oh and Alexisonfire is doing a reunion tour in the near future :D
Metalcore has been dead for a while now. I was really into this stuff 10 years ago when it was peaking, especially Poison the Well and ETID. Also bands like Norma Jean, Killswitch Engage, Unearth, and Eighteen Visions. None of these bands has released anything interesting in the last five years. ETID has been making the same album over and over again since Gutter Phenomenon. These bands had a good run, but it’s over. The new thing (well, new like five years ago) is deathcore. Unfortunately, most of these bands are just dreadful. Despised Icon was OK, but they broke up. On a side note, I want to add that Poison the Well’s You Come Before You was one of the best and most underrated albums to ever come out of that scene. Their songwriting improved SO much on record. But the kids just wanted to hear the Opposite of December again. PTW’s time had already passed.
All Out War, Vision of Disorder, Life of Agony, Hatebreed, Candiria, Earth Crisis, One King Down…all great “metalcore” bands. I love glassJAw, PTW, deftones, Parkway Drive. I feel like KSE helped bring metalcore to a wider audience, alongside Shadow Fall and Unearth during the rise of Massachusetts Metalcore and then somewhere along the line it got really watered down and boring. Even KSE became unlistenable (on a sidenote I’m stoked Jesse Leech is back in the band). I think metalcore is around to stay, it’ll just evolve and people will just go back to calling it what it is, metal music. Also, digging the new Whitechapel cd, but that’s “Deathcore”, so I guess there’ll have to be another whole article :) All I know is I love good heavy music. Oh yeah…and fuck Asking Alexandria and Danny Worships ridiculous new book.
Chall know bout Codeseven?? North Carolina come on and raise up.
Metalcore definitely isn’t coming to an end anytime soon with the rise of bands like Bury Tomorrow, While She Sleeps, Confession and For the Fallen Dreams like the author of this article says only the creative acts will survive.
And by all means, even some of the pioneers of the genre will survive like Parkway Drive as they release new albums, the newer always packs a harder punch.
metalcore duo! http://www.formvote.com/discuss.php?postid=105934668957005