The Batlord's Thread of Metalcore that Doesn't Suck but In Fact ****ing Rules
 

I'm only just getting into this genre as of yesterday, so this isn't going to be some educational thread by an expert, but since this music is generally so maligned due to the likes of Killswitch Engage, Trivium, As I Lay Dying, etc, I'm going to document my own musical journey in order to hopefully redeem metalcore in the eyes of the forum, possibly with some history of bands/scenes, reviews, or just spotlights on specific bands with a few Youtube recs to introduce them to the curious. Imma keep it lose. More to come.

And I imagine Mondo will show up to drop some knowledge. More power to him. He needs to drop musical bombs more often anyway.

Rorschach were an early band from New Jersey whose members would go on to form other seminal metalcore bands, such as Deadguy and Kiss It Goodbye. Early on, on debut Remain Sedate, they seem to have been a noisy hardcore band, hence the early label of powerviolence, with some slower, metal-influenced sections. This is raw stuff, a million miles away from the likes of Trivium, and I would be surprised if Matt Heafy had never even heard of this band. As someone who's dubious about hardcore, this album isn't my fav thing in the world, but it has its charms and is growing on me. I've heard '90s metalcore associated with post-hardcore and noise rock, and I can see why, with their use of dissonance. There's definitely something different going on here that would be more fully realized later on.





Aside from some comps, singles, and splits, Rorschach would only go on to release an EP, Needlepack, and second full-length, Protestant. Protestant was slower (in general) and sludgier, with vocals more screamed than shouted, and felt more like what metalcore would become in the nineties. Still, there's a frantic feel to the music, always changing pace, sometimes attacking with full-on hardcore fury, and then bringing it to a crushing, sinister near stop. Seriously hateful stuff that I shall be bumping in the future. Any fan of ugly, lo-fi, angry music should take note.





After that, the band would call it quits, and we would be treated to an even more evolved and polished version of the band's sound when some members went on to form Deadguy.

Also of note is a delightfully unfaithful cover of "21st Century Schizoid Man" that sounds more Sabbath than King Crimson.

I've never thought of Rorshach as metalcore, but I do agree they're a pretty good band.

I think they're associated more through being a band that launched other legitimate metalcore bands, and also because they seem to have used elements that would end up in later metalcore bands. And I notice we both misspell "Rorschach". I just had to go edit the god damn title of the post.

It's almost as if this band is one of those tests where people's different interpretations are supposed to reveal truths about that person. What are those tests called again? The name escapes me.

How much a person tips?

Metalcore's pretty good dude
Integrity, Earth Crisis and Unbroken for example.
Or Coalesce and Poison the Well.
Or what about the mathcore ones?
Dillinger Escape Plan, Converge, Botch, the Chariot?
There's even some good modern style metalcore : Everytime I Die.

It seems like a legitemate form of Punk and Metal to me.
Glad you're trying to find more metalcore that doesn't suck.

I'm pretty sure I've been diggin' on every one of the bands you just mentioned in the last two days, other than Coalesce and Poison the Well.

Have you listened to Bloodlet yet

No but now I'm going to.

^^^

I'll talk about that later, as I've only listened to it at about half volume, which isn't nearly enough to form an opinion, but I'll say that the vocalist isn't exactly my fav. Kinda sounds like he's ripping out his ******* desperately trying to pass a giant turd.


Right now, while I'll definitely do something more in depth on them soon, I just have to post something by Arkangel. Their Dead Man Walking album might just have just become my go-to album for straight-up brutality. I honestly can't think of another album as extreme as this. The simple, straightforward malevolence, and unnatural heaviness is just awe-inspiring. I challenge anyone, ANYONE to find me something more brutal. It defies words.

New entry in my top ten---hell, top five---metal albums easily, and possibly best hardcore album I've ever heard. Oh my ****ing GOD this thing just kills in a way that brutal death metal and grindcore can't touch with their tempo changes that, even when handled perfectly, undermine their vehemence. Arkangel's brutality >>>>> Pig Destroyer, Cyrptopsy, Mayhem, Gorgoroth, Marduk, and Suffocation... possibly combined.

Please, PLEASE find me something to destroy my ears like this album does, because I will worship it. Worship. As far as I know, this is the pinnacle of hateful, ear-destroying musical filth. I will listen to everything this band has ever done very soon, and likely bump them constantly for months to come. Mondo, don't let me down. Find me something that can piss my neighbors off more than this. I will be spamming whatever relevant threads I can to pass on the gospel of Arkangel. Be warned. Wpnfire needs to hear this band.

Bloodlet's vocals take some getting used to, everyone knows, I really didn't like them that much a while ago, but the musicians shred, especially that rhythm section.

I haven't heard of Arkangel until the other day via you, but have listened to their first album and find it really awesome. Here's my best shot at that request

All Out War is a band that I knew, and they're listed as Arkangel's most similar on the metal archives, both have a solid and similar thrash influence. Not all of their albums are that stellar either, but this one, Condemned to Suffer, would be a good recommendation.



Have you got around to listening to Ringworm yet? Not as brutal as Arkangel, but a big name in hardcore that would be worth checking



Best I've got for now. Check out Gehenna for ****s and giggles though, they combine hardcore/metalcore with black metal influences and you might dig it.

I've only heard Ringworm's first album, that one with Baphomet on the cover (I think that was Ringworm), but I remember it being suitably awesome.

Yeah, that's The Promise. That one's my favorite from them, but they're generally consistently good imo.

!!!

This IS far more brutal than any DM band I've heard, wow.

All three of these are a resounding, mother****ing, YES!!! And I'm glad I could be the one to introduce you to something for a change.

Yes. Join us. Join the truth of non-sucky metalcore.

Don't mention it, Gehenna is my favorite of the bunch, local band for me.

I also adore everything you posted Mondo.

More people should know that not all metalcore sucks. Good suggestions Mondo, I got some more metalcore to listen to!

Need a break from the straight-forward assault of Arkangel and Ringworm? Try Botch. Mathcore to die for, these dudes combine the intensity of the truest metalcore with odd time signatures that break up the heads-down hardcore brutality, while still ripping like some mother****ers. At times they do some really weird things that remind me of Between the Buried and Me's experimentalism, but without being as arbitrary (and they're a much better straight-up mathcore band to boot). I love BtBaM, but Botch are smarter and know how to make their diversity work in the context of their overall sound. A true thinking man's metalcore band. Their We Are the Romans album is another that is shooting up the ranks of my all-time favorite metal albums. Simply brilliant.

Epic Botch weirdness from somewhere around Jupiter's moon of Titan.

Botch is pretty heavy, personally though I can't stand the discordant harmony of mathcore, and I'll forever curse Greg Ginn for noodling around with jazz scales in hardcore.

I tend to like my metalcore on the hardcore end of the spectrum so the surfers from Parkway Drive are some of my favs. Obviously not as heavy as some of the deathcore orientated bands but good melodies.

I can dig some of the melodic metalcore bands, like Parkway Drive, August Burns Red, and Shadows Fall, but the melodic death metal riffs don't do so much for me. They have some good energy, but I usually end up getting bored at least half way through their albums.

If by melodic death metal riffs if you mean deathcore bands than I'm with you there for the most part. The thing about death metal is that its often highly technical, so listening to a deathcore band is like watching a B movie, not so good.

But now that I'm here I mind as well torture everyone with another hardcore leaning metalcore band that everyone loves to hate but me. Bring Me The Horizon!

I meant the metalcore bands that mix Gothenburg influences. Although in small doses they can be quite fun. The melodic choruses can actually be me favorite parts of them, as they're just catchy as ****.









And this is the only Bring Me the Horizon song that doesn't really bore me. Mostly because they aren't pretending to be an extreme metal band. And those riffs when Olie Sykes is screaming "It was written in blood" over and over again are actually pretty ****ing badass.

Left For Dead, had to play faster than the other hardcore bands.

I see, well I've never been fan of the Gothenburg stuff to begin with, which is why I don't like a lot of metalcore (At the Gates & In Flames put me to sleep to be honest)

As for Bring me the Horizon, I can dig if you don't like them, so here's an American metalcore band I was into back in the day that had a pretty hard hitting sound....again somewhat hardcore leaning.

A bit closer to straight-up hardcore than I've been listening to, but all this stuff, along with some Madball and Sick of It All type stuff over the last few months, have been slowly winning me over to more pure HC. Pretty cool.

Nice. And have you heard BMtH's newest album? I just listened to a few tracks out of curiosity after seeing it get rave reviews, and I was just like, "Ermagherd, this is the most boring thing I've ever heard." I don't care if they're moving beyond metalcore, they're just making dull music.

I didn't know they had a new album, unless you mean Sempiternal ,in which I threw up two tracks from that album.

They've definitely gone in a different direction from when they started ten years ago or so, but I'm not really up on my metalcore anymore, that ship set sail awhile back, in terms of metal I was starting to get into the Blackened pagan metal coming out of Europe, so this is more my flavor these days

Really digging Homewrecker ATM. A newer band, their combination of legitimate hardcore, metalcore, and death metal sounds like what deathcore should sound like. If Hatebreed were in love with Extreme Noise Terror rather than Pantera they might sound a bit like this band. Songs that are less than a minute also add some punk cred. Grind moments give way to heavy-as-**** breakdowns with actual riffs, and skulls are crushed. Intense, brutal ****ing stuff. I'll definitely be keeping up with these guys.

here's some Knut though, the MA are calling them technical sludge metal. Guaranteed to enjoy if you like Keelhaul



This was the first metalcore song that I thought was awesome, and drew me in



Where it's at every moment of every day

Mondo, there's a few artists you posted which you don't have plays on over at LastFM.

Are you telling me you've purposefully listened to even more artists than your LastFM claims?

edit: I'm really enjoying Left for Dead

I've heard (very passingly, so take that for what it is from a n00b) that hardcore is kind of stale right now, but from the last few bands I've listened to (Twitching Tongues and Homewrecker) who've had their first releases in or just short of this decade then I'm calling bull****. I already declared earlier that metalcore might have been the most exciting metal genre of of the mid-late nineties (death metal was stale by then, but black metal surely challenges that claim), but I'm now confident that, again, perhaps beside black metal again, (non-Killswitch Engage) metalcore is the current throne holder of "normal" metal's crown.

Death metal's old school revivalism and the continued quality of certain brutal DM bands maintains its relevance through sheer quality, if not innovation---Severe Torture is pretty wizard brutal DM of the skull-shattering-est kind, and if you haven't already checked them out, Obliteration continues to pick up where Obituary and Autopsy left off with ever-improving results.

Old thrash metal bands, along with a select few non-parody bands, sometimes show promise that the genre has a legitimate position in the middle ground between extreme and non-extreme metal when it embraces modern levels of sonic beef and perhaps some tasteful post-thrash influences---Exodus, Onslaught, and Overkill have been showing for years that stripped-down, blue collar metal can exist today without just being anachronisms; and Evil, Toxic Holocaust, and Diamond Plate prove that newer can plunder the eighties without being merely jokes.

Black metal, doom, and grindcore's futures seem to be in ever greater and weirder experimentation, so they're immune from this rant (though I've certainly heard the odd metalcore band with more than their share of experimentalism).

Metalcore, however often puts even the most brutal death metal to shame, and is an even tighter, more modernly relevant alternative to thrash. As far as pure headbanging music goes, I think the working man's metalheads are missing the boat on what's going on with metalcore these days. Get over your elitism and get with it.

As you can see, I've become somewhat of a fanboy in only a few short days. End rant.

Currently listening to Twitching Tongues' first album, from 2012. In a way, they kind of remind me of Acid Bath. They're both classified by simple genre tags (metalcore and sludge respectively), but they have a diversity and individuality that defies such reductive and restrictive labels.

TT would probably get labeled melodic metalcore if that genre tag hadn't already been appropriated by other bands, though these guys have none of the Gothenburg influences of Killswitch or Trivium (though they do throw in some similar melodic choruses at times). I guess just like Homewrecker are what deathcore should sound like, Twitching Tongues are what melodic metalcore should be.

They've got the heavy crunch, occasional punk fury, and sweet breakdowns of metalcore, but some serious grooves that make them sound quasi-stone metal at times. The vocals are worlds away from metalcore though, and sound more like if a punk band with an actual singer was actually singing rather than just going along with the simple beat of the song. He goes into some hardcore roars at times, but in general he sticks with singing. I guess some people might find his voice a bit too nasally, but otherwise he's quality.

With only eight songs, I figured this would be an EP, punk being what it is, but with the relatively long son lengths this album clocks in at least close to a half hour. They fit some serious songwriting, changing dynamics, and diverse influences into those thirty minutes, and I think they're a pretty righteous band. Some seriously infectious ear worms on this album too.

I really enjoyed the first Dillinger Escape Plan album, Calculating Infinity.

I guess

I listen to CDs and stuff

I'm still saying Undying are one of the best. Sure, they wear their Gothenburg influence on their sleeve, but like, you're a homo.

Another one of my firsts



Of course everyone needs this album

I can't hear what you're hearing. I'm not gonna trash the band but it sounds kind of average to me. Average for metalcore which is to say, very heavy music made by kids who grew up on heavy music. Arkangel sounds okay, definitely pissed off. But all of these kids sound really angry like that. I never fully got what makes music brutal though. I dunno, parents just don't understand I guess.

:eek: one of my favorite bands of all! Their American Nervosa album hits me the hardest but everything they did is solid. Definitely Trve Metalcore in the sense that it came before all the terrible stuff.

Another one of my very favorite bands that fits in with the subjonra is Buried Inside who had kind of a sludgy post-metal feel. But they were definitely metalcore though I mean look at a picture of them.

http://www.metal-archives.com/images...photo.jpg?1153
If, in the late 90s-mid 00s, you had long hair parted on one side, swept across your forehead and tucked behind one ear then your metal band is probably metalcore. If you wore plaid shirts and skinny jeans it definitely is. But their Chronoclast album is definitely good here's a song





I don't know if they really qualify but to me this band sounds like metalcore with a southern groove thing happening: Byzantine. I've only heard this one album but I dig it.

Do any of you guys know the Flaming Tsunamis?
They make a pretty nice combination of metalcore and ska and a few other genres(although usually not at the same time, aside form the horns)

This song for example has a Jazz part in it: