Metalcore is a music fusion genre that incorporates elements of heavy metal and hardcore punk. The term is a portmanteau of heavy metal and hardcore punk. Due to the rise in popularity in the United States during the early 2000s, the genre has also been described as the "New Wave of American Heavy Metal" by some, as an allusion to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal of the late 1970s.
Characteristics
Through the 1990s, metalcore was mostly an underground phenomenon, but from roughly 2004 to the present, many bands have appeared on the Billboard album charts.
Crossover thrash, a thrash metal and hardcore punk fusion genre pioneered by Dirty Rotten Imbeciles and Suicidal Tendencies, had an influence on many bands in the New York hardcore scene, and would help shape the metalcore genre in its early years. However, early metalcore bands, unlike those of the crossover thrash genre, were often less metallic, with a sound rooted in hardcore punk, not thrash metal. First wave metalcore bands included New York's Madball (which was formed by members of Agnostic Front), Judge, and Biohazard
In the 1990's a new wave of metalcore bands came out. Some of these include Converge, Earth Crisis, Zao, Coalesce and Shai Hulud.
In Scandinavia, parallel to the development of early 1990s metalcore, melodic death metal would arise. This classic metal-influenced death metal subgenre would incorporate melodic guitar hooks, polyphonic melodies, and high-pitched, guttural vocals. At the Gates, Dark Tranquillity, In Flames, and Carcass are considered influential melodic death metal bands. Melodic death metal would be influential to the sound of metalcore.
In the mid 2000s, metalcore emerged as a commercial force, with several independent metal labels, including Century Media and Metal Blade, signing metalcore bands. By 2004, metalcore had become popular enough that Killswitch Engage's The End of Heartache[4] and Shadows Fall's The War Within debuted at numbers 21 and 20, respectively, on the Billboard album chart. Hatebreed, Lamb of God, and As I Lay Dying have also charted, with Lamb of God's Sacrament (2006) breaking the Billboard 200's top 10. Metalcore bands have also received prominent slots at Ozzfest, Download Festival, and Warped Tour.
Current Artists
- Acadeon
- Aleksandra
- Attack the Lion
- The Awakening
- Bound in Silence
- Burning the Memory
- Drowned Sorrow
- Exculpate
- Eyes to Die For
- Fear Among The Living
- From Bliss to Devastation
- From the Pawn
- [FXZERO![1]] (metalcore? whatever you say man...)
- I Am Forever
- In Means of Life
- Johnny Booth
- Kills and Thrills
- Melting the Cheese
- Omerta
- Stray from the Path
- The World We Knew
Former Artists
- Alove for Enemies
- Anterrabae
- Days on End
- From Autumn to Ashes
- Eternity Burning
- Far From Elysium
- Figure Without Form
- The Guilt Party
- Grievance
- The Hideout
- Idala
- Jada Bloom
- Life After Living
- Ligeia
- Skycamefalling
- Stradlatter
- Vision of Disorder
- R22
- Red Handed Denial
- Red Water Rising
- Rescue is Possible
- Rule of Thumb
- Soul Sick
- Sown in Tears
- T.H.C.
- Tomorrow Never Came
- Two Will Witness
- Unspoken
- Vera Iconica
- Violent Us
- Words Like War