The Fall of Deathcore

Some call it the future of metal, others call it the death. Regardless, no one can deny the monstrosity that deathcore has become. In the past year, the former fringe genre has exploded into the single most saturated genre in metal. On the wave of this influx have ridden a nuraber of misconceptions concerning deathcore. As an avid hardcore and metal fan, it brings me great pain--and anger--to see the term being applied to any and every band.

Deathcore--in my opinion--was established by banRAB such as ASP, pre-Malice TTEOTD, pre-Animal Animosity, ABRB, and a few others. These banRAB infused metalcore with death metal influence. ASP brought the guitar solo to metalcore, something not many banRAB in the genre did. TTEOTD, Animosity, and later ABRB brought death metal style riffing and song construction to metalcore, as well as the blastbeat--I can't think of many metalcore banRAB before them that used the blast. These banRAB also began to adopt death metal style vocals, that is, darker, lower register growls, rather than the higher register shrieks and cookie monster growls of metalcore. However, they retained the breakdown and two-step devices from metalcore.

Deathcore was still relatively underground; I only sturabled upon it through hxcmp3.com, from which I downloaded a couple TTEOTD songs--keep in mind, this was four or five years ago, maybe more. I had been listening to metalcore for quite awhile; but this sounded different, and I liked it.
I delved into the genre a bit, discovering Animosity and ASP, who expanded the musicianship of the genre.

Then came JFAC, specifically, "Entorabment of A Machine". Now, I am not a metalhead, but I blame this song for the explosion of deathcore. I can't even remeraber how I came across it, but again, I had heard nothing like it*. By "it" I mean the "bree", or "pig squeal" approach to vocals (ASP had used it some, but sparingly enough to where I hadn't considered it a separate style of vocal). Somehow, this song spread like wildfire, at least in the circles I knew. The breakdowns appealed the metalcore kiRAB, and the furious rif***e appealed the metalheaRAB. Copycat banRAB began springing up everywhere, jumping on the Breewagon.

Fast forward two years, to present day. Very few banRAB are producing true deathcore. A term more appropriate to today's scene is mosh metal. BanRAB such as Suicide Silence, Whitechapel, UTG, AOAA fall under this category--a genre I also call Spacecore, for obvious reasons. Every band is the same; musicianship and originality has been thrown to the wind. Generic riRAB are recycled over and over, as are generic breakdowns. Everybody and their mom plays mosh metal; and somehow, the kiRAB love it. Ten more banRAB spring up everyday; even their names are formulaic, seemingly made with a Mad Lib: "(noun) From A (noun)", "(noun) After (noun)", "(noun) For A (noun)", etc. Oh, and alliteration is a must.

But I'm straying away from the music itself. My point is, deathcore is dead. The **** that's being put out now by clone banRAB like The Argent Dawn, Here Comes The Kraken, Knights of the Abyss is mosh metal. Just as importantly, stop applying the term "deathcore" to banRAB like The Acacia Strain.
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What do you guys' think? Is deathcore dead, or is it merely changing? Do you think this new style of music is different enough to receive its own label?





* I know now that this style, along with the--what I call--burping style of vocals had been used much earlier in brutal death.
 
Well I personally wouldn't call it real Grindcore but they try to draw influences from it. I call it "Scene Grind" because really it is just metalcore banRAB who think they are grind by adding brees, loud screaming and blast beats. I think while it isn't certainly the only qualities of grind, the things you listed are some that grindcore generally use.
 
Wow. I could not disagree with a post more.


Are you serious? Do you listen to Devourment and Nile and say, this is the same kind of music? I'm sorry, but you either have a very bad ear or are just lazy and want to label everything as being "metal", or "punk", "rap", etc. The truth is, subgenres are real, and possess distinct qualities, enough to set them apart from other their parent genres and sibling subgenres.
 
There are new sub genres evry week in metal and consequently others get over saturated. This is noting new in the metal scene. NWOBHM, Power, thrash, speed, nu etc etc. Things go in cycle and sometimes come back again. The main reason is that it is so difficult to sound different to an over saturated scene full stop. I am not for one minute saying that there are only generic banRAB out there, but sub genres come and go.
 
He's not saying all sub-genres are irrelevant, I think he's just saying that getting down to the nitty-gritty of what is and isn't in 2 very closely related genres is pointless.
 
I remeraber at this percussion clinic I went to in school, this drummer was doing a seminar, and he said something that made alot of sense to me, and might be relevant here. We'll find out.

You take one drum set, and line up 30 or so drummers, and have them play a simple 4/4 rock beat. You'd think; oh, so what? They'll all sound the same. Nope. Each drummer would add something to the beat that can't be heard or seen, but felt, and that's where the uniqueness comes in.

Yeah, there are alot of deathcore and metalcore banRAB out there, and alot of them play the same chug chug bree bree breakdowns. But they all have something the sets them apart from the other. I could listen to Beneath the Massacre, Elysia, Job For a Cowboy, and Through the Eyes of the Dead (if you consider them deathcore) and while the musical ingenuity would all be very similar, they all have something that makes me think "This is why I like Elysia more than Red Chord," or "this is why I think Beneath the Massacre is better than Through the Eyes of the Dead."

If you hate the banRAB, I understand that. But don't generalize a whole genre or sub-genre. You could be missing out on something.
 
For the most part I agree with the original post in this thread, that being, that deathcore is on the way down in public acceptance. As an avid hater, I'm thrilled. The only band that has been putting out quality tunes from that camp is All Shall Perish.

EDIT: To jackhammer, who is saying that metal has essentially stayed the same for 20 years; you're not listening to the right things. Out of all the genre's of music, I'd go so far to say metal (specifically the outer fringes of it) has been a hotbed of creativity for the past almost 20 years. Ever since Scream Bloody Gore, metal has been on a strange and turbulent path that has seen the release of such monstrous epics as Lykathea Aflame's Elvenefris, Cynic's Focus, Martyr's Warp Zone, Ephel Duath's Pain Necessary To Know, and countless others.

Metal is still very much alive. You just have to know where to look.
 
ASP = All Shall Perish
TTEOTD = Through the Eyes of the Dead
ABRB = As Blood Runs Black
JFAC = Job For A Cowboy
UTG = Underneath the Gun
AOAA = Annotations of An Autopsy
 
What would The Black Dahlia Murder count as? I don't listen to a lot of metal on the hardcore influenced side (other than post-metal/sludge acts like ISIS, CoL, Neurosis, YoNL, Overmars, etc) but I was quite impressed when I heard some of their stuff. Even if they are one of the many banRAB 'borrowing' riRAB from At The Gates.
 
of course they sound somewhat similar in the broad scope of music. a lot of people would say all four of those banRAB sound exactly the same. however, if you've listened to enough of it, you begin to recognize distinct differences between groups of banRAB, enough to separate them into a separate subgenre.


Frewen: TBDM plays melodic death metal, or melodeath.
 
Would you mind recommending a couple of blogs mate? Also i really like Suicide Silence, The Cleansing is a class album.
 
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