The Problem with the Term “Metal-core”
I had a good question asked of me in my last post and thought it would make a good post.
I wanna ask you..
What’s the difference between metalcore and hardcore? I just know that metal core have more double pedal in drum n more melody in guitar.. And hardcore have a simple music.. Is that right?
Well, hard-core is harder to define these days. Originally, in the late 70’s and early 80’s hard-core was just a short form of hard-core punk. Teens in California were disappointed about how punk had become mainstream and it didn’t embody their strife anymore. So they started their own bands that were what they thought punk should sound like. These were bands like Black Flag, Circle Jerks and of course Bad Brains. This music was defined by being fast, simple and aggressive. Bands like Bad Brains still managed to be talented and creative within that limited framework.
Today some bands still sound like that, but some people wanted to do something more with it. Bands like Underoath, Further Seems Forever and A Sky Lit Drive are great examples of what is known as “Post-Hardcore”. Where there is speed and aggression and a definitely punk sound mixed with clean vocals, more intricate melody and in general more creativity that can’t be captured within “Hard-core”.
Metal-core differs from straight Hard-core and Post-hardcore because Metal-core is really just metal, speedy guitars, intricate song structures and riffs. Riffs are very much what metalcore is made of and that is metal. Talent on all instruments and such. Metal core is metal that borrows elements of hard-core or vice versa. For instance Killswitch Engage does some screamed hard-core vocals and punk drum beats, the influence of hard-core is limited. Then again, with a band like say Hatebreed, they are a Hard-core band with elements of metal. Riffs, metal like precision with instrumentation, but thats pretty much where it ends.
The problem is that both bands would be considered metal-core, the term is way too general.
But what will embody MY strife?
Merriam-Webster
“My listeners don’t understand my lexicon…or diction….or..gloasary!!”
What’s a gloasary! Is that some metal term I wouldn’t know?
Go eat a baby.
I meant glossary and the baby was delicious.
Metalcore is almost dead, very few good bands out there anymore. There is a big difference between metalcore and hardcore. You’ll always find bands that are somwhere in between the both genres and it is hard to define them. Hardcore started out as hardcore punk in D.C., California and New York in the early 80’s. I wish I could have been there during that time. Well eventually people dropped the “punk” from the term “hardcore punk” and just called it hardcore. Over the years the hardcore genre has transformed from just playing 3 chords as fast as you can to some technical skill. The biggest difference between hardcore and metalcore, is the music. Metalcore is more metal to put it simply. Metalcore has a lot more “shredding” and solos, where hardcore has very few. Metalcore has a lot more blast beats and double pedal, where hardcore has fast punk beats. I don’t know where breakdowns originated from. But both genres use it a lot. Metalcore relies more heavily on breakdowns than hardcore does.
The biggest way to tell between the two, listen to a straight up hardcore band like Down To Nothing or Champion. And than listen to a straight metalcore band like Parkway Drive or old school Every Time I Die. If you can’t tell the difference, get your ears checked.
I favorite metalcore band of all time is 7 Angels 7 Plagues.
Hardcore these days uses a lot of double kick. Isn;t 7 A 7 P what would become Misery Signals? I can’t remember. I thin you pretty much have it, but again there are always bands that are outside the mold.
yeah 7A7P = Misery Signals today. 7A7P is way better in my opinion.
Never heard them, have to check it out.
At the same time, bands like Botch, Breather Resist and Curl Up and Die could be called “metalcore” and do not sound at all like As I Lay Dying, Killswitch Engage or Unearth. The term is very broad, but I can’t stand “mathcore” to describe the first few bands or “thrash” for the last three. I think of “metalcore” as a defined a genre as “rock” is for heavy music.
Breakdowns originated in hardcore. The emphasis on breakdowns is, along with the metal blastbeats and technicality, one of the distinguishing features that makes metalcore distinct from metal.
Botch does generally get called mathcore, which we can consider progressive metalcore with an emphasis on technicality stemming from experimentation with time signatures and rhythmic variation, as opposed to simply speed or melodic variety. As I Lay Dying, Killswitch, and Unearth are more obvious and simpler examples of mainstream metalcore, blending lots of breakdowns with technical passages and contrasting growled or screamed vocals with clean sections.
The genre gets badmouthed constantly, but within it there is plenty of room for artistic expression and interesting development. It’s become so broad that to say something like ‘metalcore sucks’ discredits hundreds of bands, a handful of which are actually quite good in their own right – even if there are, as in every genre, those bands who simply rehash old ideas, and poorly.