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Editorials

CANNIBAL CORPSE’S ALEX WEBSTER ON THE PROS OF METALCORE

 Friday, October 26th, 2007 at 10:04am by

Since there tends to be a lot of arguing around here about the open-mindedness (or lack thereof) of metalheads, we found Way Too Loud!‘s recenet interview with Cannibal Corpse’s Alex Webster more than a little interesting. Webster states:

“Any kind of metal we support, even if we don’t necessarily listen to it a whole lot. A lot of the metalcore bands are pretty good. I think they have enough of an element of death metal to them that they’ve helped attract fans to the death metal scene. Like if you have metalcore bands occasionally doing a tour with a death metal band, it’s kind of a fan exchange, where the fans of one scene can learn about the music of another, and I think it’s positive because those fans wouldn’t have made death metal a first stop. It wouldn’t have been their first choice to check out death metal, but once they’ve had a chance to see a band like us like at Sound Of The Underground or whatever, it got them more interested in death metal.

“If those bands didn’t exist, then Sounds Of The Underground probably wouldn’t exist, and we wouldn’t have done that tour, so we wouldn’t have had that chance. I definitely think that metalcore bands have probably opened some doors for the death metal scene, and maybe the black metal scene as well.”

Look: what seems like a million years ago now, I discovered GN’R, and the next thing you know, I’m listening to Decapitated. If some trendy metalcore band does the same thing for a kid today, can’t that only be seen as a good thing?

-AR

  • TJ

    I know a few of my buddies over the past few years have had the natural progression.

    It started with Killswitch Engage, then moved to Shadows Fall, then to Amon Amarth, and now these bastards are starting to get into Dimmu Borgir, old Emperor and Obituary. It’s a slippery slope.

    I felt like a proud father when my friend asked me if we are going to see Decapitated next month.

  • Fink

    I have to agree that metalcore is great as a gateway to the world of metal. I started out listening to punk, moved to hardcore, and from there to metalcore and subsequently ‘real’ metal.

    However I think that metalcore can have merits beyond its function as a gateway; although the scene may be pretty oversaturated with trendy, shitty metalcore bands, the concept in and of itself I find to be very appealing and, when done right, can be downright brutal. It bothers me that metalcore has become an almost derogatory label, immediately dismissed by anyone who likes ‘real’ metal.

    Honestly, fuck the petty miniscule sub-genre quarreling and fuck the labeling. And that’s my 2 cents.

  • TJ

    Agreed. People should just listen to what they like and be done with it.

    The guys on this website seem to enjoy A7X. A lot of people don’t. But good for them for admitting they like it.

    I have no problem telling people that I dig the shit out of the last 2 As I Lay Dying records, or even the new My Chemical Romance.

  • http://www.last.fm/user/wgraham76/ Wayne

    Nice to read this post, and the openmindedness of the good folks commenting so far. There’s always been a pretty bad sub-genre over-indentification thing going on with metalheads in general. Can’t we all just beat the fuck out of each other in the pit?

    Nice to see real dialogue about metal round these parts. I’d gotten so tired of the Blabberbashers.

  • TTquick

    I love this. I may bash some bands, but I have opinions and this is a blog site. Hell I hate certain things about bands I love. But I honestly respect everything metal. My collection would make some off you vomit and call me Sally. But I like it and I’m not ashamed to say it.

    As an older dude on the site, my metal progression went something like this:
    The Who, Dio, Def lep/Quiet Riot, Motley, Metallica/Deth/Testament, Slayer, VOD, Ratm. THEN…Hatebreed

    Hatebreed opened the door for me to the entire metal world. I’m talking Death, Obituary, Carcass, Killswitch, Shadows, etc… Strong but true.

  • http://crustcake.blogspot.com crustcake gerf

    Haha, Metalcore as a ‘gateway’ drug into metal, I like it. Valid points all around, Alex, TJ, Fink, Wayne, and TTquick.

  • http://www.last.fm/user/wgraham76/ Wayne

    @ crustcake gerf — Cool blog. Love the artwork and Rev. Lovejoy reference! Enjoy Boris this weekend. Saw them a few weeks ago. Their set was quite a toe-curler.

    @TTquick.
    I don’t listen to tons of Hatebreed (although they ARE good), but Jaime Jasta has got to be the nicest dude in metal.

  • TJ

    The funny thing with my buddies and I is that we are going in the opposite direction of TT.

    Where they went from metalcore into the heavier shit, now they are even backtracking into a lot of the 80s/epic metal stuff like Dio, Iced Earth, etc.

    It’s all about keeping an open mind. You can’t fault someone for liking what they like, you know. At least be honest about it and don’t be one of those holier than thou assholes who runs around screaming “If it ain’t brutal, I don’t like it!” while at the same time they are home rocking the fuck out to some Godsmack.

  • Fink

    One other thing I’d like to throw out there:

    I’d say it takes a pretty open mind to get into metal in the first place; the often discordant or dissonant sounds, the screaming, the speed… all can make this kind of music very inaccessible for the first-time listener. This stands in stark contrast with the incredible narrow-mindedness and elitism that can be found once within the metal community. It’s as though we start with an open mind only to slowly but surely close it.

    To be fair, I’ve been criticized for not listening to a wide enough array of music. I’d like to think that it’s because I know what I like, and I listen to what I like. But this doesn’t mean I won’t give pretty much anything a chance, and I try not to judge as much as possible. I just wish I saw a little more of that in the metal scene these days.

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  • http://www.hibernum.net Hibernum

    I still don’t have to like them.