In my mind, metalcore is just a subgenre. If you play metalcore, you play metal, as metalcore is merely a kind of metal. With all the communication possible through the Internet, people talk about everything with everyone more than ever before. And communicating, we need to come up with terms to categorize our thoughts so that we convey our meaning to others. These “subgenres” like metalcore are merely a descriptive tool to allow us to talk about what we’re hearing.

Also, I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again: it really bothers me that metalcore as a whole has become no more than a “dump in the pants” genre simply because it’s oversaturated with copycats and stale, formulaic, boring bands. The implication that a band is shitty because they play metalcore is absurd. It’s the approach to the music, the total lack of ingenuity and inspiration that makes a band suck, not the genre of music they play. Every genre has good and bad artists; metalcore just happens to have a lot more bad than good.

Don’t shit on metalcore – shit on the bands that are bringing it down.

The alignment of the term “metalcore” with “shitty band” seems to be due to the specificity of the term, mixed with the short term popularity of many of the bands who play that style, and thus the lack of ingenuity in the genre, and the general cash grab that has resulted. Metal and hardcore are both cool genres, so logically the fusion of the two would be cool as well. Not so says the gipper. The term metal can refer to such a wide variety of subgenres that it can never be uncool (well, except in the late 80s through the grunge era when the term was like a disease). In any case, metalcore refers to such a specific style that it is bound to suffer from copy band after copy band who add little to the musical landscape.

Thrash is next people–mark my words. The thrash revival is real, and all the bands are just rehashing metallica and adding 100% screaming vox. I like metalcore, I like thrash, but if bands refuse to extrapolate new sounds, its all stale.

nu-metal-core is a reality already. Five Finger Death Punch is a good example.

Lole, if you hate metalcore so much, why do you continue to write and play it?

Here we go. The typical debate about old stuff vs new stuff. Our first three albums are reject the sickness, determination, gone forever. We achieved great success on Gone Forever during ozzfest. Where was everyone when we were touring on those earlier ‘amazing’ albums? We did a headlining tour on Determination with Bleeding Through and Avenged Sevenfold in 2001. We played in front of less people than bleeding through every night. This was the beginning of the wave. The tour was so bad for us we almost quit. But, metal-core still didn’t exist as a label at that point. So no, I don’t think Chimaira, Shadows Fall, KsE, Darkest Hour or Unearth are metalcore. They are metal coming out of the hardcore scene. There’s a big difference. I’d imagine a lot of you were a little young when we did our first headlining tour but I’d say that our newer material is better written, more focused and over all more skilled and that is why it has done well for the band. Constitution Of Treason is far from metal-core and, so is most of our other stuff. I’d like to know where people think metalcore started? I’ll go out on a limb and say my knowledge on this is a little deeper but I’d like to hear what everyone thinks created the shit storm.

i think the reason why some people find the “metalcore” tag so apt is because it is readily apparent where these people were five years ago before the trend started to occur. if it sounds like these kids were listen to pop punk or some hardcore bands before deciding they weren’t scared of slayer (or their fans) anymore, they’re metalcore. just looking at these clowns you can tell they have never heard a carcass album outside of heartwork.

i will give god forbid credit, you can hear the influence of true metal in their sound. they aren’t a scene band, in that i believe their appreciation for metal in it’s many varied forms is as legitimate as my own. metalcore bands make me wish i never heard metal at all, because their patchwork songwriting is clearly the result of tablature and mimicry. they just want to make a buck off it, which is completely reprehensible.

you don’t need to look, act, or say anything particular to be metal. but sincerity, hard work, and respect for metal and it’s history are imperative to any musician in a metal band. simply put, don’t fuck with metalheads. they aren’t as submissive as your pitiful myspace horde.

and so ends my treatise “on metal: or, i will gouge out your eyes with your makeup pencil you thirty year old manchild.”

Dallas, why are you SO OPPOSED to being termed metalcore? Who fucking cares. I mean, there are a ton of great bands that are sometimes referred to as Metalcore. Any idiot worth their salt knows that sub-genre labels are just that, and the music speaks for itself. One thing you don’t seem to acknowledge in your most recent post is that metalcore is still metal–so what the fuck is the difference b/t metalcore and “metal coming out of the hardcore scene?” Unless you are going to deny any influence from hardcore vocals and riffing structure, than you have to admit that you are in fact, at least to some degree, metalcore. By denying any relationship to metalcore, you are in essence giving credence to those who use the term as an adjective for generic/crummy bands, as opposed to what it should be, a descriptive term for the fusion of hardcore elements to heavy metal. In essence, alot of bands utilize those elements in different ways, so that Chimaira, KSE, Unearth, Darkest Hour, etc are all metalcore, and at the sametime, they are all different, and all something else as well. Just admit that of all your ingredients, you are at least one parts metalcore.

Stupidest argument ever on this site. It’s like arguing whether the sky is colored sky blue or light blue. It’s just fucking blue. Either you like GF or you don’t. If you need to label, then do so, but don’t judge the music by some douchebag’s label. Keep in mind that in 1982 Def Leppard were considered metal because of the relative rock music available at the time. If you don’t like GF as much now because the breakdown to solo ratio is too high, then that’s okay, but to write a 5,000 diatribe trying to define EXACTLY what sub-minutae-genre they fall under is a waste of one’s typing skills.

@Dallas: In some ways you’re right. I think that bands like KSE could only be referred to as metalcore in the context of what has happened within the hardcore scene. A band like Hatebreed certainly does not fit with early hardcore, which sounded more like punk than anything released as a “hardcore” album these days. Perhaps it should have been bands like Hatebreed that were dubbed “metalcore.” For whatever reason, as far as I’ve heard, they’ve mostly still been associated with the term “hardcore.” And then bands like Killswitch came along and blended this new version of hardcore with metal. Hence, metalcore. And the reason to insist on calling it metalcore is that the term is meant to describe a mixture of hardcore and metal. My point ultimately is that the term carries connotations now, which are bullshit. We should just eliminate the term (and consequently its connotations) entirely and just describe music without labeling it. The problem I have with how you’ve approached this is that you still use the term in the same way as the people you are criticizing, in turn lending the term legitimacy. To say something to effect of “metalcore sucks” (a new rival website perhaps?) validates the term, implying that you know what metalcore actually is, that it has a legitimate definition, and thus reinforces the labeling and its connotations.

@Sammy: I think you and I are mostly in agreement. You might have misunderstood what I was trying to say, I may have said it poorly…. either way, we shouldn’t try to label music so much. Labels are constrictive and influence the way people hear music, i.e. a band that plays a mixture of metal and hardcore might be referred to as “metalcore” and subsequently dismissed by a large population of listeners based on that label.

Anyway… I also just wanted to say that it’s pretty awesome that we can actually have this conversation without it degrading into “metalcore is for fags gtfo” and general shit-slinging, as it would on some other sites I’ve been to.

What the fuck is with this fink kid. He keeps posting and sayin the stupidest shit. What a metalcore lover. Metalcore IS for fags, gtfo. Get a life homo!

Everything I was trying to say, and probably said better. Nice post.