JOB FOR A COWBOY, ALL SHALL PERISH, ANIMOSITY, ANNOTATIONS OF AN AUTOPSY: BANDS THAT TOTALLY AREN’T DEATHCORE PLAY A DEATHCORE SHOW IN RHODE ISLAND
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 at 10:13am by Sammy O'Hagar
Deathcore’s meteoric fall from subgenre of a subgenre to a word on par with “pedophile” in metal is almost comic in nature. Though this is by no means its first year of existence, it is its first year of prominence. While the violent shift in attitude could be attributed to the “everything popular sucks” mindset, it can also be contributed to the fact that, with such prominence, deathcore bands are already starting to get lazy. But either way, at a recent stop in Providence, RI, the Metal Sucks co-sponsored Job for a Cowboy/All Shall Perish/Animosity/Annotations of an Autopsy (sadly, no Hate Eternal on this stop, and my best wishes to Erik Rutan) tour, no band was willing to be tagged with the label, no matter how firmly they resided at the intersection of Death and ’Core. And despite the fact that deathcore may be old news in the metal blogosphere, there was no shortage of enthusiasm for it, reserved especially for the show’s headliners.
Even though the dismal, dismal weather and hour and a half wait for the show to start was certainly a handicap for the evening as a whole, once things began, the mood in the room was energetic. Due to interviewing/setting up interviews, I almost missed Annotations of an Autopsy. I did not, though, and was glad I didn’t. The band’s grimy slamfest ignited the room like flash paper, working quickly to dissolve the sour mood of the club’s cold, wet patrons. The band hails from England, a fact all too evident in the accent of “Sewer Mouth” Steve Regan making calls for blood before almost every song in a manner honed more for soccer matches than a deathcore (or not deathcore) show. The slow motion car crash of the band’s slam riffs painted them as an above adequate deathcore band, and an excellent start to the show. While by no means revelatory or inspiring, they were a lot of fucking fun.
After another long (or seemingly long, as I love Animosity) set-up time ensued, Animosity took the stage, performing a tight and wonderful set despite sound problems, as well as initially mistaking Rhode Island for New Hampshire (which is understandable as a touring band, but unforgivable to a New Englander). After walking onstage looking like just five dudes that love metal, the band exploded into a mess of hair, technical death metal riffing, and Animosity singer Leo Miller. Despite the crowd’s (arguably fucking criminal) indifference toward the band, they stayed spirited throughout, playing an Animal-heavy set that was proficient enough to match their recorded performance but spirited enough to exceed the sensation of simply listening to the record. They ended their set with an intense rendition of “A Passionate Journey,” complete with the hefty Pantera nod that closes out the song and the inspiring, Dimebag-worthy solo. Seeing Animosity made me angry that more people don’t like Animosity, as the crowd, confused by the band’s hairpin turns from riff to riff, found no place to mosh. Seeing a just few kids nod at the band’s feverish pace felt wasteful, as the band played just as solid and intense a set – if not more so – as any other band on the bill that evening.
The crowd’s apathy, however, all but vanished for All Shall Perish, whose vicious technical deathcore perfectly translated itself to a live setting. Frontman Eddie Hermida put forth a refreshing earnestness and genuine affection for the crowd, declaring himself an ardent Red Sox fan (which endeared him a little to even me) and professing his love of New England despite his San Francisco locale. Though All Shall Perish’s brand of deathcore doesn’t sit perfectly with me, they are consummate showmen, working perfectly in tandem with the intense throng of longhairs and skinny scene dudes shouting feverishly back at them. The band even took a breather to have the band’s two guitarists engage in a shred off three or so songs into the set, a cheesy move that still managed to pay off big. Though All Shall Perish’s brand of fun differed from that of Annotations of an Autopsy, they still managed to perform a perfectly watchable set, impressing even those not particularly fond of their music otherwise.
The show’s headliners, as well as clearly the main draw, were Arizona death metallers Job for a Cowboy. Say what you will about the band (and judging by the internet that birthed their popularity, many of you have), but people love Job for a Cowboy. Really, really love them. Despite the fact that they were headlining the show itself, dozens upon dozens of Job for a Cowboy shirts were present (almost as if Jeremy Piven’s advice of “don’t be that guy” to a dude about to wear a shirt of the band he was going to go see in PCU didn’t exist) on the backs of the sweaty, seemingly impatient throngs there to see them. I can’t think of a band with more angry, vocal detractors than them, and yet, it was clearly their show. The crowd – semi-active for AOAA, confused for Animosity, active for All Shall Perish – came alive like a pack of hyenas to an ocelot carcass when Job for a Cowboy played. In one of the most violent pits I’ve ever seen (due to space and sheer mass of people swinging elbows and expensive sneakers), metal dudes and hardcore kids engaged in nothing short of a bar brawl for… death metal. Just death metal.
This, of course, confounded me, as I’ve seen death metal bands that have played sets of very similar music to a crowd with their arms respectfully crossed or headbanging, but never the sort of intensity that was exhibited for the band’s set. Arguably, youth has almost everything to do with this, as Job for a Cowboy’s fan base is almost completely made up of younger folk, and the band members themselves are probably young enough to be Hate Eternal’s kids. In some ways, though, it was as inspiring as it was confounding, as Job for a Cowboy, for all the negative shit people can say (and have said) about them, are an excellent live band. The energy they have from not being bogged down with kids or massive debt allots them an intensity the older Lords of Death Metal can no longer exhibit. Frontman Jonny Davy gesticulates wildly like a manic preacher or someone being exorcised. The band churned on fiercely behind him, scowl-faced and blistering, playing the absolute minimum of breakdowns for a deathcore show. But the crowd ate it up anyhow, chanting when instructed, throwing up horns when things got heavy, and moshing to everything: breakdowns and slams were standard, but when the band kicked into hyperdrive, the floor was still a mess of fists, hair, and unreadable logos. I had to leave before the end of their set due to having to work at my non-metal means of employment the next morning, but even walking out the door, the adoration of Job for a Cowboy was still thick in the air. The buzz for them before the show was staggering – the opening bands name-checking JFAC usually received bigger cheers than the bands themselves – and the gaze of hundreds fixed firmly to Davy and his DM crew was nothing short of pure adulation.
The set was probably a perfect metaphor for deathcore as a whole (even despite Job for a Cowboy’s Genesis not really being a deathcore record at all): many of us hate it, but by no means is it fading. Perhaps the venom toward it, which accrued much more quickly than it did for metalcore, is rooted partially in the fact that death metal was one of the last bastions of metal that wasn’t tainted by mainstream aspirations or hardcore kids replacing headbanging with violence. But for the crowd pressed against the stage at Club Hell in Providence, Job for a Cowboy WAS death metal, as if the years of gristly-haired dudes in denim (or sweatpants) playing the same music had never existed. Death metal doesn’t belong exclusively to the old-timers or the esoteric anymore; it can serve as a gateway for hardcore kids bored with one note breakdowns and mid-paced d-beats into the world of metal, or what they think is metal. This is a fact now, not a point of debate. One can only hope that the young masses lusting for JFAC will find a way to the bands that inspired them instead of focusing on the bands around their age. But say what you will about Job for a Cowboy and/or deathcore: it isn’t going anywhere for a while.
-SO
“Bands that totally aren’t deathcore”
Shut the fuck up. Every band on that bill is deathcore. I saw this show when it passed through here for the sole reason of Hate Eternal. Luckily, this was one of the few shows before Erik Rutan got sick. Every other band on the bill was torture. I didn’t stay for JFAC, but I’ve seen them before. It’s an insult to call these fucking fad bands anything but deathcore.
I get that it’s a co-sponsored tour by Metalsucks, but you don’t have to sugarcoat the bullshit: It’s all trendy deathcore bullshit. The only one that was semi-enjoyable was Animosity, and that’s because they actually try to rely on things other than fucking breakdown gimmicks. I feel sorry for all the actual metalheads that went to this tour for Hate Eternal to just see a bunch of faggot scene kids standing around because there were no breakdowns to hardcore dance to during them.
Fuck all those bands, fuck deathcore, and fuck scene kids.
Excellent review man. I agree about Job For A Cowboy….for some reason people talk shit and yet they continue to sell records and put on an aweome live show. I saw them at Sounds of the Underground 2 summers ago and they fucking ripped that place in half. They were the first “deathcore” band per say….but on “Genesis” its a 100 percent death metal album. I still need to see All Shall Perish…. Chris Story can shred as good as anyone in the metal scene.
@RayRay:
That guitarist for All Shall Perish is talented. They did a “Guitar Solo Duel” but, sadly, that was about all the talent that I saw. A shame his excellent guitar skills are wasted on breakdown after breakdown.
Mankvill’s “awesome” blog lists Ben Folds’ record as the best album of 2009 followed by Metallica’s “Death Magnetic.” He also claims that Judas Priest and Suicidal Tendencies are new to him. Hmmmm….I think I’ll take your opinions with a grain of salt.
Deathbore, thanks for the background info. I was pretty sure he was a douchebag based on his use of language, but didn’t have the context to be sure. Ben Folds? Fuck YOU man.
You’re part of the problem you’re whining about. You gotta fucking label everything, and build your metalhead identity on what you hate. If All Shall Perish came out in ‘92 rocking tight denim and leather jackets they would automatically be part of your sacred “metal” legacy. Metal isn’t just for homophobic 35 year olds.
And the funny part is, I’M usually the one complaining about scene kids and calling for purity. I wash my hands of your end of the metal spectrum.
Take my opinions with a grain of salt, but know them to be true. ;)
It doesn’t matter what year something came out or how they look (even though they all look the same, but that’s beside the fact): Deathcore relies on gimmicks, and its fans are stupid fucks.
Look Mankarino, I didn’t wanna get off on the wrong foot. I think you’re right in some ways. I can’t stand the scene kids, and I am really suspect of most “deathcore” stuff. I actually don’t really listen to a lot of new metal; I’m a big fan of Cannibal Corpse, and when I first heard ASP I thought “thank God/Satan that this sound is getting new blood”.
What I’m saying is that if All Shall Perish came out in ‘92 and looked more like the old school guys, YOU would give them a lot of credit, and the irritating scene kids would never even hear of them.
It’s kinda like Satanists who steal stuff from churches and desecrate it: they’re honoring what they desecrate by acknowledging it to be worth desecrating.
Take the nation Israel: what country could be more aware of the Palestinian presence, and yet they refuse to acknowledge the country globally referred to as Palestine – because the moment they do that, they have to start paying it the respect they afford to acknowledged, sovereign nations. On the other hand, take Protestantism: a religous subdivision whose identity is based on protesting against Catholicism. Israel’s refusal to acknowledge Palestine renders the Palestinian people powerless, which from their perspective is good; Protestantism’s acknowledgement of Catholicism limits its consituents to…well, protesting everything all the time.
Just don’t be too quick to relegate really heavy bands to the “deathcore” category just because a bunch of tools show up at their shows. You can’t escape the scene kids. They’ll always be there.
Haha, okay I understand what you’re saying now.
The thing is, though, I’ve yet to hear a deathcore band that did anything different from any other deathcore band. The closest, like I said, was Animosity. Yes, it would be better if those scene kid tools did not show up, but I don’t think it would make a difference in the quality of music. I do think that every band on that bill is and was deathcore. Some not as guilty as others, but guilty all the same.
I think on that bill (post-Hate Eternal) the ranking of “deathcore-ness” from least to most would look something like:
1. Animosity
2. Job For A Cowboy (the new album is a step in the right direction)
3. All Shall Perish
4. Annotations Of An Autopsy
I’ve just yet to see or hear a deathcore band that really stands out and justifies the popularity of the genre. Job For A Cowboy, All Shall Perish, Bring Me The Horizon, As Blood Runs Black…it all just sounds the same to me.
It’s so damn stupid. Deathcore is another subgenre of metal, fucking deal with it! If you don’t like it, fine, but don’t be such a goddamn elitist and say that YOUR metal preferences are somehow better.
I don’t have to say my preferences in metal are better, deathcore does that itself. :P
I guess that’s what I’m saying, Adam. On Mank’s side of it though, it really is irritating to see these kids dominating a scene and taking it over, without knowledge of everything that came before it. You can call it a subgenre, sure, but really it’s a trend. I don’t think a trend deserves to be called a subgenre until it shows some long-term relevance.
Metal thrives in the shadows, not the limelight.
“Metal thrives in the shadows, not the limelight.”
Exactly!
This article states that deathcore is here to stay, but I couldn’t disagree more. JFAC going more towards death metal with their last album and Bring Me The Horizon basically abandoning the genre for metalcore (slightly better than deathcore). Maybe the scene kids are recognizing how all bands pretty much sound the same, and will stop buying the albums and stop going to the shows. Which will, in turn, stop the bands from writing the same riffs and breakdowns to cater to an audience and might learn to actually make some good ol’ metal.
btw: Ben Folds Ist Krieg
Ich stimme nicht überein. Ben Folds ist ein Werkzeug der populären Medien.
Man, this show was awesome. I saw it in Pomona, CA. Hate Eternal headlined as JFAC is comin back with the Faceless and Lamb of God. Anyhow, this show was dope. Truly, ANIMOSITY was my main reason for going! They fucked up AOAA and All Shall Perish. The only thing that got me invested into REALLY wanting to see them play was the fact that they had Jason Luger of SLEEP TERROR playing guitar for them. I mean SLEEP TERROR!!! other than that left before Hate Eternal and had a good night.
Oh SNAP!
Left before Hate Eternal? You sunuvabitch.
As someone who lives in the RI area and is no stranger to the club where this show was held i can say it has really turned into a heavy “scene” enviroment. The kids who comprise the RI scene are quite obnoxious no doubt about that. To many of them Converges’ Jane Doe or Cave In’s Until Your Heart Stops may as well be old bay area thrash mixtapes. This brand of celebrated arrogance and sense of upper-middle class entitlement that is always present in the crowds at NE area metal shows tends to leave a very bitter taste in your mouth. Dealing with all of that tends to turn people off from the music regardless of it’s particular sound when you have to deal with what amounts to a high school football team in white belts.
“This brand of celebrated arrogance and sense of upper-middle class entitlement that is always present in the crowds at NE area metal shows tends to leave a very bitter taste in your mouth.”
J-rock, thank you for bringing the socio-economic factor into this discussion. The Northeast is full of uptight, fast-paced, money hungry assholes, and that kind of an environment really detracts from the enjoyment of live music. The bands get paid less, the scene struggles to survive, the ticket prices go up, and in the end it’s just a bunch of privileged kids windmilling everyone in the face and raging against…I dunno…boredom? The lack of street cred that seems to plauge those born with silver spoons in their mouths? No se.
Had a great read.
nice.
Look at bands like Suffocation, Dying Fetus, and Cryptopsy. They were playing the “deathcore” style for years (even though some will argue that Cryptopsy really didn’t become deathcore until the Unspoken King). Those bands played death metal with breakdowns so in reality, they are the ones to thank for this “trend.” Personally, some bands from this trend isn’t bad and some of them are fantastic and then you have the shit ones. But in reality, this style of metal hasn’t just popped up in the past few years.
@Vikingfromhell890
Agreed.
@ A Dark In The Light
Not every deathcore fan is a straight-billed hat jackass, and it’s a pretty big leap to say that most every deathcore fan is uninformed about metal. I agree that fads don’t deserve respect until they stick, but I don’t think you can ignore the valid contributions by some of these bands, like All Shall Perish and Whitechapel. Technical and heavy as fuck.
I feel you man. In fact, I defended All Shall Perish a few posts above. They are technical and heavy as fuck, I totally agree and I love ‘em. What I DON’T love, though, is seeing sounds that have been happening for 10 or 15 years being attributed to new bands. It’s like, it’s all metal. Credit the metal, don’t credit “metalcore”. Fuck, I don’t even know what that means any more. I got in an argument with the drummer from my band today because he wanted to call us “metalcore”-influenced, but I feel like that’s not really necessary. It’s just metal.
The bands vs. the scene kids – an old debate. But you’re right; you can’t ignore the contributions of these bands. I guess I’m just saying that when I heard All Shall Perish, I thought “Cannibal Corpse evolved”, but when a lot of metalcore kids hear it, they think they’re hearing something totally new.
I guess I’ve been on both side of this argument though, because I started out arguing basically the same point you’re arguing. Shit, now I’m confused.
Fuck it. It’s all metal and that’s what counts.
There are very few decent deathcore bands, but All Shall Perish are clearly the genre leaders. Awaken the Dreamers was a huge statement to just about every other crappy deathcore band on how to be technical, innovative and how to write a decent tune.
They also released Hate.Malice.Revenge back in 2003 when deathcore wasn’t even heard of in the mainstream.
I think that the root of this debate is how long someone has been into the agressive music scene. Those of us who have been into this lifestyle may draw parallels between the metal/death core movement of today and the nu-metal scene of the late 90′-early 00’s. The similarties from then and now is the sheer oversaturation of bands latching onto the same sound eventually running it into the ground. As such i can understand the cynical point of view on this that in ten years many of these bands will hardly be remembered time has proven that much. Just like it is always has been though, bands that can stay ahead of the pack by forging their own sound and carving out their piece will stay above the rubble.
For every great band that plays a style, there are a million copy bands who aren’t original enough to sound any different than their influences. Great bands adapt and constantly create new sounds. Crummy bands don’t — they stay the same and continue to copy what they think sounds cool.
Those bands, like Annotations of an Autopsy, are opening bands, and will stay opening bands because they have nothing new to add to the landscape. They put on a great live show because heavy music is great live — the heavier the better — but I can’t listen to two deathcore albums straight through without longing to hear something different.
The deathcore “trend” isn’t even as prominent as you all make it out to be and I have nothing against combining melodic death metal and breakdowns…fuck I think its cool, and thats why I listen to the best deathcore bands, like All Shall Perish. I don’t listen to the “opening acts” i referred to cuz they are just a watered down version of the better bands with nothing new to add.
And c’mon guys, we all know this is about age. The 40 somethings are still adament thrash metallers and defend to the death with their long hair and headbanging. The young kids like tight pants, floppy hair, and moshing. People are loyal to the music that is out when they are teenagers, its just how it is. Stop being high and mighty about your metal being better than somebody else’s metal.
I can stand behind everything you said there Seth, except the notion that the kids are the ones all about moshing…c’mon, that credit belongs to Bad Brains and other early hardcore bands, or AT LEAST to the thrashers.
@ A dark in the light
HOLY SHIT I didn’t think that people actually remembered Bad Brains especially after seeing people rave over Annotations and bands like Emmure.
That’s the thing with fads, they take from the older bands and “re-create” it claiming it for themselves. And the fad followers believe in that.
I think people need to get away from the idea that every deathcore band sucks. I’m 17, so supposedly i should be a scene fag, but i, like many of my friends, would rather listen to deicide and behemoth than crap like salt the wound for example. i love listening to any kind of metal as long as it is good, i dont judge it negatively by its genre (with the exception of anything christian). my point is that even if all shall perish, aoaa, and jfac are deathcore, they are still very talented bands that make great music.
i do agree that there is a lot of deathcore, like anything ending in “core” that is regurgitated crap, but there are deathcore bands that deserve plenty of respect, like all shall perish.
i was at that show in providence, i was up directly in the front the entire time, headbanging, but it seemed to me that the croud went way crazier to all shall perish than jfac. whether or not you want to shit on those bands because they are deathcore, that show was fucking undescribably vicious.
@ADIL
I never said youngsters today invented moshing, merely that they love it. That being said, it is more prevalent today (with hardcore, punk, basically every kind of metal…even mainstream rock sometimes) than it was during BB’s time (hardcore, some punk…). Moshing is more mainstream now than it ever has been (see kids moshing during song breaks). This is the environment today’s teenagers are used to.
Jesus…
Why do metalheads have to be such elitists?
Yeah, there are some bands that ARE deathcore, they write deathcore, they play deathcore, they are deathcore, but as far as I can see JFAC isn’t one of them. ASP isn’t really either, although they have some what more hardcore influence then the other. But really, just because a genre is being used and abused and full of musical gimmicks doesn’t mean every band is that way, just because you old metal fucks say it is. Things change and you have to accept that the young generation generally don’t give a fuck about old shit. Even if there are some of us who do. The older guys than you hate your music and say the same shit about it as you say about todays metal so get over it, blow the dust off of your Cannibal Corpse bullshit albums and go masturbate in your moms basement.
Damn, we should all get into politics at this point.
I think everyone is forgetting a very important point….PCU is an awesome movie
Kev:
A) I’m 24.
B) I love masturbating in my mom’s basement. Please don’t ruin that for me.
C) Nobody ever said that every band is that way. In fact, I referenced Cannibal Corpse specifically for the purpose of defending bands like ASP and describing why metal elitism is lame. I think you, uh, kinda came into the convo a little late there, and didn’t really say anything that groundbreaking.
- Mike
In response to Seth’s statement that the younger generation is all floppy hair and tight pants, I beg to differ. Quite a number of us younger fans (I’m 19) have something resembling a spine when it comes to fashion taste and prefer to headbang at shows.
I second OneRodeToAsaBay comment.
I’m 23, and though enjoy a lot of newer music, my main interests are in genres and bands from ten, fifteen, twenty years ago. I’m a thrash fanatic, love old-school and technical death metal, and though I saw Job For a Cowboy get started, and knew some of the founding members who are no longer with the band (and came up with that stupid, stupid name), have hated them from the very beginning. It has nothing to do with being an elitist. I know what types of metal I like, and Deathcore is NOT one the type of “metal” I like.
@OneRodeToAsaBay
Just as is the case with any argument, I am speaking in generalities and speaking to trends/majorities. It would be assanine for me to say that no metal fan under the age of 20 has long hair and prefers headbanging to moshing. Point is, the majority of under 20 metal fans are into the newer age of metal — metalcore, deathcore, grindcore, etc — and tend to wear clothing that those bands wear (tight bands, tight tee shirts, floppy hair, etc). This is because it is people around that age that tend to be making that type of music. You will rarely find a 35-year-old in a DeathCore band, just doesn’t happen.
It seems that all of these deathcore copy bands are coming from 17-year-olds in their basement saying “I want to play that type of music cuz I think its cool.” There is NOTHING different about this than when loads of 17-year-olds in their basement made X amount of Metallica copy bands when they were blowing up and making amazing thrash records.
I think the core of this entire argument is whether or not these Deathcore bands that kids are copying will make a lasting impression on the foundation and progression of metal (like Metallica has), or are just a passing trend. Sammy O’Hagar is saying its here to stay, and many of you on this post seem to take issue with that. Me, i’m not really sure, but I also don’t really care.
@Seth
Frankly, I don’t think deathcore will become a definitive mark of my generation (people my age and /- 5 years). When thrash bands were multiplying like rabbits, things like glam metal were extremely and far more commercially popular–as far as I’ve noticed, most people who are knowledgeable about metal don’t consider glam a definitive mark of their generation. Similarly, deathcore is the glam of my generation. There are tons of bands in every genre of metal that are mediocre or copies of each other but right now deathcore seems to be most commercially popular. Years down the line when I’m growing grey and suffering menopause related hot flashes, I think my peers will agree that deathcore was a passing trend and that other bands were a better definitive mark of what they brought to metal. Perhaps one day deathcore will have a retro appeal, but I doubt it will be ever be widely considered a progression or improvement on metal. Frankly, I think Sammy O’Hagar is wrong.
Anyway, I didn’t take what you said personally. I just wanted to point out that even amongst us younger folk, some of us dig deeper than the current commercially acclaimed trend and base our tastes on very individualist standards.
@Robbie
Cheers. I agree this isn’t an elitism argument–it’s about standards. Deathcore does not meet the musical standards I set so I don’t listen to it. Simple.
Im 22 years old and there is no genre of metal that i do not listen to, from Norwegian Black metal, to yes hardcore (uh oh scene kid alert).
I love Job for a Cowboy.
They have been nothing but trend setters, not followers, because they aspire to do things differently, and should not be held accountable for copy cat bands.
They have never called themselves a “deathcore” band NOR have they called themselves a “Technical death metal band”.
They label themselves as progressive death metal, and you know what? I agree with that because being progressive is utilizing influences outside the main genre you are writing for. For example, OPETH, uses influences from folk music, the blues, classical, etc. but tie it all into a death metal masterpeice.
They are an intense band live with a unique take on metal in general and its only too bad that their rise to fame for being different has crutched them with such hostility. If you dont like the band, then fine, they aren’t for everyone, but its just sad to see people purposely taking the time out of their lives just to shit talk guys who obviously work hard for a living.
”Those bands, like Annotations of an Autopsy, are opening bands, and will stay opening bands because they have nothing new to add to the landscape”
what a stupid statement, theyre from england, have been together 2 years and have managed to get asked to join one of the biggest metal tours this year in the us in that short amount of time because people like them.
deathcore isnt a genre, its a scapegoat people use when they dont want to be connected with something popular, they call a band by a stupid subgenre so they arent connected to ‘death metal’ because heaven forbid the music they like becomes popular, if aoaa or animosity came out 5 years ago theyd just be called death metal.
Just because they are liked doesn’t mean they add anything new to the landscape.
Yes, and they are from England (strong point to lead with). You know who else is from England, another shitty band named…oh its coming…Bullet For My Valentine (well, actually they are from Wales, but most Americans don’t know the difference anyway).
In any case, by attacking my statement clearly you missed my pt. It’s not about AOAA in particular, it’s about creativity and not just copying the stuff thats already out there. I dont care about subgenre’s, im just saying that its very difficult for a band that isn’t pioneering anything to become popular because its hard to distinguish yourself. I dont think AOAA will ever make it past a medium-level because they aren’t anything more than a better-than-average death metal band.
Ok, I’m 17, my favorite bands are NILE, Hate Eternal, Origin, Psycroptic, Cryptopsy, Decapitated, Aeon and Behemoth. But I still like JFAC. When I first listened to Genesis, I didn’t even know there was such a thing as Deathcore. And I just thought: This is some nice Death Metal. I don’t see how Genesis was ever Deathcore as it features no breakdowns, no hardcore screaming, no weird tempo changes, no pig squeals. I can see how Doom fits into the category, but not Genesis.
I think there are alot of really shitty Deathcore bands, but at the same time there are lots of shitty Death Metal and Thrash bands as well. I think the term Deathcore is rather pointless, as, at least these days, it’s just used as a term to denounce a band, rather than actually specifying a genre. I doubt Deathcore will be remembered a long time from now, but I definitely think that some of these bands have really managed to bring something fresh to the otherwise stagnating Death Metal scene. I’m not saying these bands invented it – older stuff like Dying Fetus and Cryptopsy did – but they manage to incorporate it into a new sound environment, and it has (in my opinion) a positive effect on the general scene.
There are way too many elitist idiots these days who are denouncing bands as being Deathcore, just to be “cool”, to go along with the flow, or to make up for personal shortcomings in their own little crusade to be liked. It’s pointless, but alas, it has always existed – these days it’s Deathcore, some time ago it was metalcore/nu-metal whatever. When Death Metal emerged from Thrash it also got a lot shit from the Thrashers (or so I’m told).
Either way I think there’s one thing we can all agree on. The stupid hardcore kids need to stop coming to the Metal concerts. Hardcore dancing and stupid stage-diving does not belong at a Metal show, and it never has.
I like deathcore, but some bands are just fucking bland and all about breakdowns. A good example of this would be Suicide Silence.
Suicide Silence and many deathcore bands rely too heavily on the breakdowns and nothing else.
One of the greatest death metal songs of all time “Hammer Smashed Face” has one breakdown. So I don’t see why a lot of deathcore bands think they’ll somehow be better with 5 breakdowns a song.
DEATHCORE FUCKING SUCKS! This stupid scene bullshit music needs to be put to rest. When i go to a show, i go to have fun and see a band play. Now i ask.. how can i do that with some idiot dickwad swinging his shit all over the place and representing his clique. I dont go to fight some a bunch of retarded scene kids. SUPPORT DEATHMETAL!!!!
You will all grow out of this eventually..
It’s a real bad time in metal when the only watchable band is Hate Eternal.