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Ten Great Bands That Inadvertently Helped Ruin Metal

#6: KILLSWITCH ENGAGE

Friday, March 19th, 2010 at 5:00pm by

I will always remember the first time I heard Killswitch Engage. I was fifteen years old watching MTV after school when I saw the music video for “The End of Heartache.” [Our intern is a baby!!! - Ed.] Hearing that combination of melodic singing and big thick riffs just hooked me to the sound. All I wanted was to hear more of it, and Killswitch was happy to oblige. Since its inception in 1999, the band has been one of the best in the business at writing top notch metalcore songs.

When you have the man-sized balls, like the ones that allow Jesse Leach and Howard Jones to sing and not sound like pussies, and mix that with some catchy Swedish-style riffs, you have a metal recipe for success. Alive or Just Breathing and The End of Heartache are landmark records that set the tone for metalcore.

Because of the success of these albums, labels started signing every mediocre metalcore band they could find, over-saturating the market with shitty, shitty music. But you all know this, because you have listened to it, and you have complained about it. Unfortunately ,the labels didn’t learn a thing from the infamous days of hair metal. Thanks to their ignorance, we have been subjected to the likes of Atreyu, The Devil Wears Prada, and Brokencyde. The amount of talent a band need to get signed has diminished exponentially, and metal as a whole has suffered for it. The success of metalcore has unfortunately led us to deathcore, crunkcore, find-a-better name-for-a-metal-genre-core and others. What is sad is that Killswitch’s signature sound has become so ubiquitous that the band’s latest album failed to garner much praise among the better releases of last year.

Because of Killswitch Engage’s ability to produce great metalcore, we have had to survive thousands of bands whining about their ex-girlfriends. So thank you, KSE, for starting the worst wave of music since glam took over the airwaves.

-MH

THE LIST SO FAR:

#7: Nine Inch Nails
#8: Van Halen
#9: Rage Against the Machine
#10: Cannibal Corpse

Tags: , ,
  • Octillus

    Yep, but they’re really not the direct root of this disaster.

    • http://www.heavyblogisheavy.com/ Alkahest

      I would have placed blame on At The Gates or In Flames.

      • Gabe

        Then you would have to blame Maiden for the melodic riffs, holmes. I think the point here is not “placing blame,” but that, as the title suggests, these are bands whose influences inadvertantly helped ruin metal. KsE never knew they would lead to I Killed The Prom Queen or As Blood Runs Black.

        • Tonberry

          This raises the question of just how far back we point the finger in the case of the list. It seems pretty up in the air, as while Killswitch is basically the direct progenitor and really, even a peer of shitty metalcore bands, Cannibal Corpse is several steps removed from the shitty deathcore that they were finger for earlier in the list. Many such bands don’t cite Corpse as an influence, or even claim to not like them. How does that affect the placement of At the Gates on the list? As I said before in one of these comments section, while At the Gates introduced the concept of basing a whole CD around pedal note riffs, Judas Priest was abusing the shit out of those riffs back in Painkiller. I’d even say that metalcore bands even sound more like that CD, considering that most of them use a major scale as opposed to At the Gates’ favored harmonic minor scale. Yet somehow, I still think that At the Gates is more deserving of a spot on this. Maybe it’s because half of the metal kids I encounter these days haven’t actually ever listened to Priest.

          • Tonberry

            fingered*

            Why do I speaky da engrish when I type fast?

  • Tonberry

    Chinatown FTW

    Anyway, I remember in ’01, I heard this band Diecast and thought “wow, this metalcore stuff is totally going to end numetal”. A few months later, Roadrunner signs Killswitch Engage and Hinge AD(Dry Kill Logic). Sure enough, Killswitch became the next big thing, and Dry Kill Logic was largely forgotten. Too bad, I thought they were pretty good as far as numetal goes.

    • bearbomb

      Yeah I kinda dig DKL too. Although it’s been forever since I listened to them. They do a sweet cover of Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck.

    • yetzer hara

      i really thought that diecast was going to be huge too. they weren’t my favorite band or anything like that, but “day of reckoning” was a good album. i saw them open up for catastrophic one time and open for slayer another… i don’t know what happened to them. something went totally wrong with their new singer, and they just failed miserably at making music.

      i remember getting a promo copy of the first KSE album from roadrunner and laughing when i put it in. i thought it was really cheesy and really bad. i can’t say that i’ve ever listened to them again after that one instance, but i’m pretty sure that at the gates deserves this spot on the list, as they were the true purveyors of all this metalcore nonsense.

  • rickyslate

    This band sucks anyway.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kasper-Maigaard/1027001938 Kasper Maigaard

    I always thought these guys sucked, but I see what you’re saying. They are the best of the best of a very bad genre.

    • vagina

      agreed

      • dshwa

        Zao is better

        • SonOF

          Zao doesn’t sing melodically practically at all. They did for a bit, and pretty much abandoned it. KSE and Zao aren’t similar.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Andrew-Sterner/1335958279 Andrew Sterner

    Nobody say “what can be worse than this shit?” Someone said it at the end of Nu-metal, and look what happened. Seriously, everyone keep shushed until this phase ends, and beyond it.

    • King Cheezit

      Spot on!

  • bearbomb

    The band we all expected. One of the worst offenders in history IMO.

    • Bicro

      Oh yes.

      Yes indeedy.

  • Seer

    band/style was never good. Still, Ive generally liked this segment so far, but this one needs a re-write. Doesn’t go into nearly any detail about the history of KSE, Overcast, BWBS, or metalcore in general. It just says, “I saw a Killswitch video in high school. The guy can sing and they had two albums I liked, these other bands suck” Not a great representation.

    • Seer

      woops, I mean BHBS

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jay-See/726690352 Jay See

      I agree, all of the other posts in this series have had a bit more to offer. You summed this one up quite nicely.

      • orbital

        yup. Shitty installment. The segmant had me going until “I was 15 and watching MTV…..”

  • Genial Gentile

    Definitely inspired loads of half-ass imitators, and I did really enjoy to AOJB quite a bit for a time, but I might contend that KSE would never qualify as a “great” band. I think this is a bit of a misfire.

  • Igottawocket

    Metalcore largely sucks, and I do think KSE deserves most of the blame. However, I still think ATR is a pretty awesome metalcore bad. One of the few.

    • KB

      Except their new album is crap, the vocals are uninspiring.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Zach-Gates/14209777 Zach Gates

    KSE is not only crazy overrated but can’t really take credit for metalcore any more than you could pin thrash entirely on Slayer. It was forming for years and KSE just happened to break through.

    • Alex_P

      Yup, damn straight. It’s been said, but At the Gates get the credit for melodic metalcore. Plus, I mean, their first EP came out in 2000. Melodic metalcore was already well established by then, and being done quite well by a few bands (Prayer for Cleansing spring to mind, but you guys should help me). Metalcore proper was still mostly awesome with the exception of a few groove-inspired jock-rockers (you know who).

      I mean, the Red Chord are probably to blame for deathcore, and they’re actually a great band as opposed to a so-so band. I would not blame KE for deathcore, I would blame them.

      • SonOF

        But At the Gates never sang as melodically as KSE. KSE was one of the first bands to get big with the metalcore + melodic singing.

        “Alive or Just Breathing” whether you like it or not, was hugely influential. After that album made KSE big, everyone and their mother attempted the sound, including tons of copycats bands as well as older bands that retooled their style in this way. For example, Dallas admitted that God Forbid was influenced by that record, thus the leaning towards melody on GF’s “Gone Forever” and “Constution of Treason.”

  • c-grind

    I always thought they were deece. Hearing the that song “Rose of Sharyn” (I think it was called that?” started me on my path to metal fandom, so I have give these guys some props.

  • http://www.metality.net iRoar

    Old school Killswitch, slays all those pussies.

  • caleb

    a very good band, yes……and their success made others commercially viable…..yes…..but i can count a whole lot of successful…and better metalcore bands from before KSE…..
    so i’m not dissagreeing with the point of this article……not at all…..however to say that KSE invented metalcore is just rediculous

  • Gaia

    Yeah would have said At the Gates as they were the ones that spawned the swedish-styled riffs which Metalcore raped so vigourously.

  • Vakarm

    i wouldn’t call KSE “Great”…..but their contribution did spawn crap

  • Ron Mexico

    Killswitch Engage are more the effect than the cause. At the Gates is the band responsible.

    • caleb

      ^^win, but there were lots of great metalcore bands back then ::braces for backlash::

      burnt by the sun, converge, coalesce, shai hulud, the list goes on

      • Steph

        Those are a different kind of metalcore than the popular kind though. Those are hardcore bands that incorporate metal into their sound, rather than bland melodeath with breakdowns.

      • GoingDeaf?

        You simply can’t put Converge and Coalesce in the same category as KSE. Before the turn of the century, Metalcore was a term used to describe hardcore bands that had metal influences, like Converge…and I remember Earth Crisis being described as Metalcore as well back in the day.

        The meaning of the term shifted and is now applied to all these crappy bands that basically combined At The Gates’ melodic riffs with Nu-metal singing,

        I’ll pass on the metalcore trend. I’m happy to see it on the way out. Deathcore… I can only hope you’re next to die! :)

      • Genial Gentile

        burnt by the sun, converge, coalesce, shai hulud, the list goes on*

        all those bands are metallic hardcore, not metalcore. I knowit may sound like I’m splitting hairs here, but there is an obvious difference.

        • Alex_P

          Yeah, they’re good.
          OH SNAP!

          I tend to describe KSE’s blend as melodic metalcore, and I would include Unearth (who are better) and all those emocore bands.

          • GraZmus

            How can Unearth be Melodic Metalcore?? they dont have clean singing…

    • crapmcpoopin

      By this logic, Slayer is the cause of all these shitty bands. No…. wait…. Judas Priest is… WAIT, OH GOD….. IT CANT BE… ITS BLACK SABBATH. BLACK SABBATH MADE ATREYU!?!?! You’re going wayyyy too far back. The idea here isn’t to say who influenced a new genre, but who broke through with a genre, and then was copied relentlessly.

      • You Don’t Know Me

        THANK YOU! I was about to say the same thing. At The Gates may have created the genre but KSE have had a much wider influence.

        And if you people REALLY want to go back through the origins of genres, remember: Every genre of metal, good or bad, can trace some sort of lineage back to Black Sabbath.

      • SonOF

        well said.

    • SonOF

      Are people not getting that yes, At the Gates influenced melodic death/metalcore, but KSE were one the first ones to get so popular combining metalcore and MELODIC SINGING..At the Gates did not sing melodically, thus you can’t say they were the ones that DIRECTLY influenced all these copycat bands that came after KSE that use the good cop (melodic singing, big catchy riffs and choruses)/bad cop (screaming, breakdowns, thrash/death) formula.

      So At the Gates influenced KSE (at least to some degree), and KSE influenced all these other bands that suck more than At the Gates influenced these bands, because ATG didn’t sing.

  • large jockstrap

    glam music was tolerable. this music has made metal as a whole appear as a wall of noise.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kasper-Maigaard/1027001938 Kasper Maigaard

      Glam had a certain lovability because it was so stupid, funny and happy. Metalcore, not so much.

  • Anthony

    Worst article written so far of this list.

    • Jesse

      I agree. I’m not usually a negative Nelly(…what?) on this site, but I seriously felt like I was reading a comment instead of an actual article.

    • SonOF

      The dude is like 20-21 years old, based on the “saw the End of Heartache video when I was 15″ comment.

      Interning for a metal blog is pretty interesting. :/ I want to work for a bunch of dudes with fake names.

  • Mordecai 9000

    Metalcore was bound to happen at some point. Early metal like Sabbath and Zeppelin led to hair/glam/pop/whateverthefuck metal. Extreme metal needed to be made into a form that the mainstream could digest, and therefore we have metalcore.

    I have to say that I really do enjoy metalcore/deathcore/hardcore/whatevercore, but it has become a genre full of shitty bands, just like hair metal did.

    KSE didn’t create Brokencyde though. Aliens created Brokencyde.

  • brandonmetal

    i don’t think KSE ‘did’ anything. they were just riding an existing trend. the fact that they in particular were picked up/promoted and got popular was just happenstance.

  • Jesse

    I woke up this morning and thought “Killswitch is gonna be on that fucking list today.”

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jason-John-Crispen/100000169530540 Jason John Crispen

    atreyu actually came out BEFORE KSE. so i don’t really think KSE can be blamed for atreyu’s “success.” if anything, KSE should be blamed for their own mediocrity. how many times can they release the same sounding album with the exact same sounding songs? twice so far! (end of heartache and whatever bullshit was after that.)

  • ferris

    The howl of unendurable agony — as exemplified by Adam D. — might be the biggest bullsh*t move in the history of popular culture. Dude, you live in 20/21st century America, and you’re in a recording band; I don’t give a shite how you feel — you’ve got nothing to cry about.

    Return to the womb / lay your head to rest / WHHHHAAAAAA!!!

    That said, A.D. is a helluva producer/engineer.

    ps. N.F.S. Revresnekcufesin

    • Andy Synn

      True, I fully agree.

      How dare any band have an existential or spiritual crisis? God, what are they doing using their brains and emotions. Sell-outs.

      Still, Mr. Jones’ vague spiritual evangelism wore thin a LONG time ago.

  • Bicro

    This bands fits PERFECTLY.

  • Andy Synn

    Also : wow, you people hate At The Gates.

  • ryan

    alive or just breathing and the end of heartache are fantastic metal albums!!

  • http://www.theblacklaser.net Joe The Wizard

    I call At The Gates as the number 1 band on this list for sure.

    • Bicro

      At least they had the foresight to break up after Slaughter of the Soul.

  • Aaron

    It’s easy to knock this band, but I will never forget when my buddy slapped a promo copy of “Alive or just breathing” in my CD player, We couldn’t stop listening. We wore out the promo. We had never heard a band that sounded like them- and the pipes on Jesse! We thought they had three singers! Unfortunately, at the time, hearing non-amerincan bands was almost unheard of so we had no idea that there were swedish bands doing similar/better things. And who cares if I prefer blackened-post-whatever now. KSE brings the riff and the vox. I will never forget hearing them for the first time.

  • MSalonen

    This article was almost as bad as Suarez’s.

    Which is saying a lot.

    • Trux

      Totally agree.

  • exanimate

    I preferred the band Aftershock, which is where most of the KSE guys came from. There were a few Metalcore bands back in the late 90′s that I really liked. It grew pretty boring, pretty fast though.

    • Scourge441

      Joel and Adam came from Aftershock, and yes, they kick ass. The band also at one point featured Tom Gomes (who played drums with KSE briefly) and Jon Donais (who would eventually form Shadows Fall).

      Mike D, who, IIRC, was the one who actually wanted to form KSE, came from Overcast, who are also supposed to be very good. Fun Fact: Brian Fair was Overcast’s vocalist, and after they broke up Shadows Fall kicked out their then-vocalist Phil Labonte so that Brian could join. Phil, as I’m sure you all know, joined All That Remains.

      Jesse’s previous band was Nothing Stays Gold. They didn’t do anything important. Howard and Justin both came from Blood Has Been Shed.

      So there ya go. That’s pretty much the history of where Killswitch’s members came from.

  • mat

    so KS is metalcore ?

  • mat

    mean KSE

    • crapmcpoopin

      if you like categorizing every fucking thing because you have OCD, then yes. Metalcore.

  • http://tfw2005.com lumpy

    ugh… i can’t stand Brokencyde… they’re from the same city as me too… and they just hurt me… so many of my students just LOVE them… which i just don’t understand… so then i show them better music, but they don’t fully get it…

  • Chainsaw Majini

    This article is very lackluster compared to the rest. There are a lot of great metalcore bands out there. I can see where you are basing the complaint, but it is a bit reaching…

    And The Devil Wears Prada is one of my favorite bands.

    • fatpuppy

      i also do like tdwp, and brokencyde and atreyu just got lumped in with them?
      cmon, dont be stupid.

      i also hate kse, metalcore is eh

    • SonOF

      How the fuck can you like The Devil Wear Prada and not KSE? That’s like being a huge fan of the minor league Norfolk Tides, but not liking the New York Mets.

      And yes, that’s the best analogy I could come up with at the moment.

  • KC

    KSE responsible for metalcore? Not hardly. I wouldn’t even hold them responsible for the wave of shitty bands after them. Most of those bands such as Atreyu who were listed in this article were actually around before KSE got big. So KSE really didn’t influence anything they just happened to be the first band to receive mainstream acceptance out of the group. KSE really don’t fit on this list at all compared to who has been listed so far. Really seems like they were grasping at straws trying to write this one up.

    • Divinity

      Isn’t that the point of the list? I thought it was ten of the most popular bands that started a wave. I’m not trying to be a smartass, I’m actually asking.

      There were a lot of other metalcore bands out there before Killswitch Engage, but I think what this is basically stating is that they were popular enough to garner enough attention and influence so many people that they started the metalcore boom. I think they were more responsible for the melodic elements in metalcore we see today though.

      Either way, this article was poorly written.

  • http://thenumberoftheblog.com DemiGodRaven

    I am of agreement with this one.

  • Aya

    My taste has changed over the years, but I still think this band rocks, not gonna lie.

    • Chris

      I agree. Though lately I’ve been listening to different styles of metal than I used to, Killswitch Engage remains one of the few bands I can listen to and consistently enjoy.

  • http://maninthebowlerhat.blogspot.com/ Deven

    The genre metalcore is completey pointless. People act like no one ever mixed metal and hardcore before. I pretty positive that thats how thrash started.

    • crapmcpoopin

      In concept, yes, but the stylistic differences are pretty great. Thrash is a mixture of hardcore punk (like DRI) and NWOBHM (Priest, Maiden). Metalcore is more like Gothenburg death metal (ATG, Dark Tranquility, In Flames) and what i call “tough guy” Boston/NY hardcore (Madball, Sick of It All type bands).

  • Andy Synn

    I THINK (emphasis there) that the true emphasis of this tarring and feathering of KsE should be based not upon them being “metalcore” (i’d say they’re not, they’re something else which we don’t have a specific genre term for, hence why they fall broadly under the “modern metalcore” umbrella, I grew up on a lot of early metalcore and melodic hardcore, so that’s my point here…) but upon the fact that with their emphasis on powerful singing along with screaming AND with having found not one, but two extremely talented vocalists, has led lots of bands with less talent to think they can do the same thing.

    Don’t blame them for “metalcore” (“modern metalcore” anyway, which is an extrmely ill-defined genre, seems to be just a term for any elitist to negatively slur any band they don’t care fo) rather blame them for the glut of bland direct copycats of KsE, not of the general “metalcore” style.

  • george

    You guys are forgetting, once again, that this isn’t about the band that STARTED the genre, its about the band that inadvertently ruined it. ATG and Atreyu may have been around before Killswitch blew up, just like there were other hair metal bands around before Van Halen, but when you think of the epitome of what is now metalcore, you don’t think of Atreyu’s stupid vampire bullshit, you think of Adam D’s goofy ass on stage with a cape and a mohawk doing 10 second pinch harmonic squeals and Jesse and Howards epic singing. They made it fun, like van halen did in the 80′s, and made heavier music more acceptable, giving the run-off of bored numetal fans something new to listen to. Due to Killswitch’s easy to learn style and catchy music, they started a whole mass of crappy bands that wrote their albums in about half an hour, using the same C and B tunings and chord progressions over and over. They deserve to be on this list, but they could have had a much better article.

  • Divinity

    There were tons of bands who were fusing metal and hardcore together before Killswitch Engage, but like Andy said, they were more responsible for the melodic component then the genre as a whole. They just got way more attention for what they did, thus they seem like the founders of the genre.

    Despite all the hate this band gets, I love them. I was super late in discovering them (found them through YouTube when the Starting Over music video just came out), but I’ve been listening ever since. While their last album was a bit of a flop, some bands have to fall some of the time. Both Jesse and Howard are powerful singers and I can only hope that both KSE and The Empire Shall Fall continue doing what they do.

  • tayne hughes

    i dont see why people cant enjoy music and just listen to the bands that they like. if someone doesnt like a band, its called an OPINION KAY PEOPLE. i dont fucking care that kse started this whole bad trend of shitty metalcore bands(*cough*asking alexandria*cough*) but all i care about is that they made good music. i also believe that most people that comment on the internet arent even relevant because most of the time they are just 15 year olds who havnt even been to a real concert anyways. just chill everyone, its music. u either like it or u dont. :P

  • Metalguy

    If KSE is 6, what could the other 5 be?
    At the gates
    metallica
    panteraand 2 more

    • KAH

      I’d be extremely surprised if Slayer wasn’t on this list at some point. Thanks to them, the stereotypical metal fan is a stinky douche bag who yells “SLAYER!!!!!!!!” at every fucking metal show, regardless of who’s playing.

      Plus, let’s face it, every metal band that’s been founded in the last decade-plus has been at least indirectly influenced by them. I always thought they were ultra-overrated, but I guess I’m in the minority…

      • dread

        He may be stinky, but he is not a douche bag. That Slayer fan deserves nothing but respect.

      • SonOF

        Yeah, I hate the “Slayer is the only metal band worth listening to” superfan that will yell out “SLLLAYERRR!!!” at a show regardless of what band is on stage.

  • tayne hughes

    i think meshuggah will probably be #3. :D

    • \m/

      How about Sabbath for #1…

  • http://myspace.com/inbetweenjobs SKLives

    This band is NOT great.
    If you think they are then your a fuckin buttercup.

    NEXT!!!

    • Scourge441

      Listen to the first self-titled album (NOT the one that came out last year), and then shut the fuck up.

    • Divinity

      There’s a lot of buttercups out there then. Whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean. Just because you dislike a band doesn’t mean that everyone who likes them is automatically inferior.

    • SonOF

      Anyone that says they didn’t like “Killswitch Engage” at least a little bit when it dropped in 2000 and/or “Alive or Just Breathing” in 2002 is a goddamn liar, and they just trying to sound like a tough guy to gain metal points (possibly because they don’t like the band KSE has become).

      You were rocking the fuck out the first time you heard “Fixation on the Darkness” or “Rusted Embrace,” don’t lie…Don’t worry, we won’t tell anyone.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4Ge8_uiQwU

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-h1pSZz5R4

  • Harold

    Hear Hear!

    But KSE sucks because of the sappy parts have about as real emotions as a Twilight movie.

  • george

    Oh, well then let me clarify. I’m 20, live on my own, I’ve been playing guitar for 9 years, and I’m in a band myself. In a discussion or forum thread, everyones opinion matters so get used to it. And honestly, don’t hate on 15 year old posters if we’re on the topic of shitty metalcore bands (Not KSE), since they’re a good portion of its fanbase.

  • tiagón

    KSE? this looks like a filler. list was coming pretty good, with 100% influential bands and great insights, then this.

    tsk.

  • Scourge441

    “What is sad is that Killswitch’s signature sound has become so ubiquitous that the band’s latest album failed to garner much praise among the better releases of last year.”

    The latest album failed to garner praise because it sucked.

    • KAH

      Light in a Darkened World is one of my favorite KSE songs, but other than that, no problems with your statement :D

  • http://salsicha.wordpress.com Gabriel [Pylsa]

    I think that actually EVERYTHING of metalcore sucks. Seriously, I never heard any metalcore band that doesn’t sound like any other metalcore band…

  • KAH

    I love KSE to this day, they’ve been in my top 3 for about 5 years now, but it’s sad to see all the crappy scream-sing-scream-sing-solo-breakdown-sing/scream metalcore bands that have come out of the woodwork thanks to them in that time span.

    They’re absolutely influential enough to be on this list, the debate is whether the new thing they brought to the table (aforementioned song structure) is good.

  • guey

    Well if you ask Max Cavalera, you just gave this list A.I.D.S.

  • mike

    Can’t we also add the others that emerged from the Massachusetts metalcore scene? Shadows Fall, Unearth, All That Remains

    • crapmcpoopin

      The article implies that without KSE’s success, then that scene would’ve never come into the limelight.

      • SonOF

        Shadows Fall sort of got “big” before or around the same time as KSE, as Shad’s breeakout “The Art of Balance” dropped before KSE’s “Alive or Just Breathing.” I do agree that All that Remains would probably be playing backyards right now if KSE didn’t make it with a similar sound. Unearth is tricky, because they don’t have that KSE sound, and really broke out when they moved away from the ‘core and became more of a straight up metal band (on “The Oncoming Storm”).

    • Hammer_Smashed_Hurtt

      Im sorry dude I dont put shadows fall in ANY category with KsE. Shads to me puts all there comprising elements together WAY better than KsE or any other Metalcore band.

    • SonOF

      All that Remains perhaps, but Shadows Fall and Unearth don’t utilize the melodic singing/screaming approach to metalcore in the way that KSE does.

  • xemmanuelx

    THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA> KSe

    • crapmcpoopin

      you wear ladies pants for saying that.

    • SonOF

      What world do you live in?

      You do have balls for even admitting that you enjoy a tuff band that is named after an women’s book that Oprah probably pimped the shit out of on her book list.

      I’d rather hit myself in the nuts with a hammer than see TDWP play a show. The fact that they are on a tour where they are playing over Dark Tranquility is one of the most ridiculous injustices in metal history. What’s next, Meshuggah opening for IWRESTEDABEARONCEANDFUCKEDIT?

  • zuke2323

    Killswitch Engage is just as shitty as the shitty bands that copy them. Metalcore is even more cookie-cutter than glam was, and that’s saying something.

  • KilledByDeath

    How are they great? Artistic failure.

    • iolanach

      pretty much.

  • Alex

    Why do people always see the bad side of Metalcore?
    What about SikTh, Protest The Hero, The Human Abstract?
    Between The Buried And Me started as a Metalcore band, Tosin Abasi, the mastermind of Animals As Leaders, came from a Metalcore band, The Faceless started as a Deathcore band.
    I know that some narrow minded elitist fool will reply something like “All these bands suck too”, but you can’t deny the skills and talent that these bands have.
    And don’t comment on my bad grammar, english is not my native language.

    • Gabe

      All those bands you mentioned suck, too. And you have terrible grammar.

    • SourDeez

      Yeah, it definitely isn’t ALL bad. It’s more the Killswitch school of metalcore that sucks ass. Converge, PtH, and The Red Chord are a few of the greatest bands around today.

      • KilledByDeath

        Red Chord is kinda good, but is it really metalcore? And of metalcore i would say Shadows Fall at least have decent guitar players, so there is some technicality and KsE are just zero in this field.

        • SourDeez

          I always thought of The Red Chord as being sort of deathcore, albeit a completely different breed than all the terrible bands we’ve been hearing over the past few years.

    • SonOF

      I like every band on that list, and I wouldn’t consider any of them “metalcore.” Most of those bands (like most interesting, unique acts) are highly evolved and can’t really be stuck with such a simple, narrow genre tag.

  • Chris

    I have a book called “The Definitive Guide to Metal” and in it KSE is classified as New Wave of American Heavy Metal. I’m gonna go with that.

  • JRTME

    So Thank You, Kse, For Starting The Worst Wave Of Music Since Glam Took Over The Airwaves.

    So this says it all. He was 15 in 2004 which means born in 1989.

    So what would you know about Glam metal? You never even saw it.

    Maybe you ought to get people with a little more cred to write stuff for your Site.

  • Metalguy

    Give the guy a break, he’s an intern or some shit like that and has only writtenn like 5 articles. Plus haven’t we heard this arguement hundreds of times before? Do we really need anothrr

    • JRTME

      If he is an intern why is he writing articles? What credible organization lets interns do their business?

      • NickB

        This is a BLOG not an “organization”. Quit being a jackass.

        • SonOF

          Why the hell does a metal blog have interns anyhow? And if they do, shouldn’t they be getting the bosses Cheetos and weed, rather than writing articles for these new, important (in terms of this blog) lists?

      • NickB

        Oh and a lot of businesses use interns to do quite a bit of work.

        • Tess

          Yeah, someone’s gotta be the slave…

          • SonOF

            A “slave” doesn’t usually get to do the feature writing for a nifty “best of” type list.

  • OConnor

    I think there last two albums completely suck but lumping Atreyu in with Brokencyde and TDWP???? If you did a little research Atreyu have been around since 98 and they’re landmark albums Suicide Notes and The Curse were released the same years as AOJB and The end of Heartache. The curse is a badass album don’t understand the hate on that one.

    I am interested to see who can be the #1 offender since Van Halen was already mentioned and what genre can be worse than hair metal?

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Joshua-Fountain/1220460134 Joshua Fountain

      You are a moron for calling any Atreyu album a “landmark”

  • WowWee!

    I knew this band was going to make the list.

    Thanks for inspiring a whole bunch of idiots.

  • http://metallattorney.blogspot.com Metallattorney

    Eh, I never hated metalcore as much as I hated nu-metal. Fortunately, the labels all got tired of nu-metal within a couple of years after it exploded so we weren’t subjected to it for a long period of time. Metalcore has had some staying power and morphed into ever more horrifying forms though.

    As for decent bands that were metalcore at one time (many of them started ditching their core influences almost entirely), I always liked Lamb of God, Shadows Fall, All That Remains, Killswitch Engage, Bleeding Through, The Black Dahlia Murder, and Trivium. The only deathcore bands I like are Through the Eyes of the Dead and Carnifex.

    • kmfcm

      the Black Dahlia Murder never had any hardcore in them at all
      they just came from that scene/played shows with those bands

  • 6infinite6hatred6

    I knew these guys would show up here.

  • hexbasher

    they did have one good albume though

  • brandonmetal

    will in flames make the top 5 ???

  • kmfcm

    I always blamed In Flames for KS. True, In Flames didn’t always sing, but they had that annoying pop sensibility that ultimately makes a band suck ass.
    And I only ever liked one thing this band did, the first EP.
    Everything after that was total shit. This is my least favorite style of metal. It’s fuckin’ pop.

    • SourDeez

      pre-Stabbing Soilwork>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>In Flames

      • Bicro

        Whoracle>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>all of Soilwork

  • kmfcm

    Ugh, I forgot the E.

    People wonder why I still like metalcore. It’s because when I say that word, I mean shit like Converge and Deadguy, not this radio rock garbage.

  • ITTOA666

    They definitely made diminished riffing popular. I love Alive Or Just breathing. Great album followed by not so great albums.

  • SourDeez

    Alive or Just Breathing is pretty good, and I liked End of Heartache…when I was 15. Then I went to Ozzfest 2005 and learned that Killswitch is one of the most obnoxious live bands of all time. They were seriously terrible. Only Black Label Society could top them at live failure that day.

  • guuguu

    wait wait wait — howard jones doesn’t sound like a pussy? are you sure?

    • KilledByDeath

      Strangely he is sure :/

      • KilledByDeath

        By the way i think (even with all my burning hatred for KsE and metalcore) that Howard can sing. But can’t scream. And if he sings some decent lyrics about how metal is cool or how he can crush his battle opponent’s balls and someone would play a kickass solo after that the result would be at least decent.

  • ten thousand mexicans on a spaceship

    a shit band making way for more shit bands?

    you don’t say.

  • will

    i love this site’s treatment of the word “band” as plural. so pretentious.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/William-Morley/618112437 William Morley

    Ok, I don’t give a shit if this gets me a load of abuse or not. This idea that metalcore/deathcore is the worst thing to happen to the industry since glam rock is absolutely bullshit. Maybe I have a higher tolerance to this kind of music from being a fan of 90′s hardcore AND death metal but at the end of the day, that shit is still fucking heavy, despite being generic (of course I am talking more about deathcore now really). I mean, you are talking about it as if this shit is being played on the radio or something. Of course I can’t defend trash like Atreyu, Brokencyde or Attack Attack and, more to the point, I wouldn’t want to, but there are a lot of bands who I like who are tagged as deathcore or metalcore who still have a lot of integrity and, from what I can see, are making music for the right reasons.

    • Mordecai 9000

      ^ Agreed.

    • Steph

      I agree with this. I can name 5 good metalcore bands off the top of my head, I can only think of 1 good nu metal band (Deftones). Also, metalcore is barely a genre anyway, most of it is just metal, there’s no core there at all, it’s just an American take on melodeath which is hardly as inherently bad as nu or glam metal.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Michael-Par/1311163597 Michael Paré

    So Killswitch Engage inspired themselves to write whiney songs about their ex girlfriends? Oh wait, you mean Killswitch is like every other band that started out good and decided to make a few bucks once a few hundred thousand people liked them so they changed their sound to make that a million people.

    This list is dumb, because it infers that there should only be one band that pioneers a genre, and that all that follow are feeble attempts at copying their sound.

    A band creates a sound, it inspires others to match that, and in time others will step it up in one way or another. Just because music emulates doesn’t mean it copies. And if another band does the same thing in their own way, why not appreciate it the same?

    Sometimes I wish people could have their cake and eat it too, because this and many other sites wouldn’t have shit to write about if one band didn’t take a piece of a band that influenced them and build on it.

    At least some of what people say is true, metalheads are fucking retarded.

    • Crypticmajesty

      No sir that was fucking retarded. You do notice that you commented on a METAL website. Real helpful to your argument. The lyrics to the EOH are meant to be positive except when negative people say its whining. Never had a girlfriend to know 
      what it feels like or do you date ugly chicks so that youll never get dumped.

  • PatrickSTL

    I don’t hear much At The Gates influence in modern metalcore bands, that’s why KSE belongs on this list, because you CAN hear them in sooo many bands.”

  • fan

    Brokencyde isnt metalcore, theyre just gay

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/William-Morley/618112437 William Morley

      This is true, though they do have some terrible pig squeels in one of their songs, and they appeal to the same crowd as bands like Attack Attack etc.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Micheal-Vanderven/502827008 Micheal Vanderven

    OK IM ENDING THIS THREAD

    ITS THE PATTERN OF THE NOTES, THE BLUES SCALE, THE SIMPLICITY OF THE FUCKING RIFFS, so everyone hopped on because the posibilities were endless considering not EVERYONE at that time was a great guitar player lmao

    NONE of you cant tell me that darkest hour, killswitch engage, at the gates, or any fuckin metalcore band is hard to play. that shit is A PIECE OF CAKE like

    like, say you have a giant, massive birthday cake, and it had equal sections of different flavors and styles of cakes. so, knowing its all fucking awesome cuz its cake, you justgrab any old piece of you try it. sometime you’ll have an awesome piece that’ll blow your mind, somtimes you’ll enjoy a type that has a long history with cake making, sometimes you try a piece of cake that would sound it the recipe was made by a 4 year old, but its STILL CAKE, you might hate some cake, you might love some of the cake, some of it will EVEN GET YOU PISSED OFF ABOUT WHY THEY EVEN MADE CAKE IN THE FIRST PLACE

    what im saying here is its a wave of music that was unique to all. everyone feels it, no matter where it came from, we all beleived in something that felt unique at the time, something that we all knew would be great if we supported it. things changed, more bands came out to fulfilled the different demands and style of the fans, and now we have tons of different flavors of music.

    there are so many people that feel it, that there can only be a bunch of really dumb newjack-bandwaggoners that fuck up everything, so the uniqueness of it gets lost.. the collective whole breaks into sections, overlapping onto each other now.

    i think we’re at an end of an era. killswitch has to come out with a deathcore album making fun of deathcore. and then an AMAZING RECORD after that

    if you’re reading this, i tip my hat to your sit for reading all my retarded cake flavored bullshit

    • SonOF

      “NONE of you cant tell me that darkest hour, killswitch engage, at the gates, or any fuckin metalcore band is hard to play. that shit is A PIECE OF CAKE like”

      I thought you meant “a piece of cake” fiiguratively, than you started talking about ACTUAL CAKE, and you lost me. I am hungry now though.

      In response to the above quote though, remember that “hard to play” does not always equal “good,” or bands like PsOpus would rule the world, instead of being some esoteric shit that only a couple hundred freaks really enjoy.

  • Mordecai 9000

    This list had so much potential, but it’s just gone downhill.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Chris-Uber/169800969 Chris Uber

    This whole fucking “list” is stupid. No band (not even 100 bands) can ruin metal. To even suggest that is….well like I said before.

    • KMFCM

      yes, one band cannot ruin metal

      but the return of “Headbangers Ball” and Revolver Magazine can (and have)

    • SonOF

      Depends how you define “ruin.” I don’t think they are saying these bands destroyed metal (its hard to totally kill a genre), but rather they influenced a bunch of shitty bands that made the metal landscape worse.

      A single band can’t “ruin” metal, but can make it worse for a while.

  • SonOF

    I would assume that Korn or Deftones have to be on this list, for starting the nu metal wave, and causing a huge portion of “metal” to suck majorly from like 1994-2000?

    • SonOF

      err, I guess since the point is that these bands are “great” it would have to be Deftones and not Korn.

      Or maybe we could just go back and blame Faith No More for the whole thing.

  • Who Gives A Damn

    Metalcore sucks no matter who’s done it.

    • SonOF

      Integrity? Vision of Disorder? Deadguy? Converge? Shadows Fall? Merauder? Shai Hulud? Starkweather? Unearth? God Forbid? Zao? Botch? Overcast? Hatebreed?

      Not all “metalcore” mixes melodic metal and hardcore like KSE.

  • Crypticmajesty

    Music is music if you dont like a certain band and or genre dont listen to it. PLAIN AND SIMPLE!