Overview of Metalcore and Deathcore

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Blast Beats and Breakdowns

Music is an excellent way for everyone to connect and get along, Music is also an important part in everyone’s life. There are many different genres in music, including country, rap, reggae, metal, rock, and many more. This essay will focus on a certain genre, metalcore. Metalcore is a blend of hardcore punk and extreme metal, and has a distinguished use of breakdowns, which are slow, intense passages that are conducive to moshing. Pioneering bands in metalcore such as Hogan’s Heroes, Earth Crisis, and Integrity are described to lean more towards hardcore punk, whereas later bands, like Asking Alexandria, All That Remains, and The Devil Wears Prada are described as leaning more towards metal. The band Sepultura has been credited as the band that helped lay the groundwork for the metalcore genre in the early 2000’s, and Pantera is said to have directly influenced Atreyu, Bleeding through, and Unearth, While also being very influential in the early 2000’s.

Metalcore is described as having a complex history but mainly comes from thrash metal, hardcore punk, and extreme metal. Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized most typically by its fast tempo and aggression. Thrash metal songs typically use percussive beats and fast, low-register guitar riffs overlaid with shredding-style lead work. The origins of thrash metal are generally traced to the late nineteen seventies and early nineteen eighties when a number of predominately american bands began fusing elements of new wave British heavy metal with the speed and aggression of hardcore punk. A note worth mentioning is that thrash metal is widely regarded as having a “Big four” group of bands, being the most successful and influenti...

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...itish band Asking Alexandria, reaching all the way up to number nine on the Billboard 200, selling 31,000 in its first week.

While Metalcore is not a genre that everyone is fond of, the genre has found a sizeable foothold, not only in North America, but around the world, and every day the genre increases in popularity and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

Works Cited

Caramanica, Jon. "Metalcore, Screamo and Hugs." Nytimes.com. New York Times, 18 July 2010. Web. 6 Nov. 2013.

G, Ryan. "Looking to 2012: Metalcore Continues to Diversify, and The City Harmonic Has a Huge Year." Iamtunedup.com. I Am Tuned Up, 3 Jan. 2012. Web. 06 Nov. 2013.

Kelham, Andrew. "“Metalcore Is Not an Interesting Genre at This Point” - In The Studio with August Burns Red." Altpress.com. Alternative Press, 26 Mar. 2013. Web. 06 Nov. 2013.

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