Deathcore

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Deathcore
Carnifex during a 2017 performance
Stylistic origins
Cultural originsLate 1990s – early 2000s, North America
Other topics
List of deathcore bands

Deathcore is an

guitar riffs, blast beats, and metalcore breakdowns.[6][7] While there are some precursors to the concept of death metal fused with metalcore/hardcore elements seen in the 1990s, deathcore itself emerged in the early 2000s and gained prominence beginning in the mid-2000s within the southwestern United States, especially Arizona and inland southern California, which are home to many notable bands and various festivals.[8][9][10]

Some of the genre's earliest examples include Antagony, Despised Icon, and the Red Chord. Deathcore's expansion in the mid-2000s saw bands like All Shall Perish, Through the Eyes of the Dead, Bring Me the Horizon, Suicide Silence, Carnifex, Job for a Cowboy, Chelsea Grin and Whitechapel taking off. In the 2010s, deathcore bands began experimenting with an eclectic selection of other genres.

The genre is noted for its criticism from longtime fans of heavy metal music, usually for its frequent use of breakdowns. Some musicians classified as deathcore have rejected the label.

Characteristics

Deathcore combines death metal characteristics such as

tremolo picking, and growled vocals with metalcore characteristics such as breakdowns.[citation needed] The genre is usually defined by breakdowns and death metal riffs or metalcore riffs played in the usual death metal tuning.[6][11] Like in other extreme metal fusion genres, deathcore guitarists down-tune their guitars to give their music a heavier sound. Deathcore bands may also employ guitar solos as well.[12][13][14][15][16][17]

Low growls and shrieked screams are common types of vocals in deathcore.[6][18] Some other techniques that deathcore vocalists have used include what is known as pig squeals.[19][20][21][22][23] Sung vocals in the genre are rare and most bands seldom if ever use them, but the idea has been experimented with by a few bands such as All Shall Perish (in the song "Awaken the Dreamers") and Oceano (in the song "Incisions").[24]

History

Predecessors (1990s)

Death metal band Suffocation

The term "deathcore" has had convoluted uses on-and-off in various metal/hardcore scenes far before it was considered an established or recognized genre. The earliest known use of "deathcore" as a word was by New York band

Rain in Endless Fall (1999) by Prayer for Cleansing are early examples of albums that feature a metalcore sound combined with death metal influences,[28][29][30] in 2019 music site The New Fury has even gone on record to credit Embodyment as "[pioneers] of the deathcore genre" due to their performance on Embrace the Eternal.[31][32] Decibel magazine wrote that death metal band Suffocation were one of the main inspirations for the genre's emergence by writing: "One of Suffocation's trademarks, breakdowns, has spawned an entire metal subgenre: deathcore."[33]

The Belgian H8000 music scene was also influential to the development of the sound, with bands like Deformity, and Liar helping to pioneer a prototype for the genre in the late–1990s and early–2000s.[34] When writing about deathcore pioneers Despised Icon, Dom Lawson of Metal Hammer wrote: "blending death metal with hardcore was by no means a new thing when Despised Icon emerged."[35] Suffocation bassist Derek Boyer says Suffocation "were influenced by many early metal and hardcore bands".[35] Death metal bands like Dying Fetus, Suffocation, and Internal Bleeding were influential on deathcore due to their use of "crushing, mid-paced grooves and breakdowns", according to Lawson.[35]

Despised Icon

Origins (early–mid 2000s)

Despite a few earlier metalcore/death metal hybridizations, Antagony[36][37] and Despised Icon are considered to be the true pioneers of deathcore,[38][39] however both bands have rejected the label.[37][40] Antagony founder and frontman Nick Vasallo is credited as being the "father of deathcore" due to his work in the band.[41] The Red Chord is referenced as an early influential source for the genre due to their hybridization of metalcore and death metal sounds (among other genres).[42] New Hampshire band Deadwater Drowning and Californian group All Shall Perish are also seen as notable early entries of the genre. Deadwater Drowning's 2003 EP was remarked as "basically the blueprint for every current deathcore band out today,"[43] while All Shall Perish's debut album Hate, Malice, Revenge (2003) "never got tied down to [simply] death metal or metalcore."[44]

In the mid 2000s, deathcore spiked in popularity shortly after Job for a Cowboy released their EP Doom in 2005, which is heavily credited as one of deathcore's most significant and influential releases for the genre.[45] The genre saw an increase in popularity even further when English band Bring Me the Horizon released their deathcore debut full-length Count Your Blessings in 2006. The band were presented the 2006 Kerrang! Award for "Best British Newcomer" shortly after the album's release,[46] however the band abandoned the deathcore genre soon thereafter.[47]

Expansion (late 2000s and 2010s)

Mitch Lucker of Suicide Silence

Deathcore began to gain further popularity in the mid to late 2000s and early 2010s.

Hard Rock Albums Chart,[48] while their album The Black Crown peaked at number 28 on the Billboard 200, number 7 on the Rock Albums Chart and number 3 on the Hard Rock Albums Chart.[48] Whitechapel's album This Is Exile sold 5,900 in copies, which made it enter the Billboard 200 chart at position 118.[49] Their self-titled album peaked at number 65 on the Canadian Albums Chart[50] and also at number 47 on the Billboard 200.[51] Their third album A New Era of Corruption sold about 10,600 copies in the United States in its first week of being released and peaked at position number 43 on the Billboard 200 chart.[52]

San Diego natives

To the Hellfire", saw the band gain significant attention, primarily through videos shared on TikTok, to the extent that in a 2022 article by Revolver, writer Eli Enis called the band "the new faces of deathcore".[58]

Fusion with other genres

A variety of deathcore bands experimented with other genres into their music as influence and time progressed.

symphonic/classical elements.[67][68][69] French band Betraying the Martyrs has been described as "[the] punishing brutality of deathcore with melodic flourishes pulled from symphonic and progressive metal, giving it a theatricality that feels distinctly European."[70]

Criticism

Deathcore has been criticized, especially by longtime fans of other

heavy metal subgenres, often because of its fusion of death metal with metalcore and use of breakdowns.[22][23][71][72]

In addition to this, members of certain deathcore bands do not take a liking to being labeled "deathcore". In an interview with vocalist Vincent Bennett of The Acacia Strain about the deathcore label, he said "Deathcore is the new nu-metal. [...] It sucks. And if anyone calls us 'deathcore' then I might do something very bad to them."[73] While in an interview with Justin Longshore from Through the Eyes of the Dead about the deathcore label, he said, "You know, I really hate that term. I know we've been labeled as that but I think there's so much more to our music than just a mixture of death metal and hardcore ( [sic]) even though we incorporate those elements in our music. To me it seems that is just the new and fresh thing that kids are following."[74]

In November 2013, Terrorizer wrote, "The term 'deathcore' is usually seen as a dirty word in metal circles" while interviewing vocalist Bryce Lucien of the Texas-based metal band Seeker. Lucien then stated:[75]

Much like what became of metalcore in the mid-2000s, deathcore is an often maligned term that can instantly diminish a bands credibility. What once conjured images of ridiculously brutal, unapologetically heavy bands like Ion Dissonance and The Red Chord now brings to mind bands full of twenty-year-olds sporting throat tattoos, matching black T-shirts, and trying desperately hard to look tough while they jump in sync onstage.

In contrast, some bands appear to be more lighthearted and less concerned over being described as deathcore. Scott Lewis of the San Diego-based deathcore band Carnifex stated, "We're not one of those bands trying to escape the banner of deathcore. I know a lot of bands try and act like they have a big problem with that, but if you listen to their music, they are very 'deathcore.' I know that there is a lot of resentment towards deathcore and kind of younger bands."[76] In a 2012 interview, former Chelsea Grin guitarist Jake Harmond said, "Everyone likes to flap their jaw and voice their own opinion how 'embarrassing' it is to be in a band that can be labeled 'deathcore,' but honestly we have never given a fuck".[77]

See also

References

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