Editing Metalcore (section)

==Characteristics==
=== Stylistic elements ===
[[File:Cave In.jpg|left|thumb|Metalcore band [[Cave In]] performing in 2006]]
Metalcore fuses elements of [[hardcore punk]] and [[extreme metal]], and is known for its use of [[breakdown (music)#Heavy metal and punk rock|breakdowns]]. Jon Weiderhorn of ''[[Loudwire]]'' said that deathcore and some metalcore bands were influenced by elements of [[death metal]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://loudwire.com/heavy-metal-101-history-of-death-metal/ | title=Death Metal 101: The History of Death Metal | website=[[Loudwire]] | date=31 August 2017 }}</ref> The genre is broadly defined, and throughout its history, various metalcore acts have fused elements of hardcore and metal in different ways. Some earlier metalcore bands, such as [[Botch (band)|Botch]] and [[Cave In]], were stylistically derived from traditional hardcore scenes. Jorge Martins of ''[[Ultimate Guitar]]'' explained, "some of those bands fused [[Slayer]]-based assaulting riffs with [[Pantera]]-leaning plummeting breakdowns and punk's ferocity and ethics, and a whole new beast was formed."<ref name="JorgeM, 2020" />
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| quote = The word "metalcore" is one of the few subgenres of music that conjures up an incredibly different range of sounds depending on who you ask. For old heads, it brings up a moment in time when the worlds of heavy metal and hardcore punk combined to a new underground genre, a grassroots movement and [an] exciting time for punk. For others, big room metal anthems pitted with poppy choruses are conjured, riffs descended from the Gothenburg school of metal contorted into music with a sense of bounce.
| source = John Hill of ''[[Loudwire]]'' (May 25, 2020) [https://loudwire.com/best-metalcore-albums-all-time/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral]
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Some later acts, such as [[Killswitch Engage]], gravitated towards a more accessible [[Heavy metal music|heavy metal]] sound, while also incorporating elements of [[Swedish death metal|Swedish melodic death metal]] and [[Boston hardcore]].<ref name="JorgeM, 2020">{{Cite web |title=Top 10 Best '90s Proto-Metalcore Albums That Shaped the Genre |url=https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/articles/features/top_10_best_90s_proto-metalcore_albums_that_shaped_the_genre-113093 |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=www.ultimate-guitar.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=20 Years Ago, This Underground Classic Changed the Game for Metal and Punk (But It's Not the One You Think) |url=https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/articles/features/20_years_ago_this_underground_classic_changed_the_game_for_metal_and_punk_but_its_not_the_one_you_think-169512 |access-date=2025-02-25 |website=www.ultimate-guitar.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Killswitch Engage > Loudwire |url=https://loudwire.com/tags/killswitch-engage/ |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=Loudwire |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Killswitch Engage Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio ... |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/killswitch-engage-mn0000771792#biography |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=AllMusic |language=en}}</ref> Many 2000s metalcore bands were heavily influenced by [[melodic death metal]], and extensively incorporated elements of the style into their music.<ref>{{cite web |last=Crane |first=Matt |date=2 September 2014 |title=12 melodic death-metal songs any self-respecting metalcore fan should like |url=https://www.altpress.com/features/12_melodic_death_metal_songs_any_self_respecting_metalcore_fan_should_like/ |access-date=30 November 2019 |work=[[Altpress.com|Alternative Press]]}}</ref> ''[[Alternative Press (magazine)|Alternative Press Magazine]]'' described metalcore as the "breakdown-heavy counterpart" of melodic death metal, referring to the latter genre as the "founding ancestor" of the former.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Crane |first=Matt |title=12 melodic death-metal songs any self-respecting metalcore fan should like |url=https://www.altpress.com/12_melodic_death_metal_songs_any_self_respecting_metalcore_fan_should_like/ |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=Alternative Press Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> Malcolm Dome of ''[[Revolver magazine|Revolver]]'' wrote that without Swedish melodic death metal band [[At the Gates]]' 1995 album ''[[Slaughter of the Soul]]'', modern North American melodic metalcore acts such as [[As I Lay Dying (band)|As I Lay Dying]] and [[All That Remains (band)|All That Remains]] "wouldn't even exist."<ref name="AtTheGates">{{cite web |last=Dome |first=Malcolm |date=14 November 2018 |title=How At the Gates Changed Metal Forever With 'Slaughter of the Soul' |url=https://www.revolvermag.com/music/how-gates-changed-metal-forever-slaughter-soul |access-date=30 November 2019 |work=[[Revolver magazine|Revolver]]}}</ref> Graham Hartmann of ''[[Loudwire]]'' retroactively assessed that the album appeared to be a "[[Nostradamus]]-esque prediction of how metal would evolve."<ref>{{cite web |last=Hartmann |first=Graham |date=21 January 2014 |title=Will At the Gates Release a New Album in 2014? |url=https://loudwire.com/at-the-gates-new-album-2014/ |access-date=30 November 2019 |work=[[Loudwire]]}}</ref>

Critics and journalists have observed the increased presence of ballads on modern metalcore albums, claiming that the "[[punk rock]] spirit [is] long gone" from the genre. Stephen Hill of ''[[Metal Hammer]]'' assessed, "[[Killswitch Engage]] became something akin to the [[Metallica]] of metalcore, enjoying continued success whilst others dwindled but, with [[Howard Jones (American singer)|Howard Jones]] taking the mic from [[Jesse Leach|Jess Leach]], becoming more [[hard rock]] and [[ballad]]-heavy with each new album." Journalists have also observed many later metalcore bands omitting direct hardcore punk influence entirely. Hill also assessed, "So instantly recognisable was the Killswitch sound that it was aped unashamedly by many a newcomer, where before it was an underground scene full of innovative and eclectic bands, there was now a formula."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Hillpublished |first=Stephen |date=2015-01-29 |title=From Crossover To Metalcore: The Genesis Of A Genre |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/from-crossover-to-metalcore-the-genesis-of-a-genre |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=louder |language=en}}</ref> Furthermore, many of the genre's more commercially successful acts, such as All That Remains, [[Asking Alexandria]], [[Of Mice & Men (band)|Of Mice & Men]] and [[Bring Me the Horizon]], eventually abandoned their metalcore roots entirely, opting for what has been described as a "more radio-friendly [[Rock music|rock]]- and [[Pop music|pop]]-inclined" approach.<ref>{{cite web |title=Metalcore Bands are Going Mainstream, and It's Painful |url=https://www.houstonpress.com/music/metalcore-bands-are-going-mainstream-and-its-painful-7805113}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=Revolver |title=Fan Poll: 5 Greatest Metalcore Albums |url=https://www.revolvermag.com/music/fan-poll-5-greatest-metalcore-albums/ |access-date=2025-03-25 |website=Revolver |language=en-US}}</ref> Stephen Hill of ''Metal Hammer'' explained: "To onlookers from the outside, metalcore was dead, a one dimensional flash in the pan to go alongside [[Glam metal|glam]] and [[Nu metal|nu-metal]] in the ‘what were we thinking?’ Fads of alternative culture."<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |last=Hillpublished |first=Stephen |date=2015-01-29 |title=From Crossover To Metalcore: The Genesis Of A Genre |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/from-crossover-to-metalcore-the-genesis-of-a-genre |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=louder |language=en}}</ref>

=== Diachronics ===
There is debate as to whether metalcore is a fusion genre, a subgenre, or a genre of its own.<ref>{{cite web |date=8 January 2024 |title=Is Metalcore Metal? |url=https://loudwire.com/is-metalcore-metal/ |website=[[Loudwire]]}}</ref> 

Metalcore is not universally accepted in some traditional [[Heavy metal music|heavy metal]] and hardcore circles.<ref name="Smialek" /> There has been debate and disagreement over whether metalcore is an authentic subgenre of heavy metal, and some in the [[heavy metal subculture#Perceived intolerance to non-metal musical styles|heavy metal community]] do not recognize it as a "true" form of metal.<ref>{{cite web |date=9 June 2020 |title=The 21 best U.S. Metalcore albums of all time |url=https://www.kerrang.com/the-21-best-us-metalcore-albums-of-all-time}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=16 April 2024 |title=Why do Metalheads Think Metalcore Isn't Real Metal? Reddit Users Answer |url=https://loudwire.com/why-metalheads-dont-like-metalcore-reddit/ |website=[[Loudwire]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Trapp |first=Philip TrappPhilip |date=2023-11-28 |title=Who Invented Metalcore? |url=https://loudwire.com/who-invented-metalcore/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral |access-date=2025-03-25 |website=Loudwire |language=en}}</ref> Traditional metalheads tend to view it as an inauthentic imitation of "real" metal, and "a diluted misinterpretation of metal's stylistic codes".<ref name="Smialek" /> Bands under the metalcore banner drew criticism for "their increasingly considered images, polished production, and what was seen as appeal to progressively more mainstream audiences".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Karjalainen |first1=Toni-Matti |title=Sounds of Origin in Heavy Metal Music |date=2018 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |pages=141-142}}</ref> Some practitioners who have expressed disillusionment with the genre's development have attempted to differentiate and constitute acts such as [[Martyr A.D.|Martyr AD]] and [[Poison the Well (band)|Poison The Well]] as representing "what true metalcore is."<ref name=":2">{{cite web |title=Renounced: "Death to false metalcore" |url=https://www.punktastic.com/radar/renounced-death-to-false-metalcore/}}</ref> Stephen Hill of ''Metal Hammer'' suggested that later metalcore bands such as [[Attila (metalcore band)|Attila]] and [[Blessthefall]] "[have] more in common with [[Airbrush|airbrushed]], cynically-minded [[Boy band|boy bands]] than the melding of two [[Counterculture|counter-cultures]]."<ref name=":0" /> 

=== Instrumentation and vocals ===
{{Quotebox
| quote = The success of [Killswitch Engage] also effected the artistic endeavours of the genre. So instantly recognisable was the Killswitch sound that it was aped unashamedly by many a newcomer, where before it was an underground scene full of innovative and eclectic bands there was now a formula. This in turn led to every chancer with a guitar chucking some beatdowns in between a few In Flames cast-off riffs and barking over the top – save for the inevitable emotive chorus. [...] The punk rock spirit was long gone, even bands such as Trivium, a band who have not a single atom of influence, approach or sound of punk in their make up, were bizarrely linked with the metalcore tag. A name that seemed to have less and less meaning the more the noughties rolled on.
| source = Stephen Hill of ''[[Metal Hammer]]'' (January 29, 2015) [https://www.loudersound.com/features/from-crossover-to-metalcore-the-genesis-of-a-genre]
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}}[[File:Converge @ Roadburn Festival 2018-04-19 009.jpg|thumb|[[Converge (band)|Converge]] guitarist [[Kurt Ballou]]|200px]]
Instrumentally, metalcore bands generally employ heavy, metallic, percussive [[guitar riffs]], and stop-start [[rhythm guitar]].<ref name="MetalSucks">{{cite web |url=https://www.metalsucks.net/2019/01/09/wristmeetrazor-channel-vintage-metalcore-energy-on-misery-never-forgets/ |title=Wristmeetrazor Channel Vintage Metalcore Energy on Misery Never Forgets |website=[[MetalSucks]] |date=9 January 2019 |access-date=8 December 2020}}</ref><ref name="WhatIsMetalcore">{{cite web |last=Bowar |first=Chad |title=What Is Metalcore? |url=https://www.liveabout.com/what-is-metalcore-1756187 |access-date=16 November 2014 |publisher=liveabout.com}}</ref> Metalcore is known for its emphasis on breakdowns. According to Graham Hartmann of ''[[Loudwire]]'', "when a band changes up the mood with some masterful composition, a breakdown can be brilliant as well as devastating."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hartmann |first=Graham HartmannGraham |date=2017-07-27 |title=10 Sickest Breakdowns of All Time |url=https://loudwire.com/10-sickest-breakdowns-of-all-time/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=Loudwire |language=en}}</ref> [[Drop tunings|Drop guitar tunings]] are often used in metalcore. Most bands use tuning ranging between Drop D and A, although lower tunings, as well as [[Seven-string guitar|7]] and [[Eight-string guitar|8 string guitars]], are not uncommon. Drummers typically employ various techniques common in extreme metal and hardcore, such as [[Double bass drumming|double-kick]] drumming. Author James Giordano explains that metalcore is usually played at slower [[Tempo|tempos]] than some of the styles its artists draw influence from, such as [[thrash metal]].{{sfn|Giordano|2016|p=141}}

Metalcore vocalists usually perform [[screaming (music)|screaming]], a harsh vocal technique that became popular in the underground punk and metal scenes of the 1980s.<ref name="WhatIsMetalcore" /> Vocal performances in early metalcore acts were characterized by what has been described as a "raw, scream-meets-shout vocal style."<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=DiVita |first=Joe DiVitaJoe |date=2023-11-02 |title=Metalcore's 10 Best Clean Singers + 10 Best Bands Who Don't (or Barely) Use Clean Vocals |url=https://loudwire.com/metalcore-best-clean-singers-bands-barely-use-clean-vocals/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral |access-date=2025-03-25 |website=Loudwire |language=en}}</ref> Later metalcore bands often alternate between harsh vocals and singing (also known as "clean vocals"), usually during the [[bridge (music)|bridge]] or [[refrain|chorus]] of a song.<ref name="WhatIsMetalcore" /> Joe Davita of ''[[Loudwire]]'' explains that many people define modern metalcore by the tradeoff between screaming and clean singing. Although many modern metalcore tracks have choruses that contain [[Hook (music)|hooks]], some bands still do omit clean vocals entirely. Other bands use clean vocals very sparingly, done for the purpose of "coloring a mood."<ref name=":1" /> Modern metalcore clean vocals have drawn comparisons to the mainstream [[emo]] and [[pop-punk]] music of the 2000s, which some have suggested may have deterred some fans of heavier music styles.<ref>{{cite web |date=16 April 2024 |title=Why do Metalheads Think Metalcore Isn't Real Metal? Reddit Users Answer |url=https://loudwire.com/why-metalheads-dont-like-metalcore-reddit/ |website=[[Loudwire]]}}</ref>
[[File:Example of Breakdown.ogg|thumb|right|Audio sample of a breakdown section from the song ''Begins Falls Rises'' by the Swedish metalcore band '''Aim For The Sunrise'''.]]Lyrics in metalcore are often personal, introspective and emotive.<ref name="Smialek" />