Tag Archive: metalcore

Five Reasons Why Metalcore Isn’t Total Shit #1: Converge – Jane Doe

Aug.26, 2011

Due to the overwhelming success of Jimmy’s ‘Five Reasons Why Deathcore Isn’t Total Shit‘ series last summer, Heavy Blog Is Heavy will be backing further up the ladder of ‘core’ for the next two weeks, and counting down the five reasons why metalcore isn’t full of shit. It gets a bad rap sometimes, and being the underdog(?) champions that we are, we’re making a stand for the fat kid and suplexing the skinny elitist bully right on his stupid face.

Make sure to throw your $0.02 at me and tell me why I’m completely wrong in the comments section, if you wish. I shall use it to buy soap to wash the spittle from my forehead, safe in the knowledge that I’ll be your boss at the plant some day.

So far…

#5) The Chariot – Long Live

#4) Crydebris – The Severing

#3) Norma Jean - Bless The Martyr And Kiss The Child

#2) Every Time I Die – New Junk Aesthetic

The decision about whether or not to include Converge at all was a tough call. Are they metalcore? Are they not? Well, fuck it: I make the rules, and given the ‘technical’ definition; big metal riffs, hardcore M.O. — rather than the culture of crap now associated with the term — they more than count. They’re just 1000x better than anyone else has the nerve to be. With this cleared up, there was only one position they could take.

As a band they’ve put out a ton of great records, but Jane Doe is fucking bad ass. It’s just shy of ten years old at the time of writing, but still sounds as fresh as anything put out today. I think this is down to a bunch of reasons: great production; a combination of four great musicians; some killer riffs — but at the end of the day, truly great heavy music doesn’t age, and this really hasn’t.

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Tags: Ben Koller, Converge, Five Reasons Why Metalcore Isn't Total Shit, Jacob Bannon, Jane Doe, Kurt Ballou, metalcore, Nate Newton

Five Reasons Why Metalcore Isn’t Total Shit #2: Every Time I Die – New Junk Aesthetic

Filed Under: Editorials, Lists!

Aug.25, 2011

So far…

#5) The Chariot – Long Live

#4) Crydebris – The Severing

#3) Norma Jean - Bless The Martyr And Kiss The Child

You can’t have a list of definitive metalcore records without mentioning Buffalo’s own party-metal raconteurs Every Time I Die. I honestly don’t think they’ve made a dud album, and in fact for me they just keep getting stronger. With this in mind, I present to you what I consider to be the pinnacle of their work so far: 2009′s New Junk Aesthetic. I’m sure some of you might argue with this choice; Hot Damn is indeed a brilliant piece of work (“Floater” and “Ebolarama” are certainly in my top 5 ETID songs), The Big Dirty is a fantastic set of tunes, and Gutter Phenomenon has some of the best lines in any songs, ever. And “The New Black” — I mean, come on.

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Tags: Every Time I Die, Five Reasons Why Metalcore Isn't Total Shit, metalcore, New Junk Aesthetic

Five Reasons Why Metalcore Isn’t Total Shit #3: Norma Jean – Bless The Martyr And Kiss The Child

Filed Under: Editorials, Lists!

Aug.24, 2011

So far…

#5) The Chariot – Long Live

#4) Crydebris – The Severing

Norma Jean. Really? Yeah, fuckin’ really. Although their releases since have ranged from pretty good (Meridional) to distinctly average (The Anti-Mother), nothing has ever come close to the masterpiece (yeah, I said it) that is Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child.

Bless the Martyr, for those caught unawares with their metaphorical trousers-of-metal-knowledge firmly around their ankles, was actually their first album, so to find it included in this list is no mean feat. Released in 2002 – almost a decade ago now – it found the band at their very best. No discredit to the current incarnation, but something about the original line-up just had it. It featured drummer Daniel Davison, who was responsible for much of the writing (and as a side note, he left in 2007, which was when The Anti-Mother came out…). The original five also contained vocalist Josh Scogin, who for me makes this album. His vocal performance elevates the album to something really special, and if it weren’t for The Chariot, I’d be super bummed that he left shortly after this was released.

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Tags: Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child, Five Reasons Why Metalcore Isn't Total Shit, metalcore, Norma Jean

Five Reasons Why Metalcore Isn’t Total Shit #4: Crydebris – The Severing

Filed Under: Editorials, Lists!

Aug.23, 2011

So far…

#5) The Chariot – Long Live

It’s a well known and unfortunate fact in the music industry that a lot of great bands go by unnoticed and break up with barely a breath of recognition. Crydebris were one of those bands. It’s a damn shame, because had they continued, they might have saved the metalcore genre some of the embarrassment from which it currently suffers.

Remarkably (or perhaps not), when they were active, Crydebris were pretty young; we’re talking mid to late teens here. Usually these are the formative years of a young person’s musical abilities, and are inevitably laced with suck – but it was not so; not for these four songs.

The Severing, a four-track EP, was their one and only true release, and as a snapshot statement of the band’s musicianship, it’s a fucking cracker. The opening riff to the title track is simple, catchy, and absolutely fucking furious. Breaking from metalcore tradition, the next two tracks are both over seven minutes long, but Jesus fuck, I wish they went on longer. Such mature song-writing skill from a group so young is hard to come by, and even more rarely successful.

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Tags: Crydebris, Five Reasons Why Metalcore Isn't Total Shit, metalcore, Mononoke-Picture, The Severing

Five Reasons Why Metalcore Isn’t Total Shit #5: The Chariot – Long Live

Filed Under: Editorials, Lists!

Aug.22, 2011

Due to the overwhelming success of Jimmy’s ‘Five Reasons Why Deathcore Isn’t Total Shit‘ series last summer, Heavy Blog Is Heavy will be backing further up the ladder of ‘core’ for the next two weeks, and counting down the five reasons why metalcore isn’t totally full of shit. It gets a bad rap sometimes, and being the underdog(?) champions that we are, we’re making a stand for the fat kid and suplexing the skinny elitist bully right on his stupid face.

We start this week off with a relatively new entry for the genre: Long Live, the most recent album from Georgian five-piece The Chariot. Released last year, it blew me away by being the first Chariot album I listened to that I didn’t have an immediate distaste for. Now I know this doesn’t sound like the intro for a band that deserves a spot on a list about great metalcore, but stick with me.

Barring the Unsung EP, every album these guys have released has left me a little cold at first. Everything Is Alive, Everything Is Breathing, Nothing Is Dead, and Nothing Is Bleeding was a bit too chaotic for me at the time, and both The Fiancée and Wars And Rumors Of Wars were a bit lacking in hooks – or so I thought.

I’ll admit that they’re a hard band to swallow, but persistence has always paid off — but it wasn’t needed with Long Live. I mean sure, the lo-fi into “Evan Perks” left me a bit confused at first, but it immediately made sense in the context of the rest of the album. In short, Long Live is an album that both epitomises everything metalcore should be — loud, riffy and chaotic — whilst at the same time doing something that no other band, to my knowledge, does.

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Tags: David de la Hoz, Five Reasons Why Metalcore Isn't Total Shit, Josh Scogin, Long Live, metalcore, The Chariot

Amazing! Watch Every Time I Die’s Ryan Leger Drum Upside-Down!

Filed Under: Audio, General News, Upcoming releases, Video

Jun.20, 2011

Wow! I mean I know the legendary Travis Barker of, like, my favourite band EVER Blink 182 does this, but it’s still impressive nonetheless!

I wonder how often he had to practi–erm, wait a minute, something’s not right here…

Hahaaaaaa. No, that wasn’t funny, I’m sorry. Talk about a roundabout way of telling you that Buffalo’s own metalcore raconteurs Every Time I Die are working on new material, and have posted some footage of drummer Ryan Leger at work. I’m always excited for news about these guys – they manage to keep metal fun, whilst not sucking the fecal matter from 10,000 crusty anuses (anui?). Hopefully we’ll be getting some more concrete news about the release soon, but until then, watch one of my favourite mashups ever, which involves ETID and an early Norma Jean song.

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Tags: Ebola In Memphis, Every Time I Die, metalcore, Norma Jean, Ryan Leger

Return To The Motherland Tour Kicked Ass

Filed Under: Tours and Rumors of Tours

Jun.02, 2011

I recently had the pleasure of attending the Return To The Motherland Tour, featuring Arsonists Get All The Girls, Lionheart, The Contortionist, and Volumes. The one band missing was A Plea For Purging, which I didn’t find myself too disappointed over at all since I never really did get into them.

Whilst this tour ended a while ago, it’s still relevant thanks to AGATG having just released their new album Motherland, which we enjoyed. Not only that, but the first two opening acts are part of the Summer Slaughter Survivor’s Tour this summer, which I’m completely stoked for as well.

The first act Volumes were awesome to watch live. They brought all the groove and heaviness I expected and did not disappoint. They played four of the five songs of their EP The Concept of Dreaming, which included “Wormholes”, ‘Through The Trees”, “Starstruck”, and “Intake”. As a side note, they ditched that last breakdown in Starstruck I complained about in my recent review which was a nice touch. One of the singers’ voice was raw. I can’t remember which one, but he shared the mic often with audience members to make up for his lack of ability to perform at 100%.

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Tags: 28 Days Later, Arsonists Get All The Girls, Brian Eno, deathcore, djent, Lionheart, metalcore, Return To The Motherland Tour, The Contortionist, Volumes

Underoath – Ø (Disambiguation)

Filed Under: Reviews

Nov.12, 2010

Underoath

Ø (Disambiguation)

1. In Division
2. Catch Myself Catching Myself
3. Paper Lung
4. Illuminator
5. Driftwood
6. A Divine Eradication
7. Who Will Guard the Guardians?
8. Reversal
9. Vacant Mouth
10. My Deteriorating Incline
11. In Completion

[11/09/10 | Tooth & Nail]

For the most part, nobody likes to be considered elitist, but in metal it does seem to be almost ubiquitous. Try as I might, I went in to this record with certain expectations and few of them favourable. Despite some of the band members looking like they couldn’t possibly be any more than 12 years old, Ø marks the 7th full length LP for, evidently prolific, metalcore outfit Underoath. I had, prior to Ø, listened to a smattering of their earlier material and was led to believe this was middle of the road metalcore with radio-friendly post-hardcore leanings.

I am happy to say that appearances can be deceiving. Ø is really only metalcore if you allow the weight to be placed heavily on the latter half of the term. Absent are the palm-mute laden riffs, bland atonal breakdowns and unrelenting bass drum. In its place you find soundscaping, consistent progression through songs and riffing often similar in style to the strand of the genre epitomized by Every Time I Die. The one thing that this album seems to demonstrate above all else is maturity; they are using their wide experience within the genre to great effect.

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Tags: Every Time I Die, hardcore, metalcore, Underoath

This Time It’s War – Terror Plots

Filed Under: Reviews

Nov.03, 2010

This Time It’s War

Terror Plots

01. Manic Dependence
02. Pathways
03. In To the Abyss
04. Dead World
05. Unslaved
06. 11:34
07. The Shift of the Ages
08. Blacklight
09. The Lord of the Flies
10. A New Chapter

[Independent | 11/12/10]

Virginia-based quintet This Time It’s War play metalcore. Short and to the point I know, but never has such a description felt so apt. Though I’d never heard any of their music prior to listening to the album, I feel that in this particular case it’s not all that much of a constraint, and after giving the record a good 4 or 5 listens, I was struck by one impression most of all. Though metalcore is not a genre famed for variety in its less than avante garde practitioners, there was something striking about just how much of Terror Plots I felt I’d heard before. I feel if I’d been sat down and told to listen blind, I would have been shouting out names of bands, vehemently accusing anyone else in the vicinity of lying when they denied the truth in my claims. What makes what TTIW have achieved so baffling is how many different bands such an interrogation would inspire me to put forward.

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Tags: metalcore, Terror Plots, This Time It's War

Neaera – Forging the Eclipse

Filed Under: Reviews

Oct.08, 2010

Neaera

Forging the Eclipse

1. The Forging
2. Heaven’s Descent
3. In Defiance
4. Eight Thousand Sorrows Deep
5. Arise Black Vengeance
6. Rubikon
7. Sirens of Black
8. Certitude
9. Exaltation
10. Tyranny of Want
11. The Prophecy
12. And to Posterity a Plague

[Metal Blade | 10/26/10]

The metalcore/melodic death metal genre has never really appealed to me. Bands like Fear My Thoughts and Heaven Shall Burn have only been given a minute amount of listens from me for one simple reason: it’s repetitive. Now, I do not have a disliking predisposition to it (as it fuses two genres I like), but from what I have heard much of it fails to impress me. It’s never bad, it’s just never excellent. Unfortunately, German quintet Neaera and their newest release, Forging the Eclipse, did not change my mind.

The album begins with a relaxing intro featuring some very calm piano over an ambient atmosphere with fading-in choppy static. This pleasantry is a stark contrast to the next song which is a balls-to-the-walls double bas/riff barrage before finishing with some -core chugging. That’s not so bad, is it? No, it isn’t, but the problem begins to develop as you continue your 40 minute journey. And this problem, as I mentioned, is that it’s very repetitive. The riffs fail to distinguish and the abundance of tremolo picking becomes more irritating the longer I listen and the lack of varied drumming (double bass, blast beats and circular/breakdown-y) only enhances the monotony. There’s a few parts where they let up on the uninteresting drumming (“Tyranny of Want”, “Rubikon”) but it’s never enough to save the album from glaring mediocrity. It’s a shame because Benjamin Hilleke, the man behind the vocals, does a pretty good job. It’s mostly mid to high range screams/shrieks with the obligatory growls when the song slows down. He’s far from flawless and original, but fits the style well. Plus, he sounds like the guy from Heaven Shall Burn (which is ironically one of their finer points, too). The best thing this album has to offer is the track “Rubikon” because it doesn’t have that filler feeling. It employs a classical melo-death melody, multiple tempo changes and a sufficient bridge. While not the most amazing song ever, this is how one would go about diversifying and revitalizing Forging the Eclipse. A short, sweet, solid track. I had hopes once I reached it, but sadly, the energy and memorability dissipated as the song ended before transitioning into more of the same.

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Tags: Fear My Thoughts, Heaven Shall Burn, melodic death metal, metalcore, Neaera, Scar Symmetry