metalcore

File:Mattfox shaihulud.jpg guitarist Matt Fox has been credited by some for popularizing the "metalcore" term.|left |200px]]

The term "metalcore" is a portmanteau of the words "metal" and "hardcore", and was originally tongue-in-cheek.{{cite web | url=https://loudwire.com/who-invented-metalcore/ | title=Who Invented Metalcore? | website=Loudwire | date=28 November 2023 }} During the 1980s, Maximumrocknroll had used early variations of the term, referring to Richmond band Black Pyramid as "heavy-metal core" in February 1985;{{cite journal |journal=Maximum Rocknroll |title=Virginia |date=February 1985 |volume=22 |page=32 |quote=BLACK PYRAMID is a heavy-metal core outfit debuting recently, plus a sorta thrash group called DAMAGE REPORT. TOOLINC FOR ANUS also did a first show, but unfortunately I missed it. |url=https://archive.org/details/mrr_22 |access-date=2024-11-16}} Oxnard band False Confessions as "metal-core" in December 1985;{{cite journal |journal=Maximum Rocknroll |title=Questions remain in aftermath of Vets hall riot |date=December 1985 |volume=31 |page=22 |quote=FALSE CONFESSIONS kicked out Ishinael and now Scott (ex-bassist) is singing, and the band is looking for a bassist. They have a much talked about new direction, leaning into the BAUHAUS/SPECIMEN style of punk (or so I've heard). While I applaud their decision to change, I wonder if they'll alienate some of their audience who were used to their old metal-core style, or is it true at all? |url=https://archive.org/details/mrr_31 |access-date=2024-11-16}} Mesa band Desecration as "death metal core" in May 1986;{{cite journal |journal=Maximum Rocknroll |title=Desecration, Arizona thrash |date=May 1986 |volume=36 |page=26 |quote=DESECRATION - "Damaged by Decibels" cassette A 4-song "death metal core band" that zips along at a frantic pace, isn’t as metal as it is thrash, ana avoids lame lyrics and sticks to political/social subjects. A pretty hot debut|url=https://archive.org/details/mrr_036 |access-date=2024-11-16}} and Austin band Last Will as "ghoulish metal/core" in December 1986.{{cite journal |journal=Maximum Rocknroll |title=Texas |date=December 1986 |volume=43 |page=44 |quote=LAST WILL has a ghoulish metal/core cassette out.|url=https://archive.org/details/mrr_43 |access-date=2024-11-16}} When the metalcore genre began in the 1990s, it was largely known as "metallic hardcore".

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| quote = Like most genres, [metalcore is] not an easy term to define; even saying “metal meets hardcore” doesn’t really do it. Hardcore and metal’s relationship long predates metalcore; hardcore bands inspired metal bands to invent thrash, and in turn thrash bands inspired punk bands to start crossover thrash, both genres influenced grunge, and the cross-pollination just kept spiraling from there. I don’t know the exact year that “metalcore” entered the vernacular, but some of the earlier bands [...] probably would have just been called “metallic hardcore."

| author = Andrew Sacher

| source = Brooklyn Vegan (August 26, 2019) {{cite web | url=https://www.brooklynvegan.com/15-90s-metalcore-albums-that-still-resonate-today/ | title=15 '90s metalcore albums that still resonate today }}

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Phillip Trapp of Loudwire states that Shai Hulud guitarist Matt Fox is widely credited for playing a role in "popularizing" term. However, in a 2008 interview, Fox claimed the term had already been in use before his band began releasing music. He recalled: "There were bands before Shai Hulud started that my friends and I were referring to as 'metalcore.' Bands like Burn, Deadguy, Earth Crisis, even Integrity. These bands that were heavier than the average hardcore bands. These bands that were more progressive [...] my friends and I would always refer to them as 'metalcore' because it wasn't purely hardcore and it wasn't purely metal [...] so we would joke around and say, 'Hey, it's metalcore. Cool!' But it was definitely a tongue-in-cheek term."{{cite web | url=https://loudwire.com/who-invented-metalcore/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral | title=Who Invented Metalcore? | website=Loudwire | date=28 November 2023 }}

Alternatively, Jorge Rosado of Merauder claimed in 2014 interview that he and his band coined the term.{{cite web |title=MERAUDER Interview With Frontman Jorge Rosado |url=http://restassuredzine.com/interviews/3581-merauder-interview-with-frontman-jorge-rosado#:~:text=But%20that%20music%20speaks%20for,METALCORE! |access-date=13 October 2024}}

Luke Morton of Metal Hammer stated that the word "means different things to different people," highlighting the fact that the tag has been variously applied to stylistically dissimilar bands such as Killswitch Engage, Earth Crisis, Asking Alexandria and Parkway Drive.{{Cite web |last=Morton |first=Luke |date=2018-07-26 |title=The top 10 best metalcore songs |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-10-best-metalcore-songs-as-chosen-by-the-agony-scene |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=louder |language=en}}

File:Cave In.jpg performing in 2006]]

Metalcore fuses elements of hardcore punk and extreme metal, and is known for its use of breakdowns. According to Scott Kennedy, although metalcore existed "in some form or another" throughout the 1990s, it was only during the early 2000s that metalcore became codified or distinguished as a genre with specific traits. He links this with the movement known as the "New Wave of American Heavy Metal".{{cite book|last1=Kennedy |first1=Scott |title=Functions of Genre in Metal and Hardcore Music |publisher=University of Hull |date=January 2018 |pages=237–238 |quote=NWOAHM marks an identifiable period during which ‘metalcore’ became widely understood to refer to a particular genre with a relatively specific set of stylistic traits. NWOAHM codification demarcated metalcore as a genre unto itself, distinguishing it from closely related subgenres like metallic hardcore. ... after the NWOAHM period ended, metalcore still commonly refers to elements of style introduced during this codification, notably the combination of clean and distorted vocals, high-fidelity, polished production, and a clear influence from melodic death metal. ... Despite metalcore existing in some form or another for around a decade prior to NWOAHM, it was only during the first few years of the twenty-first century that the genre became codified.}}

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 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."

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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 sound, while also incorporating elements of Swedish melodic death metal and Boston hardcore.{{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}}{{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}}{{Cite web |title=Killswitch Engage > Loudwire |url=https://loudwire.com/tags/killswitch-engage/ |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=Loudwire |language=en}}{{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}} Many 2000s metalcore bands were heavily influenced by melodic death metal, and extensively incorporated elements of the style into their music.{{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=Alternative Press}} 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.{{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}} Malcolm Dome of 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 and All That Remains "wouldn't even exist."{{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}} Graham Hartmann of Loudwire retroactively assessed that the album appeared to be a "Nostradamus-esque prediction of how metal would evolve."{{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}} Jon Weiderhorn of Loudwire said that deathcore and some metalcore bands were influenced by elements of death metal.{{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 }}

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

Metalcore is not universally accepted in some traditional heavy metal and hardcore circles. There has been debate and disagreement over whether metalcore is an authentic subgenre of heavy metal, and some in the heavy metal community do not recognize it as a "true" form of metal.{{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}}{{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}}{{Cite web |last=Trapp |first=Philip |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}} Traditional metalheads tend to view it as an inauthentic imitation of "real" metal, and "a diluted misinterpretation of metal's stylistic codes".

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| 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 guitarist Kurt Ballou|200px]]

Instrumentally, metalcore bands generally employ heavy, metallic, percussive guitar riffs, and stop-start rhythm guitar.{{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}}{{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}} 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."{{Cite web |last=Hartmann |first=Graham |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}} Drop guitar tunings are often used in metalcore. Most bands use tuning ranging between Drop D and A, although lower tunings, as well as 7 and 8 string guitars, are not uncommon. Drummers typically employ various techniques common in extreme metal and hardcore, such as double-kick drumming. Author James Giordano explains that metalcore is usually played at slower 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, a harsh vocal technique that became popular in the underground punk and metal scenes of the 1980s. Vocal performances in early metalcore acts were characterized by what has been described as a "raw, scream-meets-shout vocal style."{{Cite web |last=DiVita |first=Joe |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}} Later metalcore bands often alternate between harsh vocals and singing (also known as "clean vocals"), usually during the bridge or chorus of a song. 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 hooks, some bands still do omit clean vocals entirely. Other bands use clean vocals very sparingly, done for the purpose of "coloring a mood." 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.{{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}}

File:Example of Breakdown.oggLyrics in metalcore are often personal, introspective and emotive.

In the early 2000s, 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".{{cite book |last1=Karjalainen |first1=Toni-Matti |title=Sounds of Origin in Heavy Metal Music |date=2018 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |pages=141-142}}

Despite several metalcore bands achieving critical acclaim and cult status, several journalists have noted that the metalcore tag earned a "bad rep" after several bands in the genre found commercial success, or released albums with polished production. Andrew Sacher of Brooklyn Vegan stated his belief that "the mainstream boom tarnished the word 'metalcore' for a while."{{Cite web |last=Sacher |first=Andrew |title=15 '90s metalcore albums that still resonate today |url=https://www.brooklynvegan.com/15-90s-metalcore-albums-that-still-resonate-today/ |access-date=2025-02-25 |website=BrooklynVegan |language=en-US}} Several bands and musicians labelled as metalcore have rejected the term entirely,{{cite web |title=Top 10 Most Important Moments in the Evolution of Metalcore |url=https://activloop.com/music/top-10-most-important-moments-in-the-evolution-of-metalcore/}}{{cite web |date=28 November 2023 |title=Who Invented Metalcore? |url=https://loudwire.com/who-invented-metalcore/ |website=Loudwire}}{{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}} and even some who accept the term nonetheless insist that the style has become "bastardized" by the influence of commercialism and trends.

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 taking the mic from 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."{{Cite web |last=Hill |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}} Furthermore, many of the genre's more commercially successful acts, such as All That Remains, Asking Alexandria, 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- and pop-inclined" approach.{{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}}{{Cite web |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}} 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 and nu-metal in the ‘what were we thinking?’ Fads of alternative culture."{{Cite web |last=Hill |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}}

Some practitioners who have expressed disillusionment with the genre's development have attempted to differentiate and constitute acts such as Martyr AD and Poison The Well as representing "what true metalcore is."{{cite web |title=Renounced: "Death to false metalcore" |url=https://www.punktastic.com/radar/renounced-death-to-false-metalcore/}} Stephen Hill of Metal Hammer suggested that later metalcore bands such as Attila and Blessthefall "[have] more in common with airbrushed, cynically-minded boy bands than the melding of two counter-cultures."

{{main|Hardcore punk|tough guy hardcore}}

File:Agnostic Front – Reload Festival 2016 03.jpg were an early band to merge elements of metal with hardcore]]

Many of the originators of hardcore punk took influence from the sound of heavy metal, including Black Flag,Blush, American Hardcore, part 2, "Thirsty and Miserable", p. 63, 66. the Bad Brains,Andersen, Mark and Mark Jenkins (2003). Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital. "Positive Mental Attitude". p. 27. Akashic Books. {{ISBN|1-888451-44-0}}. Discharge and the Exploited,Glasper, Ian (2004). Burning Britain: The History of UK Punk 1980–1984. Cherry Red Books. p. 5. {{ISBN|1-901447-24-3}}. Furthermore, during the 1980s many genres originated merging the two styles, including crust punk, sludge metal and crossover thrash.{{cite web |last1=TARRE |first1=DYLAN |title=The Complete A-Z of Heavy Metal Subgenres |url=https://lambgoat.com/lists/1/the-complete-a-z-of-heavy-metal-subgenres |access-date=13 November 2024}} Nonetheless, punk and metal cultures and music remained fairly separate through the 1980s.{{cite web | url=https://loudwire.com/who-invented-metalcore/ | title=Who Invented Metalcore? | website=Loudwire | date=28 November 2023 }}

Bands in the New York hardcore scene in particular put a significant emphasis on the influence of metal, building their own take on hardcore, based around groove-driven, palm muted guitar riffs.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/03/09/united-blood |title=How Hardcore Conquered New York |magazine=The New Yorker |last=Sanneh |first=Kelefa |date=March 9, 2015 |accessdate=June 7, 2021 |archive-date=January 4, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190104230554/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/03/09/united-blood |url-status=live }} Early on, this scene saw the development of the hardcore breakdown, an amalgamation of Bad Brains' reggae and hardcore backgrounds, which encouraged moshing.Blush, p. 193. "Howie Abrams (NYHC scene): Mosh style was slower, very tribal – like a Reggae beat adapted to Hardcore. (...) It was an outbreak of dancing with a mid-tempo beat driven by floor tom and snare." It was this New York-style hardcore that metalcore grew directly out of.{{cite book |last1=Sfetcu |first1=Nicolae |title=The Music Sound |date=7 May 2014 |quote=This idea obviously spread outwards, and although their first real release ("Those Who Fear Tomorrow") wasn't until 1991, Integrity was formed in 1989. Most songwriting by metalcore bands at this time was similar to New York hardcore bands, but differed in their harder sound thanks to use of double bass drums, harder distortion and louder, more gruff vocal shouts.}}{{cite web |title=HARDCORE PUNK |url=https://www.metalmusicarchives.com/subgenre/hardcore-punk |access-date=10 November 2024}}{{cite web |last1=Enis |first1=Eli |title=10 ESSENTIAL NEW YORK HARDCORE ALBUMS |url=https://www.revolvermag.com/music/10-essential-new-york-hardcore-albums/ |website=Revolver |access-date=10 November 2024 |quote=As its very own sub-style of the broader tent genre, NYHC has an instantly recognizable sound and style with its own localized lineage, but it's also transcended its own area code and influenced many of the biggest hardcore bands of the last 30 years — from Hatebreed and No Warning to Power Trip and Turnstile. From the enduring works of metallic hardcore pioneers to the timeless exuberance of straight-edge provocateurs...}}

File:Integrity_Tokyo_2017_unholy.jpg in 2017.]]

One of the earliest metalcore scene was that of Cleveland, Ohio. Fronted by Integrity and Ringworm, the sound of bands in the scene was distinctly darker than what the genre would become.{{cite web |last1=Schafer |first1=Joseph |title=States Of Metal: Ohio Thrives On Grit And Determination |url=https://www.kerrang.com/states-of-metal-ohio-thrives-on-grit-and-determination |website=Kerrang! |date=23 January 2019 |access-date=29 August 2023}} Integrity's debut album Those Who Fear Tomorrow (1991) merged hardcore with apocalyptic lyrics and metal's guitar solos and chugging riffs to create one of the primeval albums in the genre.{{cite web |last1=Young |first1=Simon |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 |website=Kerrang! |date=9 June 2020 |access-date=29 August 2023}}{{cite web | url=https://loudwire.com/who-invented-metalcore/ | title=Who Invented Metalcore? | website=Loudwire | date=28 November 2023 }} Revolver magazine writer Elis Enis stated that the album "influenced practically every breakdown that's been recorded since".{{cite web |last1=Enis |first1=Eli |title=10 MOST INFLUENTIAL METALCORE ALBUMS OF ALL TIME |url=https://www.revolvermag.com/music/10-most-influential-metalcore-albums-all-time#integrity-those-who-fear-tomorrow |website=Revolver |date=16 August 2021 |access-date=29 August 2023}} Whereas, Ringworm's debut The Promise (1993) made use of a style closer to crossover thrash while also putting a heavy emphasis on breakdowns. The term "holy terror" refers to this specific style of metalcore which Integrity and Ringworm pioneered.{{cite web |last1=Yanick |first1=Joseph |title=A Documentary About Ohio Hardcore is Coming: We Interviewed the Director of 'Destroy Cleveland' |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/destroy-cleveland-doc/ |website=Vice Media |date=22 March 2015 |access-date=3 January 2025}} The style is typified by soaring guitar leads,{{cite web |last1=Whelan |first1=Kez |title=Columnus Metallicus: Heavy Metal For September Reviewed By Kez Whelan |url=https://thequietus.com/quietus-reviews/metal/dying-fetus-incantation-atomck/ |website=The Quietus |date=5 September 2023 |access-date=3 January 2025}} gravelly vocals{{cite web |last1=Gluck |first1=Michael |title=Pulling Teeth Vicious Skin |url=https://lambgoat.com/albums/2363/pulling-teeth-vicious-skin/ |access-date=3 January 2025}} and lyrics discussing western esotericism.{{cite web |last1=ADAMS |first1=GREGORY |title=Five Unexpected Elements That Shaped Integrity's 'Howling, For the Nightmare Shall Consume' |url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/five_unexpected_elements_that_shaped_integritys_occult-inspired_new_lp_howling_for_the_nightmare_shall_consume |website=Exclaim! |access-date=3 January 2025}}

Philadelphia's Starkweather were also an important early metalcore band, with their album Crossbearer (1992) which merged early metal's grooves and dark atmospheres with elements of hardcore.{{cite web |last1=Martins |first1=Jorge |title=Top 10 Most Important Moments In the Evolution of Metalcore |url=https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/articles/features/top_10_most_important_moments_in_the_evolution_of_metalcore-107030 |website=Ultimate Guitar |access-date=29 August 2023}} Rorschach also pioneered a distinctly dissonant and noise-influence niche into this early metalcore sound, which would go on to define noisecore and mathcore.{{cite web |last1=McKenty |first1=Finn |author-link=Finn McKenty |title=The History of Metalcore/Screamo |url=https://www.metalsucks.net/2010/06/07/the-history-of-metalcorescreamo/ |website=MetalSucks |date=7 June 2010 |access-date=29 August 2023}}{{cite web |last1=Breiham |first1=Tom |title=Watch Members Of Converge, The Dillinger Escape Plan, & More Cover Botch's Mathcore Classic "To Our Friends In The Great White North" |url=https://www.stereogum.com/2188993/watch-members-of-converge-the-dillinger-escape-plan-more-cover-botchs-mathcore-classic-to-our-friends-in-the-great-white-north/news/ |website=Stereogum |date=6 June 2022 |access-date=29 August 2023}}

In 1993, Earth Crisis released "Firestorm", a song which became one of the most influential in metalcore.{{cite web |last1=Marwood |first1=Lance |title=Earth Crisis: "People really take the bait when it comes to the divide and conquer propaganda." |date=5 June 2023 |url=https://v13.net/2023/06/earth-crisis-karl-buechner-interview-cover-stoy-firestorm/ |access-date=29 August 2023}} The band's militant vegan straight edge ethic and emphasis on chug riffs saw them immediately influence a wave of subsequent bands and gained coverage by major media outlets like CNN, CBS and MTV.{{cite web |last1=Downey |first1=Ryan |title=Biography Earth Crisis |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/earth-crisis-mn0000160870/biography |website=AllMusic |access-date=29 August 2023}} The EP the song was a part of was also one of the earliest releases by Victory Records who go on to be a defining part of the metalcore scene in the coming years, through releasing many of the style's most successful albums.{{cite web |last1=Bellino |first1=Emily |title=Five Times Victory Records Ruled |url=https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2019/10/21/five-times-victory/ |website=Decibel |date=21 October 2019 |access-date=29 August 2023}}

Boston, Massachusetts too developed an early metalcore scene, led by Overcast who formed in 1990.{{cite web |last1=Kennelty |first1=Greg |title=LISTSUNEARTH Names The 11 Best Lesser-Known Metalcore Classics, Announces New Album |date=3 March 2023 |url=https://metalinjection.net/lists/unearth-names-the-11-best-lesser-known-metalcore-classics-announces-new-album |access-date=29 August 2023}} Much of this scene were based around Hydra Head Records, which was founded by Aaron Turner after moving to Boston. Converge were one of the earliest and most prominent groups from the city, formed in 1990.{{cite web |last1=Hill |first1=Stephen |title=How Boston hardcore changed rock music |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/how-boston-hardcore-changed-rock-music |website=Metal Hammer |date=March 2020 |access-date=7 July 2021}} Using Rorschach's music as their sonic template,{{cite web |last1=Breihan |first1=Tom |title=5-10-15-20: Converge's Kurt Ballou |url=https://pitchfork.com/news/37497-5-10-15-20-converges-kurt-ballou/ |website=Pitchfork |date=7 January 2010 |access-date=29 August 2023}} the band's experimental attitude, emotional lyrics and attention to dynamics led to them becoming one of the most influential bands in the genre. Converge, along with Morris Plains, New Jersey's the Dillinger Escape Plan and Tacoma, Washington's Botch were three of the founding acts in the style's mathcore subgenre,{{cite web |last1=Luis |first1=Michael |title=A Brief History of Mathcore In Ten Albums |url=https://daily.bandcamp.com/lists/mathcore-guide |website=Bandcamp Daily |date=12 June 2019 |access-date=29 August 2023}} with Kansas City, Missouri's Coalesce and New Brunswick, New Jersey's Deadguy being prominent acts transitioning towards the style.{{cite web |last1=Smith-Engelhardt |first1=Joe |title=20 mathcore albums that made the genre what it is today |url=https://www.altpress.com/best-mathcore-albums-of-all-time/ |website=Alternative Press |date=21 January 2021 |access-date=29 August 2023}} Converge's guitarist Kurt Ballou opened the recording studio GodCity Studio in 1998, and would go on to record many of the most influential subsequent hardcore records from the city.

New York City's Merauder released their debut album Master Killer in 1996, merging the sounds of metalcore, earlier New York hardcore and the newly emerged beatdown hardcore style. Of the album, Revolver writer Elis Enis stated "any self-proclaimed 'metallic hardcore' band of the last 25 years is indebted to Master Killer's steel-toed stomp."{{cite web |last1=Enis |first1=Eli |title=10 MOST INFLUENTIAL METALCORE ALBUMS OF ALL TIME |url=https://www.revolvermag.com/music/10-most-influential-metalcore-albums-all-time#merauder-master-killer |website=Revolver |date=16 August 2021 |access-date=29 August 2023}} Along with All Out War, Darkside NYC and Confusion, Merauder were a part of a wave of bands defining a newer, increasingly metallic style of hardcore in New York that had long been one of the epicentres of the genre.{{cite web |last1=Enis |first1=Eli |title=Metal And Hardcore Legends Remember All Out War's For Those Who Were Crucified |url=https://www.kerrang.com/metal-and-hardcore-legends-remember-all-out-wars-for-those-who-were-crucified |website=Kerrang! |date=22 July 2019 |access-date=29 August 2023}} Long Island's Vision of Disorder were also a prevalent band in the scene, being one of the first bands to incorporate clean singing into the genre, which would soon become a staple, as well as incorporating elements of nu metal.{{cite web |last1=McKenty |first1=Finn |title=LET'S TALK ABOUT VISION OF DISORDER! |url=https://www.metalsucks.net/2011/04/08/lets-talk-about-vision-of-disorder/ |website=MetalSucks |date=8 April 2011 |access-date=29 August 2023}} In a 2005 article by Billboard magazine, writer Greg Pato stated that "with seemingly every local teen waving the VOD banner circa the mid/late '90s, it seemed as though it was only a matter of time before VOD would become the band to take 'metalcore' to a massive audience".{{cite magazine |last1=Prato |first1=Greg |title=Bloodsimple / Sept. 24, 2005 / Levittown, N.Y. (Club Voltage) |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/bloodsimple-sept-24-2005-levittown-ny-club-voltage-61208/ |magazine=Billboard |access-date=29 August 2023}}

File:Hatebreed 2016.jpg.]]

Bridgeport, Connecticut's Hatebreed released their debut album Satisfaction is the Death of Desire in 1997. The album helped the band achieve underground success, selling 158,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan,{{cite magazine |title=Victory Scores With Indie Grit |magazine=Billboard |last=Reesman |first=Bryan |date=3 April 2004 |access-date=29 November 2019 |page=22 |volume=116 |number=14 |publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc. |issn= 0006-2510 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FhAEAAAAMBAJ&q=hatebreed+satisfaction+is+death+of+desire+soundscan&pg=PA22}} and holds the record for Victory Record's best selling debut album. The band's style merged classic hardcore with beatdown and metalcore,{{cite web |last1=Richardson |first1=Jake |title=10 Metalcore Bands Who Don't (Or Barely) Use Clean Vocals |url=https://loudwire.com/metalcore-bands-little-no-clean-singing/ |website=Loudwire |date=12 January 2023 |access-date=24 August 2023}} while also overtly referencing metal bands like Slayer. In a 2015 Metal Hammer article, writer Stephen Hill stated "The difference between Hatebreed and many of their influences is that where a band like Madball were happy to co-exist with metal bands without feeling like they were part of the same scene, Hatebreed actively went out of their way to become the hardcore band metal fans listen to."{{cite web |last1=Hill |first1=Stephen |title=In Praise Of... Hatebreed – Satisfaction Is The Death Of Desire |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/in-praise-of-hatebreed-satisfaction-is-the-death-of-desire |website=Metal Hammer |date=October 2015 |access-date=29 August 2023}} Other influential metalcore bands of the time include Shai Hulud,{{cite web|title=Kill Your Stereo – Reviews: Shai Hulud – Misanthropy Pure|url=http://www.killyourstereo.com/reviews/169/shai-hulud-misanthropy-pure/|quote=Shai Hulud, a name that is synonymous (in heavy music circles at least) with intelligent, provocative and most importantly unique metallic hardcore. The band's earliest release is widely credited with influencing an entire generation of musicians|access-date=13 November 2009|archive-date=27 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120327210110/http://www.killyourstereo.com/reviews/169/shai-hulud-misanthropy-pure/|url-status=dead}}.{{cite web |url=https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/14839/Shai-Hulud-Hearts-Once-Nourished/ |title=Shai Hulud – Hearts Once Nourished with Hope and Compassion Review |work=Sputnikmusic |access-date=11 July 2012 |quote=Hearts Once Nourished with Hope and Compassion is pretty much the prime in early melodic metalcore. So many bands in both the modern metalcore and hardcore scene have drawn vast influence from them, because of how perfect they blend hardcore and metal.}}{{cite web|url=http://www.iatde.alivewww.co.uk/zombieapocalypse.htm|title=In at the Deep End Records|quote=Regardless of whether or not you liked Shai Hulud, it is undeniable that Hearts Once Nourished with Hope and Compassion was an oft-imitated and highly influential release in the mid-to-late nineties.}} Zao{{cite web|title=Metal Hammer – The Top 10 best proto-metalcore records|date=22 July 2020|url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-top-10-best-proto-metalcore-records|quote=Zao is one of the best examples of early metalcore, and their influence on the genre is undeniable. The guitar work, the high throaty style of the vocals, and the band aesthetics are all pieces that would have great influence on bands down the road.}}. and Disembodied.Sharpe-Young, p. 119

Orange County, California metalcore band Eighteen Visions contrasted the metalcore scene's usual hyper masculine aesthetic of "army and sports clothes" with "skinny jeans, eyeliner and hairstyles influenced by Orgy and Unbroken". This visual style led to the band being called "fashioncore".{{cite web |url=https://www.popmatters.com/scene-subculture-origins-hardcore-harajuku |title=From Hardcore to Harajuku: The Origins of Scene Subculture |work=PopMatters |last=Stewart |first=Ethan |date=25 May 2021 |access-date=8 June 2021 |archive-date=25 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210525180042/https://www.popmatters.com/scene-subculture-origins-hardcore-harajuku |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://www.ocweekly.com/how-eighteen-visions-became-the-oc-metal-band-known-for-inventing-fashioncore-6569812/ |title=How Eighteen Visions Became The OC Metal Band Known For Inventing "Fashioncore" |work=OC Weekly |last1=Wiederhorn |first1=Jon |last2=Turman |first2=Katherine |date=17 July 2013 |access-date=8 June 2021 |archive-date=4 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210604141108/https://www.ocweekly.com/how-eighteen-visions-became-the-oc-metal-band-known-for-inventing-fashioncore-6569812/ |url-status=live }} Jasamine White-Gluz of Exclaim! wrote that Eighteen Visions look "more like a boy band than a popular hardcore group. Critics tag the band for putting fashion at the centre of their music, but it adds a playful and interesting touch to a band that sounds much tougher than it looks."{{cite web |url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/lamb_of_god_chimaira_eighteen_visions_atreyu-rainbow |title=Lamb of God / Chimaira / Eighteen Visions / Atreyu Rainbow Montreal QC - May 16, 2003 |work=Exclaim! |last=White-Gluz |first=Jasamine |date=1 June 2003 |access-date=8 June 2021 |archive-date=8 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210608133232/https://exclaim.ca/music/article/lamb_of_god_chimaira_eighteen_visions_atreyu-rainbow |url-status=live }} A scene of bands in Orange County including Bleeding Through, Avenged Sevenfold and Atreyu continued this in Eighteen Visions' wake,{{cite web |url=https://www.altpress.com/features/what_is_emo_history_definition/ |title=What is Emo, Anyway? We Look at History to Define a Genre |work=Alternative Press |last=Richman |first=Jesse |date=24 January 2018 |access-date=8 June 2021 |archive-date=8 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210608130901/https://www.altpress.com/features/what_is_emo_history_definition/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/bleeding_through-wolves_among_sheep |title=Bleeding Through Wolves Among Sheep |work=Exclaim! |last=Deneau |first=Max |date=1 December 2005 |access-date=8 June 2021 |archive-date=8 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210608130859/https://exclaim.ca/music/article/bleeding_through-wolves_among_sheep |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=http://www.cjlo.com/articles/easy-breezy-brutal-three-major-movements-in-heavy-metal-makeup |title=Easy, Breezy, Brutal: Three Major Movements in Heavy Metal Makeup |work=Cjlo |date=10 February 2014 |access-date=8 June 2021 |archive-date=8 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210608130909/http://www.cjlo.com/articles/easy-breezy-brutal-three-major-movements-in-heavy-metal-makeup |url-status=live }} and influenced emo and scene fashion in the coming decade.

As the decade drew to a close, a wave of metalcore bands began incorporating elements of melodic death metal into their sound. This formed an early version of what would become the melodic metalcore genre, with Shadows Fall's Somber Eyes to the Sky (1997), Undying's This Day All Gods Die (1999), Darkest Hour's The Prophecy Fulfilled (1999), Unearth's Above the Fall of Man (1999), Prayer for Cleansing's Rain in Endless Fall (1999) being some of the style's earliest releases.{{cite book |last1=Sfetcu |first1=Nicolae |title=The Music Sound |date=7 May 2014 |quote=While death metal and hardcore had always intermingled to an extent, the first clearly identifiable instances of melodic Swedish metal being combined with hardcore seem to have sprung almost simultaneously, with Undying's This Day All Gods Die, Darkest Hour's The Prophecy Fulfilled, Prayer for Cleansing's The Rain in Endless Fall, Shadows Fall's With Somber Eyes to the Sky, and Unearth's Above the Fall of Man all being released within a year of each other (1998-99). It is unclear who first got the idea to combine the two styles. Darkest Hour had released an EP called The Misanthrope in 1996 which arguably contained elements of their later sound but was for the most part aggro-hardcore in the vein of Damnation a.d. On the other hand, Day of Suffering's 1997 album The Eternal Jihad is cited as an influence for many of the North Carolina bands that followed, such as Undying and Overcast is seen as having started the genre in Massachusetts.}} CMJ writer Anthony Delia also credited Florida's Poison the Well and their first two releases The Opposite of December... A Season of Separation (1999) and Tear from the Red (2002) as "design[ing] the template for most of" the melodic metalcore bands to come.{{cite news|last1=Delia|first1=Anthony|title=CMJ Magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XY5HXiUDbskC |access-date=27 April 2018|issue=821|publisher=CMJ|date=7 July 2003 |quote=Poison The Well designed the template for most of today's melodic metalcore acts, spawning countless copycats in the process. The band's last two efforts, 1999's The Opposite Of December...A Season Of Separation and 2002's Tear From The Red, are genre essentials, but no one is going to argue that those albums were constructed of memorable parts, rather than complete, efficiently executed songs; you knew when to rock out and when to sing along.}}

File:Jacob Bannon of Converge.jpg's Jane Doe (2001) is one of the most critically acclaimed albums in metalcore.]]

Converge's Jane Doe was released on 4 September 2001 to universal critical and fan acclaim. The album influenced the development of the sound of other U.S. bands like Norma Jean and Misery Signals as well as international acts like Eden Maine, Johnny Truant and Beecher.{{cite web |last1=Hill |first1=Stephen |title=Converge's Jane Doe: revisiting the album that changed hardcore forever |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-cult-of-carnage-revisiting-converges-jane-doe |website=Metal Hammer |date=5 April 2017 |access-date=1 September 2023}}

Blake Butler of Allmusic stated that Converge "put the final sealing blow on their status as a legend in the world of metallic hardcore" with the album, calling it "an experience -- an encyclopedic envelopment of so much at once."{{Cite web|url=http://allmusic.com/album/jane-doe-mw0000012994|title=Jane Doe - Converge|website=allmusic.com|access-date=15 September 2020}} Terrorizer Magazine named it their 2001 Album of the Year,J. Bennett, "Who's That Girl?", Precious Metal: Decibel Presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces, Albert Mudrian (ed.), Da Capo Press, p. 331. and it was named the greatest album of the 2000s by Noisecreep,{{Cite web|url=http://noisecreep.com/best-albums-2000s/|title=Best Albums of the 2000s|website=Noisecreep|date=2 December 2009 |language=en-US|access-date=1 February 2017}} Sputnikmusic{{Cite web|url=http://www.sputnikmusic.com/blog/2010/06/11/top-100-albums-of-the-decade-10-1/|title=Sputnikmusic - Top 100 Albums of the Decade (10-1) « Staff Blog|website=www.sputnikmusic.com|language=en-US|access-date=1 February 2017}} and Decibel.{{Cite news|url=https://newmusicexcess.wordpress.com/music-lists/decibel-the-top-100-greatest-metal-albums-of-the-decade/|title=Decibel – The Top 100 Greatest Metal Albums Of The Decade|date=28 January 2010|newspaper=New Music Excess|language=en-US|access-date=1 February 2017}}

Douglasville, Georgia's Norma Jean and the Chariot were both influential artists continuing metalcore's earlier sound into the 2000s.{{cite web |title=12 influential early 2000s metalcore albums that shaped the genre |url=https://www.altpress.com/2000s-metalcore-albums/ |website=Alternative Press |date=29 April 2021 |access-date=1 September 2023}} Norma Jean's O' God, the Aftermath (2005) was Grammy award nominated for Best Recording Package{{cite web |last1=Hickie |first1=James |title=Album Review: Norma Jean – All Hail |url=https://www.kerrang.com/album-review-norma-jean-all-hail |website=Kerrang! |date=3 November 2019 |access-date=1 September 2023}} and the Chariot's Long Live (2010) was listed as one of Kerrang!'s "21 best U.S. metalcore albums of all time". In contrast to these bands' dark approach to the genre, Buffalo, New York's Every Time I Die incorporated Southern rock elements and humor, Kerrang! noted them as "shaped the cutting edge of modern metalcore."{{cite web |last1=Law |first1=Sam |title=All Structures Are Unstable: An ode to Every Time I Die |url=https://www.kerrang.com/all-structures-are-unstable-an-ode-to-every-time-i-die |website=Kerrang! Magazine |date=19 January 2022 |access-date=24 January 2022}}

{{Main|Melodic metalcore}}

Image:Killswitch Engage (4).jpg performing in 2016.|left]]

In 2002, Killswitch Engage's Alive or Just Breathing reached number 37 on the Heatseekers Albums chart.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/killswitch-engage/chart-history/tln/ |title=Killswitch Engage Chart History (Heatseekers Albums) |magazine=Billboard |access-date=29 November 2019}} In 2004, Killswitch Engage's The End of Heartache,{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/killswitch-engage/chart-history/tlp/ |title=Killswitch Engage Chart History (Billboard 200) |magazine=Billboard |access-date=29 November 2019}} Shadows Fall's The War Within,{{cite web|url=http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=70442 |title=Shadows Fall to Co-Headline Sounds of the Underground |work=Blabbermouth.net |access-date=11 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110819065852/http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=70442 |archive-date=19 August 2011 }}{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/shadows-fall/chart-history |title=Shadows Fall (Chart History) |magazine=Billboard |access-date=29 November 2019}} and Atreyu's The Curse{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/atreyu/chart-history |title=Atreyu Chart History |magazine=Billboard |access-date=29 November 2019}} peaked at numbers 21, 20, and 36 on the Billboard 200, respectively. Also, in 2006, Atreyu's third studio album, A Death-Grip On Yesterday peaked at number 9 on the Billboard 200, only to be followed up by 2007's Lead Sails Paper Anchor, which peaked at number 8. Atreyu's 2002 debut album Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses, as of 3 July 2004, has sold 107,000 copies in the United States.{{cite magazine |page=41 |date=3 July 2004 |access-date=29 November 2019 |magazine=Billboard |title=Atreyu Gets Victory Plan |last=Christman |first=Ed |volume=116 |number=27 |issn=0006-2510 |publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OhAEAAAAMBAJ&q=atreyu+soundscan&pg=PA41 |archive-date=20 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210220223626/https://books.google.com/books?id=OhAEAAAAMBAJ&q=atreyu+soundscan&pg=PA41 |url-status=live }} Killswitch Engage's 2004 album The End of Heartache{{Certification Cite Ref|title=The End of Heartache|artist=Killswitch Engage|type=album|region=United States}} and 2006 album As Daylight Dies{{Certification Cite Ref|title=As Daylight Dies|artist=Killswitch Engage|type=album|region=United States}} were both certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2007 and 2009, respectively. Killswitch Engage's 2002 album Alive or Just Breathing, as of 3 July 2004, has sold 114,000 copies in the United States. Unearth began to have success among heavy metal fans in 2004 with the release of their second album The Oncoming Storm, which peaked at number 1 on the Heatseekers Albums chart on 17 July 2004.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/unearth/chart-history/tln/ |title=Unearth Chart History (Heatseekers Albums) |magazine=Billboard |access-date=29 November 2019}} On that same day, the album peaked at number 105 on the Billboard 200. Unearth's 2006 album III: In the Eyes of Fire peaked at number 35 on the Billboard 200. The band's 2008 album The March peaked at number 45 on the Billboard 200.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/unearth/chart-history/tlp/ |title=Unearth Chart History (Billboard 200) |magazine=Billboard |access-date=29 November 2019}} Oncoming Storm, III: In the Eyes of Fire', and The March peaked at numbers 6, 2 and 3 on the Independent Albums chart, respectively.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/unearth/chart-history/ind/ |title=Unearth Chart History (Independent Albums) |magazine=Billboard |access-date=29 November 2019}} Avenged Sevenfold's first two albums Sounding the Seventh Trumpet (2001) and Waking the Fallen (2003) were both metalcore albums. On the band's 2005 album City of Evil, Avenged Sevenfold moved away from metalcore and changed to a traditional heavy metal sound.{{cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1503793/20050608/avenged_sevenfold.jhtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001110302/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1503793/20050608/avenged_sevenfold.jhtml|url-status=dead|archive-date=1 October 2007|title=Avenged Sevenfold Salute Dimebag, Shun Metalcore On Evil|last=Weiderhorn|first=Joe|date=9 June 2005|publisher=MTV |access-date=29 November 2019}} On 15 June 2005, Blabbermouth.net reported that Waking the Fallen has sold 172,253 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.{{cite news |url=https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/avenged-sevenfold-s-city-of-evil-enters-billboard-chart-at-no/ |title=Avenged Sevenfold's 'City Of Evil' Enters Billboard Chart At No. 30 |work=Blabbermouth.net |date=15 June 2005 |access-date=29 November 2019 |archive-date=20 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920183914/https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/avenged-sevenfold-s-city-of-evil-enters-billboard-chart-at-no/ |url-status=live }} On 17 July 2009, Waking the Fallen was certified gold by the RIAA.{{Certification Cite Ref|title=Waking the Fallen|artist=Avenged Sevenfold|type=album|region=United States}}

File:BulletForMyValentine2006.PNG band Bullet for My Valentine performing live in 2006.]]

File:As I Lay Dying at the With Full Force music festival -- 29 June 2007.jpg live at With Full Force 2007.|left]]

Trivium also achieved success among heavy metal fans when their 2005 album Ascendancy peaked at number 151 on the Billboard 200. Their albums The Crusade (2006) and Shogun (2008) peaked at numbers 25 and 23 on the Billboard 200, respectively.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/trivium/chart-history |title=Trivium Chart History |magazine=Billboard |access-date=29 November 2019}} Bleeding Through's 2006 album The Truth peaked at number 1 on the Independent Albums chart on 28 January 2006.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/bleeding-through/chart-history/ind/ |title=Bleeding Through Chart History (Independent Albums) |magazine=Billboard |access-date=29 November 2019}} On that same day, the album peaked at number 48 on the Billboard 200.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/bleeding-through/chart-history/tlp/ |title=Bleeding Through Chart History (Billboard 200) |magazine=Billboard |access-date=29 November 2019}} Metalcore band As I Lay Dying also achieved success among heavy metal fans. The band's 2005 album Shadows Are Security peaked at number 35 on the Billboard 200 and sold 263,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cg8EAAAAMBAJ&q=as+i+lay+dying+soundscan&pg=PA46 |title=As I Stay Touring |magazine=Billboard |date=28 July 2007 |access-date=29 November 2019 |page=46 |volume=119 |number=30 |issn=0006-2510 |publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc. |last=Titus |first=Christa |archive-date=20 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210220223646/https://books.google.com/books?id=cg8EAAAAMBAJ&q=as+i+lay+dying+soundscan&pg=PA46 |url-status=live }} As I Lay Dying's 2007 album An Ocean Between Us peaked at number 8 on the Billboard 200 in 2007.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/as-i-lay-dying |title=As I Lay Dying |magazine=Billboard |access-date=29 November 2019}} As of April 2005, As I Lay Dying's 2003 album Frail Words Collapse sold 118,000 copies in the United States.{{cite news |url=https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/as-i-lay-dying-new-album-limited-edition-to-include-bonus-dvd/ |title=AS I LAY DYING: New Album Limited Edition To Include Bonus DVD |work=Blabbermouth.net |date=28 April 2005 |access-date=29 November 2019 |archive-date=3 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201203173351/https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/as-i-lay-dying-new-album-limited-edition-to-include-bonus-dvd/ |url-status=live }} All That Remains achieved success with their 2006 album The Fall of Ideals, which, as of 1 October 2008, sold 175,000 copies in the United States.{{cite web |url=https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/all-that-remains-behind-the-scenes-footage-from-two-weeks-video-shoot-available/ |title=ALL THAT REMAINS: Behind-The-Scenes Footage From 'Two Weeks' Video Shoot Available |work=Blabbermouth.net |date=1 October 2008 |access-date=29 November 2019}} All That Remains' 2008 album Overcome peaked at number 16 on the Billboard 200. Overcome{{'s}} song "Two Weeks" peaked at number 9 on the Mainstream Rock Songs chart on 16 May 2009.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/all-that-remains/chart-history/rtt/ |title=All That Remains Chart History (Mainstream Rock Songs) |magazine=Billboard |access-date=29 November 2019}} Bullet for My Valentine's debut album The Poison was released in October 2005 in Europe and was released in February 2006 in the United States. On 26 July 2006, Blabbermouth.net reported that The Poison has sold 72,000 copies in the United States.{{cite news |url=https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/bullet-for-my-valentine-the-poison-reissue-detailed/ |title=BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE: 'The Poison' Reissue Detailed |work=Blabbermouth.net |date=26 July 2006 |access-date=29 November 2019 |archive-date=3 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201203165319/https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/bullet-for-my-valentine-the-poison-reissue-detailed/ |url-status=live }} On 27 October 2007, Blabbermouth.net reported that The Poison has sold 336,000 copies in the United States.{{cite news |url=https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/bullet-for-my-valentine-frontman-says-new-album-will-blow-the-poison-out-of-the-water/ |title=BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE Frontman Says New Album Will Blow 'The Poison' Out Of The Water |work=Blabbermouth.net |date=27 October 2007 |access-date=29 November 2019 |archive-date=3 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201203170316/https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/bullet-for-my-valentine-frontman-says-new-album-will-blow-the-poison-out-of-the-water/ |url-status=live }} On 3 April 2010, Billboard reported that The Poison sold 573,000 copies in the United States. The Poison was certified gold by the RIAA on 30 January 2009.{{Certification Cite Ref|title=The Poison|artist=Bullet for My Valentine|type=album|region=United States}} Bullet for My Valentine's second album Scream Aim Fire, released in 2008, peaked at number 4 on the Billboard 200 and sold 360,000 copies in the United States.{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rOA5W_BoYGIC&q=bullet+for+my+valentine+soundscan+360%2C000&pg=RA13-PA14 |title=Big RED |date=3 April 2010 |access-date=29 November 2019 |magazine=Billboard |volume=122 |number=13 |issn= 0006-2510 |publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc. |page=14}} Bullet for My Valentine's 2010 album Fever peaked at number 3 on the Billboard 200, selling 71,000 copies in the United States during its first week of release. Fever{{'s}} song "Your Betrayal" peaked at number 25 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/bullet-for-my-valentine/chart-history/hbu/|title=Bullet for My Valentine (Bubbling Under Hot 100) |magazine=Billboard |access-date=29 November 2019}}

File:Whitechapel live in anaheim 2011.jpg on 2011 Summer Slaughter Tour.]]

{{see also|Deathcore|electronicore}}

As the decade progressed, metalcore became increasingly tied to the social media Myspace, launched in 2003, and the scene subculture that was prominent on the platform.{{cite web |title=How Corporations Trapped the MySpace Scene in a Literal Bubble |url=https://consequence.net/2023/08/myspace-scene-bubble-cartel-top-eight/2/ |website=Consequence |date=17 August 2023 |access-date=1 September 2023}} Marketing through Myspace launched the careers of many of the era's most prominent bands including Bring Me the Horizon, Attack Attack!, Black Veil Brides, Bullet for My Valentine, Job For a Cowboy and Suicide Silence. Despite the stylistic distinctness between many of these groups' sounds they became encompassed by the terms "myspace-core" and "scene-core". Many went on to become fixtures at Warped Tour,{{cite web |last1=Irizarry |first1=Katy |title=16 Bands Who Got Their Start on MySpace |url=https://loudwire.com/bands-who-got-start-on-myspace/ |website=Loudwire |date=20 June 2019 |access-date=1 September 2023}} and Fearless Records's Punk Goes... cover series.{{cite web |last1=Richardson |first1=Jake |title=20 era-defining MySpace bands: Where are they now? |url=https://www.kerrang.com/20-bands-who-owe-it-all-to-myspace-and-where-they-are-now |website=Kerrang! |date=24 September 2019 |access-date=1 September 2023}}

Deathcore is a fusion of metalcore and death metal.{{cite web |title=lambgoat.com |url=http://www.lambgoat.com/albums/view.aspx?id=2517 |access-date=11 July 2012 |quote=This is deathcore. This is what happens when death metal and hardcore, along with healthy doses of other heavy music styles, are so smoothly blended...}}{{cite web |author=Lee, Cosmo |date=29 October 2007 |title=metalinjection.net |url=http://metalinjection.net/blog/2007/10/29/cd-review-whitechapel-the-somatic-defilement/ |access-date=11 November 2008 |quote=...All Shall Perish... Alienacja (Poland), Despised Icon (Montreal) and Whitechapel (Knoxville, TN)... They're all textbook 'deathcore', fusing death metal and hardcore punk.}}{{cite web |author=Rivadavia, Eduardo |title=Heaven Shall Burn |url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=heaven-shall-burn-mn0000952025|pure_url=yes}} |access-date=31 May 2008 |work=AllMusic |quote=Munich, Germany's Heaven Shall Burn specialize in highly controversial and politicized death metal fused with hardcore; a hybrid style often referred to as death-core.}} Deathcore is defined by breakdowns, blast beats and death metal riffs.{{cite web |last=Lee |first=Cosmo |title=Doom |url={{allMusic|class=album|id=doom-mw0000787310|pure_url=yes}} |access-date=25 March 2011 |work=AllMusic |publisher=Rovi Corporation}} Bands may also incorporate guitar solos and even riffs that are influenced by metalcore. New York-based death metal group Suffocation is credited as one of the main influences for the emergence of deathcore. Embodyments album "Embrace The Eternal" is a foundation for the modern Deathcore sound.{{cite magazine |last=Lee |first=Cosmo |date=September 2009 |title=Suffocation reclaim their rightful place as kings of death metal |magazine=Decibel Magazine |issue=59 |quote=One of Suffocation's trademarks, breakdowns, has spawned an entire metal subgenre: deathcore}}. Some examples of deathcore bands are Suicide Silence,{{cite magazine |author=Wiederhorn, Jon |date=September 2008 |title=Dawn of the Deathcore |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tPkDAAAAMBAJ&q=deathcore&pg=PT62 |magazine=Revolver |publisher=Future US |issue=72 |pages=63–66 |issn=1527-408X |access-date=3 July 2009 }}{{Dead link|date=December 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Whitechapel, Knights of the Abyss,{{cite web |author=Sharpe-Young, Garry |title=Knights of the Abyss |url=http://www.musicmight.com/artist/united+states/arizona/glendale/knights+of+the+abyss |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090918200532/http://www.musicmight.com/artist/united%2Bstates/arizona/glendale/knights%2Bof%2Bthe%2Babyss |archive-date=18 September 2009 |access-date=10 July 2009 |publisher=MusicMight}} Carnifex and Chelsea Grin.{{cite web |last=Henderson |first=Alex |title=Desolation of Eden review |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=desolation-of-eden-mw0001958607|pure_url=yes}} |access-date=4 April 2010 |work=AllMusic |publisher=Macrovision}}

In 2006 and 2007, a wave of metalcore bands strongly influenced by death metal dubbed deathcore gained moderate popularity. Notable bands that brought the genre to the fore include Bring Me the Horizon and Suicide Silence. Suicide Silence's No Time to Bleed peaked at number 32 on the Billboard 200, number 12 on the Rock Albums Chart and number 6 on the Hard Rock Albums Chart,{{cite magazine|url={{BillboardURLbyName|artist=suicide silence|chart=all}}|title=Suicide Silence Album & Songs Chart History|magazine=Billdboard|publisher=Billboard.com|access-date=5 January 2013}} 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. After its release, Whitechapel's album This Is Exile sold 5,900 in copies, which made it enter the Billboard 200 chart at position 118.{{cite news|url=http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=100980|title=Whitechapel's This Is Exile Lands on Billboard Chart|date=16 July 2008|work=Blabbermouth|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080803031857/http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=100980|archive-date=3 August 2008|url-status=dead|access-date=5 January 2013}} Their self-titled album peaked at number 65 on the Canadian Albums Chart{{cite web|url=http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Charts/ALBUMS.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20041226005640/http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Charts/ALBUMS.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=26 December 2004|title=Albums Charts|access-date=5 January 2013}} and also at number 47 on the Billboard 200.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.billboard.com/artist/whitechapel/chart-history/778140|title=Whitechapel's Chart History|magazine=Billboard.com|access-date=5 January 2013}}{{Dead link|date=June 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/page-not-found|title=Roadrunner Records Page Not Found|website=Roadrunner Records Official Website|access-date=6 May 2017|archive-date=26 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170526052254/http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/page-not-found|url-status=dead}} Furthermore, Bring Me the Horizon won the 2006 Kerrang! Awards for Best British Newcomer after they released their 2006 debut record Count Your Blessings.{{cite web|url=http://kerrang.typepad.com/kerrang_awards_2006_blog/2006/08/best_british_ne.html|title=Kerrang! Awards 2006 Blog: Best British Newcomer}} However, Bring Me the Horizon abandoned the deathcore genre after the release of this album.{{cite web|url=http://drownedinsound.com/directory/artists/Bring_Me_The_Horizon|title=Bring Me The Horizon // Drowned In Sound|work=Drowned In Sound|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054215/http://drownedinsound.com/directory/artists/Bring_Me_The_Horizon|archive-date=21 September 2013|url-status=dead|access-date=20 March 2012}} San Diego natives Carnifex, witnessed success with their first album Dead in My Arms, selling 5,000 copies with little publicity. On top of their non-stop touring and methodical songwriting resulted in Carnifex quickly getting signed to label Victory Records.{{cite web|url=http://www.massconcerts.com/event/83083-all-in-merch-14th-annual-new-worcester/|title=Event – MassConcerts|website=www.massconcerts.com|access-date=6 May 2017|archive-date=31 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190731161929/https://www.massconcerts.com/event/83083-all-in-merch-14th-annual-new-worcester/|url-status=dead}} Lastly, Australian deathcore band Thy Art Is Murder debuted at number 35 on the ARIA Charts with their album Hate (2012){{cite web|url=http://australian-charts.com/weekchart.asp?cat=a&year=2012&date=20121104|title=Australian charts portal|author=Steffen Hung|date=13 April 2015|publisher=Australian-charts.com|access-date=17 April 2015}} making them the first extreme metal band to ever reach the Top 40 of this chart.{{cite web|url=http://www.themusicnetwork.com/music-news/industry/2012/10/31/thy-art-is-murder-break-aria-record/|title=Thy Art Is Murder break ARIA record - Music Industry - The Music Network|last=Eliezer|first=Christie|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130926071241/http://www.themusicnetwork.com/music-news/industry/2012/10/31/thy-art-is-murder-break-aria-record/|archive-date=26 September 2013|access-date=27 July 2017}}

File:Asking Alexandria 2012 Mayhem.jpg at Mayhem Festival 2012.]]

Electronicore's merger of metalcore with various electronic music styles emerged in the 2000s. One of the earliest contributors to the sound was St Albans band Enter Shikari.{{cite web |last1=May |first1=Adam |title=Enter Shikari: The award-winning British rock band who formed in Hertfordshire |url=https://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/news/hertfordshire-news/enter-shikari-award-winning-british-5085170 |website=Hertfordshire Mercury |date=9 March 2021 |access-date=1 September 2023}} Their debut album Take to the Skies peaked at number on the Official UK Album Chart selling 28,000 copies in its first week and was certified Gold in the UK after selling over 100,000 copies. It was also the first album to achieve a significant chart success for a new act operating outside the traditional label system.{{cite web|author=Lars Brandle |url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1053180/uks-enter-shikari-scores-without-label |title=U.K.'s Enter Shikari Scores Without Label |publisher=Billboard |date= |access-date=22 November 2016}} The group received international radio airplay and a substantial number of musical awards, from Kerrang!, NME, Rock Sound and the BT Digital Music Awards.{{cite web |title=Kerrang! Awards 2006 Blog: Best British Newcomer |url=http://kerrang.typepad.com/kerrang_awards_2006_blog/2006/08/best_british_ne.html |access-date=12 March 2011 |publisher=Kerrang.typepad.com}}{{cite web |author=Mike Diver |title=NME Awards: winners in full |url=http://drownedinsound.com/news/1689011-nme-awards--winners-in-full |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016060502/http://drownedinsound.com/news/1689011-nme-awards--winners-in-full |archive-date=16 October 2012 |access-date=11 September 2012}}{{cite web |title=Muse win BT Digital Music Award |url=http://www.nme.com/news/muse/31529 |website=NME}} Their second album Common Dreads was released in June 2009 and debuted on the UK Albums Chart at 16.{{cite web |title=Radio 1 – The Official Chart with Reggie Yates – The Official UK Top 40 Albums Chart |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chart/albums.shtml |access-date=12 March 2011 |publisher=BBC}} Columbus, Ohio's Attack Attack! gained significant notoriety with their Enter Shikari-influenced sound. The band's song for "Stick Stickly", the lead single from Someday Came Suddenly (2008) went viral online for its use of autotune and synths, with the members' squatting "crab walk" stance during the music video giving way to the crabcore meme.{{cite web |title=The True Story Behind the Most Hated Metal Video of All Time |url=https://www.kerrang.com/features/the-true-story-behind-the-most-hated-metal-video-of-all-time/ |access-date=31 July 2019 |website=Kerrang!|date=4 June 2019 }} Warren, Michigan band I See Stars's debut album 3-D debuted at number 176 on the Billboard 200, number 5 on Top Heatseekers, and number 22 on Top Independent Albums.{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p1122695/charts-awards|pure_url=yes}}|title=I See Stars album charting|publisher=Allmusic.com|access-date=26 April 2011}} The Devil Wears Prada's 2011 album Dead Throne (which sold 32,400 in its first week){{cite web |author= |url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/467358/lady-antebellum-own-the-billboard-200-with-second-no-1-album |title=Lady Antebellum 'Own' the Billboard 200 with Second No. 1 Album |work=Billboard.com |date=14 September 2009 |access-date=20 October 2011}} reached number 10{{cite web|url=http://www.metalinsider.net/video/the-devil-wears-prada-post-a-video-update-for-new-album|title=The Devil Wears Prada Post A Video Update For New Album|work=Metal Insider|date=31 May 2013}} on the Billboard 200 chart. Asking Alexandria also achieved success, with their 2009 song "Final Episode (Let's Change the Channel)" being certified gold by the RIAA.{{Certification Cite Ref|title=Final Episode (Let's Change the Channel)|artist=Asking Alexandria|type=single|region=United States}} The band's 2011 album Reckless & Relentless peaked at number 9 on the Billboard 200.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/asking-alexandria/chart-history/tlp/ |title=Asking Alexandria Chart History (Billboard 200) |magazine=Billboard |date=22 January 2015 |access-date=29 November 2019}}

In the late 2000s, a wave of groups began to gain traction cross-pollinating the metalcore style of bands like Shai Hulud and Misery Signals, with the influence of traditional hardcore and melodic hardcore groups like Killing the Dream. This wave often made use of serious, solemn lyrics and sometimes clean vocals in addition to the commonplace screams. Music commentators including Stuff You Will Hate, Alternative Press and Bradley Zorgdrager of Exclaim! used the name "serious hardcore" or "srscore" to refer to this style.{{cite web |last1=ZORGDRAGER |first1=BRADLEY |title=Lifeless Dream |url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/lifeless-dream |website=Exclaim! |access-date=10 August 2024}}{{cite web |last1=Shultz |first1=Brian |title=Hundredth live in Somerville (2017) |date=7 December 2017 |url=https://www.punknews.org/review/15429/hundredth-live-in-somerville |access-date=10 August 2024}} Groups in this wave included Hundredth, the Ghost Inside, Counterparts and Stick to Your Guns.{{cite web |title=Stick To Your Guns Diamond |url=https://rockfreaks.net/albums/4920 |access-date=10 August 2024}}

File:Warped Tour 2010 - BMTH 21.jpg's 2013 album Sempiternal was highly influential on metalcore in the 2010s]]

Architects and Bring Me the Horizon spearheaded the British metalcore scene of the late 2000s and early 2010s.{{cite web |last1=Callan |first1=Alex |title=How Architects Became One Of The Biggest Metal Bands In The World. |date=9 February 2021 |url=https://www.hysteriamag.com/architects-became-one-biggest-metal-bands-world/ |access-date=15 May 2021}} Architects had begun as a mathcore band on Nightmares (2006) before moving into metalcore by the release of Ruin (2007).{{cite web |last1=Hill |first1=Stephen |last2=Alderslade |first2=Merlin |title=Every Architects album ranked from worst to best |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/all-architects-albums-ranked |website=Metal Hammer |date=15 August 2023 |access-date=31 August 2023}} Hysteria magazine credited the band's long time vocalist Sam Carter with reviving high pitched screamed vocals in metalcore and "influencing an entire generation of acts such as Polaris, In Hearts Wake, Void of Vision, Invent Animate, Imminence...the list goes on", as well as popularising the "blegh" adlib, which subsequently became commonplace in the genre. Bring Me the Horizon's third album There Is a Hell Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is a Heaven Let's Keep It a Secret. (2010), saw the band incorporate electronica, classical music and pop music into their metalcore style,{{cite web | url = http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/B/Bring_Me_The_Horizon/2010/11/18/16203866.html | title = Horizon broadens for young band | first = Darryl | last = Sterdan | work = QMI Agency | publisher = Canoe Inc. | date = 18 November 2010 | access-date = 20 March 2012 | url-status = usurped | archive-url = https://archive.today/20121209031552/http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/B/Bring_Me_The_Horizon/2010/11/18/16203866.html | archive-date = 9 December 2012 }} a trend then continued further on Sempiternal (2013), which also embraced elements of nu metal.{{cite web |last1=Hill |first1=Stephen |title=This is Sempiternal: how Bring Me The Horizon made this generation's definitive metal album |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/this-is-sempiternal-how-bring-me-the-horizon-made-this-generations-definitive-metal-album |website=Metal Hammer |date=31 March 2023 |access-date=31 August 2023}} The Latter peaked at number 3 on the UK albums chart,{{cite web |title=Bring Me The Horizon |website=Official Charts |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/5240/bring-me-the-horizon/ |access-date=15 May 2021}} and was one of the earliest releases by a UK metalcore band on a major label, through RCA Records.{{cite news |title=BRING ME THE HORIZON ANNOUNCE NEW RECORD LABEL |url=https://www.rocksound.tv/news/read/bring-me-the-horizon-announce-new-record-label? |website=RockSound |access-date=15 May 2021}} Following this, many bands in the metalcore scene began to emulate the sound these albums. The band's massive mainstream success led publications such as the Guardian and the Independent to accredit them as "the new Metallica",{{cite web |last1=Brey |first1=Elisa |title=Bring me the Horizon, interview: Could the band become the new Metallica? |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/bring-me-horizon-interview-could-band-become-new-metallica-9890176.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220509/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/bring-me-horizon-interview-could-band-become-new-metallica-9890176.html |archive-date=9 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |website=The Independent |date=28 November 2014 |access-date=15 May 2021}}{{cite web |last1=Hann |first1=Michael |title=Bring Me The Horizon: 'We'll never sell out arenas' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/apr/04/bring-me-the-horizon-interview-sempiternal |website=The Guardian |date=4 April 2013 |access-date=15 May 2021}} and Metal Hammer writer Stephen Hill to call Sempiternal "this generation's definitive metal album".

The nu metal elements present on Sempiternal, as well as Suicide Silence's The Black Crown (2012), led to a wave of bands in the mid-2010s taking influence from nu metal.{{cite web |title=Thrash Hits - Nu metalcore |url=http://www.thrashhits.com/2013/09/nu-metalcore-is-definitely-happening-why/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170315001209/http://www.thrashhits.com/2013/09/nu-metalcore-is-definitely-happening-why/ |archive-date=15 March 2017}} My Ticket Home's Strangers Only (2013) was a notable precedent of this wave, seeing a previously established metalcore act merge their style with dark, nu metal influence to help establish the coming nu metalcore sound.{{cite web |last1=Sievers |first1=Alex |title=From The Editor: The Best Releases Of The 2010s |url=https://killyourstereo.com/features/from-the-editor-the-best-releases-of-the-2010s/tqSiqKuqraw/04-02-20 |access-date=31 August 2023}} Issues' merger of nu metal, metalcore and contemporary R&B gained them significant commercial success, with a number of publications crediting them as ushering a new wave of nu metal.{{cite web |date=17 April 2013 |title=Issues: The Band That (Finally) Gets Nu-Metal Right |url=http://www.metalsucks.net/2013/04/17/issues-the-band-that-finally-gets-nu-metal-right/ |access-date=27 June 2014 |publisher=MetalSucks}}{{cite news |title=Are Issues Ushering In A New Wave of Nü-Metal? |work=Metal Injection |url=http://www.metalinjection.net/editorials/are-issues-ushering-in-a-new-wave-of-nu-metal |url-status=live |access-date=27 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304001649/http://www.metalinjection.net/editorials/are-issues-ushering-in-a-new-wave-of-nu-metal |archive-date=4 March 2016}} Their debut self-titled album (2014) peaked at number nine on the Billboard 200 chart{{cite magazine |title=Chart History Issues |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/issues/chart-history/tlp/ |magazine=Billboard |access-date=31 August 2023}} and their second album Headspace (2016) reached number one on the Top Alternative Albums chart.{{cite magazine |title=Chart History Issues |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/issues/chart-history/alt/ |magazine=Billboard |access-date=31 August 2023}}

Furthermore, Bring Me the Horizon's fifth album That's the Spirit (2015) saw the band fully embrace nu metal,{{cite news |last1=Bakare |first1=Lanre |title=Bring Me the Horizon: That's the Spirit review – nu-metal reanimators |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/sep/10/bring-me-the-horizon-thats-the-spirit-review |website=The Guardian |date=10 September 2015 |access-date=31 August 2023}} which peaked at number 2 in both the UK and US.{{cite magazine |title=Chart History Bring Me the Horizon |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/bring-me-the-horizon/chart-history/tlp/ |magazine=Billboard |access-date=31 August 2023}}{{cite web |title=Official Albums Charton 18/9/2015 18 September 2015 - 24 September 2015 |website=Official Charts |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/albums-chart/20150918/7502/ |access-date=31 August 2023}} In the following years Emmure,{{cite web |title=Eternal Enemies - Emmure |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/eternal-enemies-mw0002621415 |website=Allmusic}}{{cite web |date=10 September 2009 |title=Guest Insider: Mike Gitter Reviews Emmure's 'Felony' |url=http://www.metalinsider.net/guest-blog/guest-insider-mike-gitter-reviews-emmures-felony |access-date=27 June 2014 |publisher=Metal Insider}}{{cite web |title=Emmure - Slave to the Game Review |url=http://www.decoymusic.com/reviews/emmure-slave-to-the-game |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140324075843/http://www.decoymusic.com/reviews/emmure-slave-to-the-game |archive-date=24 March 2014 |access-date=27 June 2014 |publisher=DecoyMusic.com}} Of Mice & Men,{{cite web |date=7 February 2014 |title=Of Mice & Men - Restoring Force (Album review) |url=http://crypticrock.com/of-mice-men-restoring-force-album-review/ |publisher=Crypticrock.com}}{{cite web |title=Of Mice & Men - Restoring Force (2014) |url=http://www.megustareviews.com/2014/01/of-mice-men-restoring-force-2014.html |publisher=Megusta Reviews}}{{cite web |title=Review: Of Mice & Men - Restoring Force |url=http://www.themonolith.com/music/review-mice-men-restoring-force/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701175203/http://www.themonolith.com/music/review-mice-men-restoring-force/ |archive-date=1 July 2017 |access-date=16 July 2017 |publisher=The Monolith}} Sworn In and DangerKids had all embraced the genre, and by 2016, nu metalcore had solidified itself as a movement.{{cite web |last1=Stewart |first1=Ethan |date=31 August 2021 |title=SLIPKNOT TRANSFORMED MODERN METAL WITH 'IOWA' 20 YEARS AGO |url=https://www.popmatters.com/slipknot-iowa-album-atr20 |access-date=7 September 2021 |website=PopMatters}}

File:Architects02.JPG were one of the most prominent metalcore bands in the 2010s]]

Architect's All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us (2016) was released to critical acclaim, with Metal Hammer writer Stephen Hill called it "as close to a perfect metal record as one can imagine". The following year, they released the single "Doomsday", their first release since the death of the band's founding guitarist Tom Searle. In the years following the single's release, the song's sound became widely imitated within the metalcore scene, particularly the song's introduction guitar riff.

As the decade drew to a close, a new wave of bands in the genre emerged who harkened back to the metallic hardcore sound of bands from the 1990s. Vein.fm,{{cite web |last1=Krovatin |first1=Chris |title=6 Underground Metalcore Bands Redefining The Scene Right Now |url=https://www.kerrang.com/features/six-underground-metalcore-bands-redefining-the-scene/ |website=Kerrang! |date=12 November 2018 |access-date=29 February 2020}} Code Orange, Knocked Loose, Varials, Jesus Piece, Counterparts and Kublai Khan were all notable groups who gained significant success within the genre at the time.{{cn|date=September 2024}} Code Orange saw critical acclaim and success with their Roadrunner Records debut Forever in 2017. Forever's title track was also nominated Grammy for Best Metal Performance in 2018.{{cite magazine |last1=R. Weingarten |first1=Christopher |last2=Shteamer |first2=Hank |last3=Bienstock |first3=Richard |last4=Grow |first4=Kory |last5=Epstein |first5=Dan |title=20 Best Metal Albums of 2017 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/20-best-metal-albums-of-2017-196307/code-orange-forever-3-197921/ |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=1 March 2020 |date=6 December 2017}}{{cite web |author=Loudwire Staff |title=25 Best Metal Albums of 2017 |url=https://loudwire.com/25-best-metal-albums-2017/ |website=Loudwire |date=27 November 2017 |access-date=1 March 2020 |language=en}}{{cite web |title=Code Orange |url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/code-orange |website=GRAMMY.com |access-date=1 March 2020 |language=en |date=19 November 2019}}{{cite magazine |last1=Exposito |first1=Suzy |title=Code Orange: Metal's Rising Stars on Their Grammy Nod, Breakthrough Year |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/code-orange-metals-rising-stars-on-their-grammy-nod-breakthrough-year-204507/ |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=1 March 2020 |date=13 February 2018}} It too embraced the influence of nu metal and according to PopMatters writer Ethan Stewart, led to nu metalcore becoming "one of the most prominent flavors of contemporary metal". Knocked Loose gained significant attention after their song "Counting Worms" from their album Laugh Tracks (2016) became a meme due to its "arf arf" mosh call.{{cite web |last1=Towers |first1=Julian |title=Knock Their Socks Loose |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/music/2022-04-16/knock-their-socks-loose/ |access-date=31 August 2023}} The band's 2019 second album A Different Shade of Blue also received critical and commercial success.{{cite web |last1=Epstein |first1=Dan |last2=Bennett |first2=J. |last3=Appleford |first3=Steve |last4=Navison |first4=Will |last5=Enis |first5=Eli |last6=Hill |first6=John |last7=Pessaro |first7=Fred |last8=Chapstick |first8=Kelsey |title=25 Best Albums of 2019 |url=https://www.revolvermag.com/music/25-best-albums-2019#4-knocked-loose-different-shade-blue |website=Revolver |access-date=29 February 2020 |language=en |date=25 November 2019}}{{cite web |last1=Carter |first1=Emily |last2=Garner |first2=George |last3=Law |first3=Sam |last4=Longbottom |first4=John |last5=Mackinnon |first5=James |last6=McLaughlin |first6=David |last7=Morton |first7=Luke |last8=Pearlman |first8=Mischa |last9=Ruskell |first9=Nick |last10=Shepherd |first10=Tom |last11=Thomas |first11=Olly |last12=Travers |first12=Paul |title=The 50 Best Albums Of 2019 |url=https://www.kerrang.com/features/the-50-best-albums-of-2019/ |website=Kerrang! |date=31 December 2019 |access-date=29 February 2020}}

Nu metalcore maintained its prominence into the 2020s with Tetrarch and Tallah gaining notability.{{cite web |last1=Enis |first1=Eli |title=10 BANDS LEADING THE NEW WAVE OF NU-METAL |url=https://www.revolvermag.com/music/10-bands-leading-new-wave-nu-metal#city-morgue |website=Revolver |date=18 July 2022 |access-date=1 September 2023}} Loathe's second album I Let It In and It Took Everything (2020) saw critical acclaim, and was consistently praised for expanding the scope of metalcore by incorporating elements of nu metal, shoegaze, emo, post-rock, progressive metal and industrial music.{{cite web |title=Loathe take prog-metalcore to dazzling heights on new single |url=https://www.altpress.com/loathe-take-prog-metalcore-to-dazzling-heights-on-new-single/ |website=Alternative Press |date=20 September 2019 |access-date=1 September 2023}}{{cite web |last1=Yoo |first1=Noah |title=I Let It In and It Took Everything |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/loathe-i-let-it-in-and-it-took-everything/ |website=Pitchfork |access-date=1 September 2023}}{{cite web |title=FAN POLL: 5 BANDS MOST LIKELY TO BREAKOUT IN 2020 |url=https://www.revolvermag.com/music/fan-poll-5-bands-most-likely-breakout-2020#3-loathe |website=Revolver |date=23 January 2020 |access-date=1 September 2023}} The band's use of the Fender Bass VI guitar, which tunes to an octave below a standard tuning guitar, became widely sought after following the album's release.{{cite web |last1=Astley-Brown |first1=Michael |title=How an oddball baritone became one of the most valuable Squier guitars of all time |website=Guitar World |date=31 March 2021 |url=https://www.guitarworld.com/features/how-an-oddball-baritone-became-one-of-the-most-valuable-squier-guitars-of-all-time |access-date=1 September 2023}} Publications credited Spiritbox similarly with Metal Hammer calling them "post-metalcore" and "genre-fluid".{{cite web |last1=Summan |first1=Yasmine |title=Spiritbox: the post-metalcore trio set to own 2021 |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/spiritbox-the-post-metalcore-trio-set-to-own-2021 |website=Metal Hammer |date=16 December 2020 |access-date=1 September 2023}} The band's 2020 single "Holy Roller" reached the Top 40 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart,{{cite web |last1=Morin |first1=Max |title=Spiritbox Want to Be the "2 Chainz of Metalcore" |url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/spiritbox_eternal_blue_interview |website=Exclaim! |access-date=1 September 2023}} and their debut album Eternal Blue was named the year's best rock or metal album by Loudwire{{cite news |author= |date=10 December 2021 |title=The 45 Best Rock + Metal Albums of 2021 |url=https://loudwire.com/best-rock-metal-albums-2021/ |url-status=live |work=Loudwire |archive-url=https://archive.today/20211210173513/https://loudwire.com/best-rock-metal-albums-2021/ |archive-date=10 December 2021 |access-date=10 December 2021}} and metalcore album by Metal Hammer.{{cite news |last=Hobson |first=Rich| date=2 December 2021 |title=The top 10 metalcore albums of 2021 |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-top-10-metalcore-albums-of-2021 |url-status=live |work=Metal Hammer |archive-url=https://archive.today/20211202175825/https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-top-10-metalcore-albums-of-2021 |archive-date=2 December 2021 |access-date=2 December 2021}}

Around the same time, a number of bands gained prominence in the scene that revived the sound of groups from the mid-to-late-2000s, fronted by Static Dress, SeeYouSpaceCowboy, If I Die First and CrazyEightyEight. This movement grew out of both the hardcore scene and the mainstream success that the emo rap scene gained the late-2010s.{{cite web |last1=Stewart |first1=Ethan |title=From Hardcore to Harajuku: the Origins of Scene Subculture |url=https://www.popmatters.com/scene-subculture-origins-hardcore-harajuku |website=PopMatters |date=25 May 2021 |access-date=25 May 2021}}

Formed in 2015, Bad Omens' third album The Death of Peace of Mind (2022) was the band's commercial breakthrough after viral success of the album's second single "Just Pretend" on TikTok which then topped the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.{{cite magazine |title=Chart History Bad Omens |magazine=Billboard |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/bad-omens/chart-history/rtt/ |access-date=1 September 2023}} By March 2023, the album had received 20 million streams on Spotify, leading to Metal Hammer calling them "the biggest metalcore band in a generation."{{cite web |last1=Hill |first1=Stephen |title=No one expected Bad Omens to become the biggest metalcore band in a generation. So what the hell is going on? |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/no-one-expected-bad-omens-to-become-the-biggest-metalcore-band-in-a-generation-so-what-the-hell-is-going-on |website=Metal Hammer |date=17 March 2023 |access-date=1 September 2023}} Bring Me the Horizon's Post Human: Survival Horror (2020){{cite web |title=Official Albums Charton 29/1/2021 29 January 2021 - 4 February 2021 |website=Official Charts |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/albums-chart/20210129/7502/ |access-date=1 September 2023}} and Architects' For Those That Wish to Exist (2021) both also reached number one in the UK album charts.{{cite web |last1=Loftin |first1=Steven |title=The Ongoing Legacy of Architects |url=https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/features/interviews/architects-ongoing-legacy |access-date=31 August 2023}}

{{wiktionary|metalcore}}

{{wikiquote|Metalcore}}

{{wikiversity|Metalcore Theory}}

• List of metalcore bands

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{{reflist}}

• Haenfler, Ross. Straight Edge: Clean-living Youth, Hardcore Punk, and Social Change, Rutgers University Press. {{ISBN|0-8135-3852-1}}.
• Mudrian, Albert (2000). Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore. Feral House. {{ISBN|1-932595-04-X}}.
• Sharpe-Young, Garry (2005). New Wave of American Heavy Metal. Zonda Books. {{ISBN|0-9582684-0-1}}.
• {{cite book |last=Giordano |first=James |year=2016 |title=Maldynia: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on the Illness of Chronic Pain |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=9781439836316 }}

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