My 2004 and 5. A Metal Retrospective. Part one.

When you look back on what you listened to in your younger days its easy to be dismissive. When we get older and we think we know more about who we are as people we look down upon the person who liked a certain genre or band because its not as "good" or hasn't stayed relevant to today's styling's. Its sad really, we get a certain amount of joy out of music but we find it so easy to push those bands or songs to the side when something new or better comes along. I've recently been revisiting some of the older music that I listened to, especially in the metal department. Every genre goes through seasons and changes every single year but I can't think of a genre that has changed and become more fragmented than Metal. I want to look back at a simpler time when I didn't know these sub genres existed and I thought KSE was the best band ever. This is my 2004 and 2005 in retrospect.

The early 2000's were a confusing time for my musically. I was graduating from high school and I was heavy into chorus. I was never a huge fan of the songs we did, but I always thought about how cool it would be for the show choir I was in to do a heavier song. Of course that didn't happen and I was stuck with show tunes but it still was a very fun time in my life. During that time I was living the good life, hanging out with friends, visiting my best friend Josh in college, working at pizza hut and it was a decent existence. The only thing that really separated myself from others was my choice in music. I had been a fan of heavier music during the Nu Metal genre phase and I was getting out of the whole rap metal thing quickly. I started listening to bands like Slipknot, Fear Factory and Killswitch Engage. This was the most important change that I made in my youth musically because its defined my love for the metal genre today. I discovered the genre of Metalcore.

What is Metalcore? Well that ones easy. Its the blending of the two styles, Metal and Hardcore. The songs normally have a vocalist who screams the verses and sings the chorus's. Sometimes there will be two singers in the band to effectively meet this standard practice. Metalcore as a genre is a bit more accessible because of the structure of the songs. They tend to not be as brutal is traditional metal and hardcore bands. Metalcore bands use the standard heavy riff, double bass, "guitar mimicking" bass guitar setup. Guitar solo's aren't as prominent in the genre as a whole but the over all guitar work is excellent.

I  remember it like it was yesterday. I went to manifest before my drive up to Winthrop University to visit Josh and/or a girl and I picked up two album that changed my outlook on music. Those albums were  The Haunted - "rEVOLVEr" and In Flames - "Soundtrack To Your Escape". I didn't know music like this existed, but as soon as I heard it I wanted more. So I started to research, which was a kind of end of innocence for my love of metal music. I learned that this genre was called metalcore and that there were plenty of bands like this. Little did I know that there were a ton of bands that were adopting the sound of these bands. Soon I was listening to some of the greatest Metalcore bands the genre had to offer. For me metalcore, is my genre's pure metal. Yeah the bands were borrowing other sounds from bands in other countries such as Sweden, but these bands were making the sound their own.

In Flames is widely referred to as one of the founders of the genre. They are also one of the longest running bands. The band has released nine studio albums to date. When I hear people talk about the band normally its things like "Clayman" was the best record but for me it was "Soundtrack". This album is epic and it takes a lot of chances. As far as heaviness goes this one isn't close to the top of the list, but it makes up in really catchy songs what it lacks in heavy.  Which was the opposite for The Haunted. The Haunted make heavy music with barely any actual singing. They play fast and in your face. I can think of no two albums that contrast so well yet both share the same genre of music.





In part two I'll look more into 2005 and into the bands that defined the genre in America and in part three I'll talk about the downfall of the genre and the bands who are still around and ones that still have a loving relationship with metalcore.