Genre Seeker: Deathcore - The Art of Harsh Vocals

Yes m'dears.

Those disturbing, ear-piercing, monstrous screams... together with the incoherent shaping of words, and bullet-like guitar riffing are signs that you have just listened to deathcore.

Quite literally obvious, deathcore is a sub-genre that fuses the styles of death metal and metalcore together. If you are someone who don't particularly like metal, let alone death metal or metalcore, please do not ever try deathcore, your ears might get traumatized. Now, while death metal as a genre presented morbid or dark lyrical themes, standard harsh vocals, and rather complex instrumentals, metalcore on the other hand was a resultant sub-genre which incorporated hardcore elements into the death metal style. Basically, metalcore was, well, more hardcore in every aspect of the death metal style. Harsh vocals were given more room to expand with metalcore vocalists experimenting with different forms of growling or screaming, and there was also the occasional moment of clean singing thrown in as well. Instrumentals went up a notch in terms of complexity, but sometimes just end up sounding plain thrashy though. As for lyrical themes, they can range from esoteric topics like philosophy to good ol' love.

So... deathcore was in its essence, a spin-off of a spin-off. This can be summed up quite simply by the equation below.

Death Metal + Metalcore = Death Metal + (Death Metal + Hardcore) = Deathcore

What you get out of deathcore however, is quite vastly different from its roots. Instrumentals no longer have any discernible rhythmic pattern (or at least not so obvious until after many listens), the harsh vocal range and experimentation is so much greater, and the lyrical themes mostly don't even make sense let alone their lyrics, meaning they can be just about any topic in life you can think of. If you are someone who has been exposed to some deathcore, and is currently going "What? How can all this crazy screaming and growling be music?! It's noise!"

Well, I would beg to differ. Under the unspoken laws of avant-garde music, deathcore can be (in my personal opinion) alternatively known as the art of harsh vocals. You see, it IS the crazy screaming and growling here that is the main focus of this avant-garde music genre. The guitars and drums are kinda secondary here, since the vocalists of deathcore bands are actually taking on the hardest role. If they don't do their growling-screaming thingamajig properly, they can end up with very frequent throat inflammations (or even throat cancer when they are old). I think they use their diaphragm the most when doing their standard growls, not their larynges. Anyway, it might be an interesting thing to note that the different types of harsh vocals presented in deathcore can be somewhat amusing and intriguing to listen to at the same time. In fact, I would dare say they are the only thing of interest to look out for in most deathcore bands.

There are quite a few different types of harsh vocals employed by current deathcore bands, namely...

The Shriek


The Low Growl


The High Scream (0:29 - 0:31)


The Pig Squeal (0:47 - 0:59 and any other similar parts in the song)


The Shriek-Growl (this is darned hard to do O.O)


Clean Vocals (they can be surprisingly quite good, differs from band to band though)


The Scream-Growl (rather common type apart from the Low Growl)


Alright, your eardrums must be ringing now. That about sums up the various types of harsh vocals in deathcore so far, and if you think this is extreme enough, there are sub-genres closely related to deathcore, that are even more extreme. Grindcore, noisecore, anyone?

Yes, deathcore may be the ugliest sub-genre of metal yet, but well, metal was all about being ugly in the first place (with the exception of symphonic, power, and some progressive metal). It is not really accepted as "music" by bands from other less extreme genres, most notably the frontman of Bayside, but hey, these guys are fronting an avant-garde genre that they have great passion for, and doesn't that put them on the same stage as the guys from the other genres? Even Black Sabbath's original heavy metal style was not widely accepted at first, but as time went by, look what became of the metal behemoth.

Deathcore is certainly not for the weak-hearted, hearing-impaired, pop-loving average Joe, but if you feel like the mainstream's not offering you enough, try delving into deathcore, you just might like it. There must be a reason why Bring Me The Horizon has shot to fame within a short span of 3 years you know.

Genre Seeker: Melodic Death Metal, The New Rock

MELODIC DEATH METAL is the new rock.

Characterized by beautifully brutal melodies, usually played at blazing fast speeds by guitarists whom defy gravity on the fretboards, this is one variation of death metal that is almost like a proper genre by itself already. Other vital ingredients included in this heavy yet intricate mix of tuneful melodies and heart-thumping harmonies (literally if your bass booster is on high) are as follows.

1. Harsh vocals, without it, melodic death metal just ain't no death metal.


2. Speedy, earthshaking drums gawdammit! Without 'em, metal degenerates into pure iron. They are the bedrock of the solid foundation the guitar melodies fall back on dudes and gals.


3. Some metallophones, such as the xylophone, marimba, or even a string ensemble that certain melo-death bands use in certain songs to inject novelty into their music.

As it has a very heavy and somewhat vulgar sound (most probably because of the extensive usage of harsh vocals), it is shunned by the mainstream, but lovingly embraced by metalheads of the underground community. What sets this increasingly popular underground genre apart from its fellow peers, such as metalcore and black metal, is that the bands fronting it never fail to consistently come up with catchy melodies that still retain that powerful, brutal sound we all love. Metalcore does get melodic occasionally, but otherwise it just mostly focus on rhythm structure and the once-in-a-blue-moon usage of clean vocals. Black metal can get melodic too, but that would come under the sub-genre of symphonic black metal, otherwise it mostly focuses on dark themes and evilish-cum-repetitive tunes.

A little history, there were three bands whom were said to have pioneered melodic death metal, and they are At The Gates, Dark Tranquillity, and In Flames. So going by that, they are considered the Fathers of Melo-death. They are a big influence on the newer generation of melo-death bands, for many bands such as the increasingly popular Children Of Bodom have cited at least one or more of the Big Three as their main influences. Since I just mentioned CoB, I might as well mention that they hardly have any filler tracks on their studio albums. They are an excellent melo-death band if you will ever meet one, for every one of their songs chug out mean and obscenely gratifying guitar melodies that are hard to forget. Despite the fact that they have been around for slightly more than 10 years to date, they are still in the spotlight on the melo-death scene due to the fresh melodies they frequently come up with.

Oh yes, melo-death is mainly European metal's turf, and it is not very surprising, really. If anyone had to come up with a revolutionary musical style, it would be the Europeans, because they have a profound musical history that dates back to the ancient Baroque period during the 17th Century. On the other hand, the Americans sound typically more aggressive and "thrashy", and most of them actually stray the path between metalcore and melo-death. Nevertheless, they are still capable of playing heavy, epic music with a seemingly natural inclination towards mercurial rhythm patterns that incorporate sick yet melodious guitar solos. Darkest Hour and The Black Dahlia Murder would be testimony to that.

However, lyrical themes can get mundane at times. This is because they mostly center around depressing themes such as Apocalypse, Misanthropia, Love/Hate et cetera. We don't need music (which is supposed to be enjoyable) to be constantly reminding us how mankind is destroying itself with its harmful acts against the environment, its own people, other species for its own subsistence and what not. Eventually, it even starts to feel a little like anticipating the next Hollywood sci-fi film, for the lyrics hardly leaves the general idea of how we humans all live wretched lives.

Anyway, here are some of the bands in the genre to look out for:

Norther (Finland)

Eternal Tears Of Sorrow (Finland)

Children Of Bodom (Finland)

The Black Dahlia Murder (USA)

Don't they all look sinisterly cool? Personally, I think that is why I find melo-death bands so much more mature and pleasant to look at than their mainstream counterparts.

Alas, descriptive words alone do not do justice to the music, let the music itself do the talking!


The Big Three:





In Flames



Dark Tranquillity



At The Gates (defunct)



... and their subsequent legion of younger peers inspired by them:


Darkest Hour


Threat Signal



Children Of Bodom


Blood Stain Child (this one's Japanese by the way)



Scar Symmetry



Sylosis


There are really, really a tonne more melodic death metal bands out there. The bands seen above are but a mere fraction of the overcrowded melo-death scene. If you are new to metal and like how it is sounding so far, it would be a good idea to try out melo-death for yourself. This immensely popular sub-genre grows more and more popular by the day, and it would be fairly easy to get hooked onto it. Also, if you are aspiring to be a walking version of Encyclopedia Metallum, getting to know about melo-death is vital too.


That's it for this post, try and discover more melo-death bands and their music on your own. It is more rewarding and interesting that way!

Genre Seeker: Introducing... Mathcore.

Protest The Hero: Sequioa Throne


Between The Buried And Me: Alaska


Mathcore, is a variation of metalcore, which is itself, also a variation of metal. This genre's music is typically rhythmically complex, with no set time signatures at all for even a few mere seconds. In fact, it really makes one wonder if the musicians behind the music are mathematical genii whom so ingeniously incorporated mathematically-inspired tempo and rhythm, or simply rambunctious music rebels who need to release their pent up frustration through lightning-fast playing on their instruments. The music is generally fast-paced, driving, and melodically appealing in a grinding kind of way. The guitar parts are usually extremely fast, and play solos that have complex guitar riffs squeezed into them. Even the vocals are usually fast, but harsh or not, it varies from band to band.

For example, BTBAM (Between The Buried And Me) typically has harsh vocals on their songs, such as the death growls heard throughout 'Alaska'. On the other hand, bands like Protest The Hero has a vocalist that actually sings [check out their songs in the playlist above].

Well, Mathcore may not be the casual metalhead's cuppa tea, but it is worth giving it a try. Metalcore fans especially, might soon just find themselves calculating infinity while rocking out to songs that sound more like diffused mathematics.

                        North Carolina Progressive Metal/Mathcore band, BTBAM

                                Canadian Mathcore band, Protest The Hero