10 metalcore bands that shaped the scene

October 27, 2016

Metalcore—a broad term for the raucous genre of music combining metal and hardcore—as we now know it owes a great debt to the groundbreaking bands who first forayed into the style.

Today's metalcore simply wouldn't be the same without these 10 excellent forerunners. Check it out.

SHAI HULUD

Guitarist Matt Fox's “Guild of Misanthropy” has been inspiring the dreamers since 1995. Best known for featuring New Found Glory's Chad Gilbert as their defining vocalist, subsequent singers Geert van der Velde and Matt Mazzali furthered the fervent cause. Equally energized by Chain Of Strength, Deadguy and Metallica, Hulud turned the tides with 1997's Hearts Once Nourished With Hope And Compassion and 2003's That Within Blood Ill-Tempered, igniting an entire epoch of metalcore commiserators in disparate divisions, from Hundredth to Misery Signals to Silverstein.

CHECK OUT: “Let Us At Last Praise The Colonizers Of Dreams”

CONVERGE

One of metalcore's biggest boons, Converge was started by vocalist Jacob Bannon and guitarist Kurt Ballou in 1990. Now eight albums into their remarkable 26-year career, 2001's Jane Doe still sticks out as the genre's preeminent entry; it was an imaginative masterstroke that fanned the flames of innumerable ensuing metal acts. Converge proved that metalcore could be both visceral and intelligent, and bands far and wide (Bring Me The Horizon, Every Time I Die, Killswitch Engage, etc.) pushed on and soared higher thanks to the Boston-based group's indisputable influence.

CHECK OUT: “Phoenix In Flight”

ZAO

Starting out as a Christian hardcore band in 1993, Zao really got going during their renovated “Second Era” of mind-blowing metal. Their classic trilogy of trendsetting albums (1998's Where Blood And Fire Bring Rest, 1999's Liberate Te Ex Inferis and 2001's (Self-Titled)) introduced a generation of emo kids to the stormy sounds of metalcore. Zao continue to produce and provoke; the band will release their first album in seven years, The Well-Intentioned Virus, this December.

CHECK OUT: “Five Year Winter”

EARTH CRISIS

Formed in New York in 1989, Earth Crisis reconciled the divide between hardcore and metalcore with an articulate onslaught of albums advocating straight-edge living. Well known for their support of veganism and animal rights, their 1995 album Destroy The Machines remains an early metalcore staple. Earth Crisis broke up in 2001 but reunited in 2007, and the band's impact can be felt in myriad metal acts such as as Between The Buried And Me, Hollow Earth and Terror.

CHECK OUT: “Born From Pain”

UNDEROATH

The recently reunited Underoath, who first lit the flame in 1997, are another massive influence on today's heavy music scene. Bands like Issues, Norma Jean, Rival Choir and Silent Planet followed a path forged by the band's essential They're Only Chasing Safety (2004) and Define The Great Line (2006) albums. Underoath drummer and vocalist Aaron Gillespie is practically rock royalty at this point, playing with Paramore and releasing music as both a solo artist and with his previous side project, the Almost.

CHECK OUT: “Reinventing Your Exit”

THE HOPE CONSPIRACY

Another brutal crew of Bostonians, the Hope Conspiracy's 2000 debut, Cold Blue and its 2002 follow-up Endnote are archetypal slices of impassioned, early-aughts metalcore. Things got a lot more evil with 2006's Death Knows Your Name, eventually paving the way for HopeCon singer Kevin Baker's contemporary hardcore project with Converge drummer Ben Koller, All Pigs Must Die.

CHECK OUT: “Fallen”

COALESCE

Birthed in mid-'90s Kansas City, Missouri, Coalesce put Midwestern metalcore on the map with 1997's Give Them Rope and their 1999 Led Zeppelin coves EP, There Is Nothing New Under The Sun. Early Coalesce drummer James Dewees ended up as the genius behind Reggie And The Full Effect, as well as keyboard player for the Get Up Kids, New Found Glory and My Chemical Romance.

CHECK OUT: “Did It Pay The Rent”

HATEBREED

Frontman Jamey Jasta's Hatebreed flipped the script on hardcore with their 1997 debut, Satisfaction Is The Death Of Desire. The classic album launched hundreds of indebted bands, helping to open the door to mainstream metalcore. Hatebreed eventually incorporated more metal elements into their sound on albums like Perseverance (2002) and The Rise Of Brutality (2003), bringing the metalcore mannerisms full circle. Jasta and crew released their latest work, The Concrete Confessional, earlier this year.

CHECK OUT: “Empty Promises”

BOTCH

Tacoma, Washington's Botch got together in 1993 and split in 2002, firing off two widely praised albums on Hydra Head Records in 1998 and 1999. Botch's significance in the metalcore milieu can't be overstated, impacting everyone from Architects to the Used. Former Botch members went on to play in other prominent Seattle-area bands like Minus The Bear and These Arms Are Snakes.

CHECK OUT: “To Our Friends In The Great White North”

AS I LAY DYING

Prior to vocalist Tim Lambesis' recent incarceration, San Diego's As I Lay Dying issued six stylish albums of cutting-edge metalcore, culminating in 2012's highly charged Awakened. As I Lay Dying guitarist Nick Hipa, bassist Josh Gilbert and drummer Jordan Mancino are currently carrying on as Wovenwar with Oh, Sleeper singer Shane Blay; the refortified supergroup's sophomore album, Honor Is Dead, came out Oct. 21.