The Day Metalcore Went Emo

So many modern metalcore bands take influence from emo pop these days, that the style is all but integrated into its DNA. Bands such as blessthefall, Pierce the Veil, Of Mice & Men and Crown the Empire are some of the biggest names in the genre today but their distance from the bands who defined this style in the late-'90s and early-2000s; such as Unearth, Poison the Well and Killswitch Engage; is immense (even more so if you include metallic hardcore bands [such as Hatebreed or Converge] as being apart of this genre).

And the biggest difference between these two styles? Bands began incorporate elements of emo pop, alternative rock, post-hardcore and skramz instead of the thrash metal and melodic death metal that previously defined the sound. To the point that some of these bands are even referred to as “post-hardcore” or “scenecore” by some educated fans, as well as “screamo” or “emo” by those less educated.

I personally prefer to refer to these bands as “alternative metalcore” or “emo metalcore” due to their sound being primarily rooted in metalcore, opposed to the name most commonly tagged upon this genre, post-hardcore. However my theory as to why this happened is in how so many of these alternative metalcore bands are indebted to At The Drive-In, who themselves built upon the post-hardcore style of the likes of Fugazi.

Metalcore developed quickly from its origins in Poison the Well and Unearth's débuts, as only one year after Florida's pioneers released “Distance Only Makes the Heart Grow Fonder”, New Jersey's Thursday released their début EP and subsiquent LP “Waiting”. Thursday, especially, owe more to post-punk and gothic rock acts like Joy Division and The Cure, but their emo pop influence was there, and it was pretty promintant.

Thrice released their début in 2000, taking the sound of Thursday but stripping it of their weird “eerie '80s” obsession, with a little more punk influence but that can easily be choked to emo pop's influence from pop punk rather than anything distincitly groundbreaking. GlassJaw also released their début “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Silence”, in 2000, but if you have any clue how to describe GlassJaw, style-wise, then hit me up.

Now... 2002 is where the bomb drops, and if it weren't for these two bands (and Finch), it's likely that this style would not nearly be as prominant as it is today. I'm referring to the studio début of New Jersey natives My Chemical Romance and Senses Fail (and Finch).

My Chemical Romance was hardly notable within the alternative metalcore sepctrum but once they put rhythm guitarist Frank Iero (who had already been performing in underground hardcore bands before joining the Grammy Award-nominated emos in 2002) in a less prominant seat (vocally) and toned down the agression, they became the band everybody wanted to be; inspiring bands from Simple Plan to blessthefall to Creeper to Ice Nine Kills. Because of this, My Chemical Romance are likely the largest commercial entity to ever grace this side of a breakdown, and even if they didn't go far as an alternative metalcore band, they were still able to influence handfulls of future metalcore bands because of their subsequent emo pop sound.

Senses Fail, while never gaining the noteriaty of a band like MCR, seemed to be the largest band playing the style at the time, and it would be idiotic to believe that “From the Depths of Dreams”, along with their follow up “Let It Enfold You”, wasn't one of the largest factors in this genre's prominence.

Even pre-established metalcore bands started moving in a more emotional direction, Avenged Sevenfold and Atreyu played with this style on Waking the Fallen and The Curse.

And that ladies and gentlemen, is how metalcore went emo.