The Current State of "The Wave"

Does anybody remember how back in 2014, the term on everybody's tongues in the hardcore scene was “the Wave”? Members of a few notable, experimental bands heavily influenced by hardcore and post-hardcore jokingly coined the term and didn't wish for it to be taken seriously however, it has. The bands the term was first used to describe included La Dispute, Touché Amoré, Pianos Become the Teeth, Make do and Men and Defeater. All were some-what post-rock-influenced, all were experimental and all had a lot of emotion in their music. So, now that it's been four years, what the current state of “the Wave”.

Firstly, what's happening with the bands who the coined was term by? Defeater haven’t released anything since 2015's “Abandoned”; other than a cover of the Misfit's “Where Eagles Dare”; which was just as experimental and emotional as you would expect them to be. Touché Amoré released their last LP in 2016, titled “Stage Four”, which was also the usual for them. Piano's Become the Teeth released “Wait for Love” in 2018, which was a lot more based in indie rock than their previous efforts, and La Disputes last released was an EP titled “Tiny Dots” in 2015, which consisted of a selection of ambient tracks, while Make do and Mend's last release was 2015's “Don't be Long” which was a continuation of their previous style. Suffice to say, the bands in this style either haven't released anything for a few years or have departed from it.

Now, what new bands are helping keep the scene alive? Welsh band Casey are probably one of the more obvious example, their heavily emotional fusion of melodicore, spoken word and shoegaze has been proved highly influential to a crop of bands who would also attempt this fusion such as Acres, Hindsight and Passed by Me. Another Welsh band, Holding Absence showcases a fusion of alternative metalcore and shoegaze, while some bands mix post-rock and post-metal influences into their music, while not taking part in this more-ethereal, emotion-driven style of metalcore and post-hardcore, such as newer-Make them Suffer, Being as an Ocean, Alzka Scream Blue Murder, Sleep Token and Silent Planet.

Dependence showcase a fusion of indie rock, alternative metalcore, post-hardcore and post-rock that is some-what reminiscent of Touché Amoré's later style and Our Mirage play an emotional fusion of alternative metalcore and dream pop-leaning shoegaze.

The Wave is almost entirely made up of post-metalcore bands, however one of the scene's originators was post-hardcore band La Dispute, as well as Title Fight's later shoegaze style and Balance and Composer's post-rock-influenced alternative rock style are also considered apart of the movement.