Deathcore

Hey heavy metal fans! This week we are going to be talking about another “-core” subgenre called deathcore. This style of heavy metal is essentially the combination of metalcore and death metal. Deathcore is often thought of by many fans as simply a more extreme version of metalcore.

Musically speaking, deathcore features blast beats and death metal riffing, with guitarists tuning their guitars to give them a heavier and more aggressive sound. Deathcore vocalists almost always use screaming and growling vocals. Clean vocals are very uncommon, and are usually only done in very small passages if at all. Similarly to metalcore, deathcore’s music thrives on breakdowns, and it is the main instrumental focus of their music. Deathcore is a very dark and aggressive subgenre that many fans worship for its hardcore mentality and its death metal themed instrumentation. 

The death metal band Suffocation is often cited as the main inspiration for deathcore. More so than most death metal bands, Suffocation placed an emphasis on breakdowns. As metalcore bands emerged, many of them looked to Suffocation for inspiration, taking their extreme mentality and combining it with traditional metalcore music to create deathcore. 

Similar to metalcore, deathcore’s reception by traditional heavy metal fans has not been positive. Many older metalheads denounce deathcore as an unoriginal, uninspired and generic subgenre of heavy metal. Likewise, critical reception to deathcore has not been very positive either. There aren’t very many deathcore bands whose albums receive consistently positive reviews. Critics commonly find that many deathcore bands aren’t very original and often jump on the bandwagon of the few more innovative deathcore groups.

Among the most successful and positively received deathcore bands are Suicide Silence, Bring Me the Horizon, Despised Icon, Whitechapel, Emmure, Born of Osiris and Veil of Maya. These groups are the leaders of the current deathcore movement, and continue to achieve great success today.