What even is "metalcore"? It seems like everyone has a different definition for what it is. Most things I've heard that were described as "metalcore" sounded more like melodeath or groove metal.

>>126949382 (OP)
it's like crabcore if you took out the crab and put metal in instead

so, you have the first wave of hardcore punk bands in california and washington dc (and elsewhere) in the early 80s and then by the mid 80s you start to have this split where you get these more "macho" bands in new york and boston and then the more feminine emocore bands in dc and elsewhere. the ny etc bands start incorporating influences from the burgeoning us heavy metal, especially thrash metal, scenes and that eventually leads to beatdown hardcore and then metallic hardcore in the early to mid 90s. that whole lineage starts to be defined by "breakdowns", which in this context refers to a slower, groovier section of music. the cliched metalcore breakdown involves a sudden drop to a slower tempo where you just beat the listener over the head with a couple palm-muted guitar chords (sometimes as little as one) that are in lock-step with the drummer's kick drum. these bands usually tune to a "drop" tuning so that you can get a big fat power chord by playing your 3 open top strings. in contrast metal bands almost always play in a "standard" tuning because that makes it easier to play melodies on those strings and metal is built on melodic guitar playing, even in the most extreme subgenres.
at a very basic level metalcore is built on strong grooves and a "tough", angry, sound, often eschewing any sense of melody or songwriting in the pursuit of sounding as pissed off as possible. this focus on vibes encourages extreme down-tuning. if you listen to a band like Knocked Loose their songs are basically just strings of various breakdowns with ludicrously downtuned guitars and some guy screaming is head off over the top. hardcore has always been at least as much if not more about the "message" than the music.

>>126950619
okay so yeah then in the late 90s you get these bands that are influenced by bands like At The Gates and then you get melodic metalcore which, yes, often is difficult to distinguish from melodeath. one of the biggest differences is actually the approach to vocals. I would say that metalcore bands are more prone to mixing "harsh" and "clean" vocals in a single song, and the clean vocals often have a pop punk flavor to them. also the harsh vocals in hardcore music are often just normal screams while say death metal bands go for more of an affected demonic sound. and again the metalcore bands are usually in a drop tuning so they can play big fat breakdowns. metal bands also use breakdowns but they basically sound totally different. metalcore songs sometimes have a hip hop flavor to them.
examples (these aren't necessarily just for you but for anyone reading the thread):
>hardcore punk
https://youtu.be/QVZA05PKK-U?si=0xesKtb1pZHhdvKT (1984)
>ny hardcore
https://youtu.be/dDpbMND2f0w?si=simbwTIJIcQKfUBF (1989)
>beatdown
https://youtu.be/Yn3mVexFaTs?si=38mTSU_ZcOtBYnOS (1994)
>metalcore
https://youtu.be/9gajMgPcWvI?si=5qVVWNOZm0geoM4a (1995)
>groove metal
https://youtu.be/H_FGvWihZLQ?si=3eloYuiiMAUo1rHc (1992)
>melodic metalcore
https://youtu.be/VCfhO31trXk?si=CmI5lrSDgxlACwra (2004)
>melodic death metal
https://youtu.be/VAAa9YnHZ_o?si=La8hOgyBlDKVZmCX (1995)
>deathcore
https://youtu.be/r8Luf4Fo36A?si=_TmgNN3aFUKHjT6h (2007)
>death metal
https://youtu.be/ADLrxji2XLA?si=FWhqgz_EIOBSS4PX (1990)
https://youtu.be/FbA6OJDiaGU?si=RlInUHjOx8cClBtn (1996)
when you said some metalcore bands sound like groove metal the first band I thought of was Merauder, who definitely have a big groove metal influence but came out of the ny hardcore scene and I would say are definitely a metalcore band: https://youtu.be/ES9IzkdNTo0?si=B0U2nhRaTAs1DYMx
anyway, hopefully other anons will correct me if I have something wrong.

In short it's usually 90's-style hardcore with metallic guitar playing often lifted from Slayer, Pantera, or the Gothenburg scene.
>>126950619
>>126950736
based genre history autist

>>126949382 (OP)
It's like if emo/goth kids took something like mid-90s melodeath and turned it into something more palatable to them instead of death metal
Here's a metalcore band covering the least death metal song from a melodeath band, and then a more traditional track from them on the same album
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK4gRHpi1Ug
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4A_Lmn0bdo
Then here's the cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PtfyRjkn40
The original went for s grungy/goth rock inspiration (while some other tracks drew stuff from black metal into their stuff, like Darksome Origin) but played more like a hard rock one, following the band's death metal -> melodeath roots, but the metalcore version feels less like it follows those traditional metal roots and just tries to push its appeal toward the edgy 2000s goth angle much harder.

>>126951769
based concise answerer

>>126951769
based clear and concise answer giver

pop music with distortion

>>126949382 (OP)
im into metalodeathemogrinddeathcracorecore

>>126949382 (OP)
Gay metal for emos.

bump

>>126949382 (OP)
shit

>>126950619
>americans trying to pretend they invented metalcore or <whateverthisweeksmetalgenre>core as an extension of punk rock rather than just being a lame rip off of scandinavian black/death metal

>>126949382 (OP)
The clue is in the neologistic suffix "-core". In metalcore, "metal" acts as the modifier, while the root is "core", derived from hardcore (punk). So metalcore is, at its foundation, a form of hardcore punk that incorporates elements of metal, not the other way around. It's structurally and culturally rooted in hardcore.
In genres like death, black, or groove metal, the word "metal" is the root noun and the preceding word modifies the style or theme. In those cases, it's a kind of metal. In metalcore, it's a kind of hardcore.

>>126951960
>cover butchers the original song
>has millions more views than it

>>126956115
wow anon you're pretty stupid

>>126956195
true