It is so fascinating watching the musical pendulum swing before our very eyes. We have witnessed “Real” music slowly progress into Fake music (like how tr00 kids started distancing themselves from bands like TSSF and Man Overboard once their fanbase became increasingly populated with more and more jailbait). Meanwhile, “Fake” music is slowly starting to become tr00 (like the impending neon-easycore revival) (fingers crossed).
While we may have to wait a little while for the neon/easycore revival, one musical development that has become ever so evidently clear is deathcore’s attainment of tr00 credibility. I remember uploading deathcore breakdown videos back in 2007-2008 and literally 67% of the comments were stangry IMNs telling me to listen to REAL metal (“u say Suffokate, I say Suffocation!!”). Then, at some point down the line (I would say around 2010-2011), deathcore stopped being trendy with scene kids (and in general) and that’s when metalheads started accepting it as a genre of their own (see my deathcore then vs. deathcore now post for a more in-depth look into this phenomenon).
As it should be.
So that has proved to us once again that scene kids are always ahead of the curve when it comes to everything (not that we needed any reassurance of this obvious fact). But what lies ahead for the genre in this ever-changing music scene? Let’s go backwards and take a look at some of the bands from my first breakdown video from 2007, which now sits at 670,000 views, making it one of the most popular showcases of old school deathcore. What you are about to find out may shock you.
Figure A: We Are The End
These guys could’ve easily been placed in the “bands that never got anywhere then disappeared” category but they seem to have resurfaced recently and they are now posting nostalgic memes on their Facebook.
Considering that We Are The End was nowhere near the level of popularity of Suicide Silence, Bring Me The Horizon, and Job For A Cowboy, I’m willing to bet that someone in the band made this. Also notice how they are highlighting the OG deathcore AESTHETIC as well the music, which will be crucial for a tr00 revival imo.
More shameless nostalgia. This shirt isn’t that relevant in 2014 considering that most scene girls moved past that stage a long long time ago. Maybe if it said “scene chicks give the best university lectures”. Regardless, get that gwap boys.
Figure B: Carnifex
Carnifex (also known as that band that announced they were breaking up, then got back together like a week later) were definitely one of the bigger bands in my video but mind = blown that they can release a music video in 2014 that doesn’t sound thaaaat far off from their old stuff (minus a bit of pseudo black metal influence) and garner almost half a million views. Maybe soon they can start calling themselves a deathcore band again.
Carnifex in 2007 = “sup bros, we’re a deathcore band, just burst out onto the scene”
Carnifex in 2013 = “DEFEND DEATH METAL”
Figure C: Her Demise My Rise
I already did a post about how I was surprised these guys were still around but I am perpetually baffled that they continue to exist.
They just did an interview on a blog called “PIG SQUEALS AND BREAKDOWNS”? Is this 2006?? Inb4 Job For A Cowboy does a 10 year anniversary tour for their “Doom EP” and claim that they never hated it.
Figure D: I Ate Everybody
This is a band that I never would’ve imagined coming back but much like We Are The End, they have resurfaced and they have recently released a new song which sounds exactly like their 2007 demo. I’m not sure if the lack of progression after 7 years should be considered a good thing or bad but props to them for sticking to their guns I guess?
Back when I was in an old school deathcore band, I wanted to make a t-shirt design of a scene girl hanging by her hair. Also, mind = blown at them using that “fucked and left for dead” line. Have you not heard the first Whitechapel album, bros?!? (I will probably make a post about it sometime in the future because it’s the best deathcore album of all time imo.)
Figure E: We Speak Texan
I found that I Ate Everybody’s reawakening was borderline eerie so I decided to search a band from my video that I for sure knew wasn’t back together, or so I thought…
An instrumental demo of a new song from their Facebook page posted a bit over a month ago. As far as I know, the band had been broken up since 2007 or 2008 prior to this. The first minute is super melodic so I thought they might have gone soft but then it goes into vintage deathcore after that. Clearly, no one really cares about this (besides the one person that liked the post – shoutouts Alexandria Davy), but I still found this discovery fascinating.
To be continued…?
Are we truly on the brink of an old school deathcore revival or are these bands just clinging on to the little relevance that they had via being featured on my breakdown compilation video 7 years ago? When the revival happens, will the scene aesthetic come back with it and make the genre non-metalhead friendly again? What other old school deathcore bands do you want to see reunite? Will bands ever start doing pig squeals again?
Credit to Aleksander Abdulov for some of the photos.
