By Amanda Eldreth
Elm Staff Writer
Jeremy Quintin has taken it upon himself to offer his opinion on dubstep and other various music genres. This week, I want to focus on metalcore. Without getting too specific, metalcore involves screaming along with clean lyrics and multiple breakdowns to provide the listener with an eargasmic experience in the mosh pit. I might be biased, but it could possibly be the most energetic beast to ever be unleashed upon your ears.
Before I start declaring my passion for metalcore, let me dispel some stereotypes. Not all of us metalcore lovers are scene, emo, gothic, Satanists, or delinquents who hate the world. Just because there have been a few supporters of the scene who have fit into a specific image should not cause everyone to expect that of the bands and their fans. At any metalcore show, you are guaranteed to see skinny jeans, toms, chucks, band t-shirts (sometimes ripped up), dresses, and everything in between. What I’m saying is that you will see every ‘type’ of person waiting anxiously in line for a show.
What brings us together isn’t the stereotypes or how we dress, but the themes of the music. With any genre, the themes vary from band to band, but the one I pull from the most is unity and being true to yourself.
Albums have motifs that vary from theatrical concepts to Christianity to zombies, but each garners the same unbelievably intense reaction from a mosh pit. It says a lot for the music that the bands can be this diverse in their messages and still maintain such a strong fan base. Why? Because the fans are clearly able to see how much the band members bleed their lives out on stage.
It takes a lot of guts to scream your vocal cords raw, and I admire their strength. Anyone in the genre can tell you that different screamers have different styles. And it does take a certain ear to understand them.
But I think the fans appreciate that the intensity of the vocals matches the intensity of the music. They don’t get up on stage to simply scream at you; sometimes the lyrics need more of an outlet than simple singing can provide. To steal Jeremy’s phrase, the clash of vocals and instruments “is like a polar bear and a shark high fiving two slices of bread into a peanut butter and jelly sandwich of win.”
Now, take a band like Motionless In White. They are the epitome of the stereotyped look: gothic, heavily tattooed and pierced, and when they perform, they are drenched in black paint. They are intimidating, and if you met them in a dark alley, you would probably run away screaming. But, if that alone turns you off, you’re falling prey to those pesky stereotypes.
The guys in this band are some of the sweetest and most humble humans I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. The message behind several of their songs is finding self-worth and realizing only we control our lives. They have said that their songs are “written as a call to arms to any person in this world to come stand together to fight the ignorance that halts the progression of mankind.” How can you hate that?
I don’t mean to overload you with my passion for metalcore. There is a point here, I swear. I just wish that this was a more known genre that didn’t come with so many stigmas attached. To those of you who aren’t convinced, have you ever given it a real try? Remove all judgment and preconceived notions and look up a lyric video. And to the invisible metalcore scene that has eluded me for the past two years: where are you? Are you listening? We need to mosh together.