METAL CORE

    Metalcore is a fusion genre combining various elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. The name of it is a portmanteau of the names of the two genres. The term took on its current meaning in the mid-1990s, describing bands such as Earth Crisis, Deadguy and Integrity.
    The earliest of these groups, Integrity, began performing in 1988; some modern practitioners of the genre include Killswitch Engage, Underoath, All That Remains, As I Lay Dyingand The Devil Wears Prada.Metalcore is distinguished from other punk metal fusions by its emphasis on breakdowns:slower, intense passages conducive to moshing.The genre has had a saturation of bands in the last five years. Sepultura has been credited to "lay the foundation" for the genre.

Precursors (1977–1984)

Main article: Hardcore punk

  Black Flagand Bad Brains,among the originators of hardcore, admired and emulated Black Sabbath. 

   British street punk groups such as Discharge and The Exploited also took inspiration from heavy metal.The Misfits put out the Earth A.D. album, becoming a crucial influence on thrash.Nonetheless, punk and metal cultures and music remained separate through the first half of the 1980.

Crossover thrash (1984–1988)

Main article: Crossover thrash

  Cross-pollination between metal and hardcore eventually birthed the crossover thrash scene, which gestated at a Berkeley club called Ruthie's, in 1984.The term "metalcore" was originally used to refer to these crossover groups.

   Hardcore punk groups Corrosion of Conformity,Dirty Rotten Imbeciles and Suicidal Tendenciesplayed alongside thrash metal groups like Metallica and Slayer. This scene influenced the skinhead wing of New York hardcore, which also began in 1984, and included groups such as Cro-Mags, Murphy's Law, Agnostic Frontand Warzone.The Cro-Mags were among the most influential of these bands, drawing equally from Bad Brains, Motörhead, and Black Sabbath.Cro-Mags also embraced straight edge and, surprisingly enough, Krishna consciousness.Other New York straight edge groups included Gorilla Biscuits, Crumbsuckers, and Youth of Today, who inaugurated the youth crew style.1985 saw the development of the hardcore breakdown,

  amalgamation of Bad Brains' reggae and metal backgrounds, which encouraged moshing. Agnostic Front's 1986 album Cause for Alarm, a collaboration with Peter Steele, was a watershed in the intertwining of hardcore and metal.

Metallic hardcore (1989–2000)

   Between 1989 and 1995, a new wave of hardcore bands emerged.These included Merauder, All Out War,Integrity,Biohazard, Earth Crisis,Converge,Shai Hulud,Starkweather, Judge,Strife,Rorschach,Vision of Disorder,and Hatebreed.Integrity drew influence primarily from the Japanese hardcore terrorism of GISM and the metal of Slayer, with more subtle elements of Septic Death, Samhain, Motörhead, and Joy Division.

  And Earth Crisis, Converge, and Hatebreedborrowed from death metal.Shai Hulud's Hearts Once Nourished with Hope and Compassionand Earth Crisis's 1995 album Destroy the Machines was particularly influential.In guitarist Scott Crouse's words,

It was a very mixed reaction. I'm often quoted as saying that Earth Crisis was the first hardcore band with a metal sound. Of course we weren't the first, but I think we definitely took it to another level. We heard a lot of, 'These guys are trying to be Pantera,' which we all took as a great compliment!

Biohazard, Coalesce,and Overcast were also important early metalcore groups. These groups are sometimes referred to as "metallic hardcore".