I still don't mind a little Caliban, Bleeding Through, Sinai Beach, and Chimaira myself these days but it's few and far between. Most of the bands got washed up with Roadrunner Records and suffered significantly in terms out output and expectation. Some albums are okay but the majority of bands overall just end up sounding like BVB's do today.

That's kinda like my story, only I never got into power metal much beyond the 80s, I was always a black, old school death, and doom guy, later getting into goth/industrial/folk/ambient.

I was a fantasy geek, but also an unrepentant goth who loved the dark and sinister morbid side of things as well.

Black metal was perfect because it mixed the epic/fantasy with the dark/sinister.

I hated grunge, -core, and alternative bands because I just couldn't relate to mundane, normal people singing about being an angry teen, because I just lived in a totally different world already from the other kids around me.
Back then, I was about as far from "normal" as anyone could possibly get

I actually disliked -core bands before I even knew what it was or what the distinction between metalcore and death metal was. To this day, what I dislike most about -core bands is the poorly done harsh vocals which just sound plain bad and was a temporary barrier to more extreme music for me. Anyways, I got into metal with Metallica and then eventually moved to weird avant-garde stuff before getting into the Floridian death metal scene.

I actually got into -core long after every subgenre of metal. Funny that in the early 2000's when metalcore was getting popular, I really didn't care for it. But then 4-5 years ago I started getting into everything from Silverstein to All That Remains to Killswitch Engage, and my liking of it all culminated in 2010-2011 by going to a ton of metalcore/hardcore/screamo shows. I still listen to that kind of stuff when I'm in the mood for it, but it seems that the mood hasn't been that frequent lately.

But yeah, was kinda weird being the oldest guy there at every -core show. Sometimes by a lot. Not that anyone knew cause I look young anyway.

Yeah, I had a -core phase in middle school. I used to listen to a shitload of Black Flag and Minutemen.

best reply in the thread.

I actually started on the more "trve" actually metal bands then after listening to None So Vile and Symphonies of Sickness for the 134th time I've decided to see how shitty deathcore is, and I discovered that it is not that shitty at all and has plenty of good music in there. I still despise djent and metalcore but deathcore actually has some edge of extremity in it and is legitimately heavy. Most of the time the production values are actually heavier than true death metal bands but the riffs suck more. I dig mostly the early deathcore releases like The Cleansing or Chelsea Grin EP, the ones which were made by pissed off teenagers to make pissed off music instead of making dumb shitty djentcore and say "we're actually metal now". I still listen to death metal bands, but now there is more deathcore in my playlist.

I started in metal mostly with heavy/thrash metal back when i was around 12,like Iron Maiden,Judas Priest,Metallica,Megadeth,Slayer,Pantera,i mean as a kid i listened to a lot of rock and hard rock thanks to my dad,but thats another story.I liked a few songs from Avenged Sevenfold and Slipknot,but thats pretty much it.Then i got into more underground traditional heavy metal,NWOBHM,thrash and death metal,some melodic death metal,and some power metal (Wich i didnt liked the european style at first,now i love it),i have never liked black metal and didnt knew much about metalcore,i didnt knew that Avenged Sevenfold were something like that.I didnt liked nu metal tho.

But i did went to a "true metal" phase wich now i feel ashamed of.I used to dismiss metalcore and nu metal,completely avoiding and dismissing it.I think that elitism is dumb,annoying and give metalheads a bad image.

Now,from a few months i gave metalcore a chance,i dont think its a "phase" up to this point,but i see myself enjoying a lot of Avenged Sevenfold,Chimaira,Bullet for my Valentine,Trivium,All that Remains,God Forbid,As i lay Dying,among others,i gave em a chance and i do like some of it a lot.Specially Avenged Sevenfold,wich is now one of my fav modern metal bands,i actually find em to be among the best of modern metal/rock (yeah,really).Those bands are really talented,and i honestly prefer them to say,black metal,easily.I like em cus they have classic metal and thrash influences (some even have death and melodic death metal influences) but with a modern touch,plus the hardcore influence (wich aside from the vocals,isnt that prevalent in the bands i mentioned).

I also gave some nu-metal a chance,specially Slipknot.Iowa is pretty cool,Vol.3 is good but quite incosistent.I used to not like groove metal very much (but that was one that i didnt intenionally avoid or dismiss) except for Pantera (Cowboys is one of my fav metal albums) but i enjoy a lot of Machine Head now.I also like Chimaira (groove/metalcore/thrash,i think),Lamb of God,Chaos A.D by Sepultura,Five Finger Death Punch,Grip Inc,DevilDriver, among others.

Did I have a core phase? Not in the sense of the modern term, no. However, I did, and still do, enjoy a lot of hardcore punk music- stuff like Jerry's Kids, Dropdead, Minor Threat, Intense Degree, MDC, Bad Brains, and so on. As well as a lot of the crust punk stuff- basically anything fast, intense, aggressive, heavy and noisy. What people call "metalcore" or this or that -core nowadays- I just never got into that music at all. To me, it always just sounded like badly written or failed attempts to play "metal" by guys who were punk or emo kids at heart.

I did get into grindcore early on, circa Napalm Death's first two albums, because it was (at that time) so extreme and intense, and it was a novelty- in 1988 you just could not find any band in existance as musically extreme or intense as Napalm Death was. But I quickly got sick of that stuff- it got old really quick. Today most grindcore just annoys me.

Yes, after quite some time of listening to nu metal, I jumped to metalcore, pretty much with As I lay Dying and August Burns Red, but I never stopped liking the core/nu bands that got me into heavy music, my favorite band until this day is Between the Buried and Me, and I enjoy a large amount of "real" metal these days, death, black, sludge, doom of whatever, the only diference being that now I know (sometimes) if a band has actual metal riffing/song structure rather than just distortion and gutturals. But I guess I'm still a core kid though.

No... but then again, I don't listen to music in phases. I've heard plenty of -core... more than ever since I took on this hobby here... and admittedly I know it but I do not enjoy it.

My first two metal albums were Iron Maiden's s/t and Dragonforce's Sonic Firestorm, so not much of a core thing for me. Though I did (and still do) like some of the more melodic KSE songs.

Lately I'm even more into -core than I used to be. Sure, when I first started getting into metal I was into some of the mainstream metalcore bands and that helped me get into the more unknown bands, but later years I've been getting into a wider range of hardcore and punk bands.

For one, the hardcore scene in the Reading, PA area is very strong. There's a festival called East Coast Tsunami that draws over a thousand people per night, bringing in lots of big name or more obscure bands throughout punk, hardcore and metal. Various hardcore shows have done very well at Reverb. Biohazard did a free (for ECT or This Is Hardcore ticketholders - $5 for everyone else) last minute show only a week or so in advance and 600 people came. I am talking about PAHC, NJHC, NYHC - as well as a whole slew of old-school hardcore bands such as Agnostic Front, Cro-Mags, Biohazard.

Of course, metalcore does well here as well. The All-Stars Tour with Every Time I Die came to Reverb and was sold out. I went for shits, giggles and breakdowns.

Some of the most persevering favorite bands of mine have been -core. This includes Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall (who played ECT this year), All Shall Perish, Overcast, Aftershock, Times of Grace, A Day To Remember, Terror, Wisdom In Chains, Crowbar, Eyehategod, Grief, Cattle Decapitation, Carcass.

So I'm in as much of a -core phase as I am in a metal phase. In that, it's not a phase, this just happens to be the music I like. I had an alternative rock "phase" back before I got into heavy music, but I still like a lot of those bands. Toad The Wet Sprocket, Sister Hazel, Vertical Horizon, Electrasy, Goo Goo Dolls.

None at all. I discovered metal through Iron Maiden(I used to listen to Black Sabbath a lot alongside Led Zep, Purple, Motorhead and Bad Company but classified it all as rock n roll) and then NWOBHM and thrash/power metal, shying away from anything with extreme vocals. Kreator were the first 'extreme' band to open me up to more extreme metal, since I dug the riffing so much, it was like my favourite Slayer/Exodus songs but with a more twisted interpetation, and vocals that were really pushing it in terms of what I could stand to listen to at the time(EP and PtK anyway).

I've listened to core pretty much the entire time I listened to metal, and although I do remember a period of not liking it early on, I can remember other moments where it was all I listen to. I would say I listen to core as much as metal, and usually for different reasons.

...would djent be considered "core" to most? I typically associated -core music as being just as "heavy" as metal but with more rhythmic emphasis than melodic. Since djent is more the former than the ladder, I could see how people would think it is, but I more see as its own thing separate from the -core genres. Just curious.

I think people are still assuming -core means metalcore or deathcore.

It can mean anything to do with hardcore punk, and even the various forms of "-core" techno.

So considering I went through a brief phase in high school where I liked the Prodigy, I guess I went through a breakcore techno phase

Why does everyone insist on calling that period of their life a phase? It just reeks of conformity to me. I just don't understand why can't people who like core and then discover metal, just like both at the same time rather than sweep everything under the carpet?

With that said, I never really had a phase. My 1st taste of metal was Sabbath and Dio (Holy Diver to be exact) that I got from my friend's Dad. I "borrowed" his cassettes. I still have them in my bedroom. Later then I discovered all those core bands and I'm not ashamed to say I still like them. I rocked to As I Lay Dying, some Caliban, Converge, Lamb of God and I still listen to them until today. Doesn't make me less of a Nile or Decapitated fan.

You know, I would honestly argue that Between the Buried and Me isn't really a core band, but More as a Progressive Death Metal band, hell that's what they even call themselves. Either way, they are a really good band

By no means was my question meant to be interpreted as "Did/Do you listen to any bands that make you 'untrve' or a poser?" Or whatever. People with that kind of mindset are the real posers. People are entitled to listen to what they want, and have their own taste in anything. I was just wondering how common it was for people to listen to the more core-influenced bands before they discovered what people call 'true' metal. I wasn't trying to say that listening to these bands makes you any less of a metalhead

I never judge anybody for their taste, so I never call anyone a poser.

I'm just very honest about what I like and dislike.....
Very selfish that way

Core pretty much got me into metal. For all of high school I was HUGE on Shadows Fall, As I Lay Dying, Unearth, etc. and I still like all of these bands, despite no longer actively pursuing them. I guess in that sense it really wasn't a phase, metalcore just kinda took the backburner to bands like Kreator and Darkthrone during my senior year. Some of the shit I was listening to in high school makes me cringe nowadays (It Dies Today, Underoath), but those other bands I listed are still some favorites of mine. Some of the first songs I learned to play on guitar were numbers by As I Lay Dying and Lamb of God.

I'd been listening to metal for years before I even knew what "core" was, and outside of a few isolated examples, I don't like "core" music. I can count the number of core bands I've ever liked on one hand.

(If you must know which ones, they are Fall of Efrafa, Oh Sleeper, and a handful of songs from As I Lay Dying and Zao.)

No core phase ever. Fucking plague, that stuff.

Nope, always hated that shit.

So far, I've found nothing interesting in the genre. Probably never will. And no, I am not actively seeking. It's all been boring crap.

Actually, it took me a long while to understand what "metalcore" means, as we didn't have virtually any local bands of that kind here five years ago. And I'm happy for that, although I did spot both a core kid and a hipster on the same day a week ago.

I came along a little bit before it, so I hit more the nu metal and groove metal phase instead. I did dip my toes a little, even if I didn't love any of it, but I discovered death metal around the same time, and it definitely won out.

If loving the shit out of Trivium's Ascendancy is core, then label me as you will.

I'd like to know what actions you took against that.

I would be with you since I loved that album as a 15 year old, but I went back to listen to it and Heafy's harsh vocals are horrendous. Sounded like he'd destroy his voice with every yell.

Anyway, I went through my core phase back in 2003-2007, but then I stopped to get into other things and eventually went back to it after rediscovering my love for bands like God Forbid and As I Lay Dying last year. Guess I just wanted to be elitist for a while. Then I opened up to other bands and just stopped giving a shit. Most of them are ones like Elitist, While She Sleeps, Your Memorial, and Adept. Also the kinds that end up having the prog slant, which usually just means stuttered riffs at times.

Yep, went through my -core phase in about 2007-2009, when I was in what you would probably say is the target demographic (angsty 13-year-old whom NOBODY UNDERSTANDS). Then I got listening to power metal and never looked back. But it's not like I just swept it under the rug completely, sometimes I enjoy random -core tracks when I come across them on my iPod or something, I just kind of drifted away from it. I'll still listen to Shadows Fall or Chimaira occasionally, and Lamb of God I will forever credit with being my gateway into extreme metal, but that's it.

i'd already been into 'real' metal for too long when the -core stuff started coming out to be anything but ultra-skeptical of it. i gave one or two bands a chance (i remember owning albums from shadows fall and killswitch engage, at least) but could never get into it. but those earlier metalcore bands were different again from what you've got now too. in the early 00s it just sounded like the "rad-bro-dude" americanised version of in flames/at the gates, whereas these days it seems to be almost a separate genre. most of the people i know who listen to metal won't touch deathcore, and vice-versa. there's only the smallest amount of overlap between the genres now, with bands like suffocation (who are rubbish, imo) filling the gap with their flat-brimmed caps and basement gigs.

Trivium's Ascendancy was one of the metalcore albums I loved the most as well!! I remember I also really liked "Shogun". Killswitch Engage "Alive or Just Breathing" and "The End of Heartache" as well, As I Lay Dying "An Ocean Between Us" and "Shadows are Security".

I liked a lot of BAD BAD BAD deathcore too. I've seen live As I Lay Dying, Chelsea Grin, Carnifex, The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza, etc, you name it, I probably went to their show and mosh-kicked my way through the set. I didn't really like the music in a way that was stimulating, I just liked swinging about and smashing into other moshers while Chugga Chuggas played in the background. At least I got rid of a lot of energy, lol.

I just think it's funny that I'd still listen to things like Entombed and At the Gates during this time of my life.

Nope. Never liked modern hardcore, either. Listened to plenty of Black Flag, Bad Brains, Minor Threat etc in high school (more than I do now, actually). I owned a couple of nu metal albums (didn't really like them that much even when I was 11... I was always hoping for guitar solos and stuff like that ), but never really got into that. I liked 1990s pop punk for a while... but that stuff is golden compared to Killswitch Engage and Trivium (I saw both bands live at various festivals in the mid-2000s and they were shite).

I used to be a true kvlt metal elitist as a young internet influenced teenager who hated nu-metal and hardcore/metalcore with a passion because it was not tr00 metal like black, death, thrash, power etc. I was totally dedicated to being as metal as possible (in the conventional sense) since I believed in the methodology of REAL music, not simplistic one note riffs, no breakdowns!! Only long hair and patches and denim and leather and technical metal skill power fantasy!! BEER AND THRASH! And so on.

Now I find myself listening to pop punk and beatdown bands, like Emmure, who are way more talented and influential than Hellhammer ever were.

There's no point taking music seriously.

I listened to a lot of Marilyn Manson in the 90s, until they released Mechanical Animals in '98, which killed it for me (going from dirty, disgusting industrial rock to David Bowie with rubber tits, bah. ) I still spin the first two albums sometimes. Anyway, that's pretty much the closest I get to the thread starter's question. Metalcore and deathcore never interested me. Deathcore sounds too much like modern brutal death metal (which I heard first) to me, and I don't like that. And metalcore sounds like In Flames with emo choruses, who wants to hear that?

Yeah put Shadows are Security up there real close with Ascendancy for me. I remember finding the CD during some high school house party jammed under a couch back in like October 2005. I still hold to this day that the guitar sound on that album is killer.

I enjoyed Killswitch Engage's Alive or Just Breathing immensely when I was 15, and while I find some of it really overwrought nowadays it's still an album I enjoy and one that fits in my gym playlist nicely enough. Hugely influential really as it was the first harsh vocals I heard and really got me into everything that came on afterwards, from Pantera, Decapitated and so on. Overall though it's certainly a very generic genre that hasn't had an interesting idea in the last 10 years.

Fair opinion, but clearly there are reasons why people would prefer Hellhammer - you must see that anyway.



If everyone thought like this, the world would be a shitty place. What an asinine thing to say.

Never liked/listened to it, can't stand the stuff. There was no 'core when I got into metal in any case, it was glam then shit like Pantera and Machine Head that was the shitty stuff, then I guess the Gothenburg melodeath or whatever it's called.

I haven't liked what I've heard of it, so even if someone here mentions anything 'core-related that is supposedly good I won't check it out, or the crowd here who claims Black Dahlia murder is good, haha - what fucking bullshit.

Eh, never really listened to that stuff. My first gateway bands were Metallica, Slipknot and Atreyu, although doom and sludge are what really got me into metal.