IS NU-DETHCORE THE NEXT BIG THING???? #bouncewitme
Everybody knows that whatever’s currently popular in the hardcore scene basically = copying whatever metal bands were doing 10-15 years earlier. 80s bands like DRI and Leeway were basically just little kids screaming over the “choppa-choppa” riffs of dinosaur thrash like Megadeth or Exodus (leading to an epidemic of chopaholism that ultimately killed the crossover scene), and 90s hardcore was essentially one big tribute to Slayer and Pantera, only with lyrics about animal rights instead of wizards and pot.
By the 00s, hardcore moved on to stealing from At The Gates, and the 2K10s are all about blast beats and gutturals, with even seemingly hardcore-proof genres like djent being raided for riffs by bros in skinny jeans with stretched ears. At first glance, you might think that means moshbros have stolen everything there is to steal from metal. I mean, if they’re jocking relatively extreme, tr00 bands like Nile and Dying Fetus, what’s left?? What’s the next frontier for hardcore bands who are out of ideas???
The answer is deceptively simple: it’s been 15 years since Cannibal Corpse put out Vile and Korn released Life Is Peachy. Put the two together, add in a pinch of neck tattoos and a healthy dose of lyrics that look sweet on the back of a shirt in Impact font and you have what is officially The Next Big Thing: NU-DETHCORE.
Emmure, “Solar Flare Homicide”
Let’s start with the basics: if you thought this post was a joke, watch this video. It shouldn’t take more than 10 seconds for you realize I am dead serious. Need I say more? Let’s move on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLmivRkVOr0
Upon A Burning Body, “Intermission”
In addition to being one of my favorite videos of the past decade, this song is a great template for successful nu-dethcore. Start off with a blastbeat and a riff that would fit right in on a Cannibal Corpse b-side, move on to a halftime semi-breakdown and pre-breakdown shoutout, then get down to fucking business. And that is exactly what they do at :45, where they bust out a Bizkit-style single-string riff and top it off with “BOUNCE!” and a bass drop. Take notes motherfuckers, this is how it’s done!
Here Comes The Kraken, “Nu Beginning”
You know a genre is real when foreigners start to jock it, such as these Mexican bros. The best part about foreigners is that they are way more sincere and naive than Americans, so when they get excited about something they go balls out and take it to the extreme with lulzy/awesome results. For example, these guys used to be a really boring melo-deathcore band, and they want you to know that they are starting all over with a new style– just to make sure there are no questions, they called the song “Nu Beginning!” I am also stoked that they do the “hold your 6-string bass almost vertical and play it around your ankles” thing and even had the balls to add a DJ to their lineup!! (Note: does this song remind anyone else of old Chimaira, but with blast beats??)
Gorelord, “Deathbreed”
There are even bands who come at nu-dethcore from the opposite direction: formerly tr00 death metal bands who add bass drops, breakdowns and bounce riffs. So far there aren’t too many of these, but if this is any indication I am excited about the possibilities of this emerging sub-subgenre (kinda sounds like Nails if they were from San Bernardino instead of Oxnard). Can’t decide which part of this song is more sweet, the skronky parts that are like the beginning of “Blind” or at :35 DAT BASS DROP!
Suiside Silence, “OCD”
As much as I love EMMURE, I have to say that this is next-level nu-dethcore. Sure, the chorus riffs is pretty much the same as the verse riff in “Slave To Substance,” but no fucks given. It’s just filling space until the chromatic ascending riff at 2:15 that is STRAIGHT UP KORN STEEZ!!! The next-best part is the line about “too many voices trying to talk to me.” I feel like that is a very advanced-level addition because it reminds me of the nu-metal “watch out man I’M CRAZY!!!” thing that bands like Disturbed and Coal Chamber were so into.
The new Suiside Silence album in general is perhaps the ultimate example of NU-DETHCORE. What better illustration of “scenebros playing generic 90s br00tal DM + nu-metal” could you have than an album featuring cameos by Frank Mullen (this song goes HARD, so fucking good) and Jonathan Davis, all wrapped up in siqq cover art and a fake death metal font????
Wat u think??? Is NU-DETHCORE the next big thing?? How long until Victory bands start non-ironically citing Dope, Mushroomhead and Shootyz Groove as influences?!!!!? Will deathcore shows in 2k12 be full of Pony shoes, North Face vests, and chinstrap beards??? In b4 Emmure gets a DJ.
-Sergeant D.
Sergeant D. nu-blogcores every day at Stuff You Will Hate.
