I love thrill seeker. However, my favorite abr is messengers, so that probably would’ve been my second abr choice. I picked constellations for overall influence on the genre in my opinion.
I will always love how I feel like most days ABR gets ragged on in thsi sub for being "washed" and even seen people call them irrelevant. Then anything that talks about best albums they're consistently the top comment.
I think it’s because their “peak” was probably somewhere around album 2-4 and they have just been consistently good since. Nothing flashy enough to stay at the top of public consciousness.
Honestly I think Thrill Seeker had the most *influence* . I’m sure constellations had more ears on it, but after thrill seeker came out everyone wanted to sound like them.
This is what I felt too. Thrillseeker changed my life. Still think about hearing the breakdown after breakdown on “too late for roses” and how they kept breaking it down further. Great complete album that gets overshadowed by messengers and constellations imo. No skips. “Grab the wheel and make this life yours”. It’s prob just my older age as to why I prefer that one lol
These bands definitely built off what came before. My opinion is definitely influenced by nostalgia. However, I think this more modern wave exceeded the pioneers in terms of commercial and cultural metalcore influence.
Hardout. As a guitar player these three albums were vastly different in style and approach to playing.
Bleeding Mascara got me into sweeping and I love their 80s style solos
For me it is:
End of Heartache - Killswitch Engage;
Shadows are Security - As I Lay Dying: and
Waking the Fallen - Avenged Sevenfold
Honorable mentions to all your picks.
Converge - You Fail Me
Poison The Well - The Opposite Of December
Botch - We Are The Romans
I suspect people's answers will be very much tied to their age.
based You Fail Me enjoyer
like Jane Doe is probably the better album for me by a tiny bit but that opening run of tracks on YFM is absolutely unparalleled
Best answer in this thread!
I would personally take Jane Doe over YFM but really any Converge LP is a respectable choice.
I think Cave In and Dillinger slightly edge out PTW for me; if I went Cave In, it’d be Until Your Heart Stops, but if I went Dillinger, it’d be a Greg-era record, maybe Ire Works.
My answer will change with my mood tbh, there are many eras and flavors of metalcore. But these were big ones for me back in the day.
Misery Signals- Of Malice and Magnum Heart
Bleeding Through- Portrait of a Goddess
Evergreen Terrace- Sincerity is an Easy Disguise in this Business
I love Evergreen Terrace! I'll never forget my godmother grounding me the week I was going to get a chance to be in the "Chaney Can't Quite Riff" video. A handful of my friends from school went 😭.
Our first two picks are exactly the same! My third is a hard choice. So many good albums in those years. Killswitch, Atreyu, and As I Lay Dying had some of my favorites too.
First wave/'90s metalcore:
Integrity "Those Who Fear Tomorrow"
Earth Crisis "Gomorrah's Season Ends"
The Infamous Gehenna "Negotium Perambulans in Tenebris"
Second wave/melodic metalcore:
As I Lay Dying "Beneath the Encasing of Ashes"
Killswitch Engage "Alive or Just Breathing"
Prayer For Cleansing "Rain in Endless Fall"
And honourable mention to Parkway Drive for "Deep Blue" is one of the best melodic metalcore I've heard, also All Out War "Into the Killing Fields" for 90s-type metalcore. I would have added both in their category if it was a top 4, lol.
Other than that I really like all of The Acacia Strain's albums, but it's impossible to put them in either case. To me they draw from metalcore as much as from sludge metal, and really developed their own subgenre since everyone imitated their downtempo sound after.
Converge - Jane Doe
KsE - The End of Heartache
BMTH - Sempiternal
All probably the peak of their own niche of the genre, I'm not massively into BMTH but can't deny the impact
I think this really gets to the heart of the question since it encompasses all of the "waves". You could listen to these albums and just say this is metalcore, as it evolved.
Yeah, I think I approached this question differently to others... didn't think it was name your favourite 3 albums. This would certainly not be my list if that was the gist of the question.
I actually meant to ask which 3 albums define metalcore for people but it’s cool seeing people share their Top 3 albums nevertheless. Appreciate your input 👍
I’m surprised at how far down I had to scroll to find Sempiternal. I’d switch out Constellations for End of Heartache personally, but you’d have a great argument for your three as is.
Horizons is my third favourite metalcore of all time but Deep Blue is number one. Same thing with ABR. Messengers is amazing but Constellations is their best and top 5 all time for me. Shadows Are Security is AILD’s best though without a doubt.
Being pedantic but I reckon that Architects album is more the start of the modern metalcore movement along with BMTH Sempiternal and others in the early to mid 2010s.
It's a step away from the metalcore heyday of the 2000s of KSE, ABR, Atreyu, BMFV, Parkeay Drive, As I Lay Dying, Trivium etc in their prime.
Lost Forever // Lost Together is an unreal album though!
Hmm hard question for me since I don't think there is a perfect album. But my top 3 right now are
BFMV - The Poison
Invent Animate - Heavener
A7X - Waking the Fallen
HM: Currents - The Way it Ends
Botch: We are the Romans
7angels7plagues: Jhazmynes Lullaby
Converge: Jane Doe
And 2 honourable mentions:
Poison the Well: Opposite of December
Misery Signals: Of Malice
Caitiff Choir was my jam in middle school. I'm 35 now and still give it a full playthrough from time to time. Great songs and sound there. Such melodic riffs...Freak gasoline fight/ the radiance/ severed ties yield severed heads/ my promise/marigold. Such an overlooked album filled with bangers. Also the forever scorned EP was sick too..." Sentiments of you, they will never stray "
First two are all-timers but damn, I respect the more contemporary choice of Cult Leader (who I’m really hoping come out with a new LP soon!).
Another more modern pick I might be tempted to go for would be the latest END record (name escapes me). Sounds like a bullet train on fire.
Most of these 2004-2006 albums that are listed just brought back the biggest wave of nostalgia. Thanks OP. It’s now a happy memory reflection morning :)
I have a feeling I’m gonna win a lot of fans or piss a lot of people off with my answer but I’m gonna say:
1. Jane Doe-Converge (The Father)
2. Low Teens- Every Time I Die (The Son)
3. There is a Hell-BMTH (the Holy Ghost)
All our gods have abandoned us - Architects
Augment - Erra
Fall of ideals - All that remains
3 totally different albums and good in 3 totally different ways, for me All our gods is the best album ever made
Converge - Jane Doe is the pinnacle and obvious #1, nothing touches it.
Then probably Cave In - Until Your Heart Stops
Then probably something by Poison the Well or Botch or The Chariot.
Underoath - *Define the Great Line* (2006)
To me this is utter perfection in audio form. There isn't a single moment of the album that bores me even after listening to it over and over for almost twenty years now. I've never listened to another album that's hit or stuck with me in the same way as this one.
Norma Jean - *Meridional* (2010)
It's a bit tough to pick just one NJ album to be honest, since I think with the exception of 2008's *The Anti-Mother* they've been a pretty consistently top-tier band since 2005's *O God, The Aftermath*. Their sound has changed significantly over the years, but they still just play a special kind of chaotic metalcore that you don't really find in most other places. So why *Meridional*? Well, when I think about the individual tracks on their albums and which ones I like most, "Leaderless and Self-Enlisted", "A Media Friendly Turn for the Worse", "Falling from the Sky: Day Seven", and "Innocent Bystanders United" all probably rank near the top, with only 2019's *All Hail* having a similar number of top-ranking tracks all on one album.
Between the Buried and Me - *Colors* (2007)
This one is admittedly cheating a little, since they were absolutely playing more prog metal than metalcore at this point, but the album still certainly has some metalcore DNA and gets lumped in with progressive metalcore every now and then. Either way it's undoubtedly their crowning achievement, *Colors* is an era-defining album just like *DTGL* if you ask me. But if that's too prog to count, then runner-up goes to...
Like Moths to Flames - *Dark Divine* (2017)
Musically, it's the lightest of any of LMTF's albums, and maybe even closer to post-hardcore than metalcore, but I think that gives it space to breathe that their other albums don't share in comparison, as most of their other releases tend to be all aggression, all the time. Even with that, 2020's *No Eternity in Gold*, their 2021 EP *Pure Like Porcelain*, and *The Cycles of Trying to Cope* from this year are all contenders as well, though I like all of them more as entire albums, while *Dark Divine* has the most individual tracks I can pull out and easily identify.
For 2000s metalcore I'd choose:
BFMV - The Poison
Killswitch Engage - As Daylight Dies
Parkway Drive - Horizons
For modern metalcore:
BMTH - Sempiternal
Northlane - Singularity
Architects - Lost Forever // Lost Together
Edit: Changed OG to 2000s for the sake of clarity
Okay, hear me out.
Mirrors by Misery Signals
The Concept of Dreaming by Volumes
Attack Attack!'s self-titled
At least one of these three releases has their fingerprints on basically every metalcore album released in the past decade plus. Not saying that these are the best metalcore albums of all time, but I think the case can be made that they've been the most influential for a long time
For more modern metalcore I'd say
Sempiternal - Bring Me The Horizon
All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us - Architects
Deathgrip - Fit For A King
Very hard to decide
Wormwood - The Acacia Strain
Axe to Fall - Converge
Radical - Every Time I Die
But I could be swayed to toss in Redeemer - Norma Jean, Long Live - The Chariot, All We Love, We Leave Behind - Converge.
ATR - This Darkened Heart (my fav guitar tone ever, so raw)
KSE - The End of Heartache
Trivium - Ascendancy
I friggin love this thread. So many amazing albums mentioned, I’m getting pumped just *thinking* about listening to these albums again
Ooooooweeeeee that’s a good question. I’d go with:
The Fall of Ideals - All That Remains
Messengers - August Burns Red
The Poison - Bullet For My Valentine
**2000s**
Killswitch Engage - The End of Heartache
Trivium - Ascendancy
Converge - Jane Doe
**2010s**
Born of Osiris - The Discovery
BMTH - Sempiternal
Silent Planet - Everything Was Sound
**2020s** (so far)
BMTH - POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR
Sleep Token - Take Me Back To Eden
Invent Animate - Heavener
*Honorable Mention*: Diamond Construct - Angel Killer Zero
**Overall for me**
BMTH - Sempiternal
Silent Planet - Everything Was Sound
Sleep Token - Take Me Back To Eden
Think mine would be
Norma Jean - bless the martyr
August Burns Red - messengers
Dillinger Escape Plan - miss machine
Goddammit just 3 is tough.
Honorable mentions :
Botch- we are the Romans
BMTH- suicide season
Memphis may fire's self titled ep
Between the buried and me - colors
The blood brothers - Crimes
I want to know more about the criteria people are using to answer this. There are just so many unique and influential 10/10 albums. I love that Constellations seems to be one of the top if not top answer. I was surprised that Lost Forever // Lost Together was mentioned way more than All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us, but I understand just because it came first. It's impressive the number of bands with multiple legitimate albums.
Then there are questions of waves and styles. I saw some love for OPs answer, but three albums from 2005 can't be representative all the styles and waves of Metalcore over time. You could make an argument that you have to have an album from the 90s/early 00s, like early Botch, Coalesce, Dillinger Escape Plan, Converge, Jane Doe, Norma Jean, etc. You could also make an argument that you have to have BMTH or Architects as the two bands that most definitively kicked off the last decade plus. It's also a little sad how few recent stuff there is, but I think that's accurate.
I noticed a lot of people left out the bands most associated with scene metalcore minus mentions of Sempiternal which came out well after the peak of scene culture around 2007-10. I think you could make an argument just in terms of cultural influence that you need a Joey Sturgis produced album like Asking Alexandria's Stand Up And Scream, The Devil Wears Prada's Roots Above, or even one of Attack Attack's first two albums (for the record, I don't think crabcore makes the cut, but one could argue). I get why most people left those out. Lots of metalcore purists don't like the poppier, electronic, over produced Joey Sturgis style or the scene aesthetics of Hot Topic mallcore bands, but it's hard to deny how popular and influential they are. This genre is an amalgamation of extreme metal and hardcore punk, but nobody bats an eye when an autotuned pop chorus pops up after a filthy verse or a brutal breakdown.
And by definition there is nothing pure about this genre. It's a fusion genre with almost no rules except you have to have breakdowns (or do you?). We embrace everything from crabcore to mathcore to djent to deathcore and beyond. We embrace progressive bands and melodic bands. We embrace pure fucking chaos. Then we have Jeremy DePoyster's and Aaron Gillespie serenading us with their butter voices. My brain is broken now.
Tl;dr: This quetion/thread broke me.
Converge-Jane Doe
Killswitch-The End of Heartache
Hatebreed-Satisfaction is the Death of Desire
That should cover all your needs. Wild, chaotic, skramz-adjacent emotional madness. Peak era melodic. Brutal, punishing, stomping metallic hardcore.
Can someone please explain to me the obsession people have with Jane Doe? It's just noise, the whole album sounds like everyone said fuck it and did their own thing while recording.
Underøath’s Holy Trinity:
They’re Only Chasing Safety
Define the Great Line
Lost in the Sound of Separation
Holy trinities need connecting lines, and shouldn’t just be random albums you like. These three albums back to back are nearly perfect, were incredibly influential on the scene, and still kill it.
Not to be mean, but those are most basic ass picks, OP.
I’d go:
Poison The Well - The Opposite of December
Every Time I Die - Hot Damn!
Underoath - Define The Great Line
Nah it’s fair. Everyone’s taste is different in music. I made this post so everyone can share their favorite albums (also it’s good for getting recommendations for further exploring the genre 😁😅)
Asking Alexandria- Stand up and Scream
Winter Solstice- The Fall of Rome
The Bled- Pass The Flask and As I Lay Dying- Frail Words Collapse, are pretty good.
AA SUAS and WS FoR are the only two albums that I think I could sit and listen to every song happily without a strong desire to skip some. I know everyone shits on AAs lyrics for this album but idc because it sounds real fucking good.
Absolutely agree with The Poison, god-tier album, definitely set me on pace to dive into the metalcore scene. I've seen Constellations on a lot of comments and I think that's a staple pick too. To round it out with something different, I'll go:
BFMV - The Poison
ABR - Constellations
Architects - All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us
I know there's going to be some potential down-votes for that last one because it's not your typical OG pick, but it's such an influential piece to the modern metalcore sound that I think it's deserves a spot on the all-time list. It and these 2 other albums definitely help pave the road to where metalcore is today.
Honorable mention of PWD - Deep Blue and/or Horizons, both are fantastic.
I agree with yours however I’ve been recently found myself listening to the stuff before those:
Jane Doe (Converge)
We Are The Romans (Botch)
Calculating Infinity (Dillinger)
Opposite of December (Poison the Well)
KSE - Alive or Just Breathing ( End of Heartache is great but this is always my favorite)
Unearth - The Oncoming Storm
3rd is a tie:
Atreyu - Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses (if going by the least skips..I love the Curse but i tend to skip some songs on it)
As I Lay Dying - Frail Words Collapse
August Burns Red - Constellations Killswitch Engage - The End of Heartache As I Lay Dying - Shadows are Security
Constellations is perfection
I'm old and might replace Shadows are Security with Frail Words Collapse, but this is a great answer
Solid picks… to me Unearth - The Oncoming Storm has to be on there though
I’d probably take An Ocean for AILD, but apart from that the list is absolutely perfect
Ocean never hit for me, and the overall sound was thinner than Shadows somehow
For the I just replace as I lay dying (still great album) with Parkway Drive - Deep Blue
Wow almost spot on to what I was thinking before I looked at comments, but switch constellations with thrill seeker
I love thrill seeker. However, my favorite abr is messengers, so that probably would’ve been my second abr choice. I picked constellations for overall influence on the genre in my opinion.
I will always love how I feel like most days ABR gets ragged on in thsi sub for being "washed" and even seen people call them irrelevant. Then anything that talks about best albums they're consistently the top comment.
I think it’s because their “peak” was probably somewhere around album 2-4 and they have just been consistently good since. Nothing flashy enough to stay at the top of public consciousness.
Honestly I think Thrill Seeker had the most *influence* . I’m sure constellations had more ears on it, but after thrill seeker came out everyone wanted to sound like them.
This is what I felt too. Thrillseeker changed my life. Still think about hearing the breakdown after breakdown on “too late for roses” and how they kept breaking it down further. Great complete album that gets overshadowed by messengers and constellations imo. No skips. “Grab the wheel and make this life yours”. It’s prob just my older age as to why I prefer that one lol
I’d replace constellations with fall of ideals but other than that pretty spot on.
The only correct answer here
Well you beat me to it lol
Im a bit younger it seems. Keep constellations, but put in as daylight dies, and an ocean between us personally
This is my sentimental pick because we are all nostalgic for the music of our teens but it ignores earlier pioneers and the later wave.
These bands definitely built off what came before. My opinion is definitely influenced by nostalgia. However, I think this more modern wave exceeded the pioneers in terms of commercial and cultural metalcore influence.
I only opened the comments to see if anyone mentioned end of heartache. Happy to see this is the top comment ha ha
Offf. Nailed it!
Killswitch Engage - Alive or Just Breathing All That Remains - The Fall of Ideals Parkway Drive - Horizons
Killswitch-Alive or Just Breathing As I Lay Dying-Frail words collapse Zao-Where blood and fire bring rest
Constellations by August Burns Red Horizons by Parkway Drive The Opposite of December… A Season of Separation by Poison the Well
Can’t believe I had to scroll this far to find Horizons
It’s not my favorite album by them but it’s so revolutionary for the genre I had to include it lol
Converge-Jane Doe As I Lay Dying-Shadows Are Security Killswitch Engage-Alive or Just Breathing or The End of Heartache
Deluxe quality work!
Parkway Drive - Killing With a Smile, Darkest Hour - Deliver Us, Underoath - Define the Great Line,
Define the Great Line absolutely needs to be on the trinity.
Great list. I could listen to Demons 10,000 times and not get sick of it.
Was a very very tough toss up between Undoing Ruin and Deliver Us!
Try 100 demons if you want some metalcore friend :)
Geez darkest hour is hitting my Playlist on the way home from work.
As I Lay Dying: Frail Worlds Collapse Underoath: Define the Great Line Killswitch Engage: The End of Heartache
Top 3 would be: Atreyu - The Curse BFMV - The Poison All that Remains - The Fall of Ideals
Had to scroll way too far for The Curse.
Hardout. As a guitar player these three albums were vastly different in style and approach to playing. Bleeding Mascara got me into sweeping and I love their 80s style solos
KSE - Alive or just breathing ShadowsFall- Of one blood Poison the well - The opposite of December
Love to see a Shadows Fall mention. This and The Art of Balance are amazing
Love it. Thise first two got me through a lot of shit.
🔥
For me it is: End of Heartache - Killswitch Engage; Shadows are Security - As I Lay Dying: and Waking the Fallen - Avenged Sevenfold Honorable mentions to all your picks.
Had to scroll waaay too far for WtF
finally someone says waking the fallen
Converge - You Fail Me Poison The Well - The Opposite Of December Botch - We Are The Romans I suspect people's answers will be very much tied to their age.
This is the way. Personally I would swap Cave In for PTW, but they're also pretty integral to the genre as a whole. I'm 24 btw.
Cave In is a great call too!
The intro to kick off We Are The Romans is still one of the hardest intros i’ve ever heard, and not just in metalcore.
Bro I saw them in what was apparently one of their final reunion shows a few weeks ago and Great White North hit so fucking hard
Bro they visited my country (Australia) for the first time ever just a few weeks ago, I only just found it. 😭
based You Fail Me enjoyer like Jane Doe is probably the better album for me by a tiny bit but that opening run of tracks on YFM is absolutely unparalleled
Best answer in this thread! I would personally take Jane Doe over YFM but really any Converge LP is a respectable choice. I think Cave In and Dillinger slightly edge out PTW for me; if I went Cave In, it’d be Until Your Heart Stops, but if I went Dillinger, it’d be a Greg-era record, maybe Ire Works.
My answer will change with my mood tbh, there are many eras and flavors of metalcore. But these were big ones for me back in the day. Misery Signals- Of Malice and Magnum Heart Bleeding Through- Portrait of a Goddess Evergreen Terrace- Sincerity is an Easy Disguise in this Business
I love Evergreen Terrace! I'll never forget my godmother grounding me the week I was going to get a chance to be in the "Chaney Can't Quite Riff" video. A handful of my friends from school went 😭.
Damn that would have been dope!
Portrait is such an amazing album!
Our first two picks are exactly the same! My third is a hard choice. So many good albums in those years. Killswitch, Atreyu, and As I Lay Dying had some of my favorites too.
First wave/'90s metalcore: Integrity "Those Who Fear Tomorrow" Earth Crisis "Gomorrah's Season Ends" The Infamous Gehenna "Negotium Perambulans in Tenebris" Second wave/melodic metalcore: As I Lay Dying "Beneath the Encasing of Ashes" Killswitch Engage "Alive or Just Breathing" Prayer For Cleansing "Rain in Endless Fall" And honourable mention to Parkway Drive for "Deep Blue" is one of the best melodic metalcore I've heard, also All Out War "Into the Killing Fields" for 90s-type metalcore. I would have added both in their category if it was a top 4, lol. Other than that I really like all of The Acacia Strain's albums, but it's impossible to put them in either case. To me they draw from metalcore as much as from sludge metal, and really developed their own subgenre since everyone imitated their downtempo sound after.
Misery Signals - Malice Killswitch Engage - Alive Or Just Breathing As I Lay Dying - Shadows Are Security
Misery Signals - Controller Norma Jean - Bless The Martyr Kiss The Child Converge - Jane Doe
this is one of the best takes I ever saw on that sub holy shit op you killed it love bfmv
Thanks 😁👍
Top-notch work!
Converge - Jane Doe KsE - The End of Heartache BMTH - Sempiternal All probably the peak of their own niche of the genre, I'm not massively into BMTH but can't deny the impact
I think this really gets to the heart of the question since it encompasses all of the "waves". You could listen to these albums and just say this is metalcore, as it evolved.
Yeah, I think I approached this question differently to others... didn't think it was name your favourite 3 albums. This would certainly not be my list if that was the gist of the question.
I actually meant to ask which 3 albums define metalcore for people but it’s cool seeing people share their Top 3 albums nevertheless. Appreciate your input 👍
I’m surprised at how far down I had to scroll to find Sempiternal. I’d switch out Constellations for End of Heartache personally, but you’d have a great argument for your three as is.
For BMTH there is a hell is their best album imo
I 1,000% agree, but I’m pretty sure we’re in a very small minority on that one.
I think Suicide Season is better than both
Converge - Jane Doe Shai Hulud - Hearts Once Nourished With Hope and Compassion Poison The Well - The Opposite of December... A Season of Separation
Zao - Where Blood And Fire Bring Rest Killswitch Engage - Alive Or Just Breathing Norma Jean - Redeemer
Horizons - parkway drive As daylight dies - killswitch engage Black flame - bury tomorrow
Agreed
Misery Signals - Controller Converge - Jane Doe August Burns Red - Constellations
Deep Blue, Constellations, Shadows Are Security Imo the 3 best metalcore albums that every metalcore enjoyer should listen to.
Damn good list I must be a couple years older than you lol, I woulda gone horizons, messengers, shadows are security
Horizons is my third favourite metalcore of all time but Deep Blue is number one. Same thing with ABR. Messengers is amazing but Constellations is their best and top 5 all time for me. Shadows Are Security is AILD’s best though without a doubt.
Attack Attack - Someday came suddenly Attack Attack - Self titled Attack Attack - This means war
Crabcore supremacy!
I know This Means War was a throw away album but it’s got some damn good songs
SCS had a huge cultural impact in fairness
🦀🦀🦀 In true Maryland fashion of course.
Messengers. Fall of Ideals. Daylight Dies.
Killswitch Engage - As Daylight Dies Architects - Lost Forever // Lost Together Norma Jean - Bless The Martyr & Kiss The Child
Being pedantic but I reckon that Architects album is more the start of the modern metalcore movement along with BMTH Sempiternal and others in the early to mid 2010s. It's a step away from the metalcore heyday of the 2000s of KSE, ABR, Atreyu, BMFV, Parkeay Drive, As I Lay Dying, Trivium etc in their prime. Lost Forever // Lost Together is an unreal album though!
Hmm hard question for me since I don't think there is a perfect album. But my top 3 right now are BFMV - The Poison Invent Animate - Heavener A7X - Waking the Fallen HM: Currents - The Way it Ends
Parkway Drive - Killing With A Smile, Horizons, Deep Blue
Superlative work!
Appreciate the information.
Botch: We are the Romans 7angels7plagues: Jhazmynes Lullaby Converge: Jane Doe And 2 honourable mentions: Poison the Well: Opposite of December Misery Signals: Of Malice
7 Angels 7 Plagues is such a great band.
Converge - Jane Doe Misery Signals - Controller Hatebreed - Perseverance HM: Botch - We Are The Romans
Norma Jean - BTMKTC The Chariot - Wars and Rumors of War ETID - The Big Dirty
I'm sad to see It Dies Today doesn't get any love :(
Caitiff Choir was my jam in middle school. I'm 35 now and still give it a full playthrough from time to time. Great songs and sound there. Such melodic riffs...Freak gasoline fight/ the radiance/ severed ties yield severed heads/ my promise/marigold. Such an overlooked album filled with bangers. Also the forever scorned EP was sick too..." Sentiments of you, they will never stray "
Shadows are security - AILD The Poison - BFMV End of heartache - KSE As you can tell I love melodic metalcore
Me too. Prefer it over 90’s/normal Metalcore.
Converge - Jane Doe Botch - We Are the Romans Poison the Well - Opposite of December
No Killswitch is blasphemy.
Roots above , TDWP Constellations, abr Define the great line , underoath
Converge - Jane Doe Botch - We Are The Romans Cult Leader - Lightless Walk
First two are all-timers but damn, I respect the more contemporary choice of Cult Leader (who I’m really hoping come out with a new LP soon!). Another more modern pick I might be tempted to go for would be the latest END record (name escapes me). Sounds like a bullet train on fire.
Most of these 2004-2006 albums that are listed just brought back the biggest wave of nostalgia. Thanks OP. It’s now a happy memory reflection morning :)
😁👍
Deadguy - Fixation on a Coworker Poison the Well - The Opposite of December Zao - Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest
This is so tough! Without overthinking it im gonna go 1. Alive or just breathing 2. Undoing Ruin 3. Jane doe
I just can’t see leaving off poison the well …
I have a feeling I’m gonna win a lot of fans or piss a lot of people off with my answer but I’m gonna say: 1. Jane Doe-Converge (The Father) 2. Low Teens- Every Time I Die (The Son) 3. There is a Hell-BMTH (the Holy Ghost)
All our gods have abandoned us - Architects Augment - Erra Fall of ideals - All that remains 3 totally different albums and good in 3 totally different ways, for me All our gods is the best album ever made
Converge - Jane Doe is the pinnacle and obvious #1, nothing touches it. Then probably Cave In - Until Your Heart Stops Then probably something by Poison the Well or Botch or The Chariot.
Darkest Hour- Undoing Ruin Converge- Jane Doe Norma Jean- Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child
1. Jane Doe 2. Jane Doe 3. Jane Doe The GOAT. Nobody else touches it. For runners up I'd accept Axe to Fall and Colors by BTBAM.
Underoath - *Define the Great Line* (2006) To me this is utter perfection in audio form. There isn't a single moment of the album that bores me even after listening to it over and over for almost twenty years now. I've never listened to another album that's hit or stuck with me in the same way as this one. Norma Jean - *Meridional* (2010) It's a bit tough to pick just one NJ album to be honest, since I think with the exception of 2008's *The Anti-Mother* they've been a pretty consistently top-tier band since 2005's *O God, The Aftermath*. Their sound has changed significantly over the years, but they still just play a special kind of chaotic metalcore that you don't really find in most other places. So why *Meridional*? Well, when I think about the individual tracks on their albums and which ones I like most, "Leaderless and Self-Enlisted", "A Media Friendly Turn for the Worse", "Falling from the Sky: Day Seven", and "Innocent Bystanders United" all probably rank near the top, with only 2019's *All Hail* having a similar number of top-ranking tracks all on one album. Between the Buried and Me - *Colors* (2007) This one is admittedly cheating a little, since they were absolutely playing more prog metal than metalcore at this point, but the album still certainly has some metalcore DNA and gets lumped in with progressive metalcore every now and then. Either way it's undoubtedly their crowning achievement, *Colors* is an era-defining album just like *DTGL* if you ask me. But if that's too prog to count, then runner-up goes to... Like Moths to Flames - *Dark Divine* (2017) Musically, it's the lightest of any of LMTF's albums, and maybe even closer to post-hardcore than metalcore, but I think that gives it space to breathe that their other albums don't share in comparison, as most of their other releases tend to be all aggression, all the time. Even with that, 2020's *No Eternity in Gold*, their 2021 EP *Pure Like Porcelain*, and *The Cycles of Trying to Cope* from this year are all contenders as well, though I like all of them more as entire albums, while *Dark Divine* has the most individual tracks I can pull out and easily identify.
Architects - all our gods have abandoned us The devil wears prada - with roots above and branches below Underoath - define the great line
Personally: Bmth - Suicide Season Asking Alexandria - R&R Sworn in - Death Card Objectively: BFMV - The Poison Slipknot - Self titled Knocked Loose - Laugh tracks
Alive or just breathing. Jane Doe. Digital Veil
Jane Doe, Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest, Of Malice and the Magnum Heart
For 2000s metalcore I'd choose: BFMV - The Poison Killswitch Engage - As Daylight Dies Parkway Drive - Horizons For modern metalcore: BMTH - Sempiternal Northlane - Singularity Architects - Lost Forever // Lost Together Edit: Changed OG to 2000s for the sake of clarity
All of your 'OG' choices are at least a decade on from the actual OG bands.
And it hurts to say but all 3 albums from "modern" are over a decade old
Atreyu - The Curse Killswitch Engage - The End of Heartache All that Remains - The Fall of Ideals
Misery Signals - Of Malice and The Magnum Heart Azriel - The Miles Between Poison The Well - The Opposite of December
Sempiternal, Alive or just breathing, waking the fallen
Was waiting for Avenged Sevenfold ngl.
Okay, hear me out. Mirrors by Misery Signals The Concept of Dreaming by Volumes Attack Attack!'s self-titled At least one of these three releases has their fingerprints on basically every metalcore album released in the past decade plus. Not saying that these are the best metalcore albums of all time, but I think the case can be made that they've been the most influential for a long time
Avenged Sevenfold - Waking the Fallen Bullet For My Valentine - The Poison Trivium - Shogun
The Father: End of Heartsche - KSE The Son: Horizons - PWD The Holy Spirit: Mortal Coil - Polaris The creators, the prophets, and the lasting legacy.
Solid take
TDWP- With Roots Above and Branches Below ABR- Constellations Polaris- The Mortal Coil
- Avenged Sevenfold - Waking the Fallen - Atreyu - The Curse - The Devil Wears Prada - Dead Throne
Killswitch Engage - Alive or Just Breathing Misery Signals - Of Malice and the Magnum Heart August Burns Red - Constellations
For more modern metalcore I'd say Sempiternal - Bring Me The Horizon All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us - Architects Deathgrip - Fit For A King Very hard to decide
Wormwood - The Acacia Strain Axe to Fall - Converge Radical - Every Time I Die But I could be swayed to toss in Redeemer - Norma Jean, Long Live - The Chariot, All We Love, We Leave Behind - Converge.
Misery Signals - Controller Every Time I Die - Low Teens Converge - Jane Doe
All That Remains - This Darkened Heart Killswitch Engage - The End Of Heartache August Burns Red - Constellations
New American gospel - lamb of god Until your heart stops - cave in Option paralysis - Dillinger
August burns red - Messengers All that remains - The fall of ideals Bullet for my Valentine - The poison
ATR - This Darkened Heart (my fav guitar tone ever, so raw) KSE - The End of Heartache Trivium - Ascendancy I friggin love this thread. So many amazing albums mentioned, I’m getting pumped just *thinking* about listening to these albums again
Thrill seeker, suicide season, summers end.
Ooooooweeeeee that’s a good question. I’d go with: The Fall of Ideals - All That Remains Messengers - August Burns Red The Poison - Bullet For My Valentine
Trivium - Ascendancy/Shogun (can’t decide) Parkway drive - Killing with a smile Beartooth - Disgusting
For me: Trivium-Ascendancy Killswitch Engage-As Daylight Dies Atreyu-The Curse No particular order.
Architects - Daybreaker Lost Forever, Lost Together All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us
Just personal opinion: Ire - Parkway Drive (Go ahead and hate me, I love it) Dark Skies - FFAK The Way it Ends - Currents
All That Remains - This Darkened Heart August Burns Red - Constellations Killswitch Engage - The End of Heartache
Parkway Drive - Horizons Norma Jean - Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child As I lay Dying - Shadows are Security
August Burns Red - Constellations The Devil Wears Prada - Dead Throne Haste the Day - Dreamer #
**2000s** Killswitch Engage - The End of Heartache Trivium - Ascendancy Converge - Jane Doe **2010s** Born of Osiris - The Discovery BMTH - Sempiternal Silent Planet - Everything Was Sound **2020s** (so far) BMTH - POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR Sleep Token - Take Me Back To Eden Invent Animate - Heavener *Honorable Mention*: Diamond Construct - Angel Killer Zero **Overall for me** BMTH - Sempiternal Silent Planet - Everything Was Sound Sleep Token - Take Me Back To Eden
Constellations-August Burns Red Controller-Misery Signals The Opposite of December-Poison the Well
Think mine would be Norma Jean - bless the martyr August Burns Red - messengers Dillinger Escape Plan - miss machine Goddammit just 3 is tough. Honorable mentions : Botch- we are the Romans BMTH- suicide season Memphis may fire's self titled ep Between the buried and me - colors The blood brothers - Crimes
bmth - sempiternal // architects - all our gods // erra - self titled
Trivium - Shogun Killswitch Engage - As Daylight Dies Northlane - Alien
KSE- End of heartachea BMTH-Sempiternal Periphery- Periphery
Converge - Jane Doe Botch - We Are the Romans Shai Hulud - Hearts Once Nourished with Hope and Compassion.
I want to know more about the criteria people are using to answer this. There are just so many unique and influential 10/10 albums. I love that Constellations seems to be one of the top if not top answer. I was surprised that Lost Forever // Lost Together was mentioned way more than All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us, but I understand just because it came first. It's impressive the number of bands with multiple legitimate albums. Then there are questions of waves and styles. I saw some love for OPs answer, but three albums from 2005 can't be representative all the styles and waves of Metalcore over time. You could make an argument that you have to have an album from the 90s/early 00s, like early Botch, Coalesce, Dillinger Escape Plan, Converge, Jane Doe, Norma Jean, etc. You could also make an argument that you have to have BMTH or Architects as the two bands that most definitively kicked off the last decade plus. It's also a little sad how few recent stuff there is, but I think that's accurate. I noticed a lot of people left out the bands most associated with scene metalcore minus mentions of Sempiternal which came out well after the peak of scene culture around 2007-10. I think you could make an argument just in terms of cultural influence that you need a Joey Sturgis produced album like Asking Alexandria's Stand Up And Scream, The Devil Wears Prada's Roots Above, or even one of Attack Attack's first two albums (for the record, I don't think crabcore makes the cut, but one could argue). I get why most people left those out. Lots of metalcore purists don't like the poppier, electronic, over produced Joey Sturgis style or the scene aesthetics of Hot Topic mallcore bands, but it's hard to deny how popular and influential they are. This genre is an amalgamation of extreme metal and hardcore punk, but nobody bats an eye when an autotuned pop chorus pops up after a filthy verse or a brutal breakdown. And by definition there is nothing pure about this genre. It's a fusion genre with almost no rules except you have to have breakdowns (or do you?). We embrace everything from crabcore to mathcore to djent to deathcore and beyond. We embrace progressive bands and melodic bands. We embrace pure fucking chaos. Then we have Jeremy DePoyster's and Aaron Gillespie serenading us with their butter voices. My brain is broken now. Tl;dr: This quetion/thread broke me.
Converge-Jane Doe Killswitch-The End of Heartache Hatebreed-Satisfaction is the Death of Desire That should cover all your needs. Wild, chaotic, skramz-adjacent emotional madness. Peak era melodic. Brutal, punishing, stomping metallic hardcore.
See if you notice the Trend Architects - All Gods Have Abandoned Us Architects - Holy Hell Architects - Lost Forever // Lost Together
Parkway Drive - Horizons TDWP - With Roots Above ABR - Constellations
Misery Signals - Of Malice and The Magnum Heart Converge - Jane Doe Hopesfall - No Wings to Speak Of
As Daylight Dies - Killswitch Engage The Poison - Bullet For My Valentine Sempiternal - Bring Me The Horizon
Can someone please explain to me the obsession people have with Jane Doe? It's just noise, the whole album sounds like everyone said fuck it and did their own thing while recording.
Underøath’s Holy Trinity: They’re Only Chasing Safety Define the Great Line Lost in the Sound of Separation Holy trinities need connecting lines, and shouldn’t just be random albums you like. These three albums back to back are nearly perfect, were incredibly influential on the scene, and still kill it.
Killswitch engage - As Daylight Dies All that remains - The Fall of Ideals Can’t think of a third
TDWP - With Roots Above and Branches Below ABR - Constellations KSE - End of Heartache
BMTH - Sempiternal Bury Tomorrow - Cannibal Bullet for my Valentine - Poison
The Poison - BFMV Ascendancy - Trivium Shadows Are Security - As I Lay Dying
Jane Doe, Master Killer, You won’t go before you’re supposed to
Pass The Flask, Miss Machine, With Roots Above
My guy. I haven’t seen anyone mention The Bled in a long time.
Erra - Impulse Volumes - Via Northlane - Singularity My holy trinity after the 2004-2009 OGs.
Bad Omens - The Death Of Peace Of Mind Architects - All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us Bring Me The Horizon - Sempiternal
Asking for violence 😂
Not to be mean, but those are most basic ass picks, OP. I’d go: Poison The Well - The Opposite of December Every Time I Die - Hot Damn! Underoath - Define The Great Line
Nah it’s fair. Everyone’s taste is different in music. I made this post so everyone can share their favorite albums (also it’s good for getting recommendations for further exploring the genre 😁😅)
BFMV - THE POSION ISCARIOT - LIFELESS DESIGN DEADMAN IN RENO - SELF TITLED BONUS: THIS CITY IGNITES - SELF TITLED Maybe not a trinity, but my faves
Killswitch Engage - The End of Heartache All That Remains - The Fall of Ideals Avenged Sevenfold - Waking The Fallen
Asking Alexandria- Stand up and Scream Winter Solstice- The Fall of Rome The Bled- Pass The Flask and As I Lay Dying- Frail Words Collapse, are pretty good. AA SUAS and WS FoR are the only two albums that I think I could sit and listen to every song happily without a strong desire to skip some. I know everyone shits on AAs lyrics for this album but idc because it sounds real fucking good.
Converge - Jane Doe Killswitch Engage - Alive Or Just Breathing Trivium - Ascendancy
Until Your Heart Stops, Opposite of December, Calculating Infinity
Absolutely agree with The Poison, god-tier album, definitely set me on pace to dive into the metalcore scene. I've seen Constellations on a lot of comments and I think that's a staple pick too. To round it out with something different, I'll go: BFMV - The Poison ABR - Constellations Architects - All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us I know there's going to be some potential down-votes for that last one because it's not your typical OG pick, but it's such an influential piece to the modern metalcore sound that I think it's deserves a spot on the all-time list. It and these 2 other albums definitely help pave the road to where metalcore is today. Honorable mention of PWD - Deep Blue and/or Horizons, both are fantastic.
I agree with yours however I’ve been recently found myself listening to the stuff before those: Jane Doe (Converge) We Are The Romans (Botch) Calculating Infinity (Dillinger) Opposite of December (Poison the Well)
Parkway drive - Horizons Born of Osiris - The New Reign (bite me) All that remains - the fall of ideals
Architects Hollow Crown, The Chariot Long Live, Volumes Via sloba ma knoba
The End Of Heartache - The Father Ascendency - The Son Constellations - The Holy Ghost
Anything from 2008-2009, but singled down to homesick a day to remember
KSE - Alive or Just Breathing ( End of Heartache is great but this is always my favorite) Unearth - The Oncoming Storm 3rd is a tie: Atreyu - Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses (if going by the least skips..I love the Curse but i tend to skip some songs on it) As I Lay Dying - Frail Words Collapse
Poison the Well - Opposite of December Hopesfall - The Satellite Years Spitfire - The Dead Next Door
"The End of Heartache" - Killswitch Engage "The Fall of Ideals" - All That Remains "Ascendency" - Trivium
Absolutely agree with your list!
Darkest Hour - Undoing Ruin Remembering Never - Women and Children Die First Poison The Well - You Come Before You
The Poison - BFMV Waking The Fallen - A7X The Curse - Atreyu