In Memoriam: Early 00's Metalcore

Anybody else color in their fingernails with Sharpies in Junior High? Yeah you did, and you were listening to turn of the century metalcore when you did it. Many a cool kid college indie fan has been loathe to admit their young love (lust?) for breakdowns, throat searing screams and way too sugary sweet choruses, but not I. No, I will fully admit to being a world hating, head to toe black wearing metalcore maniac between the ages of 14 and 16. To be honest, I still listen to some of the bands I'm about to discuss on a semi regular basis. Remember: back before The Devil Wears Prada could get an album in the Billboard Top 10, and Underoath were a hockey arena playing tour de force, there were some guyliner soaked trailblazers who rolled up their tattooed sleeves and paved the way for the bands of today. So next time you pop in your Of Mice & Men CD, know subconsciously that you are paying tribute to these, my 5 favorite cheesy, over the top metalcore bands of the early 00's.

Eighteen Visions – Oh man, this band was so good.  The first of the Holy Trinity of Southern California Metalcore (Or HTSCM), Eighteen Visions wore more make up than Rupaul's entire staff, swung their hips sensually, and banged their heads in unison flawlessly for over a decade. 18V were far from the first band to use screamed verses and heartfelt, cleanly sung choruses to their advantage, but they were definitely the first to do it with style. These guys frequently wore shirts and ties onstage, along with their artfully applied eyeliner and perfectly placed swoops. Looking back, of course they looked ridiculous. You had to be there, I guess.  Singer James Hart now fronts modern rock disaster Burn Halo. Don't bother. Key Record: Obsession (2004, Trustkill Records)

Bleeding Through – These gents (and lady) are probably my favorite of the "fashioncore" crop and the second Trinity band on this list. It's worth noting that screamer Brandan Schiepatti was the original rhythm guitarist in Eighteen Visions, and the bands remained close friends for the duration of their careers. Schiepatti is an absolute beast on the mic; I remember how badly this band scared me when I heard them for the first time, after reading a review on their album where the writer said he sounded like "a man whose insides were being sucked out by a high powered vacuum." Brutal. This is before the mainstreaming of death metal so "Love Lost In A Hail of Gunfire" was just about the heaviest thing I had ever heard. Bleeding Through also has the distinction of being the only band on this list that are still alive and well; they continue to release quality records on their new home, Rise Records. Key Record: This Is Love, This Is Murderous (2003, Trustkill Records).

Atreyu – The last leg of the Southern California tripod, Atreyu probably had the most success out of the heap of bands that came out in this genre. They headlined some arena tours while supporting their 3rd album, and they definitely had the best songwriting capabilities when they hit their stride mid-career. These guys pumped out three metalcore classics and then followed them up with two truly god-awful pieces of trash. The good outweighs the bad, though, and Dan Jacobs certainly earned his stripes as the most underrated guitarist in the metal world from about 2003-2006. Unfortunately, this band has splintered into a couple different projects that both sound like Hinder. Key Album: The Curse (2004, Victory Records)

It Dies Today – The only band on this list not from California, It Dies Today came out swinging from Buffalo, New York around the same time as fellow Buffaloites, Every Time I Die, leading many to proclaim that the New York city was metal's next new hotbed. Clearly, that didn't happen, but what do you expect from the Bills' hometown? Anyway, IDT unfortunately really only put out one album worth mentioning, but it was a real landmark in the genre. The Caitiff Choir was a metalcore masterpiece; Nick Brooks is truly one of the best sing/scream one man combos we have seen in metal, and when he left to form the alt-country outfit Queen City Station (who are excellent and should release more material), the band quickly deteriorated after one album with replacement, Jason Wood. Key Record: The Caitiff Choir (Trustkill Records, 2004)

A Static Lullaby – Lastly, we have Californians A Static Lullaby.  These guys certainly take the cake for line-up changes and inner turmoil, at one point getting down to only screamer Joe Brown and guitarist Dan Arnold. A Static Lullaby may be more on the "emo" side of metalcore and share some of the genre's most cringe-worthy lyrics ("Spoon out my heart", hahahahaha!), but they also evolved the most gracefully, beginning with the standard good cop/bad cop throb and segueing nicely into an artsier sophomore outing with Faso Latido before settling into their own on their last couple outings. Although the band is technically not broken up, with drummer Jarrod Alexander currently in My Chemical Romance and Brown fronting his new outfit Elevate: I Am (maybe the worst band name in metal), I would say they are probably listed as "inactive" at best.

Key Record: And Don't Forget to Breathe (Ferret Music, 2003)

So there you have it, a pretty good metalcore starter kit. If you think I missed a key band (as this is going to press, I realize the whole article probably should have just been about From Autumn to Ashes), please email me at brking@plymouth.edu. I'd love to reminisce about this stuff with you guys. If you're on the younger side of the spectrum, don't be afraid to grab any of these five records and relive your own less pathetic, more social version of my childhood. Godspeed and Hail Satan.