I’m back after a couple weeks off, which I’ll blame on my hellish work schedule as of late, plus a couple pieces I was busy finishing for Lambgoat, an interview I conducted with Carl from Ferret Music and a review of the new Chat Pile record, but things should be more consistent from here on out.
After listening to a bunch of new music this week, from hyped bands and locals alike, I wanted to take a look at a scene I’ve tried my hardest to stay away from these past few years, despite my previous fascination with it. In a way, this is a follow-up to an older article of mine, or rather an engoing dialogue that perhaps I’ll continue in future installments. So, let’s look at the Myspace deathcore revival; again!
Good Breakdowns, Bad Bassdrops: A Check-In with the Myspace Deathcore Revival
Last I checked, an article I wrote a while back for lambgoat entitled “The Real Myspace Revival” is still on the first page of results when you search “myspace deathcore,” which was cool at first, with lots of traffic to the site and eyes on my little piece, but now feels more like some sort of cruel joke: an article about all the death metal + hardcore bands that, in my eyes, were continuing the early 2000s deathcore scene spiritually, was now trapped eternally among some of the worst content in human history, reaction videos of dimwitted, slackjawed, neck-tatted millennials faux-headbanging to awful breakdowns. Possible envy aside, because why didn’t I think to make the jump to video content instead of toiling away, writing and editing these dumb text pieces that actually require effort to consume, it’s clear the deathcore revival has given rise to reactionary shock value over artistic integrity in much the same way the late-2000s saw breakdowns trump all, except now you can make money online peddling this kind of low effort content.
If you haven’t been keeping up, deathcore is fucking massive again, at a level unseen since maybe 2008-2013, when bands like Suicide Silence, Whitechapel, Chelsea Grin, etc commanded fanbases that made them borderline household names despite their inaccessible music. Skip forward about a decade, and the rise of bands like Lorna Shore gave us symphonic, “blackened” deathcore, a trend that seems undying, although its popularity has inspired a reactionary wave harkening back to the genre’s early days of VFW hall violence, bass drop breakdowns, and overblown production. Except, I see none of the olden days in these so-called “new” bands. I just see a bunch of trend-followers trying to outdo each other with ridiculous breakdowns and vocals, with nary a riff between their sluggish, bass-boosted beatdowns. I see no difference between these groups and the unfortunate “downtempo” era of 2010s deathcore, or even the endless Lorna Shore copycats, besides a fresh coat of overproduced paint over a decaying hull. But clearly I don’t rule the roost here, and some of these bands are gaining legitimate attention, especially on social media, so a serious discussion of their merits must take place. Let’s look at some recent releases in the Myspace Deathcore revival, and deduce once and for all whether any are worth your time.
Girl of Glass
Their debut release had just the right amount of goofy, semi-ironic pastiche and competent songwriting that I hotly anticipated future endeavors, but with the announcement of a full length record, and two singles to accompany it, I am sorely disappointed that they too have fallen victim to the “mosh slop” epidemic plaguing Zoomers with bad taste. When you can make out the guitars beneath the mess of so-called “raw” production, they’re not playing anything new, just standard tremolo riffs and chuggas, proving my theory that deathcore as a genre has not broken new ground for about fifteen years now, instead relying on familiarity to sell music, a hopeless nostalgia spiral that has shifted beyond cannibalization into something entirely unrecognizable.
I know complaining about tropes and well-trodden riffs in deathcore is like wondering why your pizza has cheese, sauce, AND dough, but the irony is that Girl of Glass have had a few live clips go relatively viral where their vocalist complains about the very scene they’ve embraced stylistically on these tracks. He bemoans the scene as feeling stale, and remarks that it was all a big mistake to bring back this sound, and calls the band “hardcore” as if that absolves them from knowing that’s where the money is. People will happily scoop up impact font merch with edgy slogans, indecipherable logos, and intentionally sloppy, 2000s-aestheticized album covers on limited pressing CDs and vinyl that will triple in value on discogs or depop the second they sell out.
The music is secondary in this wave; it’s really about buying into a culture built upon revisionism disguised as revival. It’s about selling an image of the past, but sounding distinctly of the times all the same. The breakdowns and plentiful bass drops definitely have an appeal, and I don’t want to just be Mr. Cynical over here complaining that other people don’t want interesting music, and would rather just get fed the same tired content, but my hopes for this revival to breed a counterreaction of bands determined to take the wave and do something new with it have all but been quashed.
Rev3rent
The first time I heard these guys, I had a realization that I may finally be too old to “get” something. I saw the hype growing around Rev3rent, and each time I’d tune in, I’d think that nothing about their music sticks out. To me, they sound like the worst parts of Chelsea Grin, easily the least captivating of that second wave of deathcore bands, whose only influence has been inspiring countless vocalists to layer the shit out of their performances, even if they sound like Marge Simpson below it all, and giving breakdown bands the bright idea of having 3 guitarists onstage, mixed with Black Crown-era Suicide Silence. The band seem young, and so they probably got into those bands around the same time I was hearing them, in the early and mid-2010s, a far cry from the Myspace peak, when most deathcore acts struggled to adjust to the post-scene era.
This group of youngsters are set to release their debut LP in late October, and the first couple singles from it have left me wondering, who comprises the band’s fanbase? I don’t think anyone seriously into deathcore/metalcore would be enticed by their hors d’oeuvres approach to songs, sprinkling bite-sized tastings of familiar little nibbles that, even if you engorge yourself on, never quite leave you feeling full. It’s almost designed for short form reaction content, miniscule snippets of hooks, build ups and breakdowns.
The composition of the tracks themselves portray the superficial, and worst of deathcore: the obnoxious production, and breakdowns that can be measured by the space between notes rather than consciously-written riffs. It’s not that they’re bad at making deathcore, it’s just not significant to me within the greater landscape of the genre. They’ve got the breakdowns, the bassdrops, but none of the energy. They look the part, with swoopy emo hair, skinny jeans, and black band tees in promo pics, but it comes across as costuming, like they know they’re playing a part, starring in music videos playing dress up, for no other purpose than expectation.
I’ve also noticed an odd amount of the nu-metal/djent tinge that bands like Suicide Silence and Whitechapel began to incorporate in the early 2010s. That style of pop-esque catchiness and repetitive chorus chants feels purposefully built for incorporation into the modern deathcore sphere, even if the band have a throwback aesthetic; and when you combine that with a mix that emphasizes vocals and drums over guitars, a decidedly modern trend, thanks in part to Buster Odeholm (Thrown, Northlane, Bring Me The Horizon) mixing the tracks, it reads to me as a band trying their hand at bridging the gap between nostalgic Millennials looking back hazily on the 2000s with rose-tinted glasses, and Zoomers who were barely there wishing for a time when the horrors of the modern day were a distant future. And to me, that sucks! Why would I want to listen to faux-revivalcore meant as mimicry more than fresh expression? At least most of the revival metalcore bands are genuine genre nerds pulling from obscure sources for their ripping, as opposed to a band pointing to the most commercially successful acts of the past as influence.
Rev3rent have 125k listeners on Spotify at the time of writing this, plus plenty of hype both online and in the scene, so clearly they’re doing something right, but we’ll see if this style of blatant ahistorical cosplay has longevity beyond its gimmicky reaction-bait.
Siberian Kiss
A Hudson Valley heavy band that both play deathcore and self-describe themselves as such, despite frequently sharing the stage with real hardcore from the Streets of Hate, Daze, Ephyra crowd of younger bands, Siberian Kiss first caught my attention with their debut single/EP, and are now back with a couple new tracks.
The bass drops and comical slam breakdowns are abundant, but Siberian Kiss feel distinct from many of the other deathcore revival acts due to their allegiance to the metalcore and beatdown scenes. I detect bits of The Acacia Strain, As Blood Runs Black, and other mid-2000s heavyweights in their sound, a welcome refresher after forcing myself to endure Chelsea Grin worship. I never thought a 5-7-8 melodeath riff into sweep-picking would sound refreshing but here we are. To put it simply, the breakdowns are fun and frequent, the performances are tight, and they keep it moving, rather than lingering on a single part for too long; all things I look for in deathcore.
I may gravitate more toward the unpredictable, scrappy DIY nature of their tracks than the big label, professional studio work of a band like Rev3rent, or simply I can hear that Siberian Kiss enjoy playing those breakdowns, triggering their 808 bass drop sample from a pedal instead of backtracking the whole thing, and watching the club floor erupt in fiendish moshing, kids in Sin Against Sin and Elysia and Pain of Truth shirts alike swinging on each other. They’re serious about the music, but it serves a different purpose: a living, breathing determination to keep the hardcore spirit alive, although it may sound like myspace deathcore a lot of the time too.
Killing Of A Sacred Deer
I don’t have too much to say regarding this track; it’s a lean, fast-paced endeavor from Colter Cuthbertson, who is also in Psycho-Frame, Serration, World of Pleasure., that I would argue toes the line with deathcore, but with hints of electronics, and a fromjoy feature too.
I wouldn’t call myself a huge fan of the band, but I regularly check out their new music and commend the sound Adams has carved out. It’s got the chuggy aggression of Psycho-Frame, but unbridled by their precision and adherence to deathcore’s rigid structures, which results in an unpredictable final product. Chaotic metalcore riffs appear, reminding me just a bit of Serration, with rare synths at times, and overall the songs emphasize groove over absurd speed and technicality.
They’re in conversation with the Myspace Deathcore revival, without feeling like a one-to-one homage, and I don’t mind that one bit. “Encephalic Angels [type s]” eschews the sluggish pace and oversaturated production, but keeps the intensity, proving sometimes less is more. If you have a bassdrop every five seconds, versus a couple per song, do you have music fans or bassdrop fans?
this gagged me in the best way possible, I m gonna need to check this stuff out !! thank you for sharing !