metalcore

Metalcore is a broadly defined music genre combining elements of heavy metal and hardcore punk, originating in the 1990s United States and becoming popular in the 2000s. Metalcore typically has aggressive verses and melodic choruses, together with slow, intense passages called breakdowns. Other defining traits are low-tuned, percussive guitar riffs, double bass drumming, and a highly produced sound. Vocalists typically switch between clean vocals and harsh vocals. Lyrics are often personal, inward-looking and emotive. It is debated whether metalcore is a subgenre of metal and hardcore, or a genre of its own. Many metalheads do not regard metalcore as a heavy metal subgenre, due to differences musically, vocally, lyrically and subculturally.