Metalcore, from the outside in. Each step is a genre and the single record this encyclopedia would put on first. Play them in this order and the last one should sound like a next step rather than a wall.
- 1 The way in
Heavy metal 1970
It split off from hard rock and blues rock when Black Sabbath tuned down and wrote riffs on the tritone. Volume, riff and a code of its own - every branch below starts here.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Black Sabbath - the song Black Sabbath. The first thirty seconds are the genre's birth certificate.
Black Sabbath, Black Sabbath (1970) - 2 What you asked about
Metalcore 1990
Hardcore and extreme metal fused: breakdowns, melodic riffing and screamed verses alternating with sung choruses.
Sung and screamed. Clean singing and harsh vocals trade off, often chorus against verse.
Put on
Killswitch Engage - Alive or Just Breathing. The album that defined a decade.
Killswitch Engage, Killswitch Engage (2000) - 3 Where to go next
Melodic metalcore 1999
Gothenburg harmonies imported into American hardcore. The dominant formula of the 2000s.
Sung and screamed. Clean singing and harsh vocals trade off, often chorus against verse.
Assembled from the tree: every genre Metalcore descends from, in order. The last step is the gentlest of Metalcore's 3 subgenres - least harsh vocals first, then least heavy.