The term metalcore has come to mean different things to different people, effectively stretching to three circles of the subgenre Venn diagram. There’s the source meaning, a direct mix of hardcore and metal that spawned in the mid-to-late nineties from innovators such as Earth Crisis, Integrity et al, the post-Killswitch Engage US (and Scandinavian) variant, that nowadays seems to manifest in a multitude of watered down Atreyu doppelgangers, and finally there’s the thicker, more tech metal-tinged UK strand. And it is predominantly in this third circle of hell that we find Nottingham (UK)’s The Five Hundred with their debut full-length Bleed Red (Longbranch).Continue reading
German metal is going through something of a renaissance in recent times, with an inventive and all-embracing attitude exuding all manner of influences. Step forward the enigmatically named Time, The Valuator, adding a post-hardcore feel to the powerful prog metal of the likes of Karnivool and Periphery with debut album How Fleeting, How Fragile (Longbranch).
