In the 1990s, the hardcore punk scene started to embrace extreme metal openly. It also started to become highly ideologically driven,[clarification needed] with most of the popular bands being part ofsubcultures. Bands such asConverge,Botch,Coalesce andThe Dillinger Escape Plan helped to establish the genre.
Mathcore has been referred to as the "nerdy fusion cousin" ofmetalcore.[1] According to the staff ofMetal Hammer, the genre is akin to "the sound ofmetal being twisted into startling new shapes."[2]
In a 2016 article, Ian Cory ofInvisible Oranges described mathcore's emphasis on technical complexity as "the means by which" they attain the aggressiveness ofpunk, "but never the end unto itself", distinguishing it from "the overflowing excess" ofprogressive metal.[14] WriterKeith Kahn-Harris has described some mathcore bands as a mix between the aggressiveness ofgrindcore and the idioms offree jazz.[15]
Early mathcore lyrics were addressed from a realistic worldview and with a pessimistic, defiant, resentful or sarcastic point of view. They have been singled out for their philosophical and poetic elements.[3][16][17][18][19] Some bands satirized and criticized the militant branches of thehardcore punk ideologies prominent in the 1990s.[20][21] Others, such as Converge'sJacob Bannon and The Dillinger Escape Plan'sDimitri Minakakis, wrote about deeply personal issues.[22][23]
Although musically rooted in extreme metal, some mathcore artists have shown contempt for extreme metal fictional and horror lyrics.[24][25]
Greg Puciato singing while hanging head down from the ceiling in 2008
Some early mathcore bands incorporated light shows synchronized with the music,[26][27] while others were noted for their reckless, chaotic performances that usually ended up with fights and injuries. Guitarists Jes Steineger of Coalesce andBen Weinman of The Dillinger Escape Plan commonly featured erratic and violent behaviors.[20][28][29] In 2001, vocalistGreg Puciato joined The Dillinger Escape Plan and starred in themost controversial live performances of the band until their disbandment in 2017, being described byInvisible Oranges as "the perfect physical embodiment of [the band's music]" because of his imposing physique along with destructive behavior.[14]
The term is generally applied by journalists, rather than by musicians themselves.Jacob Bannon of Converge stated:
I really don't know what mathcore is. Converge is an aggressive band. We have elements of hardcore,punk, and metal for sure. But I think trying to define our efforts and other bands with a generic subgenre name is counter productive. We all have something unique to offer and should be celebrated for those qualities rather than having them generalized for easy consumption.[33]
In the 1990s, the hardcore punk scene started to embraceextreme metal openly and also was highly ideologized, with most of the popular bands being part of subcultures, religions or political groups.[20][52][53] Some mathcore bands started inspired bystraight edge andHare Krishna groups, including Converge, Coalesce and Botch.[54] On the other hand, the more unorthodox bands that substantially influenced mathcore remained in theunderground.
Two bands usually credited as mathcore forerunners are mid-westernersDazzling Killmen andCraw, who at the time were considered part of the "noisier" branch of math rock.[55][56][57] Their debut albums were released in 1992 and 1993 respectively.[8][56] They were characterized by a "metallic post-hardcore" sound but with constant time signature changes and vocals with an "animalistic sound of a man losing his mind". Three out of four members of Dazzling Killmen knew each other from jazz school, while Craw had a classical percussionist and a jazz bassist.[58] Both were joined by saxophonists on some performances.[55][56][59]
At this period, several pioneering mathcore bands began to form:Botch from Washington in 1993;Coalesce from Missouri,Cable from Connecticut andKnut from Switzerland in 1994;Cave In from Massachusetts andDrowningman from Vermont in 1995. In 1990, Massachusetts bandConverge was formed but they started writing and playing what they consider "relevant" music in 1994.[66] Referring to the burgeoning mathcore scene, The Dillinger Escape Plan's founder and guitaristBen Weinman said:
The [hardcore punk] scene I was in initially was really pretty close-minded... was really revolved around causes: veganism,Christianity,Krishna, straight edge, all that stuff was a huge part of all the bands that were playing ... it became just kind of this clique and this popularity contest. [They] weren't concerned with music, they weren't great musicians, they weren't pushing themselves, they were writing music that just sounded like the bands from before but without that passion and innovation. ... And it was great to see bands like [Dazzling Killmen and Deadguy] who were just music and just killing it, and had so many different influences, were underground, but still musically-driven. ... And I was like: "That's what I want to do!"
At their first stages, Coalesce and Botch were influenced bySyracuse, New York metalcore andvegan straight edge pioneersEarth Crisis.[20][71][72] VocalistSean Ingram relocated to Syracuse to be nearer to its scene, but ended up disillusioned with their ostracizing attitude and on his return to Missouri formed Coalesce. They incorporated influences fromprogressive metal bandTool, with founding drummer Jim Redd stating that they "wanted to be" them "with none of the quiet parts", but only using their "heavy guitars, heavy drums, wacky time signatures, and loud-quiet dynamics".[20] Whereas their debut albumGive Them Rope (1997) was considered "an underground milestone that helped [further] what was soon [universally] called 'metalcore'",[73] their sophomore studio album,Functioning on Impatience, became a landmark of mathcore in 1998.[17][20]
Botch initially tried to become a political-straight edge band but got discouraged by the "elitist" and aggressive stance of many of their participants.[21] Their second albumWe Are the Romans of November 1999 was influenced by Drive Like Jehu,Sepultura andMeshuggah.[74] This album has influenced numerous bands and met high critical acclaim throughout the years, being lauded byTeamRock in 2015 as "one of the greatest albums in the history of heavy music".[17][75]
In 1997, The Dillinger Escape Plan evolved from the political-oriented act Arcane because they did not want to become part of "cliques" again.[76] They turned around their sound significantly in their second EP,Under the Running Board of 1998, and their debut album,Calculating Infinity of September 1999, drawing fromprogressive death metal bandsCynic, Meshuggah andDeath, as well asKing Crimson and severaljazz fusion artists.[28][76][77] Both records created an extremely technical and fast brand of mathcore, which "launched an arms race in the metallic hardcore scene" and went on to define the subgenre substantially.[14][78][79]Relapse Records marketedCalculating Infinity as "math metal" because its sound and the album's title "sounded mathematical", yet this was not the band's intent.[23][80]
In 1999, Converge released the split albumThe Poacher Diaries expanding drastically their technical elements, but afterwards main songwriterKurt Ballou called it "a failed experiment".[81] This inspired him to change his focus to song structure and the "memorable" elements that initially attracted him to music, birthing their 2001 albumJane Doe. This record was the first with drummerBen Koller and bassistNate Newton who made significant contributions to the songwriting.[81][82]Jane Doe exerted considerable influence in extreme music circles and attained a cult following.[83]
^Kahn-Harris, Keith (2007).Extreme Metal.Berg Publishers. p. 4.ISBN978-1-84520-399-3. RetrievedFebruary 26, 2018.Contemporary grindcore bands such as The Dillinger Escape Plan [...] have developed avant-garde versions of the genre incorporating frequent time signature changes and complex sounds that at times recall free jazz.
^"Coalesce".Markprindle.com. Archived fromthe original on June 17, 2008. RetrievedFebruary 24, 2018.
^Mudrian 2009, p. 322. What were the lyrical influences? Dave Verellen: [...] stuff that I witnessed was usually what had an impact on me. I'd look at a social situation or whatever was going on in the world, and then just try to be creative with it. [...] I was aJoan of Arc fan, [...] and half the reason was because the guyTim Kinsella had such weird lyrics. I've always been attracted to abstract stuff like that, so I think that's where I drew most of my lyrics from.
^Butterworth, Scott (December 23, 2014)."The Brilliance Behind Converge's Unintelligible Lyrics".Noisey.Archived from the original on February 26, 2018. RetrievedFebruary 26, 2018.Jacob Bannon loves to wax poetic, so when his opaque elegies suddenly turn to simple, direct metaphors, it's almost like your parents calling you by your full name: you stop, you notice, you listen.
^Svitil, Greg (1996)."Jacob Bannon (Converge)".Veilsofteeth.com.Archived from the original on February 23, 2018. RetrievedFebruary 23, 2018.Jacob Bannon: I feel that [bands such as]Slayer are theSpinal Tap of metal. There's nothing to them. They're just there, and they're just a band that likes to write heavy, scary things. And there's really not an emotional depth to anything they really do. It's just all forshock value.
^"Dillinger Escape Plan Guitarist Talks New Album And Papa Roach".Rock Sound. April 24, 2009.Archived from the original on April 13, 2015. RetrievedFebruary 23, 2018.Ben Weinman: When I was growing up I discovered metal and it interested me, I liked that it was dark and talked about the fact that the world is not all puppy dogs and ice cream cones. But then it just got ridiculous, humorous, I look at black metal bands and they are supposed to be so evil. But it's not real. It's about fiction. About goblins and the gates of hell, pretty much a bad horror movie.
^Whitney Strub, "Behind the Key Club: An Interview with Mark "Barney" Greenway of Napalm Death ",PopMatters, May 11, 2006.[1] Access date: September 17, 2008.
^"Botch ... a noisecore pioneer", 'Terrorizer, "Grindcore Special", #180, Feb. 2009, p. 63.
^abKevin Stewart-Panko, "The Decade in Noisecore",Terrorizer no. 75, Feb 2000, p. 22-23.
^abShteamer, Hank (July 2012)."#9: GREG GINN".www.heavymetalbebop.com. Manhattan, New York City.Archived from the original on November 24, 2017. RetrievedFebruary 15, 2017.
^Hesselink, Jasper (April 2005)."The Dillinger Escape Plan".www.lordsofmetal.nl.Archived from the original on December 28, 2017. RetrievedFebruary 15, 2018.Ben Weinman: When we first started playing in a band, we listened to a lot of bands ... even Black Flag andDead Kennedys, who had something to say and added some honest energy.
^Smith-Lahrman, Matthew (February 3, 1993)."Interview with Duane Denison, February 3, 1993".Smithlahrman.blogspot.com. Chicago, Illinois (published January 30, 2012).Archived from the original on February 17, 2018. RetrievedFebruary 17, 2018.
^Gardner, Josh (July 22, 2010)."Kurt Ballou (Converge) talks gear and guitars".MusicRadar.Archived from the original on October 7, 2011. RetrievedFebruary 24, 2018.Kurt Ballou: [We] also discovered punk and hardcore through skateboarding, and in turn these local bands such asSlapshot, Terminally Ill andDYS and I think we had some of the same intensity and motivation.
^Sergeant D (June 7, 2010)."THE HISTORY OF METALCORE/SCREAMO".MetalSucks. Archived fromthe original on June 10, 2010. RetrievedFebruary 25, 2018.While not as frequently discussed these days, the so-called "noisecore" bands of the 90s were perhaps an even more direct influence on today's shitty metalcore artists. Rorschach and their descendants Deadguy were perhaps the first band to put a discordant take on the post-Slayer metalcore formula, [...]
^Ion Dissonance - Minus The Herd review Minus the Herd represents a new direction and sound for the band... ...the changes aren't just from a vocal perspective; as the chaotic elements of Ion Dissonance's metalcore/mathcore sound has been toned down to make way for a groovier and more accessible feel throughout.
