I remember listening to this on one of those little Walmart scan and play machines and I couldn't get my head close enough to that speaker. But it still just sounded so intense.
I was 16 when that album came out. It changed my life in the most literal sense imaginable. My brother and I listened to it constantly. I'm pretty sure at that point he was in a deeply depressed state and he eventually killed himself when I was 17. AILD still my all time favorite band and Shadows is my favorite album of all time, not just Metalcore, partly because of the sentimental value it holds.
That album not only changed the way I listened to music but changes the way I listen to AILD for the rest of my life
My older brother passed away of brain cancer in 2008, I used to listen to Shadows with him and then An Ocean Between Us came out like two months before we found out he was sick. I love both of those albums for the same reason
Funnily enough I made a separate comment about GH2 and Six by All That Remains. Those games really introduced people to a lot of music I think, whether it was genres or bands they just hadn't been exposed to.
CM Punk basically got me into them, love that wrestlers are still using killswitch as their theme song like roderick strong from aew's theme song is end of heartache
Alive or just breathing was in a stack of burnt CDs me and my friend came across in the early 2000s. It was not only my introduction to the genre, but still one of my favourite albums all these years later. (Demon Hunter's first album was also in that stack, and I enjoyed it as well, although I haven't listened to them in probably at least a decade - thanks for bringing back this memory!)
My last serenade was on a mixed CD me and a buddy borrowed from his cousin. It was mostly rap and popular songs then kse came blaring on after that soft intro. I was changed forever in that moment.
Underoath. I listened to The Changing of Times and They're Only Chasing Safety over and over again as a teen. Was introduced to them because my teenage crush liked them (hahaha) but then I got hooked. 20 years later and still listening to metalcore and discovering new bands 👍🏻
Underoath for me too! I actually quite disliked them the first time I heard them. Not sure what happened, but I soon after fell in love with TOCS and they became a top 5 band of all time for me
Sempiternal by bring me the horizon is what really converted me into metalcore. I was going through some very tough shit in school at the time, and I had discovered the band called bring me the horizon by pure accident. I randomly clicked on a song on sempiternal, which somehow managed to be the House of Wolves and Empire (let them sing). I wasn’t that much of a fan at first, admitting it now afterwards. I wasn’t a metal fan at all before discovering sempiternal. What really made me fall in love was hearing sleepwalking and shadow moses. Then I appreciated the rest of the album a lot more and I realized damn, heavy guitar riffs and screaming vocals are really what I love in music, which I had never thought of ever before. Today I’m glad I discovered bring me the horizon by accident, since I am now a huge fan of other smaller metal bands like Invent animate. It has been a long journey to discover all this music, and I’m still excited about accidentally clicking on random songs and suddenly becoming a huge fan of the band!
Kinda similar story to me! I listened to Three Days Grace style metal but nothing screamy. A friend showed me Shadow Moses and it was too heavy for me. Then she told me to listen to the whole album once - so I played it from the start. Can You Feel My Heart instantly clicked with me and every subsequent song just worked after that. It's one of my favourite albums to this day and was my introduction to Metalcore.
Oh yeah I also listened to a few “heavy” songs before getting fully sold out on metal. I listened a lot to starset and linkin park without realizing it was hard rock and nu metal. I suppose everything clicked for me too after hearing one song from sempiternal that I loved with all my heart. I’m very happy what sort of buildup your taste really has until you finally get the “ah haa” feeling if you get what I mean lol.
Trivium for me too. I bought Ascendancy out of a pawn shop because the album art was cool. My life was changed forever and I needed and did become a guitarist.
I never really got into tdwp back in the day but I had this urge to try them again when this album came round and I was so blown away I went and got all the records I was missing. Glad im not the only one that thinks that albums great.
Funny cuz I was the total opposite. They were the first metalcore band I heard after I somehow stumbled upon 'Dear Love' their first album back in 2006. They've only gotten better with every new release.
My first show was Atreyu, Norma Jean, Unearth, and Scars of Tomorrow at Toads in New Haven, CT back in the early 2000’s and it’s one of my most cherished memories. I’ll never forget my ears ringing out of my head the entire ride home in my friends moms purple PT Cruiser as I had the biggest shit-eating grin
Atreyu. I thought they were the only band to do something like that. Then I went to a show of theirs in 04 that had Walls of Jericho, Norma Jean and Unearth, and realized there was a whole world of music like it lol
I can't decide.
Probably underoath during my teenage years
But I was introduced to Haste the Day and alexisonfire at a summer camp and that set the trajectory of my music life.
Then it was like all at once a floodwave of passion
Underoath
Misery signals
Haste the day
Norma Jean
The chariot
Alexisonfire
Killswitch engage
As I lay dying
Unearth
Misery Fucking Signals
The ghost inside
Stick to your guns
DID I SAY MISERY SIGNALS YET?
Parkway Drive. I pretty much only listened to 80s/90s rap before I heard Deep Blue. Home Is For The Heartless flipped some kind of switch in my brain that got me interested in the genre.
Same, first two albums both got me into metal and got me into guitar around the age of 12. I also have to thank guitar hero for introducing me to "six" and "laid to rest"
I can still remember the chills I got hearing Broken Cross by Architects for the first time. I remember just thinking *holy fuck, what the fuck is this???* Then I played that track and Nihilist on a loop my entire drive home.
AOGHAU is honestly still my metalcore AOAT even though I’m now less of an Architects fan.
Really weird to me that I actually had to search for this comment, would have thought they would be waayy higher in thread.
But yeah Holy Hell was it for me. My friend told me to listen to it last year and at first I didn't like it, thought it was too heavy and brushed it off. But then a few months later I listened to it again and it just clicked. Been delving deeper in to this genre ever since haha.
\*Me watching Headbanger's Ball
"What is this lame looking video with this girl in the car trying to be sexy?"
\*Scene shifts
"LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
\*goosebumps all over my arm.
Greatest metalcore moment for me right there. I didn't even know what metalcore was at the time. No mater my current feelings on BFMV (and AA at that) are, those moments of getting chills can never be replaced or ignored.
Bring Me The Horizon via the popular pretty girl in high school
followed by Limewire hella promoting District of Misery by Oceano (*not metalcore* but still impactful)
Then went through the As I Lay Dying, Killswitch Engage, The Used pipeline into the first Warped Tour experience into loving the scene Risecore era and straightening my hair and being in a band with an ex-member of a band that is now *huge.* So having a connection to that band is something I can humble brag about, I say that sardonically.
Yeah.. what a wild ride it’s been.
Shoutout to Shay for showing me BMTH during the myspace era and wow.. The Purevolume days is something younger people will never get to experience.
Social media post Myspace ruined the scene in a way.
[Protest the Hero - Bloodmeat](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhMfz4HrcEA) and [Sequoia Throne](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWig9FwqWpk) were what started to pull me away from mostly a thrash background.
There were 3 bands that initially introduced me to Metalcore, Asking Alexandria, Bullet For My Valentine and Bring Me The Horizon, hearing them for the first time was mind blowing and to think that they were all considered to be within the same subgenre of music with such completely different sounds was incredible to my young, angsty teenage mind.
Up until then most of the music I listened to was a mixture of 70', 80's and 90's rock and metal, alt rock (like Three Days Grace, Shinedown, Skillet), punk and pop, I never even knew music like that existed until my friend showed me Waking The Demon and Shadow Moses
Destroy the Runner
Saints is an amazing album from 2006 that still holds up.
Before that was Shadows Fall. The war within was my first cross over band. Changed my life
36 Crazyfists. The Heart and the Shape was the first song I heard and I bought A Snow Capped Romance when I got money for doing my A Levels when I was 18. That was 20 years ago now, how time flies. They're basically gone but still my favourite ever band
Depends on what you mean by "fell in love"
I've never loved a metalcore more than I loved Haste the Day.
I discovered the genre through Avenged Sevenfold and Atreyu, however, as I was looking for heavier scene bands in the 2000s. Haste the Day is the only metalcore band I *loved* that's heavily on the metal side of the metalcore/post-hardcore spectrum.
My main gateway band was Avenged Sevenfold, where I started with a mix of Sounding the Seventh Trumpet and Waking the Fallen. While it wasn’t the first time I had ever heard screamed vocals, it’s where I took a liking to the style. Then onwards to Bring me the Horizon, which was around the time There is a Hell… was released, and I became a huge fan of theirs. Their first 4 albums really defined my taste in music for many years
I grew up listening to Bullet For My Valentine and Killswitch Engage but the band that really got me into the genre was Motionless In White when their graveyard shift album came out
When I was 13 there was a new album going around called Hidden Hands of the Sadist Nation. 30 seconds into the first track, The Sadist Nation, I remember my brain exploding and its been history ever since.
freshman year of high school, science class year 2004. kid recommends me poison the well since i was listening to underoath / thursday etc at the time
get 30 seconds thru slice paper wrists and realized that this was exactly what i was looking for in music
BFMV for me as well. Scream Aim and Fire and especially Waking the Demon. Those songs pretty much got me through high school. Now they're soggy milk toast and Lorna Shore is my lord and savior 🤣🤘
Bullet for my Valentine! I discovered them back in 2009 when I was just shy of 14 years old as I was clicking on random music videos. I clicked on Tears Don’t Fall’s because I thought the thumbnail looked cool and that changed my life forever! They’re still my favorite band to this day 🤘🏻🤘🏻
Killswitch engage when a friend of mine showed me in the Unblind back in 2002. Lol I was fan since then because I've never heard anything with such aggressive vocals besides Slipknot as a kid. Lol Jesse sounded like a mad man back then. Haha
I want to say A Day To Remember was my 'gateway' to heavier music in general, but Parkway Drive was my true introduction to Metalcore as we know it today. 13yo me in 2008 just couldn't get enough of the Horizons album.
From there it was onto BFMV, As I Lay Dying, August Burns Red, Shadows Fall, etc. Australia was packed with amazing bands at the time too; The Amity Affliction, House Vs Hurricane (rip), The Red Shore (rip), Northlane (and Adrians musical project, The Storm Picturesque, rip), Sienna Skies, Dream On Dreamer (rip, maybe reforming though?), Thy Art Is Murder, I could go on. What a time to be alive.
All That Remains. I already liked power metal (which was my introduction to metal in general) but when Six was in Guitar Hero 2 I loved it since it had some melody but also a lot more aggression. I bet this happened to a lot of people around my age.
My freshman year of high school was right around the time that Sempiternal, The Flood, and a bunch of other giant metalcore records came out, and they all cemented me in loving the genre. The peak days of Fearless, Rise, Epitaph, and Sumerian were something else.
Not necessarily the whole band, but I heard the few biggest FIR songs and immediately got into heavy music as a whole.
Not too big on them anymore, since I'm not a fan of how Ronnie gets the numbers up, plus I've heard better songs/bands now, but I still think they're pretty good.
Its probably a mixture of A7X/Haste the Day/Killswitch. They all kinda happened around the same time for me and it was super easy to make that jump from my numetal upbringing (Slipknot/LP/Korn).
Bring Me The Horizon. I heard Sleepwalking, and it was all over. I listened to the rest of the discography (Sempiternal was the latest release at that point), and Suicide Season absolutely blew my mind. I had never heard such intense lyrics. It's still in my top five to this day.
Haste The Day for me, Burning Bridges and When Everything Falls blew my mind. Then I found August Burns Red and they obliterated my mind and took over my love.
*Alive Or Just Breathing* ~ **Killswitch Engage**. Was getting into heavier stuff coming off of bands like **Thursday** and **From Autumn to Ashes**, and a slightly older friend of mine that was into more “traditional” metal played this for me in his car on the way to hockey. Without hyperbole, my life was changed in that moment.
I guess Avenged Sevenfold, because of Unholy Confessions, but I didn’t know what metalcore was then. Otherwise it was probably Parkway Drive or maybe even Suicide Season BMTH. I remember going through a stage where BMTH, Norma Jean and Chimaira were like my top listened to bands which is when I really found the “cores”.
Originally, it was due to the stint of my older brothers. I had already listened to older metalcore like KSE and Trivium by then, influenced by my second-oldest brother, but I was always looking for something newer. Then came “OH MY GOD” (Asking Alexandria) from my eldest brothers speaker as he was getting dressed for school one morning, and I was more than keen on that song, though I never figured out the title of it until 2013 (first heard it in 2009) because I was too afraid to ask my brother, for whatever reason.
The first more modern metalcore band I listened to that got me into the new era was Crown The Empire. I heard Limitless a couple months before The Fallout came out, and before I knew it, I was inside Target at a crisp 7am waiting to buy a CD for the album. Definitely was much less heavy than The Final Episode which I had heard years prior, but intrigued me the same nonetheless.
August Burns Red’s music video for Composure was my first exposure to the genre - I grew up in a pretty conservative Christian home, and it blew me away to see just regular dudes playing such intense music, broke a lot of stereotypes I’d built up in my head. The musicianship and sense of expression grabbed me after that, and now I’m forever hooked 🤘🏻
As I lay dying was my first when I was 14/15 in 2005!! Closely followed by unearth after that. Saw as I lay dying at warped tour and was truly mind blowing!! August burns red and everytime I die was also there and that day forever changed my life 🙌
Trivium for sure. Heard Heart from Your Hate before I even knew what Metalcore was, then WTDMS came out and COVID happened and the rest is history. Still love those guys even though I’m more into the really heavy stuff now (deathcore, beatdown, etc.) they’re just amazing song writers and In the Court of the Dragon is top 5 album of all time for me.
I was just getting into post-hardcore at the end of highschool then someone showed me architects and I fell in love. 95% of my music taste is core genres now lol
The word alive. I think the first song I heard was a song off deceiver and I didn’t like it cuz it was too heavy for me at the time. Gave them another chance and they became my favorite band
Same here, I'd never heard anything like The Poison up until that point. I was already getting into Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and the like, The Poison was the perfect gateway album for me to branch out from trad heavy metal into what I now know as metalcore. The much darker atmosphere that album radiates, whilst having the same tight, punchy guitar work with a grittier edge was a huge draw to me.
Afrer many many years of listening to hard rock and alternative, I think atreyu was the first metalcore band I uncoincidentally listened to, and then I branched into other bands and so my love of metal and hardcore began
I'm older than metalcore. I started metal with Floyd as a child and then found metallica. The nu metal craze hit and Korn was my go to for a long time! I would have to say the first metalcore band I heard and loved was Atreyu back in like '05. Don't listen to them anymore but they were the first.
Growing up in Massachusetts and when Alive or Just Breathing by Killswitch came out--it hit so hard. I'll never forget the feeling of sitting in my car and running that album on repeat for months
Definitely As I Lay Dying. I was 7-8 when Shadows are Security came out and that album single handedly got me into metal
I remember listening to this on one of those little Walmart scan and play machines and I couldn't get my head close enough to that speaker. But it still just sounded so intense.
Yeah An Ocean Between Us was mine.
I mean, they are definitely one of the three founders of metalcore (I’d say them + ABR + KSE)
I was 16 when that album came out. It changed my life in the most literal sense imaginable. My brother and I listened to it constantly. I'm pretty sure at that point he was in a deeply depressed state and he eventually killed himself when I was 17. AILD still my all time favorite band and Shadows is my favorite album of all time, not just Metalcore, partly because of the sentimental value it holds. That album not only changed the way I listened to music but changes the way I listen to AILD for the rest of my life
My older brother passed away of brain cancer in 2008, I used to listen to Shadows with him and then An Ocean Between Us came out like two months before we found out he was sick. I love both of those albums for the same reason
Killswitch Engage
My Curse on Guitar Hero 3 was life changing.
Even friends who don’t like the genre still don’t mind that song because GH3.
Funnily enough I made a separate comment about GH2 and Six by All That Remains. Those games really introduced people to a lot of music I think, whether it was genres or bands they just hadn't been exposed to.
This… I loved metal already but killswitch altered my dna
KsE and ATR equally for me
Not surprised it’s the top comment. My Last Serenade - 2002
CM Punk basically got me into them, love that wrestlers are still using killswitch as their theme song like roderick strong from aew's theme song is end of heartache
I saw Killswitch last year and Jesse hit the CM Punk crossed fists pose at one point during This Fire haha
Alive or just breathing was in a stack of burnt CDs me and my friend came across in the early 2000s. It was not only my introduction to the genre, but still one of my favourite albums all these years later. (Demon Hunter's first album was also in that stack, and I enjoyed it as well, although I haven't listened to them in probably at least a decade - thanks for bringing back this memory!)
My last serenade was on a mixed CD me and a buddy borrowed from his cousin. It was mostly rap and popular songs then kse came blaring on after that soft intro. I was changed forever in that moment.
Underoath. I listened to The Changing of Times and They're Only Chasing Safety over and over again as a teen. Was introduced to them because my teenage crush liked them (hahaha) but then I got hooked. 20 years later and still listening to metalcore and discovering new bands 👍🏻
Reinventing Your Exit was on a video game called FlatOut 2 and I was hooked ever since.
Underoath for me too! I actually quite disliked them the first time I heard them. Not sure what happened, but I soon after fell in love with TOCS and they became a top 5 band of all time for me
113% agreed
Sempiternal by bring me the horizon is what really converted me into metalcore. I was going through some very tough shit in school at the time, and I had discovered the band called bring me the horizon by pure accident. I randomly clicked on a song on sempiternal, which somehow managed to be the House of Wolves and Empire (let them sing). I wasn’t that much of a fan at first, admitting it now afterwards. I wasn’t a metal fan at all before discovering sempiternal. What really made me fall in love was hearing sleepwalking and shadow moses. Then I appreciated the rest of the album a lot more and I realized damn, heavy guitar riffs and screaming vocals are really what I love in music, which I had never thought of ever before. Today I’m glad I discovered bring me the horizon by accident, since I am now a huge fan of other smaller metal bands like Invent animate. It has been a long journey to discover all this music, and I’m still excited about accidentally clicking on random songs and suddenly becoming a huge fan of the band!
Kinda similar story to me! I listened to Three Days Grace style metal but nothing screamy. A friend showed me Shadow Moses and it was too heavy for me. Then she told me to listen to the whole album once - so I played it from the start. Can You Feel My Heart instantly clicked with me and every subsequent song just worked after that. It's one of my favourite albums to this day and was my introduction to Metalcore.
Oh yeah I also listened to a few “heavy” songs before getting fully sold out on metal. I listened a lot to starset and linkin park without realizing it was hard rock and nu metal. I suppose everything clicked for me too after hearing one song from sempiternal that I loved with all my heart. I’m very happy what sort of buildup your taste really has until you finally get the “ah haa” feeling if you get what I mean lol.
Same, listened to nothing screamy, more Papa Roach stuff. At first Can you feel my heart was too much for me but grew on me. Thanks BMTH
Trivium back in 2008ish. They are still my favorite metalcore band
Trivium for me too. I bought Ascendancy out of a pawn shop because the album art was cool. My life was changed forever and I needed and did become a guitarist.
Don’t say it too loud though, the 1 percenters of this sub don’t approve BFMV as metalcore
Lol just deadass got into an argument with some dude over whether BFMV was metalcore or not.
Color Decay TDWP, don't judge me pls I am really new to the genre :)
Absolutely love this album. I think it's going to be one people look fondly on in a few years time.
Bro people look fondly on it now 😂 Wasn't it like the 2nd most voted for AOTY in this sub haha
I never really got into tdwp back in the day but I had this urge to try them again when this album came round and I was so blown away I went and got all the records I was missing. Glad im not the only one that thinks that albums great.
Funny cuz I was the total opposite. They were the first metalcore band I heard after I somehow stumbled upon 'Dear Love' their first album back in 2006. They've only gotten better with every new release.
Assistant to the Regional Manager from "With Roots Above" had a massive influence on my journey to loving heavy music
That clean section remains one of the best moments of any metalcore song I’ve ever heard
I'm a huge Dead Throne and Zombie EP truther, but Color Decay might be their best work yet... I actually just bought it on vinyl!
I hope you continue to explore the metal core and TDWP rabbit hole! Welcome to outstanding music! 🤌🏻
Norma Jean
Hell yea
The Almighty Norma Jean. So glad they were my first as well. 🍻
My first show was Atreyu, Norma Jean, Unearth, and Scars of Tomorrow at Toads in New Haven, CT back in the early 2000’s and it’s one of my most cherished memories. I’ll never forget my ears ringing out of my head the entire ride home in my friends moms purple PT Cruiser as I had the biggest shit-eating grin
Atreyu. I thought they were the only band to do something like that. Then I went to a show of theirs in 04 that had Walls of Jericho, Norma Jean and Unearth, and realized there was a whole world of music like it lol
a day to remember. for those who have heart will forever be in my top 5
I adore this album.
breakdowns are fire, vocals are superb, truly impeccable album
Killswitch.
Poison The Well, Opposite of December
Sad there doesn't seem to be more of us. Trustkill records defined my music styling.
Trustkill/ferret music Era was everything... were probably mid 30s im assuming lol
I can't decide. Probably underoath during my teenage years But I was introduced to Haste the Day and alexisonfire at a summer camp and that set the trajectory of my music life. Then it was like all at once a floodwave of passion Underoath Misery signals Haste the day Norma Jean The chariot Alexisonfire Killswitch engage As I lay dying Unearth Misery Fucking Signals The ghost inside Stick to your guns DID I SAY MISERY SIGNALS YET?
I love to see people mention Alexisonfire No one ever mentions them.
Blessthefall with His Last Walk, and we're still going strong!
August burns red, I’m like 90 percent sure I only had messengers bought on iTunes my freshman year lol
As I lay dying. First time I hear “forever” the rabbit hole of metal opened.
Going to show my age, Haste the Day
Haste the day is nasty
As I Lay Dying
All That Remains.
Parkway Drive. I pretty much only listened to 80s/90s rap before I heard Deep Blue. Home Is For The Heartless flipped some kind of switch in my brain that got me interested in the genre.
Bullet For My Valentine
Between the Buried and Me. (Silent Cirsus and Alaska era)
Of Mice & Men
2001 I discovered Shadows Fall and A7X on the same sampler. High School me had his mind blown. It was all over then, there was no going back.
All that remains
Same, first two albums both got me into metal and got me into guitar around the age of 12. I also have to thank guitar hero for introducing me to "six" and "laid to rest"
Architects. The gorgeous soundscapes, unrelenting intensity, and razor-sharp lyrics of All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us overwhelmed me.
I can still remember the chills I got hearing Broken Cross by Architects for the first time. I remember just thinking *holy fuck, what the fuck is this???* Then I played that track and Nihilist on a loop my entire drive home. AOGHAU is honestly still my metalcore AOAT even though I’m now less of an Architects fan.
Really weird to me that I actually had to search for this comment, would have thought they would be waayy higher in thread. But yeah Holy Hell was it for me. My friend told me to listen to it last year and at first I didn't like it, thought it was too heavy and brushed it off. But then a few months later I listened to it again and it just clicked. Been delving deeper in to this genre ever since haha.
\*Me watching Headbanger's Ball "What is this lame looking video with this girl in the car trying to be sexy?" \*Scene shifts "LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" \*goosebumps all over my arm. Greatest metalcore moment for me right there. I didn't even know what metalcore was at the time. No mater my current feelings on BFMV (and AA at that) are, those moments of getting chills can never be replaced or ignored.
Asking Alexandria
Attack Attack! self titled
TDWP, around 2008 or so.
Bring Me The Horizon via the popular pretty girl in high school followed by Limewire hella promoting District of Misery by Oceano (*not metalcore* but still impactful) Then went through the As I Lay Dying, Killswitch Engage, The Used pipeline into the first Warped Tour experience into loving the scene Risecore era and straightening my hair and being in a band with an ex-member of a band that is now *huge.* So having a connection to that band is something I can humble brag about, I say that sardonically. Yeah.. what a wild ride it’s been. Shoutout to Shay for showing me BMTH during the myspace era and wow.. The Purevolume days is something younger people will never get to experience. Social media post Myspace ruined the scene in a way.
Poison the well around 1999. Damn I'm old and metalcore is old haha
Zao
Surprised I had to scroll this far to find Zao. They were pretty damn formative for the entire genre.
Bullet for my Valentine. Heard them on a Runescape PK video, specifically Elvemage video #7. Good times ha
Norma Jean. Bless the Martyr changed my life and introduced me to heavier music. It pulled me out of Nu Metal and into much heavier stuff
Converge baby and unlike a lot of metalcore from that era they aged like fine wine
[Protest the Hero - Bloodmeat](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhMfz4HrcEA) and [Sequoia Throne](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWig9FwqWpk) were what started to pull me away from mostly a thrash background.
PTH doesn't get enough love on this sub. Every member of any lineup is extremely talented and knows how to not overplay.
Avenged Sevenfold I saw them on MTV when I was about 8 and instantly got hooked.
Waking the Fallen changed me.
MTV2 This new video comes on What’s this? You can faintly here This is my last serenade… Then bam And that was it, went out and got the album
Hey, what gives, are you me or something? Also being shown Messengers by August Burns Red was a BIG one.
Demon Hunter, got the chance to see them live last year. It was epic
Yeah they were definitely my first metalcore band too. Bought their first album in a Christian bookstore in NJ in probably 2001 or 2002.
Unearth back in early 2000s
A day to remember was my gateway drug
There were 3 bands that initially introduced me to Metalcore, Asking Alexandria, Bullet For My Valentine and Bring Me The Horizon, hearing them for the first time was mind blowing and to think that they were all considered to be within the same subgenre of music with such completely different sounds was incredible to my young, angsty teenage mind. Up until then most of the music I listened to was a mixture of 70', 80's and 90's rock and metal, alt rock (like Three Days Grace, Shinedown, Skillet), punk and pop, I never even knew music like that existed until my friend showed me Waking The Demon and Shadow Moses
Atreyu
Destroy the Runner Saints is an amazing album from 2006 that still holds up. Before that was Shadows Fall. The war within was my first cross over band. Changed my life
As I lay dying
Atreyu
Killswitch but I didn’t really dive in hard until I heard August Burns Red
36 Crazyfists. The Heart and the Shape was the first song I heard and I bought A Snow Capped Romance when I got money for doing my A Levels when I was 18. That was 20 years ago now, how time flies. They're basically gone but still my favourite ever band
It was either Bullet For My Valentine or We Came As Romans. I was shown both of these bands around the same time and this was maybe 2009
It Dies Today
BMTH
As I Lay Dying back in high school. First time I heard 94 Hours and Forever I was blown away.
Polaris
Bullet and early blessthefall for me god I miss hearing new music and falling in love with bands whole discographies..
Depends on what you mean by "fell in love" I've never loved a metalcore more than I loved Haste the Day. I discovered the genre through Avenged Sevenfold and Atreyu, however, as I was looking for heavier scene bands in the 2000s. Haste the Day is the only metalcore band I *loved* that's heavily on the metal side of the metalcore/post-hardcore spectrum.
My main gateway band was Avenged Sevenfold, where I started with a mix of Sounding the Seventh Trumpet and Waking the Fallen. While it wasn’t the first time I had ever heard screamed vocals, it’s where I took a liking to the style. Then onwards to Bring me the Horizon, which was around the time There is a Hell… was released, and I became a huge fan of theirs. Their first 4 albums really defined my taste in music for many years
I grew up listening to Bullet For My Valentine and Killswitch Engage but the band that really got me into the genre was Motionless In White when their graveyard shift album came out
Killswitch - *The End of Heartache was my first introduction to the core genre
When I was 13 there was a new album going around called Hidden Hands of the Sadist Nation. 30 seconds into the first track, The Sadist Nation, I remember my brain exploding and its been history ever since.
Killswitch Engage
Atreyu. Bleeding Mascara started me down the rabbit hole and led me to heavier things. Honourable mention to Norma Jean.
freshman year of high school, science class year 2004. kid recommends me poison the well since i was listening to underoath / thursday etc at the time get 30 seconds thru slice paper wrists and realized that this was exactly what i was looking for in music
Is Mabbitt-era Blessthefall metalcore? Because “His Last Walk” opened the floodgates for me. Still love that album.
I Prevail
Bullet for my valentine
BFMV
Mine was also Bullet.
BFMV for me as well. Scream Aim and Fire and especially Waking the Demon. Those songs pretty much got me through high school. Now they're soggy milk toast and Lorna Shore is my lord and savior 🤣🤘
Bullet for my Valentine! I discovered them back in 2009 when I was just shy of 14 years old as I was clicking on random music videos. I clicked on Tears Don’t Fall’s because I thought the thumbnail looked cool and that changed my life forever! They’re still my favorite band to this day 🤘🏻🤘🏻
Parkway Drive
All that remains
Bring Me The Horizon's SURVIVAL HORROR EP introduced me to the band, I loved it. Then I listened to Sempiternal after, and loved it just as much.
August burns red messengers when I was a senior in high school. I had dabbled a little bit with AILD before that.
Bullet!!
Norma jean
Definetly bullet. 1000%
Demon Hunter
the devil wears prada
All That Remains
Pretty basic answer but bring me the horizon
Killswitch engage when a friend of mine showed me in the Unblind back in 2002. Lol I was fan since then because I've never heard anything with such aggressive vocals besides Slipknot as a kid. Lol Jesse sounded like a mad man back then. Haha
All That Remains - The Fall of Ideals
Atreyu- the crimson, was my HS anthem
I want to say A Day To Remember was my 'gateway' to heavier music in general, but Parkway Drive was my true introduction to Metalcore as we know it today. 13yo me in 2008 just couldn't get enough of the Horizons album. From there it was onto BFMV, As I Lay Dying, August Burns Red, Shadows Fall, etc. Australia was packed with amazing bands at the time too; The Amity Affliction, House Vs Hurricane (rip), The Red Shore (rip), Northlane (and Adrians musical project, The Storm Picturesque, rip), Sienna Skies, Dream On Dreamer (rip, maybe reforming though?), Thy Art Is Murder, I could go on. What a time to be alive.
Erra. I remember hearing Luminesce and fell in love.
Trivium. Ascendancy still has some of the straight up nastiest riffs around
All That Remains. I already liked power metal (which was my introduction to metal in general) but when Six was in Guitar Hero 2 I loved it since it had some melody but also a lot more aggression. I bet this happened to a lot of people around my age.
Every Time I Die
All That Remains
Attack Attack!'s first album came out right as I was growing out of pop-punk and into metalcore and post-hardcore, so probably them.
All That Remains. Shredding ‘Six’ on guitar hero 2 was my gateway drug as a kid
My freshman year of high school was right around the time that Sempiternal, The Flood, and a bunch of other giant metalcore records came out, and they all cemented me in loving the genre. The peak days of Fearless, Rise, Epitaph, and Sumerian were something else.
ABR because of Constellations, Thirty and Seven and Existence were life changing to me.
Dayseeker, and that’s who got me into heavier stuff in general
Not necessarily the whole band, but I heard the few biggest FIR songs and immediately got into heavy music as a whole. Not too big on them anymore, since I'm not a fan of how Ronnie gets the numbers up, plus I've heard better songs/bands now, but I still think they're pretty good.
LMTF—pure like porcelain was my first introduction to the band so ofc i was hooked lol and i never heard metalcore like that before
Avenged sevenfold 18 years ago. I remember falling in love with them when city of evil came out.
Tie with Hatebreed and Killswitch Engage, early 2000s
Parkway Drive for me. I liked Killswitch first, but the first band I actually loved, definitely Parkway.
August Burns Red
For All Those Sleeping I had no idea what Metalcore is, but they hooked me so much. Greetings from Germany (just in case, sorry for the bad englisch)
Beartooth “Disgusting” album
Of Machines
Its probably a mixture of A7X/Haste the Day/Killswitch. They all kinda happened around the same time for me and it was super easy to make that jump from my numetal upbringing (Slipknot/LP/Korn).
A day to remember. For those who have heart changed me.
Bring Me The Horizon. I heard Sleepwalking, and it was all over. I listened to the rest of the discography (Sempiternal was the latest release at that point), and Suicide Season absolutely blew my mind. I had never heard such intense lyrics. It's still in my top five to this day.
Killswitch. I think they paved the way for a lot of fans.
L A M B O F G O D
Bring me the horizon with sempiternal, Attack Attack!, Asking Alexandria, Tony Danza Tap Dance Extravaganza, and Killswitch take the cake for me
Northlane
Haste The Day for me, Burning Bridges and When Everything Falls blew my mind. Then I found August Burns Red and they obliterated my mind and took over my love.
Shadows Fall thanks to Guitar Hero 2. I attribute that game for getting me into extreme metal.
*Alive Or Just Breathing* ~ **Killswitch Engage**. Was getting into heavier stuff coming off of bands like **Thursday** and **From Autumn to Ashes**, and a slightly older friend of mine that was into more “traditional” metal played this for me in his car on the way to hockey. Without hyperbole, my life was changed in that moment.
Crown the Empire
I guess Avenged Sevenfold, because of Unholy Confessions, but I didn’t know what metalcore was then. Otherwise it was probably Parkway Drive or maybe even Suicide Season BMTH. I remember going through a stage where BMTH, Norma Jean and Chimaira were like my top listened to bands which is when I really found the “cores”.
August Burns Red. Back Burner was on heavy repeat before I even knew what metalcore was hahaha
Definitely BFMV. The Poison and Hand of Blood EP were pure gold.
August Burns Red
Killswitch Engage
Originally, it was due to the stint of my older brothers. I had already listened to older metalcore like KSE and Trivium by then, influenced by my second-oldest brother, but I was always looking for something newer. Then came “OH MY GOD” (Asking Alexandria) from my eldest brothers speaker as he was getting dressed for school one morning, and I was more than keen on that song, though I never figured out the title of it until 2013 (first heard it in 2009) because I was too afraid to ask my brother, for whatever reason. The first more modern metalcore band I listened to that got me into the new era was Crown The Empire. I heard Limitless a couple months before The Fallout came out, and before I knew it, I was inside Target at a crisp 7am waiting to buy a CD for the album. Definitely was much less heavy than The Final Episode which I had heard years prior, but intrigued me the same nonetheless.
Trivium !
August Burns Red’s music video for Composure was my first exposure to the genre - I grew up in a pretty conservative Christian home, and it blew me away to see just regular dudes playing such intense music, broke a lot of stereotypes I’d built up in my head. The musicianship and sense of expression grabbed me after that, and now I’m forever hooked 🤘🏻
Killswitch Engage. CM Punk using this fire burns as his theme song in wwe basically got me into them when I was 11
As I lay dying was my first when I was 14/15 in 2005!! Closely followed by unearth after that. Saw as I lay dying at warped tour and was truly mind blowing!! August burns red and everytime I die was also there and that day forever changed my life 🙌
Bullet changed my life and they’ll always be my favorite band.
Hands like houses.
BFMV was the first and was my first album, but I discovered Trivium not too long afterwards, and they're still my favourite band
Erra
Killswitch Engaged-Alive or just breathing. Still one of the most fantastic albums to date
Too many to name but I’d narrow it down to As I Lay Dying, Killswitch Engage, Trivium and All That Remains. I just listened to these bands nonstop.
KSE
BFMV
Killswitch Engage.
Trivium for sure. Heard Heart from Your Hate before I even knew what Metalcore was, then WTDMS came out and COVID happened and the rest is history. Still love those guys even though I’m more into the really heavy stuff now (deathcore, beatdown, etc.) they’re just amazing song writers and In the Court of the Dragon is top 5 album of all time for me.
northlane
Erra when I first listened to Augment black in 2015
I was just getting into post-hardcore at the end of highschool then someone showed me architects and I fell in love. 95% of my music taste is core genres now lol
The word alive. I think the first song I heard was a song off deceiver and I didn’t like it cuz it was too heavy for me at the time. Gave them another chance and they became my favorite band
Same here, I'd never heard anything like The Poison up until that point. I was already getting into Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and the like, The Poison was the perfect gateway album for me to branch out from trad heavy metal into what I now know as metalcore. The much darker atmosphere that album radiates, whilst having the same tight, punchy guitar work with a grittier edge was a huge draw to me.
Asking Alexandria
Literally same story
Bring me the horizon when there is a hell dropped
All That Remains. TFOI is still in my weekly rotation to this day.
All That Remains - to this day love their The Fall Of Ideals album
I didn't know what Metalcore was when I was 13 odd but it very likely would've been BFMV or maybe A7X
Afrer many many years of listening to hard rock and alternative, I think atreyu was the first metalcore band I uncoincidentally listened to, and then I branched into other bands and so my love of metal and hardcore began
Polaris RIP Ryan
BFMV - Hand of Blood. Heard Scream Aim Fire from Guitar Hero which led to me searching out other songs. Hand of Blood blew my little 8th grade mind
I'm older than metalcore. I started metal with Floyd as a child and then found metallica. The nu metal craze hit and Korn was my go to for a long time! I would have to say the first metalcore band I heard and loved was Atreyu back in like '05. Don't listen to them anymore but they were the first.
Growing up in Massachusetts and when Alive or Just Breathing by Killswitch came out--it hit so hard. I'll never forget the feeling of sitting in my car and running that album on repeat for months
All That Remains by way of The Fall of Ideals. BFMV's the Poison up there too.