Experimental Metalcore

Mathcore is a subgenre of hardcore punk and metalcore influenced by post-hardcore, extreme metal and math rock that developed during the 1990s. Bands in the genre emphasize complex and fluctuant rhythms through the use of irregular time signatures, polymeters, syncopations and tempo changes. Early mathcore lyrics were addressed from a realistic worldview and with a pessimistic, defiant, resentful or sarcastic point of view.

In the 1990s, the hardcore punk scene started to embrace extreme metal openly. It also started to become highly ideologically driven, with most of the popular bands being part of subcultures. Bands such as Converge, Botch, Coalesce and The Dillinger Escape Plan helped to establish the genre.

Characteristics

Music

According to Metal Hammer, "mathcore sthe sound of metal being twisted into startling new shapes." The genre emphasizes complex and fluctuant rhythms through the use of irregular time signatures, polymeters, syncopations and tempo changes, while at the same time the drummers play with overall loudness. In the words of The Dillinger Escape Plan bassist Liam Wilson, their "choppy rhythms that people get kind of tongue-twisted on" are " Latin rhythms" mixed with the speed and "stamina" of heavy metal, drawing a parallel between them and John McLaughlin's use of Eastern sounds within a jazz context. Most pioneering mathcore drummers had jazz, orchestral or academic backgrounds, including Dazzling Killmen's Blake Fleming, Craw's Neil Chastain, Coalesce's James Dewees, Botch's Tim Latona, The Dillinger Escape Plan's Chris Pennie, and Converge's Ben Koller. As with the rhythm section, the guitars perform riffs that constantly change and are seldom repeated after one section. Early bands were almost completely atonal with the guitars or all the instruments playing polyphonic dissonance. After the first The Dillinger Escape Plan records, the guitar work of most bands became extremely technical as well and "not only musically challenging, but physically demanding."

In a 2016 article, Ian Cory of ''Invisible Oranges'' described mathcore's emphasis on technical complexity as "the means by which" they attain the aggressiveness of punk, "but never the end unto itself", distinguishing it from "the overflowing excess" of progressive metal. Writer Keith Kahn-Harris has described some mathcore bands as a mix between the aggressiveness of grindcore and the idioms of free jazz.

Lyrics

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. Some bands satirized and criticized the militant branches of the hardcore punk ideologies prominent in the 1990s. Others, such as Converge's Jacob Bannon and The Dillinger Escape Plan's Dimitri Minakakis, wrote about deeply personal issues.

Although musically rooted in extreme metal, some mathcore artists have shown contempt for extreme metal fictional and horror lyrics.

Live performances

Some early mathcore bands incorporated light shows synchronized with the music, while others were noted for their reckless, chaotic performances that usually ended up with fights and injuries. Guitarists Jes Steineger of Coalesce and Ben Weinman of The Dillinger Escape Plan commonly featured erratic and violent behaviors. In 2001, vocalist Greg Puciato joined The Dillinger Escape Plan and starred in the most controversial live performances of the band until their disbandment in 2017, being described by ''Invisible Oranges'' as "the perfect physical embodiment of he band's music because of his imposing physique along with destructive behavior.

Etymology

Before the term "mathcore" was coined, mainly in the 1990s, the style had been referred to as "chaotic hardcore" or "noisecore",Whitney Strub, "Behind the Key Club: An Interview with Mark "Barney" Greenway of Napalm Death ", ''PopMatters'', May 11, 2006
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