Mathcore
Encyclopedia
Mathcore is a rhythmically complex and dissonant fusion style of hardcore punk
and Metal
. It has its roots in bands such as Converge
, Botch
, and The Dillinger Escape Plan
. The term mathcore is suggested by analogy
with math rock
. Both math rock and mathcore make use of unusual time signatures. Math rock groups such as Slint
, Don Caballero
, Shellac
, and Drive Like Jehu
have some influence on mathcore, though mathcore is more closely related to metalcore. Prominent mathcore groups have been associated with grindcore
.
, in 1984, with the album My War
: "Its seven-minute metal
dirges and fusion
-style time signatures proved too much for many fans". Many groups from the mathcore scene paid tribute to Black Flag for the album Black on Black
.
In the 1990s, groups now often described as mathcore were grouped together as "noisecore". Kevin-Stewart Panko of Terrorizer
referred to groups such as Neurosis
, Deadguy
, Cave In
, Today Is the Day
, The Dillinger Escape Plan
, Converge
, Coalesce, Candiria
, and Botch
as described by this label. Stewart-Panko described the sound of these bands as a "dynamic, violent, discordant, technical, brutal, off-kilter, no rules mixture of metal, hardcore
, prog
, math rock
, grind
and jazz
." However, this term also describes an earlier, more dissonant variant of grindcore, also known as "noisegrind", that is less complex and dynamic than the groups subsequently labeled mathcore.
The portmanteau term "mathcore" emphasizes the influence taken from math rock: math rock with hardcore. The earliest known bands to record this hybrid
include Rorschach
, Starkweather
, Botch, and Converge. Throughout the 1990s, several other groups started to emerge: Cave In from Massachusetts, Cable
from Connecticut, Coalesce from Kansas City
, and Knut
from Switzerland
. The term mathcore was coined at the release of The Dillinger Escape Plan's 1999 debut album Calculating Infinity
. The Dillinger Escape Plan is often considered the "pioneer" of mathcore. The style had previously been referred to as "noisecore", which confusingly also refers to a style of
hardcore techno
and an earlier outgrowth of grindcore.
In the early 2000s several new mathcore bands started to emerge. These bands were rarely described as such, but were commonly related to mathcore pioneers or cited a major mathcore band as an influence. Norma Jean
's earlier records are often compared to Converge and Botch. Other new mathcore bands that cite older mathcore bands as an influence or are compared to one include The Locust
, Daughters
, Some Girls
, Look What I Did
, The Number Twelve Looks Like You
, and An Isle Ate Her
.
The term is generally applied by journalists, rather than by musicians themselves. Jacob Bannon
of Converge stated,
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
and Metal
Metal
A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...
. It has its roots in bands such as Converge
Converge (band)
Converge is an American band from Salem, Massachusetts. Playing a blend of hardcore punk and metal since 1990, Converge has helped to define many of the elements of the metalcore genre.-Description:...
, Botch
Botch (band)
Botch was a four-piece mathcore band from Tacoma, Washington, United States, that formed in 1993 and disbanded in 2002.-History:The band released two full-length albums and a handful of smaller releases including several singles and an EP. Its members went on an indefinite hiatus to form Roy,...
, and The Dillinger Escape Plan
The Dillinger Escape Plan
The Dillinger Escape Plan is an American mathcore band from Morris Plains, New Jersey. The group originated in 1997 after the disbanding of Arcane, a hardcore punk trio consisting of Ben Weinman, Dimitri Minakakis, and Chris Pennie. The band's current line-up consists of guitarist Ben Weinman,...
. The term mathcore is suggested by analogy
Analogy
Analogy is a cognitive process of transferring information or meaning from a particular subject to another particular subject , and a linguistic expression corresponding to such a process...
with math rock
Math rock
Math rock is a rhythmically complex guitar-based style of experimental rock that emerged in the 1980s and that was very influenced by progressive rock like King Crimson, Frank Zappa, Henry Cow - and 20th century composers such as Steve Reich and John Cage...
. Both math rock and mathcore make use of unusual time signatures. Math rock groups such as Slint
Slint
Slint was an American rock band consisting of Brian McMahan , David Pajo , Britt Walford , Todd Brashear and Ethan Buckler...
, Don Caballero
Don Caballero
Don Caballero are an American rock group from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The group took their name from the character Guy Caballero, portrayed by Joe Flaherty, on the sketch comedy show Second City Television...
, Shellac
Shellac (band)
Shellac is an American group composed of Steve Albini , Bob Weston and Todd Trainer...
, and Drive Like Jehu
Drive Like Jehu
Drive Like Jehu was an American post-hardcore and alternative rock band from San Diego active from 1990 to 1995. Formed by rhythm guitarist and vocalist Rick Froberg and lead guitarist John Reis following the breakup of their band Pitchfork, the band's lineup also included bassist Mike Kennedy and...
have some influence on mathcore, though mathcore is more closely related to metalcore. Prominent mathcore groups have been associated with grindcore
Grindcore
Grindcore is an extreme genre of music that started in the early- to mid-1980s. It draws inspiration from some of the most abrasive music genres – including death metal, industrial music, noise and the more extreme varieties of hardcore punk....
.
History
An early antecedent to mathcore was practiced by Black FlagBlack Flag (band)
Black Flag was an American punk rock band formed in 1976 in Hermosa Beach, California. The band was established by Greg Ginn, the guitarist, primary songwriter and sole continuous member through multiple personnel changes in the band...
, in 1984, with the album My War
My War
My War is the second full length album by the American hardcore punk band Black Flag. It was released in 1984 on SST Records.Black Flag's founder and primary songwriter Greg Ginn played bass guitar in addition to his usual guitar; "Dale Nixon" is a pseudonym.My War was released after a long period...
: "Its seven-minute metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
dirges and fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
-style time signatures proved too much for many fans". Many groups from the mathcore scene paid tribute to Black Flag for the album Black on Black
Black on Black: A Tribute to Black Flag
Black on Black: A Tribute to Black Flag is a tribute album to the defunct American hardcore punk band Black Flag. The album was originally released through Initial Records on October 8, 2002...
.
Terrorizer Magazine
Terrorizer is an extreme music magazine published by Dark Arts Ltd. in the United Kingdom. It is released every four weeks with thirteen issues a year and features a 'Fear Candy' covermount CD, a twice yearly 'Fear Candy Unsigned' CD, and a double-sided poster.-1993:Terrorizer published its first...
referred to groups such as Neurosis
Neurosis (band)
Neurosis is a post-metal band, based in Oakland, California. They formed in 1985 as a hardcore punk band, and their sound progressed towards a doom metal style that also included influences from dark ambient and industrial music as well as incorporating elements of folk music...
, Deadguy
Deadguy
Deadguy was a metalcore band from New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA.-History:Formed in 1994, Deadguy took inspiration from bands like Unsane and Today is the Day. The band took their name from a line in the John Candy movie, Only the Lonely,...
, Cave In
Cave In
Cave In is an American rock band that formed in 1995, in Methuen, Massachusetts. After several members changes in the late 90's, their lineup solidified with the 1998 release of Until Your Heart Stops through Hydra Head Records. Their early albums were prominent releases in the independent...
, Today Is the Day
Today is the Day
Today Is the Day is an experimental noise rock/metal/grindcore band from Nashville, Tennessee. They have a diverse sound that includes influences from alternative rock, grindcore, & progressive rock among other genres...
, The Dillinger Escape Plan
The Dillinger Escape Plan
The Dillinger Escape Plan is an American mathcore band from Morris Plains, New Jersey. The group originated in 1997 after the disbanding of Arcane, a hardcore punk trio consisting of Ben Weinman, Dimitri Minakakis, and Chris Pennie. The band's current line-up consists of guitarist Ben Weinman,...
, Converge
Converge (band)
Converge is an American band from Salem, Massachusetts. Playing a blend of hardcore punk and metal since 1990, Converge has helped to define many of the elements of the metalcore genre.-Description:...
, Coalesce, Candiria
Candiria
Candiria are an American band from Brooklyn, New York. They blend various styles of music, including heavy metal, hardcore, jazz, hip hop and ambient. Candiria have often dubbed their sound "urban fusion".- History :...
, and Botch
Botch (band)
Botch was a four-piece mathcore band from Tacoma, Washington, United States, that formed in 1993 and disbanded in 2002.-History:The band released two full-length albums and a handful of smaller releases including several singles and an EP. Its members went on an indefinite hiatus to form Roy,...
as described by this label. Stewart-Panko described the sound of these bands as a "dynamic, violent, discordant, technical, brutal, off-kilter, no rules mixture of metal, hardcore
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
, prog
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
, math rock
Math rock
Math rock is a rhythmically complex guitar-based style of experimental rock that emerged in the 1980s and that was very influenced by progressive rock like King Crimson, Frank Zappa, Henry Cow - and 20th century composers such as Steve Reich and John Cage...
, grind
Grindcore
Grindcore is an extreme genre of music that started in the early- to mid-1980s. It draws inspiration from some of the most abrasive music genres – including death metal, industrial music, noise and the more extreme varieties of hardcore punk....
and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
." However, this term also describes an earlier, more dissonant variant of grindcore, also known as "noisegrind", that is less complex and dynamic than the groups subsequently labeled mathcore.
The portmanteau term "mathcore" emphasizes the influence taken from math rock: math rock with hardcore. The earliest known bands to record this hybrid
Hybrid word
A hybrid word is a word which etymologically has one part derived from one language and another part derived from a different language.-Common hybrids:The most common form of hybrid word in English is one which combines etymologically Latin and Greek parts...
include Rorschach
Rorschach (band)
Rorschach is a New Jersey-based band that existed from 1989 to 1993 and reformed in 2009. The group often blended hardcore punk and dissonant elements of metal providing the inspiration to a number of hardcore and post hardcore bands thereafter....
, Starkweather
Starkweather (band)
Starkweather is a metal band from Philadelphia, United States that formed in 1989. Starkweather helped pioneer the hardcore/heavy metal crossover sound that would later be known as "metalcore"...
, Botch, and Converge. Throughout the 1990s, several other groups started to emerge: Cave In from Massachusetts, Cable
Cable (American band)
Cable is an American band formed in 1994 in Rockville, Connecticut. They combine a hardcore punk and emo aesthetic with a rhythmically complex, often discordant metal-influenced musical approach...
from Connecticut, Coalesce from Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, and Knut
Knut (band)
Knut is a sludge metal/post-hardcore band from Geneva, Switzerland that formed in 1994. Early material was put out on Snuff Records, which was run by Séverin and Mounir. They are currently signed to Hydra Head Records, which is owned and operated by Aaron Turner of Isis...
from Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. The term mathcore was coined at the release of The Dillinger Escape Plan's 1999 debut album Calculating Infinity
Calculating Infinity
Calculating Infinity is the debut album by American mathcore band The Dillinger Escape Plan, released in September 1999 by Relapse Records. Calculating Infinity showcases the band's heavier and more technical sound and would go on to be considered a landmark of avant-garde metal...
. The Dillinger Escape Plan is often considered the "pioneer" of mathcore. The style had previously been referred to as "noisecore", which confusingly also refers to a style of
Power noise
Power noise is a fusion genre among noise music and various styles of electronic dance music. It should not be confused with "power electronics", which lacks rhythmic elements and is closer to harsh noise...
hardcore techno
Hardcore techno
Hardcore techno is a type of electronic music typified by the rhythmic use of distorted and atonal industrial-like beats and samples...
and an earlier outgrowth of grindcore.
In the early 2000s several new mathcore bands started to emerge. These bands were rarely described as such, but were commonly related to mathcore pioneers or cited a major mathcore band as an influence. Norma Jean
Norma Jean (band)
Norma Jean is an American metalcore band from Douglasville, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. Since their inception in 1997 and replacement of members throughout the years, the band's only original member is the guitarist, Chris Day...
's earlier records are often compared to Converge and Botch. Other new mathcore bands that cite older mathcore bands as an influence or are compared to one include The Locust
The Locust
The Locust is a musical group from San Diego, California, United States known for their unique mix of grindcore speed and aggression, mathcore complexity, and new wave weirdness.- Style :...
, Daughters
Daughters (band)
Daughters is an American grindcore/mathcore/noise rock band formed in 2001 in Providence, Rhode Island after the demise of Providence-based As the Sun Sets. Daughters have four releases including their self-titled EP, Canada Songs LP Hell Songs and last album Daughters . The band has re-released...
, Some Girls
Some Girls (California band)
Some Girls was a collective of musicians who came from different backgrounds and all who had established bands that pushed the limits of hardcore punk. Their musical style was a hybrid of mathcore, grindcore and noise rock.-History:...
, Look What I Did
Look What I Did
Look What I Did is an American post-hardcore band, formed in 2001 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. The music combines elements of jazz/fusion, hardcore, metal, and progressive pop punk...
, The Number Twelve Looks Like You
The Number Twelve Looks Like You
The Number Twelve Looks Like You was a mathcore band from Fair Lawn, New Jersey. Their music combined elements of grindcore, progressive metal, hardcore punk and jazz...
, and An Isle Ate Her
An Isle Ate Her
An Isle Ate Her is an American mathcore/grindcore band from Atlanta, Georgia. The band started in 2007 as Feeding the Foxes, until they progressed over time and changed their name to An Isle Ate Her in February 2010...
.
The term is generally applied by journalists, rather than by musicians themselves. Jacob Bannon
Jacob Bannon
Jacob Bannon is the vocalist, lyricist, and graphic artist for the American metalcore band Converge. He is also the founder and owner of the label Deathwish Inc...
of Converge stated,