Deathcore wins

I've never been a massive fan of slapping a genre label on bands. In days of yore, calling a band like Iron Maiden 'heavy metal' or Rush 'prog rock' made sense but in the era of 'screamo crunk', how the fuck do you decide who's what? Take Throwdown, for example; initially a hardcore band, now much more MOR metal, so I assume that makes them post-hardcore conformo-metal, or something?

My reason for this bitch is that I recently got hold of the latest album from German outfit Anima and as I tucked into the standard overblown press release waffle, the 'deathcore' label jumped out and nutted me in the balls. Deathcore is one of the genres that gets a regular kicking left, right and centre so I automatically thought "oh great". Then I started thinking (which wasn't easy) I like Whitechapel, think the most recent Annotations Of An Autopsy album is excellent and as both bands have had the deathcore shit flung in their direction, I reached a conclusion: I like deathcore. Derogatory as the tag has been, it fucking works for me, alright??

Anima's Enter The Killzone is no different to anything you'd expect from this much-maligned genre. Down-tuned guitars, grunting vocals, massively predictable breaks, backdrops of horror, screams, and general pain, etc. And to be honest, I love it. Have a look at their MySpace as this album is so heavy it'll make your bowels collapse. Although I'm sure some of you will be too damn kvlt to admit it.

Whilst we're on the subject of deathcore, I suggest any Americans reading this get in touch with Annotations Of An Autopsy. The lads' Facebook page is currently asking if anyone with space can put them up on their American tour in return for a couple of tickets to a gig. Although the prospect of waking up with Steve 'Fuck Me That's Going To Ruin Your Vocal Chords' Reagan and the boys kipping in your living room is a touch intimidating, it's got to be worth doing to support these champions of British heaviness.

And on that note, I'm off. I like deathcore so fuck you.

M

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