Mathcore
[6] Most pioneering mathcore drummers had jazz, orchestral or academic backgrounds, including Dazzling Killmen's Blake Fleming,[7] Craw's Neil Chastain,[8] Coalesce's James Dewees,[9] Botch's Tim Latona,[10] The Dillinger Escape Plan's Chris Pennie,[11] and Converge's Ben Koller.
"[2][13] 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.
[23][24] Some early mathcore bands incorporated light shows synchronized with the music,[25][26] while others were noted for their reckless, chaotic performances that usually ended up with fights and injuries.
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, Botch, and Psyopus as falling under this label.
[31] Stewart-Panko described the sound of these bands as a "dynamic, violent, discordant, technical, brutal, off-kilter, no rules mixture of hardcore, metal, prog, math rock, grind and jazz.
Post-hardcore is a broad term to define bands that maintain the aggressiveness and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression.
[50] In the 1990s, the hardcore punk scene started to embrace extreme metal openly and also was highly ideologized, with most of the popular bands being part of subcultures, religions or political groups.
Two bands usually credited as mathcore forerunners are mid-westerners Dazzling Killmen and Craw, who at the time were considered part of the "noisier" branch of math rock.
[19][45][61][62][63][64] At this period, several pioneering mathcore bands began to form: Botch from Washington in 1993; Coalesce from Missouri, Cable from Connecticut and Knut from Switzerland in 1994; Cave In from Massachusetts and Drowningman from Vermont in 1995.
"Converge was formed as an amalgamation of extreme metal, crossover thrash and hardcore punk, but in the mid-1990s they were heavily affected by early metalcore and post-hardcore bands, such as Rorschach, Universal Order of Armageddon and Starkweather.
[19][70][71] Vocalist Sean 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.
[27][75][76] 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.
[22][79] In 1999, Converge released the split album The Poacher Diaries expanding drastically their technical elements, but afterwards main songwriter Kurt Ballou called it "a failed experiment".
[80] This inspired him to change his focus to song structure and the "memorable" elements that initially attracted him to music, birthing their 2001 album Jane Doe.
[82] Other important albums of this period are 1996's Variable Speed Drive by Cable,[83] 1998's Until Your Heart Stops by Cave In,[84] 2000's Rock and Roll Killing Machine by Drowningman,[85] and 2002's Challenger by Knut.
[96] Bands such as Rolo Tomassi, Frontierer, The Armed, Black Matter Device, The Callous Daoboys, and SeeYouSpaceCowboy have been described as modern practitioners of the genre by Bandcamp[97] and Alternative Press.
