Deathcore as a genre has ebbed and flowed rapidly over the last 20 years. From its bludgeoning roots to the more symphonic style that has defined much of the last five years of its story, so much of what it is and what it has become can be traced back to Despised Icon. Coming out of the Montreal metal scene in 2002 with a sound that combined the technicality of death metal with the iron-clad attitude of hardcore, they have remained on the precipice of the genre ever since. Most recently, with their new full-length Shadow Work, released back in October on Nuclear Blast.
Though they serve as forefathers of a genre that has been revered as much as reviled throughout its history, for them, its roots go even deeper. Specifically, to a gig that vocalist Alex Erian attended in 1998.
Speaking to Suicide Silence's Chris Garza on his Garza podcast, Alex details attending a show at Montreal's Salle de L'X, also known as the X Club, headlined by French Canadian death metal band Démance. Lower on the bill was Malamor, a death metal band from Kingston, New York, and during their set, Alex saw something that would change everything for him.
"Malamor started playing, and it was a Suffocation/Dying Fetus hybrid, a good band. And they had these groovy parts. And then I saw what changed my perspective on music, and what influenced me was this moment. I saw someone, His name is Nick. He founded A Death For Every Sin, which was one of the first hardcore bands in Montreal. I saw him mosh to Malamor. I saw him mosh to a death metal band."
At a time when hardcore and metal had only just started crossing paths, with the rise of the likes of Converge and Hatebreed during the late 90s, seeing such a community and the way that it functions, infiltrate even heavier waters must have been a wondrous shock to the system.
To hammer home what he had experienced even more, Alex then goes on to explain something else he saw after the show.
"I feel like the vocalist of Malamor was meeting people at the show, and he had this cassette, and it said ‘deathcore’ on it, and that to me made a whole lot of sense. So I think deathcore came from a Malamor cassette or a Malamor t-shirt, and it just resonated with me. So when we did our first shirt, it was 'Despised Icon, Montreal Deathcore', on that 02 shit. That’s how it came about for me personally."
2002 was when Despised Icon first released music, that being their debut full-length, Consumed By Your Poison. Though, despite being one of the first bands to fully envelope themselves in such a crossover as deathcore, Alex goes on to state that they weren't alone in their pursuits, and more so, paving the way for the bands which would take the genre to its headiest heights. Specifically citing what Suicide Silence did as a moment that things went stratospheric.
"But when did it all start? Some people say Antagony. For me, I would still credit us, still staying humble. We were there very early on. For me, East Coast is Despised Icon, and The Red Chord, and West Coast is definitely All Shall Perish. All Shall Perish and us, we were the first bands who were touring on a national level before there was an organised deathcore scene. We would tour with Morbid Angel, and we would tour with Deicide.
"Despised has never been the big band. But Suicide Silence showed up, Job For A Cowboy showed up, and you guys owned that shit. You brought it to a whole other level. With the resurgence there is right now and people being nostalgic of the early sound, I credit Suicide Silence to that early sound. I feel like back then, every band wasn’t trying to be Despised Icon, they were trying to be Suicide Silence."
Suicide Silence are actually set to hit the UK and Europe early next year as support for Slaughter To Prevail alongside Dying Fetus. Have a look at the dates below:
Jan 13: Tilburg O13, Netherlands
Jan 14: Brussels Ancienne Belgique, Belgium
Jan 16: London O2 Academy Brixton, UK*
Jan 17: Manchester O2 Victoria Warehouse, UK*
Jan 18: Birmingham O2 Academy, UK*
Jan 20: Zurich Halle 622, Switzerland
Jan 21: Milan Alcatraz, Italy
Jan 24: Berlin UFO Im Velodrom, Germany
Jan 25: Hamburg Sporthalle, Germany
Jan 29: Oslo Sentrum Scene, Norway
Jan 30: Stockholm B-K, Sweden
Jan 31: Copenhagen K.B. Hallen, Denmark
Feb 02: Frankfurt Jahrhunderthalle, Germany
Feb 03: Ljubljana Media Center, Slovenia
Feb 04: Budapest Barba Negra, Hungary
Feb 06: Munich Zenith, Germany
Feb 07: Leipzig Haus Auensee, Germany
Feb 08: Prague Forum Karlin, Czech Republic
(* = w/ Annotations Of An Autopsy)
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