GOD FORBID Guitarist Dallas Coyle - "We’re Not Responsible For That Dump-In-The-Pants Genre Called Metal-Core"
February 27, 2008, 16 years ago
Over the coming months GOD FORBID guitarist Dallas Coyle will be writing a weekly column, The Hard R, for MetalSucks. Dallas has a lot to say about politics, life, music and an assortment of other topics, and lucky for you, you'll get to read all about them at MetalSucks. For the first installment, Dallas shares his feelings on the meaning of the word "metalcore" and the misuse and overuse of that term. An excerpt from the blog follows:
"When I go to the supermarket I like to buy Nathan’s or Sabrett hot dogs. Not the supermarket’s brand of hot dogs. I would like to hope that I have enough money to buy the higher quality product. Hence metal to metal-core. Metal-core to me is the poor mans choice for heavy, aggressive music.Let’s bring up the ‘breakdown’. Most like to say metalcore is metal and hardcore put together but it’s more about the ‘breakdown’ that gets real metal, like God Forbid, labeled with this bullshit term. If that’s the case, let’s go back in time to SEPULTURA’s Chaos AD which has breakdowns galore. Is that then the first metal-core record? Everyone says of course not. I say ‘fuck you’ ’cause if we’re metalcore then Sepultura’s Chaos AD is too. For the record, Chaos AD is metal as fuck.
One of the ideologies that I live by is: Everything relates to everything. Metaphors are infinite. The metal to metal-core debate relates to everything in art; torture porn horror versus horror, cheap tricks versus real strategy, etc. Where’s the beef?
Obviously metal-core has none. I don’t fault the supporters who describe us as metal-core but I do fault their support of ‘journalists’ to try and reinvent the wheel that wasn’t broken in the first place. God Forbid isn’t doing anything but trying to make good metal for true metal heads. We’re not reinventing the wheel and we’re not responsible for that dump in the pants genre called metal-core. Can we please move on from re-labeling music that already has a label?"
Read the rest of this entry here