100 Greatest Metalcore Artists

I have completed my first top 100 list, which is a list of top 100 metalcore bands (though I did include 101-110 as honorable mentions).  There were over 500 artists that were initially considered, 215 that remained after the first couple major set of cuts, and 168 finalists that were ranked.

I decided on the rankings based on a combination of influence, legacy, critical success, commercial success, and respect in the industry (I naturally tend to favor influence in that regard, so some early influences in the genre are likely going to get the benefit of the doubt).

As a note, this is different than my 100 favorite metalcore artists; this list is not based on my personal preference of their music and more focused on their impact.

Each artist listed also contains a recommended album.  In cases where I love the artist, I typically included my favorite album by them.  In other cases, I typically included either their most highly regarded, most important, most successful, or most popular album.

 

What is included:

  • Artists generally considered metalcore or a subgenre of metalcore (melodic metalcore, deathcore, electronicore, progressive metalcore, mathcore, nu metalcore, etc.)
  • Artists considered metalcore at one point in their career, evaluated only by their time as a metalcore artist (Avenged Sevenfold, Bring Me the Horizon, Job for a Cowboy)
  • Artists typically associated with a different genre but still has a metalcore touch in their music (Lamb of God, A Day to Remember)
  • Post-Hardcore artists heavily associated with metalcore (Underoath)
  • Hardcore punk artists associated with metalcore (Integrity)

What is excluded:

  • Any artist who is not a metalcore artist
  • Any artist who released their debut album after 2015 (exceptions are made if an artist never released an album, then I look when their EPs were released)
  • Artists who influenced metalcore but were not metalcore artists themselves (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, Agnostic Front, Discharge)
  • Melodic death metal artists who influenced melodic metalcore but were not metalcore artists themselves (Arch Enemy, In Flames)
  • Digital Hardcore artists
  • Most melodic hardcore artists
  • Post-Hardcore artists not typically associated with metalcore (Pierce the Veil)
  • Hardcore punk artists not associated with metalcore

What is included on a case-by-case basis:

  • Melodic death metal artists who dabbled in metalcore (The Agonist was considered, Soilwork was not)
  • Djent artists (Periphery was considered, Animals as Leaders was not)
  • Nintendocore artists (HORSE the Band was considered, An Albatross was not)
  • Easycore artists (A Day to Remember was considered, New Found Glory was not)

 

My Official List

  1. Converge (Jane Doe)
  2. Integrity (To Die For)
  3. The Dillinger Escape Plan (Option Paralysis)
  4. Hatebreed (The Divinity of Purpose)
  5. Earth Crisis (Destroy the Machines)
  6. Cave In (Jupiter)
  7. Botch (We are the Romans)
  8. Coalesce (0:12 Revolution in Just Listening)
  9. Zao (The Fear Is What Keeps Us Here)
  10. Killswitch Engage (Alive or Just Breathing)
  11. Poison the Well (The Opposite of December...A Season of Separation)
  12. Vision of Disorder (Imprint)
  13. Shai Hulud (Misanthropy Pure)
  14. The Red Chord (Fused Together in Revolving Doors)
  15. After the Burial (Dig Deep)
  16. All Shall Perish (This Is Where It Ends)
  17. Drowningman (Busy Signal at the Suicide Hotline)
  18. Disembodied (Diablerie)
  19. Avenged Sevenfold (Waking the Fallen)
  20. Starkweather (This Sheltering Night)
  21. Merauder (Master Killer)
  22. Antagony (See Through These Eyes)
  23. Deadguy (Fixation on a Co-Worker)
  24. God Forbid (Gone Forever)
  25. As I Lay Dying (An Ocean Between Us)
  26. Living Sacrifice (The Hammering Process)
  27. Bullet for My Valentine (The Poison)
  28. Norma Jean (Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child)
  29. Bring Me the Horizon (There Is a Hell…)
  30. Trivium (In Waves)
  31. August Burns Red (Leveler)
  32. Every Time I Die (From Parts Unknown)
  33. Misery Signals (Of Malice and the Magnum Heart)
  34. Heaven Shall Burn (Antigone)
  35. Despised Icon (The Ills of Modern Man)
  36. Shadows Fall (The Art of Balance)
  37. Between the Buried and Me (Colors)
  38. Dead to Fall (The Phoenix Throne)
  39. All That Remains (Overcome)
  40. Lamb of God (Ashes of the Wake)
  41. From Autumn to Ashes (Too Bad You're Beautiful)
  42. Atreyu (A Death-Grip on Yesterday)
  43. Parkway Drive (Deep Blue)
  44. Enter Shikari (Take to the Skies)
  45. Periphery (Juggernaut:  Alpha)
  46. Demon Hunter (Extremist)
  47. Deadwater Drowning (Deadwater Drowning)
  48. A Life Once Lost (Open Your Mouth for the Speechless...In Case of Those Appointed to Die)
  49. A Day to Remember (For Those Who Have Heart)
  50. Job for a Cowboy (Doom)
  51. Knut (Challenger)
  52. Suicide Silence (The Black Crown)
  53. The Agony Scene (The Darkest Red)
  54. Whitechapel (The Valley)
  55. Throwdown (Vendetta)
  56. Born of Osiris (The Discovery)
  57. Terror (Live by the Code)
  58. The Showdown (Back Breaker)
  59. Still Remains (Ceasing to Breathe)
  60. Underoath (Define the Great Line)
  61. Eighteen Visions (Obsession)
  62. Rolo Tomassi (Time Will Die and Love Will Bury It)
  63. Protest the Hero (Fortress)
  64. Code Orange (Forever)
  65. Rorscach (Protestant)
  66. Silent Planet (Everything Was Sound)
  67. Ice Nine Kills (The Silver Scream)
  68. The Chariot (One Wing)
  69. Architects (Daybreaker)
  70. Asking Alexandria (The Black)
  71. The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza (Danza IIII: The Alpha – The Omega)
  72. Beartooth (Disgusting)
  73. Becoming the Archetype (The Physics of Fire)
  74. Through the Eyes of the Dead (Bloodlust)
  75. The Devil Wears Prada (Plagues)
  76. The Agonist (Eye of Providence)
  77. While She Sleeps (Brainwashed)
  78. Fit for a King (Dark Skies)
  79. Chimaira (Resurrection)
  80. Unearth (The Stings of Conscience)
  81. The Human Abstract (Digital Veil)
  82. Bury Tomorrow (Earthbound)
  83. The Ghost Inside (The Ghost Inside)
  84. The Number Twelve Looks Like You (Mongrel)
  85. All Pigs Must Die (Nothing Violates This Nature)
  86. The Acacia Strain (The Dead Walk)
  87. Narrows (New Distances)
  88. 7 Angels 7 Plagues (Jhazmyne's Lullaby)
  89. Counterparts (The Difference Between Hell and Home)
  90. Erra (Augment)
  91. Motionless in White (Graveyard Shift)
  92. Veil of Maya (Eclipse)
  93. Carnifex (Die Without Hope)
  94. Of Mice & Men (Resisting Force)
  95. Blessthefall (Hollow Bodies)
  96. Stick to Your Guns (The Hope Division)
  97. Psyopus (Ideas of Reference)
  98. Attack Attack! (This Means War)
  99. Burst (Lazarus Bird)
  100. 36 Crazyfists (Rest Inside the Flames)
  101. Hopesfall (The Satellite Years)
  102. Winds of Plague (The Great Stone War)
  103. All Out War (Truth in the Age of Lies)
  104. Northlane (Singularity)
  105. Crossfaith (The Dream, the Space)
  106. Within the Ruins (Halfway Human)
  107. Darkest Hour (Undoing Ruin)
  108. In This Moment (A Star-Crossed Wasteland)
  109. Sikth (The Future in Whose Eyes?)
  110. The Fall of Troy (Manipulator)


Artists to Watch

These 20 finalists ranked outside the top-60, but I could see rising on my list in the coming years.  The artists are listed in alphabetical order and include where they currently rank.

  • Beartooth (72)
  • Chelsea Grin (127)
  • Code Orange (64)
  • Counterparts (89)
  • Erra (90)
  • Fit for a King (78)
  • Ice Nine Kills (67)
  • Impending Doom (112)
  • Jinjer (150)
  • Motionless in White (91)
  • Northlane (104)
  • Pathways (157)
  • Reflections (139)
  • Rolo Tomassi (62)
  • Silent Planet (66)
  • Thy Art Is Murder (111)
  • Veil of Maya (92)
  • Volumes (148)
  • While She Sleeps (77)
  • Within the Ruins (106)

 


What do you think of this list?  Who are some of your favorite metalcore acts?  Let me know in the comments!

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