Blast Beats and BreakdownsMusic is an excellent way for everyone to connect and get along, music is also an important part in everyone's life. There are many different genres in music, including country, rap, reggae, metal, rock, and many others. This essay will focus on a certain genre, metalcore. Metalcore is a blend of hardcore punk and extreme metal and has a distinct use of breakdowns, which are slow, intense passages that encourage moshing. Pioneering metalcore bands such as Hogan's Heroes, Earth Crisis and Integrity are said to be more inclined towards hardcore punk, while later bands, such as Asking Alexandria, All That Remains and The Devil Wears Prada are described as more inclined towards metal. The band Sepultura has been credited as the band that helped lay the foundation for the metalcore genre in the early 2000s, and Pantera is said to have directly influenced Atreyu, Bleeding through, and Unearth, while also being very influential in the early 2000s Metalcore is described as having a complex history but comes primarily from thrash metal, hardcore punk and extreme metal. Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal characterized most typically by its fast pace and aggression. Thrash metal songs typically use percussive rhythms and fast low-register guitar riffs layered over shredding-style lead work. The origins of thrash metal are generally traced back to the late seventies and early eighties, when a number of predominantly American bands began to blend elements of British new wave heavy metal with the speed and aggression of hardcore punk. One note worth noting is that thrash metal is widely regarded as a group of "Big Four" bands, the most successful and influential group being... middle of paper... the Italian band Asking Alexandria, which reaches everyone up to at number nine on the Billboard 200, selling 31,000 copies in its first week. While metalcore is not a genre loved by everyone, the genre has found a considerable foothold, not only in North America, but around the world, and every day the genre grows in popularity and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future . Works Cited Caramanica, Jon. "Metalcore, Screams and Hugs." Nytimes.com. New York Times, July 18, 2010. Web. November 6, 2013. G, Ryan. “Looking ahead to 2012: Metalcore continues to diversify and The City Harmonic has a huge year.” Iamtunedup.com. I'm tuned in, January 3, 2012. Web. November 06, 2013. Kelham, Andrew. ""Metalcore is not an interesting genre at this point" – In the studio with August Burns Red." Altpress.com. Alternative Press, 26 March 2013. Web. 06 November. 2013.