Melodic hardcore

{{Redirect-distinguish|Melodic punk|Pop-punk}}{{Short description|Music genre}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2021}} {{Infobox music genre | name = Melodic hardcore | other_names = | image = Bad_Religion_2004-5-7.jpg | image_size = | caption = Bad Religion's album ''Suffer'' (1988) had a major impact on the development of melodic hardcore | stylistic_origins = Hardcore punk | cultural_origins = Early 1980s, California and Washington, D.C., United States | subgenres = | derivatives = *Dreamcore *skate punk *trallpunk | fusiongenres = Srscore | local_scenes = *Boston *Chicago *Los Angeles *Washington, D.C. | regional_scenes = *UKswell *the wave | other_topics = *List of melodic hardcore bands * emo * metalcore * pop punk * post-hardcore * melodic metalcore *youth crew }}

'''Melodic hardcore''' is a broadly defined subgenre of hardcore punk with a strong emphasis on melody in its guitar work. The style often includes guitar harmonies, riffs using octave chords, as well as broken chords. Additionally, lyrics tend towards intellectualism, often being politically conscious or narrative, with concept albums sometimes being prominent. Bands in the genre also have a tendency to take influence from a range of genres including emo, post-punk, screamo, pop-punk, metalcore, post-rock and gothic rock.

In the early and mid–1980s, bands including the Faith, Descendents, Dag Nasty, Gorilla Biscuits and 7 Seconds were amongst the first hardcore bands to put an emphasis on their melodies. In 1988, Bad Religion incorporated more melodic elements into their music with their third album ''Suffer'', which was widely influential, and reshaped the skate punk genre from its purely hardcore origins into a subgenre of melodic hardcore. During the 1990s, this melodic skate punk style became one of the most prominent styles in punk, with NOFX, Pennywise and Strung Out emerging as forefront acts. 1988 also saw the formation of Inside Out and Turning Point who pioneered an additional style of melodic hardcore, routed in youth crew, emo and tough guy hardcore. This style began to gain prominence towards the end of the 1990s with In My Eyes, Bane and Reach the Sky.

During the 2000s, the genre became the most prominent style in the hardcore scene, and diversified into a variety of styles including the horror punk and gothic rock informed style of AFI and the Nerve Agents, the heavy and nihilistic style of American Nightmare and the Hope Conspiracy, the more melodic and punk-leaning style of Rise Against and Strike Anywhere, the positive hardcore style of Have Heart and Verse and the emotional style of Defeater and Touché Amoré. Around 2009, the genre became less prominent in the American hardcore scene, but continued in the United Kingdom with Dead Swans and While She Sleeps, and in the American metalcore scene with Hundredth, the Ghost Inside and Counterparts. During the 2010s, British and Australian melodic hardcore bands including Casey and Holding Absence pushed the genre closer to post-rock. Since the beginning of the 2020s, the most prominent melodic hardcore bands have been One Step Closer, Anxious and Koyo.

==Characteristics== [[File:Touché Amoré - Rock am Ring 2023-43738.jpg|thumb|Touché Amoré pushed melodic hardcore to embrace elements of screamo and post-rock]] Melodic hardcore differentiates itself from standard hardcore punk by incorporating melodic elements such as guitar harmonies, riffs using octave chords, as well as playing the notes of a chord individually in succession, rather than all at once. Bands in the genre also have a tendency to take influence from a range of genres including emo, post-punk, screamo, pop-punk, metalcore, post-rock and gothic rock.<ref name="Stewart, 2025" />

Many melodic hardcore bands put a greater emphasis on lyrical intellectualism than bands in other styles of hardcore. This manifested through politics in the case of bands like Strike Anywhere, and dark, poetic lyrics in the case of bands like American Nightmare and Dead Swans. Concept albums are also common amongst groups including the Carrier and Defeater.<ref name="Stewart, 2025" />

According to ''Brooklyn Vegan'' writer Andrew Sacher, "melodic hardcore is not an easy thing to define", due to it encompassing a variety of disparate sounds including the early pop-punk of Descendents, emo of Dag Nasty, skate punk of NOFX, and heavy, nihilistic but tuneful hardcore punk bands like Modern Life Is War and the Hope Conspiracy.<ref name="Sacher, 2022" /> In his two articles on the topic, he differentiated between the heavy and nihilistic style based in modern hardcore that he labeled as simply "melodic hardcore" and the more traditional, punk-based "melodic punk" style "that ties together Against Me! to Hot Water Music to Strike Anywhere to the Lawrence Arms".<ref name="Sacher, 2020" /><ref name="Sacher, 2022" /> ''PopMatters'' writer Ethan Stewart instead suggested that melodic hardcore "as we know it today" began with late 1980s bands like Inside Out and Turning Point who merged youth crew hardcore with emo and tough guy hardcore, due to their influence upon much of the subsequent acts in the genre.<ref name="Stewart, 2025" />

==History== [[File:Descendents 2011-12-18 06.JPG|thumb|Descendents were a key influence on both melodic hardcore and pop punk in the 1980s.]]

=== Origins (early to mid–1980s) === The earliest melodic hardcore emerged from the Californian hardcore punk scene by the early 1980s. This includes Descendents, who formed in 1978. Their earliest work was simple, pop-influenced punk rock, but they went on to mix this melodic approach with hardcore, inspiring both melodic hardcore and pop punk groups.<ref>"Descendents were the model for all 'melodic' HC that followed." Blush, Steven and Petros, George; ''American Hardcore: A Tribal History''; Los Angeles: Feral House: Distributed by Publishers Group West, 2001. {{OCLC|48658495}}. Part Two. "LA: How Could Hell Be Any Worse?" p. 79.</ref>

The Faith's 1983 EP ''Subject to Change'' is one of the first melodic hardcore records.<ref name="Faith">{{Cite web |date=September 26, 2011 |title=Faith Subject to Change and First Demo |url=http://drownedinsound.com/releases/16529/reviews/4143647 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111217171337/http://drownedinsound.com/releases/16529/reviews/4143647 |archive-date=December 17, 2011 |access-date=August 11, 2012 |website=Drowned in Sound}}</ref> On the release, the band added and moved away from the more straightforward hardcore punk of their earlier work towards a more complex, textured, and melodic sound, accompanied by introspective lyrics; the release is notable for its influence on post-hardcore.<ref name="sputnik">{{Cite web |date=June 5, 2011 |title=Faith/Void Split |url=https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/43787/Faith-Void-Split/ |access-date=August 11, 2012 |website=Sputnikmusic}}</ref> Dag Nasty are a key melodic hardcore band<ref name="AltPress">{{Cite web |last=Kraus |first=Brian |date=June 22, 2014 |title=16 Modern Precursors Of Melodic Hardcore |url=http://www.altpress.com/features/entry/the_16_forefathers_of_melodic_hardcore |access-date=April 4, 2016 |website=Alternative Press |archive-date=September 8, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170908145259/http://www.altpress.com/features/entry/the_16_forefathers_of_melodic_hardcore |url-status=live }}</ref> that formed during the mid-1980s as part of the Washington, D.C., hardcore scene, with Brian Baker (ex-Minor Threat) on guitar. In 1988, the band All formed, featuring three members of The Descendents. The band made music in a broadly similar vein to the Descendents, and were initially fronted by Dave Smalley of Dag Nasty.<ref name="AmHard">''American Hardcore'', p. 80.</ref> 7 Seconds ventured into melodic hardcore on ''The Crew'' (1984).<ref>{{Cite web |title=7 Seconds - 'Leave A Light' Review |url=http://www.stereokiller.com/newsreviews/article.cfm?intarticleid=12560 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171110224842/http://www.stereokiller.com/newsreviews/article.cfm?intarticleid=12560 |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 10, 2017 |access-date=January 18, 2018 |website=Stereokiller.com }}</ref>

===Developments (late 1980s to mid–1990s)=== Bad Religion's 1988 album ''Suffer'' was highly influential, pioneering a more melodic take on the pre-existing skate punk genre.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/bad_religion_autobiography_do_what_you_want_book_review |title= Bad Religion Autobiography 'Do What You Want' Is Compelling but Sanitized Account of the Punk Icons |work=Exclaim! |last=Gormely |first=Ian |date=October 14, 2020 |accessdate=February 20, 2021}}</ref> The album differentiated itself from the band's earlier hardcore material, by incorporating melodic singing and harmonies. Fat Mike of forefront skate punk band NOFX, called ''Suffer'' "the record that changed everything".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sacher |first1=Andrew |title=15 '80s punk albums that shaped the '90s/'00s pop punk boom |url=https://www.brooklynvegan.com/15-80s-punk-albums-that-shaped-the-90s00s-pop-punk-boom/ |website=Brooklyn Vegan |access-date=23 February 2025}}</ref> This style was domineering in the punk scene during the 1990s, being dubbed the "Epi-Fat" sound (named after the labels that housed its key bands, Epitaph Records and Fat Wreck Chords), with key additional bands including Pennywise and Strung Out.<ref>{{cite web |last1=McIntyre |first1=Ken |title="Everybody hated punks in the 80s. It made it cool. It weeded people out": how skate punk changed metal forever in the 1980s |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/skate-thrash-history-suicidal-tendencies |website=Metal Hammer |date=May 4, 2024 |access-date=23 February 2025}}</ref>

In the mid-1980s, the hardcore subculture youth crew began, which hardcore would go on to be largely intertwined with. One of the earliest bands in the subculture to play a melodic style of hardcore was Gorilla Biscuits. Both California's Inside Out and New Jersey's Turning Point, emerged from this movement, forming in 1988 and disbanding in 1991. Their shared merger of youth crew, emo and tough guy hardcore led to them becoming two of the most influential bands to the subsequent development of melodic hardcore.<ref name="Stewart, 2025">{{cite web |last1=Stewart |first1=Ethan |title=MELODIC HARDCORE'S STUNNING MID-2020S RESURGENCE |url=https://www.popmatters.com/melodic-hardcore-mid-2020s-resurgence |website=PopMatters |date=February 19, 2025 |access-date=19 February 2025}}</ref>

In 1994, H<sub>2</sub>O formed, mixing melodic elements of Washington D.C., with New York and California hardcore punk. Lifetime was a notable emo group whose sound drew heavily on pop punk and melodic hardcore.<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 12, 2017 |title=With 'Jersey's Best Dancers,' Lifetime Accidentally Injected Pop Punk and Hardcore into Emo |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/with-jerseys-best-dancers-lifetime-accidentally-injected-pop-punk-and-hardcore-into-emo/ |access-date=January 18, 2018 |archive-date=September 22, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180922140142/https://noisey.vice.com/en_uk/article/4x9g43/with-jerseys-best-dancers-lifetime-accidentally-injected-pop-punk-and-hardcore-into-emo |url-status=live }}</ref> Along with other melodic hardcore groups, they had much influence on subsequent pop punk, including bands such as Fall Out Boy and Saves the Day.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fall Out Boy - Similar Artists - AllMusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/fall-out-boy-mn0000170879/related |access-date=January 18, 2018 |website=AllMusic |archive-date=June 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230614150246/https://www.allmusic.com/artist/fall-out-boy-mn0000170879/related |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=March 24, 2006 |title=A Lifetime of Rock |url=https://www.spin.com/2006/03/lifetime-rock/ |access-date=January 18, 2018 |work=Spin |archive-date=August 11, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180811032804/https://www.spin.com/2006/03/lifetime-rock/ |url-status=live }}</ref> When Lifetime broke up, some of their members formed Kid Dynamite.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kid Dynamite Shorter, Faster, Louder |url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/kid_dynamite-shorter_faster_louder |access-date=January 18, 2018 |website=exclaim.ca |archive-date=June 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230614150249/https://exclaim.ca/music/article/kid_dynamite-shorter_faster_louder |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Popularization (late 1990s to late 2000s) === [[File:RiseAgainst2012.jpg|thumb|Rise Against, formed in 1999, achieved widespread success by 2004.]] For much of the 1990s, the hardcore scene was largely populated by amelodic, extreme metal influenced bands. As a reaction, around 1996, a revival of the sound of the youth crew bands began in Boston.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rettman |first1=Tony |title=Straight Edge A Clear-Headed Hardcore Punk History |quote=The early '90s was full of bands who promoted a straight edge lifestyle, but sounded more metal and played slower. Then the mid'90s brought bands made up of older guys from the late '80s who wanted that more traditional sound. There were younger guys who wanted that as well. So around 1996 or 1997, a full Youth Crew revival happened.}}</ref> From within this movement, melodic hardcore bands including Bane, In My Eyes and Reach the Sky built upon the foundation that Turning Point and Inside Out has laid out. In the subsequent years, the youth crew revival expanded to other cities and countries. In the San Francisco Bay Area hardcore scene, bands including AFI, Pitch Black, the Nerve Agents and Scissorhands created a separate, melodic outgrowth of youth crew, which merged with horror punk and gothic rock.<ref name="Stewart, 2025" />

The mainstream success of pop-punk in the 2000s led to an increase in commercial success of other melodic styles of punk, including melodic hardcore. This was prominent with Chicago band Rise Against, who formed in 1999, and achieved significant mainstream radio play and MTV coverage, with the release of their major label debut ''Siren Song of the Counter Culture'' (2004). Additional bands in the genre to benefit from this were Strike Anywhere, Kid Dynamite, the Movielife and the Suicide Machines.<ref name="Sacher, 2020">{{cite web |last1=Sacher |first1=Andrew |title=18 early 2000s melodic punk & hardcore albums that are still essential today |url=https://www.brooklynvegan.com/18-early-2000s-melodic-punk-hardcore-albums-that-are-still-essential-today/ |access-date=10 August 2024}}</ref>

Growing out of the youth crew revival,<ref name="Stewart, 2025" /> Boston band American Nightmare's 2001 debut album ''Background Music'' pioneered a new style of melodic hardcore, which callbacked to the 1980s punk-based style of hardcore, while also embracing the influence of the dark lyrics of gothic rock.<ref name="Sacher, 2022">{{cite web |last1=Sacher |first1=Andrew |title=20 essential melodic hardcore albums from the 2000s |url=https://www.brooklynvegan.com/20-essential-melodic-hardcore-albums-from-the-2000s/ |access-date=10 August 2024}}</ref> American Nightmare's influence was apparent promptly leading to a wave bands including Ceremony, Ruiner, Modern Life Is War, the Hope Conspiracy and Killing the Dream.<ref>"Charts", Billboard. August 23, 2008, pp. 40–41. Retrieved December 25, 2011.</ref><ref>Hughes, Josiah. "American Nightmare Announce New Album, Share "The World Is Blue"". Retrieved November 25, 2019.</ref> A reaction against American Nightmare's negative melodic hardcore sound soon took place, beginning with Mental, who were quickly followed by Have Heart.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rettman |first1=Tony |title=Straight Edge A Clear-Headed Hardcore Punk History |quote=Greg W: When we formed the band Mental, it was a reaction to bands in our area like American Nightmare and Panic. We wanted to do something that was different to what was going on at the time. Luckily, the older people who got me into hardcore as a kid put me onto classic New York hard-core. I could never connect to any of that baggy-pants Victory Records stuff too much. The guys in Mental and I were ''so'' into old New York and D.C. hardcore. We worshipped it, and we wanted to bring that style of music back...<br>Chris Wrenn: I saw Have Heart picking up the straight edge torch afte Mental. Bands like American Nightmare and No Warning only had black T-shirts. When Bridge Nine Records started working with Have Heart, Pat's only concern was that we didn't make black T-shirts for the band, and I don't think we ever did; red and royal blue definitely, but not black.}}</ref> Have Heart's success led to the rise in popularity of other positive hardcore groups like Champion, Verse and Sinking Ships.<ref name="Bane, Shipwreck a 2009">"Have Heart announce final show with Bane, Shipwreck a.d." punknews.org. August 22, 2009. Retrieved May 13, 2010.</ref><ref>Break-ups: Verse (2003–2009) Punknews.org, February 9, 2009. Retrieved February 13, 2009.</ref> Other prominent groups playing these styles included the Carrier, Ruiner, This Is Hell and Comeback Kid, many of which are housed by key hardcore labels Bridge 9 Records and Deathwish Inc.<ref name="AltPress" /> In western Australia, this sound become one of its most commercially successful exports, with Break Even and Mile Away.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Morawitz |first1=Owen |title=A Guide to the New Breed of Australian Hardcore |url=https://daily.bandcamp.com/scene-report/australian-hardcore-punk-list |website=Bandcamp Daily |date=August 16, 2021 |access-date=10 August 2024}}</ref>

===Decline and underground developments (late 2000s–present)=== [[File:Shaun Milton Landscapes 3.JPG|thumb|Landscapes helped to initiate the United Kingdom's "golden period of melodic hardcore" in the late 2000s and early 2010s<ref name="Hollier, 2018" />]] {{see also|The wave (music)|UKswell}} Melodic hardcore declined in popularity in the American hardcore scene following the release of Trapped Under Ice's debut album ''Secrets of the World'' (2009), which repopularized heavier, metal-influenced styles. However, melodic hardcore continued to gain traction in the United Kingdom.<ref name="Stewart, 2025" /> This scene's forefront acts included Dead Swans, More Than Life,<ref name="Stewart, 2025" /> Heights,<ref name="Hollier, 2018" /> Landscapes and Departures.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Fox |first1=James |title=Interview: Up River [June 2014] |url=https://www.punktastic.com/interviews/interview-up-river-june-2014/ |website=www.punktastic.com |access-date=27 November 2025}}</ref> ''Noizze'' called this the "golden period of melodic hardcore".<ref name="Hollier, 2018">{{cite web |last1=Hillier |first1=Dan |title=One Album Wonders - 10 Great Releases By Bands Who Only Released One Album (Part 2) |url=https://www.noizze.co.uk/one-album-wonders-10-great-releases-by-bands-who-only-released-one-album-part-2/ |website=Noizze UK |access-date=17 January 2026 |language=en |date=14 October 2018}}</ref>

At this time, groups including Defeater and Touché Amoré morphed Bridge Nine and Deathwish's melodic hardcore style into what ''Alternative Press'' writer Brian Kraus termed "melodic, emotional hardcore".<ref name="AltPress" /> This sound was a core tennant of experiment movement the wave. It was typified by emotional lyrics, concept albums and the revival of elements of 1990s emo, screamo and post-hardcore, the movement was originally fronted by Touché Amoré, Defeater, La Dispute, Pianos Become the Teeth and Make Do and Mend.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sacher |first1=Andrew |title=10 years ago, the new wave of post-hardcore made its mark |url=https://www.brooklynvegan.com/10-years-ago-the-new-wave-of-post-hardcore-made-its-mark/ |access-date=10 August 2024}}</ref><ref name="Sacher, 2022" />

The United Kingdom's leg of the wave was UKswell,<ref name="Thrash Hits - UKswell">{{cite web |title=thrashhits.com |url=https://www.thrashhits.com/2011/04/behind-the-scene-ukswell/ |website=www.thrashhits.com |access-date=26 December 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501235247/https://www.thrashhits.com/2011/04/behind-the-scene-ukswell/ |archive-date=1 May 2011}}</ref> playing a similarly melodic hardcore-indebted style.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Connors |first1=Ollie |title=Album Review: Crows-An-Wra - Kalopsia |url=https://alreadyheard.com/album-review-crows-an-wra-kalopsia/ |website=Already Heard |access-date=27 November 2025 |date=10 September 2014}}</ref> It originated around 2009, when Pariso, Goodtime Boys, Kerouac, the Long Haul and Bastions began performing together, who all subverted the horror imagery and toxic masculinity of hardcore of the time, seeking radical inclusion. Its initial wave ended in 2012, with the 10 July disbandment of Kerouac.<ref name="Aylott, 2012">{{cite web |last1=Aylott |first1=Tom |title=Kerouac’s final ever show @ The Old Blue Last, London |url=https://www.punktastic.com/live-reviews/kerouacs-final-ever-show-the-old-blue-last-london/ |website=www.punktastic.com |access-date=27 November 2025}}</ref><ref name="Connors, 2016b">{{cite web |last1=Connors |first1=Ollie |title=Interview: Thom Denson of Kerouac on Holy Roar |url=https://www.punktastic.com/interviews/interview-thom-denson-of-kerouac-on-holy-roar/ |website=www.punktastic.com |access-date=27 November 2025}}</ref> However, a second wave quickly formed with We Never Learned to Live,<ref name="Baines, 2016">{{cite web |last1=Baines |first1=Huw |title=How Holy Roar Became The Bastion of British Hardcore |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/holy-roar-record-label-retrospective/ |website=Vice Media |access-date=25 January 2026 |date=3 June 2016}}</ref> Employed to Serve, Ithaca, Vales and Svalbard.<ref name="Connors, 2016">{{cite web |last1=Connors |first1=Ollie |title=Interview: Alex Fitzpatrick of Holy Roar Records |url=https://www.punktastic.com/interviews/interview-alex-fitzpatrick-of-holy-roar-records/ |website=www.punktastic.com |access-date=27 November 2025}}</ref>

====Srscore==== [[File:Counterparts 2019 Schweinfurth.jpg|thumb|Counterparts were one of the most prominent melodic hardcore bands in the 2010s]] During the early 2010s, melodic hardcore gained traction in the metalcore scene, with While She Sleeps in the United Kingdom and Counterparts and Hundredth in the United States.<ref name="Stewart, 2025" /> This wave of metalcore scene-based groups cross-pollinated melodic hardcore with the melodic but heavy riffing style of metalcore bands such as Shai Hulud and Misery Signals, as well as the aggression of hardcore bands like Terror. This style was largely rejected by the hardcore scene.<ref name="Shultz, 2017">{{cite web |last1=Shultz |first1=Brian |title=Hundredth - live in Somerville |url=https://www.punknews.org/review/15429/hundredth-live-in-somerville |website=www.punknews.org |access-date=20 May 2026 |language=en |date=7 December 2017}}</ref> It incorporated hardcore's energy, metalcore's heavy riffing style, atmospheric elements,<ref name="Petteri, 2012" /> gang vocals, melodic lead guitar parts, breakdowns,<ref name="SYWH, 2015" /> technical instrumentation<ref name="Shultz, 2017" /> and sometimes clean vocals in addition to the commonplace screams.<ref name="ZORGDRAGER, 2015">{{cite web |last1=ZORGDRAGER |first1=BRADLEY |title=Lifeless Dream |url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/lifeless-dream |website=Exclaim! |access-date=10 August 2024}}</ref><ref name="Shultz, 2017" /> ''MetalSucks'' writer Finn McKenty noted it as a more melodic take upon the style of metalcore that Terror played.<ref name="D, 2012" /> It put an emphasis on parts of songs conducive to moshing, contrasted by emotional, melodic parts.<ref name="ZORGDRAGER, 2015" /> The emphasis on serious, solemn lyrics led music commentators including ''Stuff You Will Hate'', ''Alternative Press'' and Bradley Zorgdrager of ''Exclaim!'' to use the name "serious hardcore" or "srscore" to refer to this style.<ref name="ZORGDRAGER, 2015" /><ref name="Shultz, 2017" /> Other names included "meaningful mosh", "melodic moshcore"<ref name="SYWH, 2015" /> and "hardcore 4.0.".<ref name="Shultz, 2017"/>

The style originated when musicians from the metalcore scene began to take influence from more traditional styles of hardcore.<ref name="ZORGDRAGER, 2015" /> One of the earliest bands in the genre was For The Fallen Dreams from Lansing, Michigan, who began playing deathcore before shifting the sound by the release of their debut album ''Changes'' (2008). They inspired a wave of bands to persue a similar style, including Your Mind Asleep and Delusions.<ref name="SYWH, 2015">{{cite web |title=Remember when bands used to rip off For The Fallen Dreams? |url=https://www.stuffyouwillhate.com/2015/05/remember-when-bands-used-to-rip-off-for-the-fallen-dreams |website=Stuff You Will Hate |access-date=20 May 2026 |archive-url=https://uppercut63.rssing.com/chan-32419947/latest.php |archive-date=May 18, 2015}}</ref> ''Alternative Press'' also noted the Ghost Inside as one of the genre's foundign acts.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Heisel |first1=Scott |title=Get What You Give from The Ghost Inside |url=https://www.altpress.com/reviews/entry/the_ghost_inside_get_what_you_give/ |website=Alternative Press |access-date=20 May 2026 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120623081956/https://www.altpress.com/reviews/entry/the_ghost_inside_get_what_you_give/ |archive-date=June 23, 2012}}</ref> It was popularized during the late 2000s and early 2010s, when other forefront bands were Counterparts,<ref name="Shultz, 2017"/> Stick to Your Guns and Hundredth.<ref name="Petteri, 2012">{{cite web |last1=Pertola |first1=Petteri |title=One moment, please... |url=https://rockfreaks.net/albums/4920 |website=rockfreaks.net |access-date=20 May 2026 |language=en}}</ref> By early 2012, srscore was one of the most prominent sounds in the metalcore scene, overtaking the dominance of Risecore.<ref name="D, 2012">{{cite web |last1=D |first1=SERGEANT |title=2012 STATE OF THE SCENE ADDRESS: It's cool to be tr00 |url=https://www.metalsucks.net/2012/01/04/2012-state-of-the-scene-address-its-cool-to-be-tr00/ |website=MetalSucks |access-date=20 May 2026 |language=en |date=4 January 2012 |author-link=Finn McKenty}}</ref> Around this time, many bands who previously played moshcore shifted their style to srscore,<ref name="ZORGDRAGER, 2015" /> including Liferuiner on their third album, ''Future Revisionists'' (2013)<ref>{{cite web |title=Scientific Proof That Hardcore Punk Evolved Into Scenecore (record collectors beware… ur in for a scare) |url=https://www.stuffyouwillhate.com/2014/09/scientific-proof-that-hardcore-punk-evolved-into-scenecore-record-collectors-beware-ur-in-for-a-scare |website=Stuff You Will Hate |access-date=20 May 2026 |archive-url=https://alive1031.rssing.com/chan-32418689/article3.html |archive-date=September 14, 2014}}</ref> and Phinehas.<ref>{{cite web |last1=SENIOR |first1=NICHOLAS |title=ALBUM REVIEW: PHINEHAS – DARK FLAG |url=https://newnoisemagazine.com/reviews/review-phinehas-dark-flag/ |website=newnoisemagazine.com |access-date=20 May 2026}}</ref> The style continued to grow in prominence into 2015, with Counterparts and the Ghost Inside becoming the most prominent.<ref name="SYWH, 2015b">{{cite web |title=these bands were playing your favorite SYWH genres (or something similar to them) long before they even existed |url=https://www.stuffyouwillhate.com/2015/01/these-bands-were-playing-your-favorite-sywh-genres-or-something-similar-to-them-long-before-they-even-existed |website=Stuff You Will Hate |access-date=20 May 2026 |archive-url=https://think1887.rssing.com/chan-24795248/latest.php |archive-date=January 20, 2015}}</ref> While She Sleeps were one of the most commericially successful bands to come from this scene, playing sold-out shows across the United Kingdom at venues like Brixton Academy.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Beaumont-Thomas |first1=Ben |title=While She Sleeps: Sleeps Society review – magnificent metalcore for a fractious world |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/apr/15/while-she-sleeps-sleeps-society-review |website=The Guardian |date=15 April 2021 |access-date=16 May 2021}}</ref> Their 2017 third album ''You Are We'' peaked at number 8 on the UK albums charts.<ref>{{cite web |title=Official Albums Chart Top 100 |website=Official Charts |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/albums-chart/ |access-date=16 May 2021}}</ref> By 2017, ''Punknews'' writer Brian Shultz had called the sound "slowly dating".<ref name="Shultz, 2017"/> The style declined in popularity following Hundredth's switch to shoegaze on ''Rare'' (2017).<ref name="Stewart, 2025" />

====Other developments==== Through the 2010s, the wave grew an underground following in the Australia and the United Kingdom, especially Wales.<ref name="Stewart, 2025" /> At this time, the YouTube channel Dreambound was one of the most prominent sources for finding bands, uploading music videos for many prominent bands,<ref>{{cite web |last1=CLARK |first1=PETER R. |title=Comfort in Melodic Hardcore – Review of "Comfort in My Own Arms" album by Virtues |date=January 6, 2022 |url=https://citadelreview.com/2022/01/06/comfort-in-melodic-hardcore-review-of-comfort-in-my-own-arms-album-by-virtues/ |access-date=10 August 2024}}</ref> with this era of the genre being posthumously named "dreamcore". Groups in this scene, often embraced elements of post-rock, and used cleaner and more commercially accessible production styles than had previously been uncommon in the genre. The most prominent act in dreamcore melodic hardcore was Casey from South Wales,<ref name="Stewart, 2025" /> with Australian bands Vacant Home and Ambleside too gaining international success.<ref>{{cite web |title=VACANT HOME RELEASES "HEIRLOOM" MUSIC VIDEO |date=May 26, 2017 |url=https://newnoisemagazine.com/vacant-home-heirloom-video/ |access-date=10 August 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Viscovi |first1=Sage |title=10 up-and-coming bands you need to know from Australia |url=https://www.altpress.com/10_of_the_best_up_and_coming_australian_bands/ |website=Alternative Press |access-date=10 August 2024}}</ref> In the later years of this scene, bands began decreasing the influence they took from hardcore, when Crooks, Holding Absence and Endless Height were instead leaning further into post-rock and shoegaze. The 2019 disbandment of Casey led to the end of this era.<ref name="Stewart, 2025" /> By the time of Casey's 2023 reunion shows, they had entered a level of cult status which ''Noizze'' writer Ethan Young stated made them "one of the most notable melodic hardcore groups of the decade".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Young |first1=Ethan |title=Live Review: Casey w/ The Nightmares The Fleece, Bristol 12/01/2023 |date=February 3, 2023 |url=https://www.noizze.co.uk/live-review-casey-w-the-nightmares-the-fleece-bristol-12-01-2023/ |access-date=10 August 2024}}</ref>

During the mid–to late 2010s, another movement reviving youth crew within the hardcore scene began, most prominent in the United States and United Kingdom. Within this movement, was a wave of bands inspired by the Bridge 9 melodic hardcore sound, including True Love, Time and Pressure, If It Rains, Fading Signal, Chemical Fix and Fixation.<ref name="Stewart, 2025" /> Other prominent melodic hardcore bands from this time included Mil-Spec, Ghost Fame and No Longer At Ease.<ref name="Sacher, 2022" /> Notably, One Step Closer emerged from this wave, originally playing standard youth crew before transitioning into melodic hardcore on their 2017 ''Promo'' release. In the 2020s, One Step Closer became one of the forefront bands in the hardcore scene, their success leading to the increased prominence of additional bands in the genre including Fiddlehead, Anxious and Koyo.<ref name="Stewart, 2025" />

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== * Sharpe-Young, Garry, ''New wave of American heavy metal'', New Plymouth, New Zealand: Zonda Books, 2005. {{OCLC|71843078}} * Larkin, Colin, ''The Guinness encyclopedia of popular music''; Enfield, Middlesex, England: Guinness Pub.; New York: Stockton Press, 1995. {{OCLC|32949294}} * Budofsky, Adam; Heusel, Michele; Dawson, Michael Ray and Parillo, Michael, ''The drummer: 100 years of rhythmic power and invention''; Cedar Grove, NJ: Modern Drummer Publications; Milwaukee: Exclusively distributed by Hal Leonard Corp., 2006. {{OCLC|65063692}}

Category:Hardcore punk genres