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."
