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In the 2000s, the genre of metalcore was slowly, but surely, surging in popularity. Suddenly, Hot Topics in malls everywhere became the go-to hangout spot, studded belts and straightened hair came into the fray, and bands like The Devil Wears Prada, Asking Alexandria, and Attack Attack! started to sell out larger venues. While this sect of music was beginning to blossom, it still had a ways to go before it entered more than a fraction of iPods and airwaves.

As the 2010s progressed, the appeal of these bands grew, as the biggest names in the genre started to tone down their heaviness and shift their musical focus. If you were to play something off of Bring Me the Horizon’s 2006 deathcore romp Count Your Blessings and follow it up with a track off 2019’s alt-rock Amo, untrained listeners would think they are two completely different bands. Nevertheless, a lot of bands in the genre have maintained their relevance by evolving their sound into something that deviates far from their original efforts.

One of my personal favorite cases of a band reaching new heights is Sleeping with Sirens. The band was able to do so in quick fashion by their second album, Let’s Cheers to This, and saw many songs, like “If You Can’t Hang” and “Do it Now, Remember it Later” become smash hits. While this was a deviation from the band’s quintessential post-hardcore debut, With Ears to See and Eyes to Hear, it was catchy enough to turn heads and has garnered 116 million YouTube plays to date.

This is not to say that the bands have sold out; they have free reign over what music they make, and I could never fault a band from making a sound shift. If anything, I love this transition from bands like Hundredth, Turnover, and Title Fight. Garnering a new audience is truly a feat, as these people would never have discovered the band if they stuck to the same sound for every album in their career. I welcome new listeners to this once-niche genre!

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