While the readers of MetalSucks frequently butt heads, I think there is one thing we can all agree on: nothing is more important than staying on top of the latest trends. If you are worried about being in touch with the big metal trends of 2015, don’t worry– I’m here to help! In this post, I will outline the 5 big driving forces of the scene in 2015. I am never wrong about these things, so take careful notes because this WILL be on the test!

REVIVAL OF MID-2000s ATTHEGATESCORE

When someone says “metalcore” these days, you think of songs that alternate between breakdown-laden verses and clean-sung choruses. But back in the mid-00s, “metalcore” meant “kids in girl jeans, white belts and Draven shoes playing melodeath riffs with chug parts” aka ATTHEGATESCORE. Aside from a few brave holdouts like PARKWAY DRIVE and MISS MAY I who never stopped flogging this long-dead horse, the style has been extinct for years.

Look for ATGcore to come back in a big way, starting in 2015. But PLOT TWIST: this time ATGcore will be for pedantic virgin neckbeards, not cute scene girls. This style has now been accepted as “Real Music,” which is hilarious to anyone who remembers how much IMNs hated it the first time around.

MALL SCREAMO REVIVAL

The mid-2000s flashbacks aren’t over yet! You can also expect “mall screamo” to come back ala HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS, THE USED, FROM FIRST TO LAST, etc. As you can see from the above, while this stuff literally could not have been any less respected or credible the first time around, it is now considered “Real Music”– which is the first sign of an impending revival. Note that we are still in the very early stages of this trend, so it may not hit in full force until 2016. But keep your eyes peeled for it and remember, Sergeant D said it first!

Examples: HASTE THE DAY’s $120k Indiegogo campaign, HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS’ 1oth anniversary tour, the new FALLING IN REVERSE single that sounds exactly like “Dying Is Your Latest Fashion”

RNB-CORE

By far my favorite trend is the RNB-CORE movement, which put simply is djent + breakdowns + Justin Timberlake-style pop vocals (go to 2:50 in the above video for a perfect example). It’s like everything good about music put into a blender! Or put another way, this trend could be called “bands who heard ISSUES and got their minds blown by how fucking good they are and decided to copy them.”

Note, don’t expect this trend to have a huge number of bands in it because it’s simply beyond the capabilities of 99% of metal “musicians.” This style is really fucking hard to pull off because it actually requires writing catchy pop hooks, which is about 500 times harder than writing metal. It also requires a really good vocalist– Tyler Carter of ISSUES is simply on another level compared to anyone else doing this style, so expect them to stay at the top of the mountain here.

Examples: the new VOLUMES track; THE BAD CHAPTER

90s ALTERNATIVE RAP METAL WILL BE THE NEXT BIG THING IN HARDCORE

As you may have seen, the biggest trend of 2014 in the hardcore scene was jocking lulzy, entry-level mall metal bands like TYPE O NEGATIVE, LIFE OF AGONY and CROWBAR. Look for this trend to get even more ridiculous as hardcore kids start citing early FAITH NO MORE and the really really bad albums from LEEWAY and TOKEN ENTRY as influences. I fully expect that by the end of 2015, the next Reaper Records hype band will sound like full-on DOG EAT DOG-style alternative rap metal (complete with VHS music video of people snowboarding in flannel shirts).

NWOAHR aka NU-NU-METALCORE

Look for BREAKING BENJAMIN/CHEVELLE-style hard rock to be the default style for scene bands in 2015, presumably to break out of the Warped Tour club circuit and start reaching the lucrative “military wives” demographic who are happy to pay $8 for a plastic cup of Bud Light while they rock out in their bedazzled bootcut Affliction jeans and “ain’t no wifey” t-shirt. The big boys (OM&M, BMTH, ASKING ALEXANDRIA) have already gone down this road, and you can expect everyone else to follow suit.