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Metalcore, a portmanteau of metallic hardcore, is a fusion sub-genre of heavy metal. The genre is a diverse blend of a number of elements, melding the genre’s roots in hardcore punk with death metal and and thrash metal. The genre saw its beginnings in the late 80s when bands such as Integrity, Earth Crisis, and Converge began to fuse elements of the hardcore punk scene with the heavy metal and thrash metal scene. Metalcore is not the first metal-hardcore hybrid, and a distinction is made between metalcore and crossover thrash, which is a hybrid of thrash metal and hardcore punk, but which, unlike metalcore which is broader in scope, focuses on a number of specific elements from both genres.
These bands began to develop a similar style, with linear compositions with aggressive verses and melodic chorus with an emphasis on breakdowns, where the music slows and becomes much heavier, which is conducive to moshing and head banging. Breakdowns are generally considered as the defining element of metalcore. From 1989 to 1995, this style of music exploded in popularity in the underground metal community. After 1995, numerous bands began to put more emphasis on melody in their metalcore, fusing more melodic death metal, post-hardcore, and occasionally emo elements into their music. By the late 90s and early 2000s, many metalcore bands had attained a very popular status, with bands such as Avenged Sevenfold, Killswitch Engage, and Atreyu enjoying popularity outside of the normal metalcore scene and successful album sales.
Much of the metalcore genre has a similar and distinct style, which is based upon intense vocal work, much of which is either screamed or growled, and some artists combine these with clean melodic vocals in choruses and other passages, heavy and often at times technical instrumentation with a heavy emphasis on down-tuned, palm muted guitar and double bass-based drumming, and a heavy emphasis on breakdowns and solos. Although some bands are exceptions to this style, the vast majority of metalcore bands share this similar style.
A number of distinct sub-genres of metalcore have emerged over the years, the most prominent being deathcore, mathcore, melodic metalcore and electronicore / trancecore. All have their own child-subs on MMA.
Mathcore emerged in the mid-90s with the work of bands such as Converge, The Dillinger Escape Plan, and Botch, is the fusion of elements of math rock, which is rock based on complex time signatures, rhythms, and instrumentation, and metal genres such as thrash metal, death metal, and metalcore itself. This genre has a heavy emphasis on speed, aggressiveness, and intense instrumentation.
Deathcore, which emerged in the early 2000s, is another sub-genre of metalcore which fuses elements of hardcore punk and death metal.
Melodic Metalcore can also be called out as a subgenre with acts like Avenged Sevenfold and Killswitch Engage and other acts who mix hardcore punk with melodic death metal.
Electronicore / Trancecore / Synthcore emerged in the 2000s, melding metalcore and post-hardcore with electronic elements. The style was made popular by bands such as Attack Attack!, Crossfaith, Enter Shikari and The Browning.
Another electronic / metalcore hybrid that has gained some recognition is
Nintendocore. Nintendocore fuses chiptune and video game music with modern hardcore punk and heavy metal and was pioneered by groups such as Horse the Band. Increasingly non-Nintendocore bands are utilising the style too as it has become more maintream.
Progressive Metalcore can also be called out as a distinct style, which some include under mathcore, while others distinguish between mathcore and progressive metalcore, with mathcore emphasising technicality and progressive metalcore displaying progressive traits without necessarily being technical. Many progressive metalcore bands describe their music as "djent".
A small but increasingly common style of metalcore is a combination with nu-metal, often called
Nu-Metalcore. These bands will be found under metalcore or nu-metal, depending on which style they are closer to.
Metalcore bands such as Winds of Plague and Across the Sun have begun to incorporate symphonic elements into their style, suggesting the rise of yet another metalcore subgenre - namely, symphonic metalcore (with its corresponding symphonic deathcore).
Metalcore Inclusive Genres:
deathcore electronicore mathcore melodic-metalcore nintendocore Written by Andyman1125 with embellishment from the Metal Music Archives admin team.
Sub-genre collaborators (+ child sub-genres & shared with Hardcore Punk):
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Album · 2003 ·
Metalcore
Necrotica
”Tonight, I’m coming home in a coma if it fucking kills me!”
With that line, Every Time I Die shot for the stars and never looked back. If Last Night in Town was a solid debut that showed a promising band in their infancy, Hot Damn! took the same formula and nearly perfected it. Over a lean runtime of only 27 minutes, the record runs the gamut from explosive hardcore punk outbursts to slow-burning riffs of warped majesty. “Romeo a Go-Go” immediately sets the scene, using the opening line above to launch into punishing riff after punishing riff; the intricate mathcore passages of the previous outing have now been replaced with an adrenaline shot of pure metalcore, an excellent move if these results are any indication.
What Hot Damn! really manages to nail is its identity; it’s clear that Every Time I Die knew exactly what kind of record they were setting out to make this time around, and it leads to a record that’s consistent and focused from beginning to end. Even the more experimental moments, such as the melancholic instrumental “In the Event That Everything Should Go Terribly Wrong” or the math-y guitar stabs of “Pornogratherapy” don’t feel out of place; if anything, they’re simply alternate methods of communicating both the brutality and bleakness of the album. Still, such moments are outliers. For the most part, Hot Damn! is pure, uncut insanity; if you were put off by “Romeo a Go-Go”, then you won’t find much solace in the relentless screaming and heavy breakdowns of its followup “Off Broadway”, nor will you find comfort in the manic drumming and sudden tempo shifts of “She’s My Rushmore”. Once in a while, singer Kevin Buckley will use clean vocals to vary up his style; however, they’re incredibly pained and out-of-tune. A perfect example comes in the form of “Ebolarama” which merges Buckley’s cleans with extremely dissonant and chunky guitar passages. The result is wonderfully off-putting and unsettling, as you know he could snap at any minute and revert back to his screamed vocals (which, of course, he does).
Of course, the other members are no slouches either. The only change in personnel from Last Night in Town is the addition of new bassist Stephen Micciche, and the returning members have all upped their game here. As I stated before, Hot Damn! is definitely not as mathcore-based as its predecessor; however, that doesn’t mean the playing is any less impressive. The guitar duo of Jordan Buckley and Andrew Williams continues to impress, as their interplay makes even the most chaotic moments seem controlled and collected. This is especially true of the fastest and most unceasing cuts on the record; every time the music threatens to go off the rails - as it so often does with this genre - Buckley and Williams manage to reel it back in at just the right times. The same goes for our new bassist, who gets plenty of time to shine; I’d like to highlight “She’s My Rushmore” in particular, which features a nice solo spot in the middle so Micciche can show off his chops. And of course Michael Novak doesn’t disappoint on the drums, as the intensity of his playing has been elevated from Last Night in Town - no small feat. But that really goes to explain Hot Damn! in general: faster, more intense and more focused. This record really isn’t for the faint of heart, but that’s what makes it so exciting and effective. It’s 27 minutes of chaos and brutality, occasionally tempered but never any less potent as it goes on. Last Night in Town was a damn good start for Every Time I Die, and with Hot Damn!, they brought their A-game.
Album · 2001 ·
Metalcore
Necrotica
Chapter I: Bursting at the Seams
If there’s anything I can say about Every Time I Die’s debut right off the bat, it’s this: the band doesn’t make you wait. Last Night in Town immediately unleashes a flurry of piss and vinegar with the chaotic “Emergency Broadcast Syndrome”, a song that serves as a perfect thesis statement for the record to follow. Explosive screamed vocals from frontman Keith Buckley are met with instrumental work that’s equal parts brutal and technical, with the result sounding pretty similar to The Dillinger Escape Plan’s landmark release Calculating Infinity at times. Essentially, what you get here is a fusion of the confessional and cathartic lyrics of screamo with the calculated and complex rhythms of mathcore; excellent stuff.
For the most part, these elements extend to the rest of Last Night in Town. I certainly have to commend the musicians for displaying a high level of skill throughout the record while maintaining such energy at the same time. There’s some pretty intricate stuff going on here, whether it’s the dissonant guitar stabs that pervade the majority of “Jimmy Tango’s Method” or the ADD-riddled grooves and chugs of “Punch-Drunk Punk Rock Romance”. Jordan Buckley and Andrew Williams have excellent chemistry with their guitar parts, sounding interlocked and deliberate even in the most unhinged moments of the album. Keith Buckley, meanwhile, shreds his vocal chords relentlessly throughout the whole thing; there’s not a ton of variety in his vocal work here, but he still compliments the intensity of the music nicely. However, my favorite moment on the album vocally is the middle section of “Here’s Lookin’ at You”. Buckley drops the screams and goes for downtrodden clean vocals, giving the song a much more somber and even foreboding atmosphere.
Speaking of variation, we also get a few interludes and atmospheric moments here and there to let the listener breathe. Not that these moments are full-on respites, as they maintain the same dark and unsettling atmosphere; “Enter Without Knocking and Notify the Police” is a dissonant instrumental that conveys a sense of dread with just a few chord progressions (and an off-kilter rhythm), while the outro of “Nothing Dreadful Ever Happens” is a melancholic piano piece that lets one reflect on the craziness that just ensued throughout the rest of the song. Unfortunately, there’s still not enough variation on the record. After a while, much of Last Night in Town becomes a blur of math-y time signatures and heavy grooves, with not a whole lot tying it all together. More moments like “Enter Without Knocking…” should have been placed within the heavier tracks to give them more diversity. But with how the songs are now, the entire album is cranked up to 11 and doesn’t let up nearly enough to let you take in your surroundings.
Still, I think I know what Every Time I Die were going for with their debut. A lot of metalcore bands tend to go as hard as possible on their first records before expanding stylistically down the line, and I get the sense that this is the case with Last Night in Town. It’s the sound of a band trying to prove themselves with an embryonic-yet-impressive first showing, and as a first attempt, they succeeded in a hell of a lot of places. The musicianship is fantastic, the energy is electric, and the atmosphere is often chilling. Last Night in Town may be flawed, but it’s one hell of a start for these guys.
Album · 2021 ·
Metalcore
siLLy puPPy
PROGRESSIVE METALCORE IN FULL COLOR!
As time goes on and the world sallies forth at an ever quickened pace, i have to admit that i like most suffer from a shortened attention span and therefore when i hear about an album that is getting lots of attention that is close to 80 minutes long, i’m a little hesitant to devote so much time to an album that i may or may not like. I could listen to TWO OTHER albums during that same timespan! However when the artist in question is an all time favorite like BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME i feel obligated to check it out especially when the album is somewhat of a sequel of their all time classic “Colors” which was their fourth album and remains their most successful and popular of all.
After a year of grinding to a halt due to the pandemic of 2020, BTBAM had time to reflect on where they had drifted ever since “Colors” hit the scene back in 2007. As it turns out with every subsequent album the band had slowly but surely tamped down the metalcore angst and instead ramped up the progressive rock attributes which while still in fine form seemed to have lost something in the shedding of all those core values that made the band stand out in the first place. Arriving in 2021, the band has released its tenth studio album titled COLORS II which sort of goes back in time and picks up where the first “Colors” left off.
Shockingly for a 21st century extreme metal band BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME has kept the same exact lineup for a very long time and that means that the same musicians who played on the original “Colors” album are back to take things to the next level. These guys have had plenty of time to hone every detail in a glimmering sheen and COLORS II finds the band returning to past glories in surprisingly good form. Guitarist Paul Waggoner has stated that “Colors” was the result of a do or die statement where the band had to shit or get off the pot that meaning it needed to find its own sound and fast to remain relevant in a crowded metal market. A similar moment of reflection occurred during the pandemic where BTBAM took a moment to see where they had steered their musical vessel in the decade and a half since their lauded breakthrough. The band decided it was time to revisit some long lost moments.
COLORS II was designed to flow like a sequel and in many ways it does just that. The album starts off with a non-metal intro and slowly builds momentum until the jarring metalcore rampages of the past shine through once again and like the previous “Colors” allows non-metal musical genres to intermingle and punctuate the cacophonous din in most unexpected ways. The progressive elements such as time signature changes and extended running times are in full regalia on COLORS II. Three of the eight tracks sally forth beyond the ten minute mark with the final epic “Human Is Hell (Another One With Love) ” inching past the 15-minute mark. The stated intent of COLORS II was to create a metal album with an underpinning gospel vibe of all things and although the sounds of gospel are heard from time to time, it would be impossible to discern this motive by listening to the music alone. When all is said and done, this really does sound like the phantom album that followed the original “Colors” that in some alternative universe would have emerged in place of where we experienced “The Great Misdirect.”
Usually i avoid so-called comeback sequels like the plague. The track record in the metal world hasn’t been too positive for these perceived schemes of reviving past glories for profit’s sake. Just a few failed attempts that come to mind are Queenryche’s “Operation: Mindcrime II,” Alice Cooper’s “Welcome 2 My Nightmare” and the plethora of bands that “secretly” revisit an older style without blatantly recycling an album title, i.e. Pantera’s “Reinventing The Steel” amongst many. However despite my trepidation and hesitancy to finally check out COLORS II, i’m pleasantly surprised that it surpasses any expectations and proves that BTBAM still had plenty of proggy metalcore mojo stored up from the “Colors” era which obviously needed to be expressed and finally 14 years later has come to fruition. It’s also not a surprise that BTBAM has a fetish for double dipping into concept albums. After all COLORS II emerges just three years after the two album set for “Automata” and lest we forget the excellent “Parallax” EP and album set.
OK, COLORS II turns out to be no waste of time.
THE GOOD. This is yet another competent album by a band that continues to churn out one innovative and excellent progressive extreme metal album after another. The band shows no sign of burning out and COLORS II allows the unresolved extras of the original “Colors” era to finally emerge. The musicianship is top notch as always and the creativity is firing on all pistons. The band remain absolute masters of juxtaposing everything from jazz funk and polka music to straight on rock with the gnarliest metalcore there is to be heard.
THE BAD. As good as this album is, it does reek of a been here done that before vibe. It’s in all regards a retro album but at least BTBAM are mining their own past and not another artist’s. There’s nothing substantially different from the original “Colors” to really differentiate in the bigger picture save a few new sounds and effects that pop up from time to time. COLORS II at its core is exactly what the title suggests, the second coming. Whether another dose of “Colors” is what scratches the itch or not is a personal decision really but for my tastes COLORS II passes with, well flying COLORS!
Granted almost 80 minutes is a lengthy commitment and will surely prevent many newbies from taking the plunge but for those already indoctrinated into the cult of BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME, this is yet another release that while not quite living up to its namesake of yore still rises to be a worthy successor.
Album · 2021 ·
Mathcore
siLLy puPPy
Mathcore is one of the ultimate extreme expressions of the metal universe by incorporating caustic jackhammer musical deliveries and fortifying them with brutal prog time signatures, unrelenting random breakdowns and dungeon torture vocals that must surely have torn a few lead vocalists throats to shreds. While an interesting subsection at the metal supermarket, mathcore also has the unfortunate attribute of possibly becoming very sterile and one-dimensional as a pummeling sonic haze sort of passes the listener by like an exploding warehouse of stored fireworks with everything happening to fast for the casual listener to comprehend.
That’s part of the appeal for me actually is that this style of music demands that you fixate your attention upon it like a pileup of motor vehicles in a bloody accident on the freeway. While it seems the supply of mathcore bands is endless, it’s actually one of the lesser roads travelled in the metal world due to the stamina and technical prowess required to perform such virtuosic wankery as well as the fact that this isn’t the biggest money maker in the world of music by attracting only the most hardcore and extreme noise addicts out there. True that this is not music i would play nonstop lest i lose my sanity however it certainly is a challenging and explosive type of cacophony that gets my juices flowing. Sort of like swallowing a whole bottle of niacin pills!
FRONTIERER is one of many mathcore bands out there these days. This band comes from Edinburgh, Scotland and formed in 2011. The band released its debut EP “The Collapse” in 2013 and then followed with two albums “Orange Mathematics” and Unloved” in 2015 and 2018. While following the standards of loud, abrasive djent fueled guitar riffing at mathcore speeds, FRONTIERER has pretty much remained a true underground noise making act that has caught on fire. Things have changed a bit with the band’s third album OXIDIZED released on Oct 1, 2021. While retaining all those mathcore elements that delivery orotund bombast and angst fueled complexities into a tapestry of dissonance, abstractness and surreality, FRONTIERER takes the genre into a slightly different arena than its competition.
Heavy as ever, OXIDIZE has corralled the frenetic loose electric wire in water effect randomness of many a mathcore band and created a more dare i say “mature” package of sixteen tracks that collectively blast the eardrums with over 49 minutes of uncompromising extreme core metal fury. What’s different about OXIDIZE from most it that it doesn’t mellow out the speed and agression to add all the other elements like bands like Converge and Botch have done. Rather it employs a form of glitch electronica to offer an equally chaotic electronic counterpoint as well as offering a few moments of melodic recesses from the otherwise manic madness that is unrelenting. Even within the most technically demanding speedcore meltdowns there are more variations in riffing styles, rhythmic drives and breakdowns.
Add to that there are even moments of downtempo with sort of rapped vocals. In many ways FRONTIERER has followed Between The Buried And Me with its lauded album “Colors” and simply adds more textures and timbres to an otherwise bleak core soundscape. While the general delivery is indeed like a nuclear bomb detonated on an unsuspecting city, the key moments of melodic touches and electronic extras provide just the perfect recipe to smooth things over enough to sweeten the bitter poison but make no mistake about it, FRONTIERER do not skimp on the extremities that make mathcore so violently repugnant to even most hardened metalheads. These guitar riffs sounds like they’re juggling electrons while the machine-gun rapid-fire blastbeats exhibit irregular but discernible carnage.
Oh yeah! The glitch electronica may sounds like a bad idea but it is used sparingly and as an equivalent to making an “ambient” accompaniment. In other words it’s an angry and equally chaotic counterpoint to the chaotic apocalyptic soundscape of a sonic battle in full force but given these extra sounds makes it sound more futuristic than most music in the core section of the metal supermarket. Thing of Car Bomb with The Prodigy and you’re on the right track. Fiery fueled mathcore with a futuristic touch and lead singer dude sounds a bit like a more manic version of Rage Against The Machine’s Zack de la Rocha at times! I like!
Album · 2021 ·
Deathcore
Necrotica
Back in a 2010 interview with Noisecreep, when asked about being part of the deathcore scene, Carnifex vocalist Scott Lewis stated: "We're not one of those bands trying to escape the banner of deathcore. I know a lot of bands try and act like they have a big problem with that, but if you listen to their music, they are very 'deathcore.'” And that mentality has been incredibly important to the Carnifex sound over the years. Many bands have tried to escape deathcore’s large, infamous shadow to seek what a large constituent of the metal scene would consider more “respectable” genres of extreme music. Just think back to Job for a Cowboy’s eventual transformation into a progressive death metal act with Sun Eater, or Whitechapel’s excursion into more experimental territory with 2019’s The Valley. But Carnifex are a bit different. While they’ve added a nice helping of black metal influence and a menacing atmosphere to their music over the years, there’s something to be said for a group that stays in the same genre and tries to perfect it as much as they can.
With Graveside Confessions, this trend most certainly continues. While the lack of Jordan Lockrey’s solos continues to be felt, Cory Arford’s relatively diverse guitar leads fill in the cracks nicely. Something that immediately stands out about this record compared to past Carnifex albums is that the transitions are starting to become much smoother, whether it be the seamless fusion of melodic and groovy segments that make up “Carry Us Away” or the way the beautifully melancholic instrumental “January Nights” is followed up perfectly by the furious aggression of “Cemetery Wander”. The black metal elements are also on full display on Graveside Confessions, and they remain a welcome presence. “Countess of Perpetual Torment” (which already sounds like a Cradle of Filth song title as it is) is probably the biggest example of such, even combining its tremolo guitar riffs with a nice backdrop of symphonic keyboards to increase the spookiness factor.
But again, the band still haven’t strayed away from the beaten deathcore path they’ve trodden since their inception; instead, it’s all about the little tweaks they’ve made to their sound over time. Even the breakdowns themselves have become much more creative; while the end of “Cursed” sports a pretty simple chug, the strange out-of-tune guitar lead in the background immediately provides a more intriguing and haunted feel to the outro as a whole. Then you have “Talk to the Dead”, which has a recurring melodic riff that’s presented in different ways throughout the tune. It starts out in a black metal-influenced tremolo-picked manner, only for Arford to eventually fashion a harmonized guitar outro with the same melody. Little bits of diversity like this are what often separate Carnifex from the deathcore pack, and perhaps the best song to represent this would be the instrumental track “January Nights”. It’s worth noting that the band have already done a song like this before, with “Dead in My Eyes” and “Life Fades to a Funeral” immediately coming to mind. However, “January Nights” is like the culmination of their efforts with those tracks; this is the first time they’ve attempted a full-length non-interlude piece in this style, and it’s a fantastic way to break up the aggression the rest of the album exhibits.
Still, not all is perfect. I’m a bit baffled as to why the re-recorded songs weren’t just released as bonus tracks. Sure, it’s cool to hear these old Carnifex songs in a new light - and with better production, of course - just to see how far they’ve come. However, if you’re trying to listen to Graveside Confessions from front to back, just be aware that this one’s much more of a time sink than the band’s previous records because of these re-recorded cuts. Also, as is the case with just about every Carnifex album, the lyrics are still pretty damn shaky. Random f-bombs are still scattered about to remove the listener from a given song’s atmosphere, and stuff like “One of these souls has a shelf life/that fucker wanted me dead by 25/and every day since I’ve been restless/I know it’s just a matter of time” (from “Seven Souls”) is just as cringy as it’s ever been. Unfortunately, given the lack of progression found in the quality of Carnifex’s lyrics, I somehow doubt they’ll get much better in the future.
Regardless, Graveside Confessions stands as one of the band’s best works to date alongside Slow Death and Until I Feel Nothing. I feel as though they’ve finally settled into a pattern now, in the sense that you usually know what you’re going to get with a Carnifex record but it’s guaranteed to be a cut above your average deathcore act. They know what they’re about, and they’ll continue to strive for the best version of themselves with each passing release. Much like Cannibal Corpse before them, there’s a consistency in Carnifex’s output that’s admirable whether you enjoy their work or not; their brand is a reliable seal of quality, and Graveside Confessions is yet another feather in their cap.
Movie · 2010 ·
Melodic Metalcore
Kingcrimsonprog
Madness In Manilla is a live DVD/CD combo released in 2010 by the Massachusetts based American Metalcore band Shadows Fall, which was recorded live at Summerslam Festival in the Philippines back in 2009. The performance features a career spanning sixteen-track setlist that is balanced and which covers all the band’s most well known material as well as a few less expected numbers for variety.
This DVD is a proper full-length concert video of a single concert, as opposed to how either their previous DVD, The Art Of Touring or for example Down’s Diary Of A Mad Band were set out. Luckily for most concert fans, the set isn’t interspersed with home video footage or animations either, just the live performance from beginning to end.
The band play on a large outdoor festival stage along to an incredibly detailed light show, with all sorts of rotating, panning and altering lights, spots and colour changes, as well as lots of dry ice.
The camerawork features lots of movement, with all sorts of cranes and dollys employed along with the usual camera crew, the whole operation is a lot more complex and professional than any of the band’s previously available live videos from bonus discs and such things.
You get a lot of coverage of the instruments being played which is always a plus for viewers who are musicians and a good cover of the band’s famously proficient drummer Jason Bitner. What you also get to see a lot of is singer Brian Fair windmilling his knee-length dreadlocks, which is an interesting sight all things considered.
Whilst there are a lot of positives to be said about the visuals, there are some issues in the shot matching, occasional framing problems and the dry ice can effect the picture quality, it switches from incredibly high resolution shots on cranes and not so great images on handhelds. Furthermore the menus are cheap looking and basic so it isn’t as absolutely perfect as some bigger band’s festival DVDs or equally sized band’s indoor concert DVDs, but is still a strong release overall.
Standout tracks include the furious performance of early classic ‘Crushing Belial,’ which is opened with an enthusiastic yet expletive description of its epic status by Brian, which gives you a good idea of the energy and attitude that then goes into the ensuing performance. Other highlights include the Grammy nominated set closer ‘Redemption’ as well as the newer track ‘War’ which hammers away at a relentless pace.
Additionally; there are bonus features, which include four more live videos for ‘The Light That Blind,’ ‘Redemption,’ ‘Venous’ and ‘Thoughts Without Words,’ from Japan, The Philippines and Korea respectively, although the quality obviously isn’t as high as the main feature.
The sound and mix are great, so judging the product overall; the only real problems with the DVD apart from the previous mentioned visuals are subjective problems with Shadows Fall in general. If for example, you think their material is samey then sixteen tracks in a row may be a bit much for you, and similarly if you are used to their super-polished studio sound, then the live backing vocals or clean sections may well sound odd or strangely out of place.
Otherwise however, Madness In Manilla is a very good release from Shadows Fall that I would definitely recommend to fans. Due to its high sound quality and expansive setlist, it would make a fine introduction to the band for newcomers as well.