A DECADE IN REVIEW: Music Breakdown from the 2010’s With Connor Welsh

Personal Stats for the Decade:

Total Reviews: ~1,317 (Nearly 250 in 2013 and nearly 300 in 2014) across three websites (Sputnik, MGR (RIP) and most substantially, New Transcendence) and two print publications.

Total Interviews: 103

Total Biographies: 108

Total Premieres (Chugcore and New Transcendence Combined): 72

 

Guidelines for Interpreting Top Release Lists

Those of you who have read my previous list(s) are wise to it, but here’s the gist:

  • All lists (where numbered) start with the TOP and work DOWN
  • There is very little discrepancy between albums of similar rankings, but those more distantly separated are organized hierarchically (eg, 3 and 5 are essentially the same, whereas 3 is surely better than 13).
  • Ranks with two releases by the same artist indicate that both records were of equal quality or of a close enough quality that a single rating could be ascribed to both. I realize this is kind of cheating, sorry or whatever.
  • Asterisks indicate records that were reviewed by yours truly. Note that not all articles are available as one site is defunct and New Transcendence has undergone some server transfers.
  1. Yuth Forever – Freudian Slip/Skeleton Youth Forever (Metalcore/”Street Metal”)*
  2. Martyr Defiled – No Hope, No Morality (Deathcore)*
  3. La Dispute – Wildlife (Post-Hardcore)*
  4. Sworn In – The Death Card (Metalcore)*
  5. Black Tongue – Nadir (Doom/Deathcore)*
  6. Counterparts – Nothing Left to Love (Metalcore)*
  7. AngelMaker – AngelMaker (Deathcore)*
  8. Spite – The Root of All Evil/Spite (Deathcore)*
  9. Martyr Defiled – Young Gods/Collusion (Deathcore)*
  10. VCTMS – Volume III: Halfway Happy (Metalcore/Nu-Metalcore)*
  11. Float Face Down – Exitum Veritum (Deathcore)*
  12. Struc/tures – Divided By (Progressive Metalcore)*
  13. Issues – Beautiful Oblivion (Post-Hardcore/Progressive Metalcore)
  14. The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza – Danza IIII: The Alpha – The Omega (Mathcore/Deathcore)*
  15. Reflections – The Color Clear (Progressive Metalcore)*
  16. Vilis – Nihilum (Progressive Metalcore)*
  17. ‘Sabella – Dog Daze (Metalcore/Alternative)*
  18. And Hell Followed With – Proprioception (Deathcore)*
  19. Silence – Dead Presidents (Metalcore)*
  20. The Last Ten Seconds of Life – Soulless Hymns/Machina Non Grata (Deathcore)*
  21. Vince Staples – Summertime ’06 (Hip-Hop/Rap)
  22. Fit for an Autopsy – Hellbound (Deathcore)*
  23. Sever the King – Outbreak (Technical Deathcore)*
  24. Run the Jewels – RTJ 1 (Hip-Hop/Rap)
  25. Currents – The Place I Feel Safest (Progressive Metalcore)*
  26. Saviour – First Light to My Deathbed (Metalcore/Emotional Hardcore)*
  27. Defeater – Empty Days and Sleepless Nights (Emotional/Melodic Hardcore)*
  28. Infant Annihilator – The Elysian Grandeval Galèriarch (Technical/Slamming Deathcore)*
  29. Ovtlaw – 688529 (Progressive Metalcore)*
  30. Acula – Slander (Deathcore/Party Grind?)*
  31. Submissioner – In Retrospect (Downtempo Deathcore)*
  32. Maxo Kream – MAXO 187 (Hip-Hop/Rap)
  33. Ion Dissonance – Cursed (Mathcore)*
  34. Handguns – Angst (Pop-Punk)*
  35. Within the Ruins – Invade (Technical Deathcore)*
  36. Eminem – Kamikaze (Hip-Hop/Rap)
  37. Secret Keeper – Cemetery Feelings (Post-Hardcore/Alternative/Emo)*
  38. Knocked Loose – A Different Shade of Blue (Metalcore)*
  39. Immoralist – Unholy (Downtempo Deathcore)*
  40. The Air I Breathe – Great Faith in Fools (Post-Hardcore/Progressive Metalcore)
  41. Thy Art is Murder – Hate (Deathcore)*
  42. Commotio Cordis – Commotio Cordis (Technical Deathcore)*
  43. I’ll Be an Empire – Aquarius (Progressive Metal/Progressive Deathcore)*
  44. S’efforcer – Survive}.{Discover (Progressive Metalcore)*
  45. Sleep Waker – Don’t Look at the Moon (Metalcore)*
  46. Deserters – The Slow Rhythms of a Dead Beat (Hardcore)*
  47. Liferuiner – Future Revisionists (Melodic Hardcore/Metalcore)*
  48. Surrender to Suffering – Cruciatum Aeternam (Blackened Deathcore)*
  49. Stray From the Path – Rising Sun (Metalcore)*
  50. Drake – Views (Hip-Hop/Rap)

 

Honorable Mentions

  • Fetty Wap – Fetty Wap  (Hip-Hop/Rap)
  • Irrita – Confusion. Emptiness. Death. (Deathcore)*
  • Denzel Curry – ZUU (Hip-Hop/Rap)
  • Left Behind – Seeing Hell (Metalcore)*
  • Idols – Choose Hate (Deathcore)*
  • Extortionist – The Decline (Metalcore)*
  • Counterparts – Literally Every Other Counterparts Record (Metalcore/Melodic Hardcore)*
  • Bodysnatcher – The Death of Me (Deathcore)**
  • Loser – NEVERYOUNG (Nu-Metalcore/Nu-Metal)*
  • Lorna Shore – Psalms, Flesh Coffin (Deathcore/Blackened Deathcore)**
  • Invent, Animate – Stillworld (Progressive Metalcore)*
  • Spite – Nothing is Beautiful (Deathcore)*
  • VCTMS: Volume II: Inside the Mind (Metalcore/Nu-Metalcore)*
  • Bad Meets Evil – Hell: The Sequel (Hip-Hop/Rap)
  • Traitors – Repent (Deathcore)*
  • Cohen – Happy (Metalcore)*
  • Northlane – Singularity (Progressive Metalcore)*
  • Infant Annihilator – The Palpable Leprosy of Pollution (Technical/Slamming Deathcore)*
  • Enterprise Earth – Luciferous (Technical Deathcore)*
  • Molotov Solution – Insurrection (Deathcore)
  • Touche Amore – Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me (Emotional Hardcore)
  • Sworn In ­– The Lovers//The Devil (Metalcore/Nu-Metalcore)*
  • Post Malone – Hollywood’s Bleeding (Hip-Hop/Rap)
  • Letlive. – Fake History, The Blackest Beautiful (Post-Hardcore)*
  • Legion – Woke (Deathcore)*
  • Casey – Where I Go When I Am Sleeping (Emotional Hardcore)*
  • Born a New – Eternal Isolation (Metalcore)*
  • Face Your Maker – Ego Death (Downtempo Deathcore/Deathcore)*
  • With Life in Mind – Grievances (Melodic Hardcore/Metalcore)*
  • Within Destruction – D E A T H W I S H (Slamming Deathcore)*
  • Degrader – Burn You; Burn We (Metalcore)*
  • Shadow of Intent – Melancholy (Progressive Death Metal/Technical Death Metal/Deathcore)*
  • Ground Tracer – Diseased (Metalcore)*
  • Beacons – Discography (Metalcore/Deathcore)*
  • Distinguisher – Hell From Here (Metalcore)*

It should be noted that the only reasons Lorna Shore and Bodysnatcher’s respective full-lengths don’t make the top 50 is because, having had the honor of hearing their 2020 materials, their previous records are so vastly upstaged that it feels unjust.

 

 

EPs

  1. Yuth Forever – 10 Code (Metalcore/”Street Metal”)*
  2. Sworn In – Start/End (Metalcore/Mathcore)*
  3. Martyr Defiled – In//Shadows (Deathcore)*
  4. Barrier – Dark Days (Progressive Metalcore)*
  5. Kaonashi – Why Did You Do It? (Progressive Metalcore/Mathcore/Emo)*
  6. Deity – The Hand that Feeds (Metalcore)*
  7. Dealer – Soul Burn (Metalcore)*/Animal – Instinct (Metalcore)*
  8. Spite – Misery (Deathcore)*
  9. VCTMS – Sickness: Volume I (Metalcore/Nu-Metalcore)*
  10. Black Tongue – Falsifier/Born Hanged (Downtempo Deathcore/Doom)*
  11. Wicked World – Witch Hunt (Deathcore)*
  12. Extortionist – Sever the Cord*/Extortionist (Metalcore)
  13. Vilis – Vilis (Progressive Metalcore)*
  14. Bound by Exile – Defilement (Deathcore)*
  15. Desolate – Ruiners/Oyasumi Volume I (Metalcore/Nu-Metalcore)*
  16. Towers – Into the Void (Progressive Deathcore)*
  17. Rival ­– Rival (Downtempo Deathcore/Metalcore)*
  18. ‘Sabella – Perennial (Metalcore)*
  19. Shores – Tribulations (Technical Deathcore)*
  20. Kingmaker – Less Faith (Metalcore)*
  21. Secret Keeper – Haunt (Emotional Hardcore/Alternative/Emo)*
  22. Traitors – Traitors (Downtempo Deathcore)*
  23. Adaliah – Rituals*/Adaliah (Metalcore)
  24. Level the City – From Birth (Technical/Progressive Deathcore)*
  25. Darke Complex – Widow (Metalcore/Nu-Metalcore)*
  26. Falsifier – Life in Death (Downtempo Deathcore)*
  27. Existence – Misanthropy (Deathcore)*
  28. Rooks – +x-/Rooks II*/Rooks III* (Progressive Metalcore/”Bounce”)
  29. Currents – I Let the Devil In (Progressive Metalcore)*
  30. Childish Gambino – Childish Gambino (Hip-Hop-Rap)
  31. Forsaken ­– Witness/Hell (Progressive Deathcore/Downtempo Deathcore)*
  32. Rex – Possession (Downtempo Deathcore)*
  33. Liferuiner – The Sons of Straight Edge (Metalcore)*
  34. Struc/tures – All of the Above (Progressive Metalcore)*
  35. Brand of Sacrifice – The Interstice (Technical Deathcore)*
  36. Newcomer – Rejection//Dejection (Metalcore)*
  37. Face Your Maker – Blood Tides/Dissolution (Downtempo Deathcore)*
  38. Lorna Shore – Maleficium (Deathcore)*
  39. The Devil Wears Prada – Zombie EP (Metalcore)*
  40. Desires ­– The One You Feed (Emotional Hardcore/Post-Hardcore)*
  41. The Mortis Sermon – The Race of Faceless Liars (Deathcore)
  42. Subtract ­– Black Soul (Downtempo Deathcore)*
  43. Tormentor Absolute – Lesser Morals (Deathcore/Metalcore)*
  44. The New Age – Think Too Much; Feel Too Little (Progressive Metalcore)*
  45. Gift Giver – Daddy Issues (Metalcore)*
  46. I, Valiance – The Reject of Humanity (Progressive/Technical Deathcore)*
  47. Boundaries – My Body in Bloom/Hartford County Misery (Metalcore)*
  48. PRY – Nodus Tollens (Downtempo Deathcore)*
  49. Soulkeeper – Get Well Soon/Never Better (Metalcore/Progressive Metalcore)*
  50. Deserters – Fail Yourself (Metalcore)

 

Honorable Mentions:

  • Casey – Fade (Melodic/Emotional Hardcore)
  • Boreworm – Black Path (Technical Deathcore/Death Metal)*
  • Abaddon – The Destroyer (Deathcore)
  • And Hell Followed With – Chimerical Reality (Deathcore)*
  • Acrania – The Beginning of the End (Slamming Deathcore)*
  • The Alaskan – Diaphoresis/Fools.Gold (Deathcore)*
  • Animal – The Witch (Metalcore)*
  • Annotations of an Autopsy – World of Sludge (Slamming Deathcore)
  • Beacons – Complications (Metalcore)*
  • Beheading of a King – Quasar: Preserving Legacy (Progressive Metalcore)*
  • Bermuda – Isolationist(s) (Progressive Metalcore/Bounce)*
  • The Better Fight – Castaway (Pop-Punk)
  • Bodysnatcher – Abandonment (Downtempo Deathcore)*
  • Borderlines – Child of Dark/Reborn (Progressive Metalcore)*
  • Cleanse Kill – Aegis (Deathcore)*
  • Dead Nerves – Buried in Dirt (Downtempo Deathcore/Deathcore)*
  • Forces – Indiscriminate Genocide (Deathcore)*
  • Deadland – Dismal (Metalcore)*
  • With Locusts and Liars – The Turnaround/Young Death (Metalcore)
  • Delusions of Grandeur – Delusions of Grandeur (Progressive Metalcore)*
  • Desolated – Discography (Beatdown Hardcore)*
  • 2×4 – MCMLII (Metalcore)*
  • Dogma – Mute Message (Nu-Metalcore)*
  • Eavesdropper – The American Classic (Metalcore)*
  • Failure – Gutterborn (Downtempo Deathcore)*
  • Far from Nothing – Reject (Metalcore)*
  • Hollow Prophet ­– Hellhole (Slamming Deathcore)*
  • My Iron Lung – No Such Thing (Emotional Hardcore)*
  • A Needle Under the Nail – The Third Impact (Metalcore)
  • OurLastBreath – Bring Us Home (Metalcore)
  • Pestilent Sermon – This Forsaken Earth (Metalcore)*
  • Pianos Become the Teeth – Old Pride (Emotional Hardcore)*
  • Portals – Desolation (Deathcore)*
  • Refuge – The Ninth Gate (Metalcore)*
  • Snakehips – Stay Home Tapes (Hip-Hop/Rap)
  • Sustenance – N.U.P/Olde Gods (Progressive Metalcore/Blackened Metalcore)*
  • Traitors – Anger Issues/Night Terrors (Downtempo Deathcore/Metalcore)*
  • Verbera – Headless (Metalcore)*
  • Villains – Extortion (Metalcore/”Street Metal”)*
  • Weston – The Whites of Their Eyes/Misfortunes (Metalcore)*
  • WombWrecker – WombWrecker (Deathcore)
  • The Four of Us Are Dying – The Four of Us Are Dying (Post-Hardcore/Metalcore)

 

Best Comeback (and Runner Up)

The Award Goes To…

Beneath the Massacre: While the band’s comeback record doesn’t technically release until 2020, the sheer magnitude of their comeback single alone deserves recognition. Re-emerging from a lofty slumber after crafting one of the most notorious releases in deathcore history with a song that makes their previous work look like child’s play is no easy feat—but Beneath the Massacre killed it.

 

Runners Up:

Arsonists Get All the Girls

HeavyHeavyLowLow

Reflections

And Hell Followed With

 

Artists We’d Like To See Come Back:

  • The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza
  • Yuth Forever
  • Rose Funeral
  • Duck Duck Goose
  • Struc/tures

 

Best Fan-Service Moment (and Runner Up)

The Award Goes To…

Yuth Forever – “Villains.”

When you’re nearing the end of Yuth Forever’s iconic farewell record and all the sudden, you’re revisiting one of the classic 10 Code breakdowns, you’re also experiencing one of the biggest nods a band has ever given to their fanbase. Hearing that classic groove and eerie laughter sent me back in time and sent shivers down my spine—so it winning this award was no shock at all.

Runners Up:

Sworn In – “Return”

Secret Keeper – “Mother’s Day/Sycamour”

 

Best Overall Discography (And Runner Up)

The Award Goes To…

The Acacia Strain

I know this might be a little counterintuitive considering not a single TAS record appears in my top 50 lists (although It Comes In Waves would have most certainly made the EP list had I more time to deliberate on replay value), when looking at the sum total records the band have put out in the last decade, no band has been as consistent over as many releases.

Runners Up:

Counterparts

Yuth Forever

Martyr Defiled

Traitors

 

Most Played Record from 2010-2019 (And Runners Up)

And The Award Goes To…

Yuth Forever 10 Code (1,391 full plays as Villains, 514 full plays as Yuth Forever = 1,905 total listens. 1,905 x 26 minutes, 25 seconds = approximately 50,482 minutes = 841.375 hours = 35 days—note that “10-56” and “Presage” were played individually a total of 2,529 and 2,319 times respectively).

Runners Up:

Martyr Defiled – In//Shadows (~25 days and 2 hours total play time)

Yuth Forever – Skeleton Youth Forever (~19 days and 8 hours total play time)

La Dispute – Wildlife (~17 days, 4 hours play time)

Most played artist: Yuth Forever, with a total of nearly 6 months total play time.

 

Top 15 Breakdowns from 2010-2019

 

  1. Yuth Forever – “10-56”
  2. Martyr Defiled – “An Act of Sedition”
  3. Barrier – “Victim”
  4. Sworn In – “Let Down”
  5. The Acacia Strain – “Tactical Nuke”
  6. Float Face Down – “Without Crutches”
  7. Martyr Defiled – “No Morality”
  8. Sever the King – “Thanatos”
  9. Existence – “If I Were You…”/”Anthropomorphized”
  10. REX – “Manifest”
  11. Reflections – “Shadow Self”
  12. Traitors – “Arrogance”
  13. Brand of Sacrifice – “Eclipse”
  14. Rival – “Three’s Company”
  15. Commotio Cordis – “Inevitable Agenda”

Honorable Mentions:

  • ‘Sabella – “W. CLINTON.”
  • Far From Nothing – “Crooked Teeth”
  • Immoralist – “Slumlord”
  • Skyper Shay – “Father Figure”
  • Oceano – “Nephilim”/”The Taken”
  • Those Who Fear – “Death Sentence”
  • The Devil Wears Prada – “Anatomy”
  • Kublai Khan – “Antpile”/”The Hammer”
  • I Declare War – “The Dot”
  • Recognize – “New Friend Request From California’s Girlfriend”
  • SPITE – “IED”
  • Polaris – “Lucid”