The late 2000's and early 2010's saw a massive Post-Hardcore movement with bands such as The Used, Underoath, Asking Alexandria and more leading the pack. Most of the Post-Hardcore bands went on to release career and genre defining albums but that did not last long.
We saw Attack Attack!, Abandon All Ships, Confide, Underoath and Woe, Is Me call it quits. These bands all released great albums but each following album saw a major shift in band members and sound. What caused this.. fame? money? personal differences? I can't say for sure but many bands expressed how tough the touring life was and how little profit was actually made after recording and tours. We all know the impact of piracy and how artists and labels suffer but surely someone has to have made money off touring or merch, maybe the label?
Our favorite acts like Bring Me The Horizon, Of Mice & Men, The Devil Wears Prada, We Came As Romans changed their sound drastically to the point where they did not even sound like the same band we first heard. Many people lost interest but the bands gained new mainstream fans who wanted hit after hit. The biggest offender here would be Bring Me The Horizon as they no longer play heavy music, instead they have moved onto pop rock, electronic and easy going metal and also completely alienated their core fans and are now the poster boys for pop rock.
More recently these bands have opted out of heavy chugging and breakdowns choosing to rather fill songs with 2000 era "Nu Metal" riffs and grooves, I can't help but feel like we've all heard this too much before and that the bands should definitely not be bringing it back at this point in time.
While most of the bands we used to like are no longer on our playlists due to musical changes we have to thank A Day To Remember, August Burns Red, Dance Gavin Dance and I See Stars for sticking to their guns. Is Post-Hardcore dead? What will the next bandwagon be? You be the judge.
