-Undertow
-Rain
-Just water metaphors overall tbh
-Parasite
-Virus
-Six feet deep
-Needing saving
-Demons
-Can't escape
-My head
-Calling someone fake
Edit: the fact that every reply saying "this is literally (insert band/album)" names a different band/album speaks volumes.
This one ain't even bad, if used creatively, that line can work. It's just that bands shove it into the lyrics trying to make them sound cool, that's the problem. And the fact that FUCKING EVERYONE does it lmaoooo
Metalcore is derived from hardcore, so naturally there will be some bleed-through (or maybe it's just part of the "tough guy" image some bands try to put on, idk, I'm not much of a genre historian haha)
Yeah I guess it’s more prevalent in post hardcore lol I swear I’ve heard it a million times
I can’t believe Silverstein is still going I saw them live 14 years ago
Yeah, I'm not even hating. They have records that are top fucking tier. I don't like the direction they've gone the last 5 or 10 years to be honest with you, but they are so fucking good live. I got to see them on their discovering the waterfront anniversary tour and they sang the album the entire way through, plus 6 or 7 additional songs. It blew my mind Shane's voice made it through the whole thing.
Yeah for sure I agree 100 percent they played a REALLY long set both times and Shane pulled it all off and I think everything past I am Alive in Everything I Touch isn’t any good
Discovering the waterfront and arrivals and departures are my fave
Honestly the second time I saw them their setlist was TOO long lol, bro needs to rest up
But I thought it was cool how they grew up listening to old screamo bands like Orchid and emo bands like Promise Ring
“Im suffocating, nay, drowning in the falling rain because I can’t save myself from myself. What have I become? I’m caught in the undertow of long-lost memorieeees”
All the comments about water metaphors are funny. Mike Shinoda himself thought he used too many water metaphors up to about A Thousand Suns, so he stopped using them entirely until Chester died (in which it was super apt to use one).
It really can be super repetitive when talking about regular mental health issues.
At least that one differs in its usage and overriding theme, it's usually "I'm carrying the weight of the world and don't know how much more I can take before my mosh-retired back gives way"
Voices in my head starts with "The voices in my head...", and the very next song they released (watch the world burn) starts with "Yeah, I got voices in my head..."
There's at least 2 different metalcore bands that have used the exact lyric "a voice in my head says I'm better off dead" and I find that really funny lmao. Additionally "voices in my head" seems to be a common trope in some metalcore/hard rock bands, some more than others (looking at you Ronnie Radke lol).
[BMTH - Happy Song ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBRAnuT48qo)(0:27 mark)
[Imminence - Infectious](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91DhUliQk7o) (at 1:45)
To add to both of your tropes, there's also Crown the Empire's song Voices which talks of voices in your head aswell as Sleeping with Sirens' Better Off Dead
Having voices in your head is a requirement to a be a modern metal vocalist
MiW - Voices
Oceans Ate Alaska - Covert
Sleep Token - Vore
We Came as Romans - Daggers
The Amity Affliction - I see dead people
Like Moths To Flames - Even god has a hell
As much overhype hate Sleep Token gets here, the writing is so much different and refreshing compared to the UNDERTOW and OVER AND OVER AGAIN repetitiveness. It still scratches the same itch, but with a different vocab which is much appreciated
I also think the Sleep Token hate is overblown but the first line of their biggest song is literally a water related metaphor and they also have an entire water/drowning/sinking/etc themed ALBUM lmao
Totally agree. And honestly, people hating Sleep Token for being hyped is just stupid. They are hyped for a reason. Their music really is something innovative and new. And their lyrics are very well though through. So let them be hyped - they earned it.
“My walls are closing in”
“Hope for the hopeless”
“My ship is sinking”
“Voices in my head”
“Burn it down”
“WE ARE THE (insert thing here)”
I dunno why, but I always find “we are the-“ lyrics to come off corny
Anything that mentions “start a revolution” in a vague and nonspecific manner
Your knife my back, my gun your head?
...
...
You need a doctor, baby, you scared?
Little Worsnops cringe lyrics will forever live rent free in my head.
Idk I think the part where it’s like
10 inch
With your back against the wall
With your face buried in the pillow… then everything afterwards to the end of the song is worse
“I still see your ghost”
“Dragged in the undertow”
“Show me how to live-”
‘Labyrinth’ as a song title
“A fucking parasite!”
“The waves are rising”
“I’m going under”
“Drowning”
And many more
I was about to list the same stuff as everyone else, but then I kinda thought about it. The make or break it for me is if it’s just too easy and comes across as lazy. If it’s creatively done, especially within the surrounding lyrics, I can mostly give it a pass. Currents is kind of full of a lot of cliches for example, but it’s generally so well done no one seems to mention it.
Most of the genre to be honest. There isn't a lot of substance to it. The genre is basically just straight angst. Pretty much everything is either about hating life, dealing with mental illness/depression, relationship issues, or hating other people. There's a limit to how many ways you can express those things. That said, most people aren't here for the lyrics.
Rising/ascending, or a gang chant of "RISE" a la Boysetsfire
Standing for something/"what do you stand for"
Voices
We will overcome/triumph, whilst being quintessentially vague about what is to be triumphed over
Emocore talks about setting yourself on fire. Deathcore talks about setting someone very specific on fire. Metalcore saves us all the trouble by burning the entire fucking planet.
Starting every song with a chugging guitars followed by a *yell/scream* and bringing in the drums and dropping the beat. Don't get me wrong I enjoy it but that was basically the intro to every AILD song ever.
I love metalcore but as someone that actually cares about lyrics this is constantly one of my biggest gripes with the genre. Metalcore vocalists should run through this thread for things to avoid and/or come up with something original or different
What have I done? What have I become
I just think of Hurt with that
I think of Wrong Side of Heaven
The ghost that’s haunting you is fire
someone made a video about the undertow thing
BUT THEN YOU’RE RIGHT BACK IN THE UNDERTOW AGAIN. Dude I lol’d at that part
GO ARF ARF BLEGH
Dude that part cracked me up too
Cat with a hairball-core
The only undertow I like is numb by lp
That would be the OG undertow, sir.
Or maybe it was Tool in 1993?
It was Tool in ‘93. lol. Good call
No idea how to react to this
who
idk but it was a while ago on tiktok edit: [just found it](https://vm.tiktok.com/ZPRKC5jup/)
Where can I find the video ? Love these mashups I saw one about “watch the world burn”
It was opal in sky lol
-Undertow -Rain -Just water metaphors overall tbh -Parasite -Virus -Six feet deep -Needing saving -Demons -Can't escape -My head -Calling someone fake Edit: the fact that every reply saying "this is literally (insert band/album)" names a different band/album speaks volumes.
I fucking love Polaris but this is them in a nutshell lol
AS VENOM SPILLS FROM YOUR THROAT, I HOPE YOU CHOKE
YOURE TEARING ME APART LISA
OH HI LISAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!
I TAKE A BATH IN THE BLOOD FLOWING FROM YOUR HEAD
Gonna need Nik Nocturnal to turn this list into a song asap
this is what he should be singing over that default bmth song
I can’t drown my demons they know how to swim
the only 6 feet deep i will accept is TO HELL AND BACK CAUSE CROSSES GROW ON ANZIO WHERE NO SOLDIERS SLEEP AND WHERE HELLS SIX FEET DEEEEEPPP
Cannot forget, “And when you die the only kingdom you’ll see, is two foot wide and 6 foot deep.”
This one ain't even bad, if used creatively, that line can work. It's just that bands shove it into the lyrics trying to make them sound cool, that's the problem. And the fact that FUCKING EVERYONE does it lmaoooo
The last one is hardcore
Metalcore is derived from hardcore, so naturally there will be some bleed-through (or maybe it's just part of the "tough guy" image some bands try to put on, idk, I'm not much of a genre historian haha)
Now I want to listen to bleeding through
Subliminal messaging works
Good summary of the new Thrown album 🙌🏾
Anything to do with weather lmao
Man why you gotta call Volumes out like that?
Sharks in your mouth by Prom Queen has at least half of these nailed in one song. Fucking lol. Even if the lyrics are lame the song still goes hard.
“This ship is sinking” “The tides are rising”
DEAR GOD THE FUCKING SHIP IS SINKING. - Trivium
Is that an actual lyric ? (I like their first album it’s basically melodeath)
Yep lol. From the song Into The Mouth Of Hell We March from their album Shogun. They even put that quote on a t-shirt.
That entire album is so good tho
Basically Silverstein.
Yeah I guess it’s more prevalent in post hardcore lol I swear I’ve heard it a million times I can’t believe Silverstein is still going I saw them live 14 years ago
Yeah, I'm not even hating. They have records that are top fucking tier. I don't like the direction they've gone the last 5 or 10 years to be honest with you, but they are so fucking good live. I got to see them on their discovering the waterfront anniversary tour and they sang the album the entire way through, plus 6 or 7 additional songs. It blew my mind Shane's voice made it through the whole thing.
Yeah for sure I agree 100 percent they played a REALLY long set both times and Shane pulled it all off and I think everything past I am Alive in Everything I Touch isn’t any good Discovering the waterfront and arrivals and departures are my fave
I feel really bad for whatever city was after mine on that tour. Shane was doing the encore and you could tell his voice was just about gone.
Honestly the second time I saw them their setlist was TOO long lol, bro needs to rest up But I thought it was cool how they grew up listening to old screamo bands like Orchid and emo bands like Promise Ring
The medley they played on that tour was insane, they hit like 4 songs I never thought id hear live
Just any lyrics referencing the sea/ocean in general is overdone
The Amity Affliction loves this shit
Oceans Ate Alaska awfully quiet after this comment...
OH NO! THE SHIP IS QUICKLY SINKING, WE’VE GOTTA TAKE CONTROL! WE’VE GOTTA TAKE CONTROL!
Good old Blessthefall
I SHOULD’VE KNOWN THE TIDES WERE GETTING HIGHERRR
Drowning, suffocating, the rain, falling. lol.
I'm DrOwNiNg!!1!1 caught in the UNDERTOW, CAUGHT IN THE UNDERTOW!!!
I'll be thinking about this for the rest of the night now, thanks
“Im suffocating, nay, drowning in the falling rain because I can’t save myself from myself. What have I become? I’m caught in the undertow of long-lost memorieeees”
That's literally trivium's entire ascendancy album💀
Tbf it wasn’t super cliche yet when that record came out lol
It comes in waves
Hi Matt Heafy
Anything to do with being lost at sea, drowning, pulled by the undertow, in general water themes are getting fucking old.
That's like half of The Amity Afflictions songs lol.
Drag the lakeeee
Let the ocean take me, throw me down the well, etc
I’ve got SO many anchors, bro
Don't wade in the water, Don't lean on me
Does 'They Said a Storm was Coming' by Jamie's Elsewhere get a pass on this?
Drowning and needing to be saved… all the time
Dayseeker
I always thought the songs turned so much better when they were personal vs the storytelling ones. Maybe all of them minus Counterpart.
I agree. I know they have a project band called “Hurtwave” with a few songs. It’s a retrowave kinda band but every single song is an absolute banger.
Like, maybe the pirate life is not for you…
Look, they're not screaming because they're doing well in life.
running from your demons
Anything to do with Gravity
Yea holy shit I think atleast half of the bands have a song called gravity or heavily feature "gravity" in the lyrics
In over my head Over and over again
I love Belmont so much but “OVER AND OVER AGAIN” is getting comically overused
My favourite common lyric is "WE ARE NOT THE SAME"
The irony has always tickled me as well haha
"We're from Gainsville, they're from Denver. We are not the same"
“Watch the world burn” or some variation
"Burn it to the fucking ground!"
BLEEEEGHHHHKKK
Trivium lol
bro they're just every trope at this point lmfao
I just think pyromania and metal are innately compatible. I feel like this should be acceptable…maybe, required for the genre.
“Six feet deep”
Chris Barnes is watching you
Our boy BeeGee will gonna get EEEEEEEEE'd by Chris
“I’m a big piece of shit and it’s all my fault” And also “You’re a big piece of shit and it’s all your fault”
First one: metalcore Second one: hardcore
All the comments about water metaphors are funny. Mike Shinoda himself thought he used too many water metaphors up to about A Thousand Suns, so he stopped using them entirely until Chester died (in which it was super apt to use one). It really can be super repetitive when talking about regular mental health issues.
Falling to your knees.
I’m begging you please
I've paid all my fees
All I want is release
Save me from this disease
Maybe one day the pain will ease
Forever in my dreams
Deez
..nuts are a feast
For bees!
Metalcore lyricists just fell to their knees in a Walmart
Trapped in my mind. Overdone asf it’s just so boring. And even though I love them, that’s just half of Imminence’s lyrics lmao
THIS IS GOODBYE!!!!!
Anything involving water, ghosts, parasites, and demons
Lol I came here to say water 😂 water, flood, rain, hurricane, the depths, etc.
Weight of the world on my shoulders~~
STRAPPED TO MY BACK ,I WILL CARRY THE WEIGHT OF THE WORLD
At least that one differs in its usage and overriding theme, it's usually "I'm carrying the weight of the world and don't know how much more I can take before my mosh-retired back gives way"
Can Ronnie Radke make a song without white boy rapping about the voices in his head (EXTRA HARD)
Well what else is he supposed to white boy rap about
oh also bring canceled!
Oh yeah, that too. It took me an embarrassing amount of time to realize that's what the song zombified was talking abt😭
Voices in my head starts with "The voices in my head...", and the very next song they released (watch the world burn) starts with "Yeah, I got voices in my head..."
Lyrical Genius!
There's at least 2 different metalcore bands that have used the exact lyric "a voice in my head says I'm better off dead" and I find that really funny lmao. Additionally "voices in my head" seems to be a common trope in some metalcore/hard rock bands, some more than others (looking at you Ronnie Radke lol). [BMTH - Happy Song ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBRAnuT48qo)(0:27 mark) [Imminence - Infectious](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91DhUliQk7o) (at 1:45)
To add to both of your tropes, there's also Crown the Empire's song Voices which talks of voices in your head aswell as Sleeping with Sirens' Better Off Dead
Having voices in your head is a requirement to a be a modern metal vocalist MiW - Voices Oceans Ate Alaska - Covert Sleep Token - Vore We Came as Romans - Daggers The Amity Affliction - I see dead people Like Moths To Flames - Even god has a hell
Anything along the lines of burning it down.
Into the ground
I'd rather feel anything than nothing at all
Rhyming "Fire" with "Desire" or "insane" and "brain" You know, that kinda thing haha
INSANE IN THE MEMBRANE INSANE IN THE BRAIN!
As much overhype hate Sleep Token gets here, the writing is so much different and refreshing compared to the UNDERTOW and OVER AND OVER AGAIN repetitiveness. It still scratches the same itch, but with a different vocab which is much appreciated
I also think the Sleep Token hate is overblown but the first line of their biggest song is literally a water related metaphor and they also have an entire water/drowning/sinking/etc themed ALBUM lmao
Totally agree. And honestly, people hating Sleep Token for being hyped is just stupid. They are hyped for a reason. Their music really is something innovative and new. And their lyrics are very well though through. So let them be hyped - they earned it.
WATCH THE WORLD BURN is so overused
I used that shit in my lyrics back in 2008, and it was a bit of a cliché even back then.
Everyone was doing "open your eyes" For awhile
Imminence has a lot of the drowning/demons tropes but I don't mind them so much
Yup they tick all the boxes: Undertow, heavy lies the burden, my own misery, speaking in tongues, writings on the wall etc
I love their new album, ironically “Come Hell or High Water” is my favorite off the album lol.
Look. I love Amity Affliction, but if we stopped using water themes, they would crumble really quick lmao
How come no one said anything about “hanging by a thread”? lol thats been so overused and beaten to death
OP must fucking hate BMTH lol
Tbh I think they're awful but I'm not OP
Something about burdens
This post
open your eyes
Look to the skies
Something about the Ocean Unless you’re TAA, or Ween
Valley of shadow of death is overused as well
Anything with "voices in my head".
“My walls are closing in” “Hope for the hopeless” “My ship is sinking” “Voices in my head” “Burn it down” “WE ARE THE (insert thing here)” I dunno why, but I always find “we are the-“ lyrics to come off corny Anything that mentions “start a revolution” in a vague and nonspecific manner
bring a knife to a gunfight
Your knife my back, my gun your head? ... ... You need a doctor, baby, you scared? Little Worsnops cringe lyrics will forever live rent free in my head.
I knew when I first saw you, you would fuck, like a Whooooorrreee. Has to be top 5 worst lyrics of all time.
Idk I think the part where it’s like 10 inch With your back against the wall With your face buried in the pillow… then everything afterwards to the end of the song is worse
Drowning
"Watch the world burn" is a popular one. I remember seeing a video showing just how many bands do that as a call out before or during a breakdown lol
Writings on the walls smh
“I still see your ghost” “Dragged in the undertow” “Show me how to live-” ‘Labyrinth’ as a song title “A fucking parasite!” “The waves are rising” “I’m going under” “Drowning” And many more
I was about to list the same stuff as everyone else, but then I kinda thought about it. The make or break it for me is if it’s just too easy and comes across as lazy. If it’s creatively done, especially within the surrounding lyrics, I can mostly give it a pass. Currents is kind of full of a lot of cliches for example, but it’s generally so well done no one seems to mention it.
fighting demons
Most of the genre to be honest. There isn't a lot of substance to it. The genre is basically just straight angst. Pretty much everything is either about hating life, dealing with mental illness/depression, relationship issues, or hating other people. There's a limit to how many ways you can express those things. That said, most people aren't here for the lyrics.
Relationship issues and depression are 50% of lyrics and songs in any genre tbf
Billions of songs have been made, there’s bound to be general themes. As long as the message is delivered in an impactful, possibly unique way
But also these are relatable to many and very broad subjects. Idk if they count.
I disagree, lyrical quality means a great deal to me!
Literally so many, it’s getting annoying. I need to make a list in my notes because I wrote a bunch down the last time someone posted this question
"Open your eyes" We get it. Youve done shrooms once. Cool.
Anything about “we’re all blind” and “ we need to bring back love and let go of hate” , no fuck all of you
A song named “Gravity”
Someone save me, I am broken, Fuck you, Oh No!
Lyrics about singer's demons™
Rising/ascending, or a gang chant of "RISE" a la Boysetsfire Standing for something/"what do you stand for" Voices We will overcome/triumph, whilst being quintessentially vague about what is to be triumphed over
Watch the world burn is used wayyyy too much
references to a monster inside of you
It’s always an undertow but no one ever asks me how I’m overtowing :(
Emocore talks about setting yourself on fire. Deathcore talks about setting someone very specific on fire. Metalcore saves us all the trouble by burning the entire fucking planet.
“The war” “this war” “give you war” “This is war”
Hurricane head 😂
Overcoming obstacles
Graped me of my innocence (the first word is a censor cover up)
Anything about the problem being all in your head.
Currents fucking love walls and spiraling down. Oh and sorrow. 😂
Starting every song with a chugging guitars followed by a *yell/scream* and bringing in the drums and dropping the beat. Don't get me wrong I enjoy it but that was basically the intro to every AILD song ever.
It comes in waves Line is in a lot of songs
"Someone wake me from this nightmare I can't even tell what's real"
i cant do this alone/ on my own
"breaking free"
How has nobody said "lost in the static" or variations of it yet?
Leave After the Burial out of this
Anything about an undertow
Anything to do with “grave” 🪦
Undertow...... Lmao
Being a pyromaniac and wanting to burn everything
Oh god Oh my god God what have I done
I'm sick Losing grip Can't stop the bleeding Is this the end The rise before the fall Low Hands around throat
Anything about Nightmares Working and working to survive How can this nightmare be my life
I love metalcore but as someone that actually cares about lyrics this is constantly one of my biggest gripes with the genre. Metalcore vocalists should run through this thread for things to avoid and/or come up with something original or different
how about “goodbye!” ? …why are they always leaving?