Which Metalcore Act Had Best Five-Year Run? Reddit Users Debate

Metalcore fans on Reddit are debating which act in the genre had the best five-year run with their musical output.

A lot can happen over a five-year period. While the span may seem kind of short, it’s not often that you see bands sustain a particular brand of excellence over that long of a period without some sign of drop-off, which makes the question all the more interesting.

The person who posed the question in the Metalcore Reddit thread also offered their pick which was Architects between the years 2013 to 2018 citing their run from Daybreaker (Editor’s Note: The album came out on May 28, 2012) through Holy Hell (which arrived on Nov. 9, 2018).

While that’s a little over a five-year period, the band was very much promoting Daybreaker in 2013. But yet another fan on the thread chimed in that keeping it through 2016’s All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us would still make them a good choice.

• Architects from Daybreaker to All Our Gods and its not even close. They basically warped metalcore around them during that era.
• Daybreaker to even some of Holy Hell is an insane run of solid, quality music.
• that 3 album run is some of the best music i have ever heard. its peak Architects and peak metalcore, alongside Parkway Drive’s Killing With A Smile – Deep Blue run
• Yes! They definitely warped my view of metalcore and the world in general with those three releases.

Parkway Drive

The band with the most combined comments and upvotes in the thread appears to be Parkway Drive, though there seems to be some debate amongst fans which five-year span would be their best.

Fans noted from 2007-2012 ranging from Horizons to the Atlas album, while others went a little earlier dating back to 2005’s debut Killing With a Smile instead of the 2012 latter era of Atlas, choosing to end with 2010’s Deep Blue instead.

• Parkway Drive – Horizons // Deep Blue // Atlas. (2007 – 2012)
• KWAS > Atlas
• Yes! Parkway Drive from KWAS through Deep Blue is probably one of my favorite metalcore bands
• Parkway Drive Killing with a Smile (2005), Horizons (2007) to Deep Blue (2010). Maybe a slight bias because I’m an Aussie, but these guys changed the entire heavy music scene for the country during these years.
• They made a huge impact on me back in 2015 or so when I discovered them, Deep Blue is my favorite from them
• it’s gotta be Parkway Drive for me. I’d say 2005-2010, but 2007-2012 is very close.

READ MORE: Is Metalcore Metal?

Killswitch Engage

Another metalcore band who enjoyed a strong push from fans in the thread was Killswitch Engage. Most seemed to be in agreement that the 2001-2006 stretch that included the Alive or Just Breathing, End of Heartache and As Daylight Dies was the run that would be chosen.

It should be noted that the band was also promoting their self-titled 2000 debut for a period of that window, and one fan suggested choosing the debut over the 2006 offering As Daylight Dies.

• Killswitch Engage 2001-2006 : KSE (self titled), Alive or Just Breathing, End of Heartache, As Daylight Dies
• Any answer other than this is just flat out wrong.
• AOJB, EOH, and ADD is a legendary 3 album run. Done in four years, wow
• Killswitch Engage dropped probably their 3 best albums in the span of 5 years. Alive or Just Breathing (2002), The End of Heartache (2004), and As Daylight Dies (2006)
• Roll it back one, Self-titled through to End of Heartache

Who Else Was Considered?

There’s a wealth of veteran metalcore bands that were also suggested in the thread, lead by As I Lay Dying, Counterparts, Every Time I Die, Like Moths to Flames, Underoath, The Devil Wears Prada, Scarlet, Trivium, Erra and more. A sampling of fan comments can be viewed below:

• As I Lay Dying also had an epic run from 2007 – 2012.
• AILD honestly had an absolutely unbelievable 10 year run from Frail Words Collapse to Awakened but it’s overshadowed by a tiny little bump in the road being the murder plot
• Like Moths to Flames right now. Where the Light Refuses to Go was released in 2019, that and everything since has been gold (no pun intended) with their new album dropping soon, based off the singles we’ve gotten, they’re going to to be an AOTY contender. Again.
• First band that came to mind was Underoath. Changed their sound once Spencer joined and were pretty hot for about 5 years releasing They’re Only Chasing Safety (2004), Define the Great Line (2006) and Lost in the Sound of Separation (2008).
• One of the best modern runs in my opinion Counterparts YNYA (2017)- NLTL (2019)- AEFTSH (2022)
• Scarlet 2002-2006. Between their EP Something To Lust About and their 2 LPs Cult Classic and This Was Always Meant To Fall Apart, they’ve release 3 of my favorite albums of all time.
• TDWP – Dead Throne – 8:18 – Space EP – Transit Blues. Take away Transit and replace with Zombie EP. Either way, I love that string of releases.
• I’m biased but I think a lot of people can agree. Trivium from The Sin and the Sentence (2017) to In the Court of the Dragon (2021). I know, not quite 5 years, but they’ve been on a legendary run ever since Alex Bent joined the band.
• Erra 2011-2016 Impulse, Augment, Drift Personally Drift is my favorite album, and people love Augment. I do too, but not as much as Drift.

Which of the suggestions would you back the most? Is there anyone not mentioned that you would add? Dig into more of the discussion on the best five-year span of any metalcore group through the Reddit thread.