Do we exclude Nintendocore & Trancecore from The Revolution?

Once I started the monthly Metal Academy feature releases & playlists I became aware of the niche subgenres of Nintendocore & Trancecore. Ever since that time I've always been very confused at why these two obscure sounds are even considered to be metal at all & I've recently noticed that this thought has been backed up by our competitor RYM who have now removed both subgenres from underneath the Melodic Metalcore genre so that they reside purely under Hardcore Punk. Given that I completely agree with that approach, I thought I'd throw it out to the group to see what your thoughts are. So here's the question:

Would you be comfortable with the releases from bands like HORSE The Band & Enter Shikari that don't qualify for other metal subgenres like metalcore being labeled as Non-Metal or do you think they're metal enough to stay as they are?

I don't think there's any massive reason to rush into removing these subgenres. I reckon we just leave it for a while and see what the response is at RYM. People will either agree that these releases aren't actually metal, or start giving them a replacement metal genre / subgenre. That could help guide us in the most appropriate direction.

It always takes a while for genre changes to correct themselves. Just look at how long it took for Post-Metal to be applied to older releases once it was implemented.

Back on this topic, how about we conduct an interesting experiment. I'm suggesting that we ask all of our contributing members (from all clans, not just The Revolution) to listen to three carefully selected popular tracks from the subgenres in question & make comment on whether they actually think each track qualifies as metal or not & why. There should be no mention of quality. We're only focusing on whether these tracks are metal or not. Let's start with Nintendocore as it's the most niche subgenre:

I gave the HORSE the Band track a listen (please disregard the 4 minutes of silence at the end), and sure they have a lot of the video game synths that make Nintendocore, but it still sounds to me like the metalcore that I'm used to, so it might still be metal.

Can we stick to the one experiment for the moment please Andi? What about the other two tracks?

I've gotta say, I just gave that HORSE The Band track a full listen & there's very little metal there at all in my opinion. It's heavily hardcore punk based other than a small section that utilizes double kick drumming & one short bit of arpeggiated lead guitar work. It doesn't sound anything like metal to me to be honest.

For those other two tracks, the Sky Eats Airplane track has a nice balance of metalcore and video-game synths in the same way as Horse the Band, and that makes me feel up to checking out more material from Sky Eats Airplane. That band still has good metal points! However, that F***ing Werewolf Asso track is f***ing annoying, basically screaming video-game-synthesized experimental noise. If that band was added to Metal Academy, and I listen to the rest of whichever album has that song and it has the same style as that song, that album would be going to the Hall of Judgement for sure. So... that FWA track is not metal!

Nintendocore: metalcore tracks - 2, non-metal tracks - 1

There might still be hope for Nintendocore to stay in this site! Please feel free to try my trancecore/trance metal experiment, Daniel...

The Sky Eats Airplane qualifies as metal in my opinion. It's based on the generic metalcore/deathcore model with loads of breakdowns.

The Fucking Werewolf Asso track has fuck-all to do with metal & a quick skim through the rest of that release has shown me that the rest sounds pretty similar.

I'm very keen to hear what other members think on this topic & don't feel that you can't completely disagree with everyone else.

Here's a vote tab similar to my DIS vs DAT threads, based on each member's opinion on what Nintendocore sounds closer to from those 3 tracks:

Metalcore - 1

Non-metal - 1

So people are actually interested enough in this shit to care?

The Werewolf's Asshole track contains 0% metal to my ears.

Horse the Band is about 10% metal and Sky Eats Airplane is about 50% metal.

Is that enough to maintain it's place in MA? I would guess probably not, but I'm no expert on what these crazy kids listen to nowadays.

If it means I don't have to listen to it again then I vote Kick It Out!

Update due to Sonny's vote:

Metalcore - 1

Non-metal - 2

Quite an easy one for me.  If Emperor include symphonic elements in their sound does that make them classical music and not metal, or if they include metal in their symphonic sound does that make them metal and not classical?  Answer to both questions is that Emperor are a black metal band who incorporate symphonic elements into their sound.

Horse incorporate a multitude of influence into their sound (not all terrible) and as a result they are too blended to be considered metal with the electronic elements being the less dominant strain in comparison to their largely screamo sound.  Don't feel they have any place in MA.

Sky Eats Airplane have a more consistent metal vocal style over some basic nu-metal riffs saturated by a more consistent electronic element which is no more alien than some nu-metal from back in the 90's.  Gateway/Revolution clan/s.

Last band Daniel featured are 100% not metal, they are an alternative band with electronic and screamo elements.  I know we are not supposed to comment on quality but this is fucking terrible.

Update due to Vinny's vote:

Metalcore - 1

Non-metal - 3

So now that there are 3 votes for Nintendocore to be non-metal as opposed to the one vote for the subgenre to be related to metalcore, what's next, Daniel? Shall we keep going until we get a greater amount of votes, or shall we close the Nintendocore experiment, prevent any more Nintendocore bands from being added to the site, and move on to my trancecore/trance-metal experiment?

Just to be clear Andi, I never said that this experiment was going to decide the fate of Nintendocore. I was just interested to see if people generally agreed with me before talking to Ben about what direction to take. Also, the votes that have come in aren't people saying that they want Nintendocore releases to be made non-metal. They're simply saying that they don't believe that those particular tracks should be classified as metal. I'm expecting a couple more votes to come in & will then have a discussion with Ben about where things stand. I'm not looking to analyse any additional subgenres until this one is resolved.

Horse The Band track: No. 

Sky Eats Airplane track: Yes. 

Fucking Werewolf track: No. 

Update due to Xephyr's vote:

Metalcore - 1

Non-metal - 4

Ok so it's becoming very clear that most of our regular contributors don't feel that the HORSE The Band & Fucking Werewolf Asso tracks qualify as metal. Both are pretty indicative of what you can expect to hear across the tracklistings of their respective releases in my opinion. As is the Sky Eats Airplane track actually. So where does this leave us? Well it's a mixed result given that the Sky Eats Airplane track is undeniably metallic. But is that band just a one-off &, if so, does it warrant it's own subgenre of metal? To provide a little more clarity & substance to the discussion, why don't we check out one final track from the only other noteworthy Nintendocore act outside of the three that we've already investigated & see if it gives us a clear consensus.

Seems extremely punk influenced and the way the instrumentation sounds and is structured puts it in line with the Progressive Rock, "Jazz Fusion", Instrumental acts like Plini, Polyphia, and to a lesser extent Scale the Summit and Intervals to my ears. Even though I don't want to open up another genre discussion (Daniel and you all know how much I love those), a lot of these proggy instrumental acts would probably be on thin ice as well, especially since some of them have evolved out of MA already, citing Polyphia, leaving this track without much ground to stand on. 

Can say this other example is a big no from me. 

That Heccra track (please disregard the last 45 seconds of silence) doesn't sound as noise-ridden as the F***ing Werewolf track, but all I'm gonna say is, it's basically a short progressive punk track with video-game synths with no metal in sight. Also, with all this talk about that Horse the Band song being non-metal, looking back at it, I can hear that you're all right. Sure there are small bits of metal, but it's not enough to make a full metal song. So...

Metalcore: 0

Non-metal: 5

I think at this point, the Nintendocore subgenre becoming non-metal is inevitable. Daniel, please discuss with Ben before making our next move.

It's a big no from me as well gents. Not much metal on offer there as far as I can see. Let's wait & see if anyone else has an alternative view point before talking about how we proceed from here. In the meantime, have a think about what you'd do with Sky Eats Airplane in the event that we elect to remove the Nintendocore subgenre.

Early metal music was characterized by driving and distorted riffs, aggressive drumming, vigorous vocals, and an all around show of brute force.

Nintendocore is a style of Hardcore [Punk] that fuses the heavy riffing and vocals of Post-Hardcore and Metalcore with Chiptune instrumentation.

Both descriptors are from the RYM pages for Metal and Nintendocore respectfully. With that being the case, I can see why this discussion of "is Nintendocore metal?" exists. There is a fine line between hardcore punk and heavy metal music (more specifically speed/thrash metal). My opinion on genres is faulty for a number of reasons, but if I were to take these demo tracks and answer the question about "is Nintendocore metal?" I would say Sky Eats Airplanes is the only one that mostly represents the true metal framework. HORSE the Band is closer to Hardcore Punk, while Fucking Werewolf Asso is the farthest removed from either of those genre tags. 

Does that mean I think HORSE the Band is metal? No. I say that if Nintendocore does receive a unique genre tag brand on this website, then we should also have a Hardcore Punk tag as well, since so much of this music is influenced by it.

Adding the Hardcore Punk tag would add plenty more to this site, but no, this isn't the Hardcore Academy, saxy. I'll just add your vote to the tab:

Metalcore: 0

Non-metal: 6