I have noticed a lot of deathcore and metalcore bands that got popular post-covid are pulling a younger demographic (Knocked Loose, Left To Suffer, Sanguisugabogg). It would be sick to see a large scale traveling fest in the vein of Mayhem/Ozzfest/Warped that mixes classic bands with up-and-comers at a reasonable ticket price perhaps hitting parts of America that don't see too many concerts. However I know that would be unfathomably expensive.

I'm a millennial. I played Guitar Hero with my nephew... I accidentally made him a Megadeth fan. Ups.

It's kinda funny. I'm seeing similar discussions across every Western pop culture interest I have. And it's pretty clear the main culprit is a decaying society.

Please go to shows. There's probably a local hardcore gig every day at a different random garage in your local area where some 14-18 year olds are throwing down.

I'm also a Zillenial, and my takeaway is you should try to attend more shows in person. There's quite a few young people into live, smaller venue tours, and particularly active in Discord band communities. Most of the bands you mentioned are pretty mainstream at this point, and a lot of the more niche bands is where the culture is thriving. I think there also needs more consideration for the affordability of tour tickets. A huge problem younger gens face is ticket prices being completely unattainable other than for these smaller, niche bands, because they can afford a $20-40 ticket while a $100-300 ticket is an often unattainable price point.

Another way we can help the youth get into metal is to not shit on them for listening tho bands they like bro, when metal heads are out here gate keeping and making fun of kids for listening to things you don't like. BMTH is really leading us back to old school deathcore and a lot of bands are starting to follow i don't think metal is dying out i think the metal we used to know and love is dying out and we need to evolve

I think it's bigger than just this. There is this overal homogeneity nowadays in youth culture that is all encompassing. You see the same happening in Rap/R&B culture. The internet has done away with the splintered youth cultures. Kids nowadays just listen to whatever is on TikTok or on Youtube and make their own playlists on Spotify. Without boundaries of specific cultures.

I don't know if I agree with this take. It essentially boils down to "metalcore isn't as simple as it used to be, and kids like things being simple." And yeah, I agree that these days, metalcore has embraced the djent, polycore, whatever thing (I've struggled to keep up with all the words), it's not like the simpler nu-metal, alternative, hot topic, speak-to-the-youth music disappeared. In fact, I keep finding it on my Instagram feed, and it is fun, exciting, and full of the same feelings of teenage angst, feelings, and the like. Does that mean that kids these days would like it? Maybe, maybe not.

That's hard to say because, personally, I don't think kids are actually looking for anything like that anymore. I think that the only thing that really catches on with the younger generation is stuff that works with memes/tiktoks/reels. That's why you'll see kids occasionally knowing the hook to an 70s song so well just as much as a modern one. It was used for a TikTok video, and as such, every clip and short used it. But because the internet fast tracked attention span shortages, that sound will die out in 6 months, and a new one will take its place. And another thing, it doesn't have to be anything other than a sound from a song. Not even the full chorus. Like that faaaaa sound came from a live performance of a song, but it's so far removed that we only know the sound.

Anyway, I do agree that there's an issue with crossing over/crosspolinating. The youth is caught up in stream culture, clip farming, and viral trends, so if the goal is to garner their interest, for better or worse, that's where the marketing has to go. And I personally don't think people into the metal scene as a whole like that kind of marketing, so they won't really embrace that.

There's gotta be a silly trend that metal bands need to start, and they gotta commit to making hundreds of short videos committing to it for 3 months to 6 months, and then turn around to do it all over again. And even after that's done, the community as a whole would need to push it so it actually goes viral. That probably flies in the face of everything that the metal community was built on (being anti pop culture, etc) but if the goal is to get kids who aren't into metal into metal, then that's the only way I see it being done.

Man I feel like I hear this argument every 10 years in the metal community. If it isn't octanecore, it was metalcore and emo in the mid-late 2000s, if it wasn't metalcore or emo, it was nu-metal in the late 90s early 2000s. Every generation complains about how the current generation of "heavy music is dying".

To claim that bands like Spiritbox or Sleep Token aren't "exciting" the youth of today is an insanely out of touch take to have, and to say that young teenagers can't engage with more poetic or esoteric lyrics does them a huge disservice.

Are we pretending that nu-metal, pop punk, emo and associated genres were accepted into the fold of metal, that the metal "world" as it were didn't work extremely hard to make sure these shut up and went away? Are we doing that? These are genres (And fans thereof) that were in their heyday and are still to this day relentlessly maligned... also and specifically for their lyrical content and appealing specifically to teenagers.  Bands belonging to which that, when they moved away from the sound and modes of expression, were maligned further by accusations of falling off, not being able to do anything beyond "teen angst" or being one-hit wonders; and when they instead didn't, they were then accused of being "old dudes making teen angst music."  Let's not pretend that despite its commercial success, either of these genres were / are seen as legitimate in any way whatsoever; the metal "sphere" as it were worked very hard to scrape it out.

So now the problem is that it worked?

Guess damned if you do, damned if you don't.

As a teenager in 2001, I first heard Linkin Park on TV. A friend gave me a CD of Hybrid Theory and I completely lost myself in the music. It was magical and unforgettable! That's how I discovered Korn, Soad, Papa Roach, Limp Bizkit, Disturbed, Ill Nino, Deftones, Chevelle and many others band. And all this in a small Russian town.😊

I'm a Gen Xer. I grew up with Hair Metal, Grunge, Thrash Metal, Death Metal, Nu Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Black Metal, etc, and I love these "millennial core" bands and my daughter is Gen Alpha (12-y-o) and she absolutely loves I Prevail, Motionless in White, Falling in Reverse, Spiritbox, Bad Omens, Wage War, Loathe, Ladrones, etc and also Japanese stuff like SIM, Hanabie, etc. I would not worry at all. Metal will continue and will be fine.

I can’t say I agree.  The metal bands that have gotten popular in the last ten years have gotten popular precisely because they have cross-appeal outside of metal.  Metal is more popular and visible in the mainstream now than it has been in decades, and rock in general is doing much better than it had been for a while.  Like yeah it’s not getting top 40 play but when did metal ever?  Metal bands are playing larger venues now than they had been for a long time.  Spiritbox, Bad Omens, Poppy, even heavier like Lorna Shore or Knocked Loose have fairly large Gen Z audiences.  I would also say that part of why contemporary pop-metalcore bands are successful is because they’re better at incorporating the electronic/pop/RnB production elements featured in their music than bands before them, like bands were trying that in the early 2010s but it was more often than not kinda goofy; then established bands like Godsmack and Papa Roach, Bullet for my Valentine were doing millennial pop trends to keep relevant and it was particularly bad.  The newer breed of bands don’t make it sound so forced, in my opinion.  

I do appreciate that your criticism was at least nuanced and not gatekeeping.  A good portion of the traditional metal base I encounter seems to be hostile to a lot of these bands.  To circle back to my original point,  I’d argue these bands got popular despite that rejection by old heads precisely because they were able to hold a broader appeal outside of the metal base.  Much like the MySpace era, they were able to grow their audiences on YouTube and TikTok and other social-content platforms.

This is intentional. Metal preaches resistance, individuality, revolt, challenging values and norms, defying authority. As Gen X, I watched our music go from the top of the charts, from being on every major radio station, movies, shows, and games, to almost overnight (after Woodstock 99) being crushed and pushed out, taken off the radio and TV, out of movies, and replaced with pop and hip hop. Look up the interview with Billy Corgan where he said, “I think, and I will say it overtly, I think that rock has been purposely dialed down in the culture” for more details.

There's a corner of the metal community that take everything so serious.  

The rest of us are just enjoying the metal music that we like and carrying on with our lives, not overthinking the genres or the future

I‘m 33 and definitely see younger people throw down at gigs. Hardcore/punk festival this summer made me realise that even someone as „old“ as Papa Roach attracts young people.

My nephew has 2 sons and raises them on BMTH and Electric Callboy. They absolutely love it. The young people are out there. But concerts have also become expensive/almost a luxury which keeps people away from experiencing live music in any genre. Unless you happen to be into underground bands/bands that do not play the biggest festival mainstages

I was reading through the comments and was surprised nobody mentioned Electric Callboy.

For the last point, I feel like metal has also taken a hit in terms of its reputation because of the way metalheads are perceived. Before I started listening to metal myself, “metalhead” had become almost synonymous with men who are sexist, patronizing, and gatekeepy.

On the French internet, the guy who introduces himself as “a big teddy bear who would do no harm ^^” has become a pretty laughable archetype. The guy who will ask you to name five songs from a band because you’re wearing their merch. And, of course, the guy who hates rap and considers it inferior to metal.

First of all rock and metal isn't dead or dying.
But it does have a small footprint in the mainstream. That is not down to it being 'boring', it is just that the way music is consumed has changed massively and the industry tends to play it safe when it comes to backing new artists.
I was at download this year and there was a shit load of teenagers there, enjoying the likes of INK and PIY. Architects also drew a huge crowd.
Also, bamds like BMTH and ST have recently completed north American tours where they sold out huge arenas. BMTH even played MSG and have also headlined multiple pop/commercial festivals in the past couple years.
Bands like SB and BO may not do the kind of numbers that LP and LB used to do, but then they aren't being played on MTV or radio in the same way. Yet there is still a large number of young people at their shows.

I like the conversation that you're bringing up and one thing I'd like to add is that there are many newer metal-related groups fronted by more women, trans people, and people of color and I think that is pretty fresh for the genre as a whole. I think it's also worth noting how consolidated media in general has become. Every brand and franchise is owned by a large conglomerate that tends to paint in broad strokes (losing a lot of that identity in the process). In the past, you could follow specific labels (big and small), specific magazines or early blogs, go to local shows, etc to find bands which made it feel more exclusive and special. Nowadays, our connection to new media in general (music, TV, movies, books, comics, and everything else) is fed to us by algorithms that discourage diverse ranges of interest and which also separate us from the discovery aspect that makes music feel so personal.