Metalcore, Deathcore, anything-you-want-to-call-it-core: is there anything metal fans like to do more than bitch over which particular sub-genre of metal a band “belongs” to? We bet plenty that every band on The Hard Knock Life Tour is bloody well sick of hearing the arguments.

We don’t really care what genre-pigeonhole you want to stuff the bands into; our only concern is that our top snapper, Gary Wolstenholme, got down the front to take some shots. Opening the shindig at the Sheffield Corporation were the rising stars of Sumerian Records, After The Burial, with those German monsters of metalcore, Caliban, taking to the stage for the second spot.

It was left to Emmure (that’s them, pictured above) to close the night. You can tell by the way that Frankie Palmeri’s got his arms crossed that he thinks he is totally bad-ass. Though he also appears to have his eyes shut – maybe he’s fallen asleep? Is this some thinly-disguised meta-joke commenting on his band’s own lacklustre output? Are these identi-kit deathcore-types smarter than we thought, and are in fact operating on levels we can’t even begin to imagine?

Wow – you learn something everyday.

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There’s still a handful of dates left on The Hard Knock Life tour, so if you still want to catch this package before it moves on to mainland Europe then you’d better get your arses in gear.

The Hard Knock Life Tour November tourdates
17 Newcastle Academy 2
18 Reading Sublive
19 London Highbury Garage