5 Best Metalcore Guitar Tones (And the Albums That Defined Them)

Metalcore's guitar tone has never really been one sound — it's a genre that stretches from mechanically precise djent riffing to atmospheric, almost shoegaze-adjacent textures, sometimes within the same band's discography. The records below aren't just heavy for the sake of it; each one represents a moment where a band's tone became genuinely inseparable from their identity. Here are five guitar tones that shaped where metalcore and progressive metal have gone.

1. ERRA — Drift (2016)

Before ERRA became known for balancing melody and mechanical precision in equal measure, Drift was where that identity first snapped into focus. This is ERRA at their most rhythmically unforgiving — tight, palm-muted riffing built around djent-style rhythmic complexity, with just enough melodic guitar work threaded through to hint at where the band was eventually headed. It's a rawer, more technical tone than what came later, and it's a big part of why longtime fans still point to this era as the moment ERRA became a genuine progressive metalcore force rather than just another technical band in the scene. We break down how to build ERRA's tone in more detail in our full ERRA tone breakdown.

2. Thornhill — Heroine / Bodies

Thornhill's tone across Heroine (2022) and Bodies (2025) works best understood as one continuous evolution rather than two separate stories. Heroine marked a deliberate step away from the band's earlier metalcore roots into something more atmospheric and shoegaze-inflected, and Bodies pushed that even further — stacking dreamy, spacious guitar textures right up against genuinely heavy, aggressive sections, sometimes inside the same song. What makes this era stand out is how unresolved that tension is allowed to stay. The tone never fully picks a side between heavy and atmospheric, and that refusal to settle is exactly what makes it distinct. We go deeper on how to build that contrast in our full Thornhill tone breakdown.

3. Architects — Holy Hell (2018)

Holy Hell exists under uniquely heavy circumstances — written and recorded in the aftermath of founding guitarist Tom Searle's death, it's an album where the guitar tone had to carry genuine grief without tipping into melodrama. The result is a tone that swings between soaring, almost anthemic melodic sections and some of the heaviest breakdowns in the band's catalog, often within the same track. It's widely regarded as one of the most emotionally direct records in modern metalcore, and the tone itself — expansive, dynamic, unafraid of space — is a huge part of why it lands the way it does. We break down how to build that tone in our full Architects tone breakdown.

4. Spiritbox — Eternal Blue (2021)

Eternal Blue is the record that turned Spiritbox into one of the most talked-about names in modern metal, and the guitar tone is a big reason why. Tracks like "Holy Roller" showcase a tone built for clarity under high gain — bright, articulate, and precise rather than thick or scooped, which is what lets the riffs cut through instead of getting buried. We went deep on exactly how that tone is built in our full Spiritbox tone breakdown if you want the details.

5. Polaris — Fatalism (2023)

Fatalism carries its own weight — it's the final album to feature lead guitarist Ryan Siew, whose contributions were completed before his passing in 2023. Beyond that context, it's also widely considered Polaris's most mature and atmospheric record to date, layering technical, emotionally charged riffing with a more nuanced sense of mood and space than their earlier work. The guitar tone reflects that maturity directly — less about raw aggression alone, more about serving the emotional weight of the songs themselves. We go deeper on that tone, rhythm through lead, in our full Polaris tone breakdown.

Every one of these tones takes real trial and error to recreate — different mic pairings, gain staging, and effects decisions depending on which side of "heavy" versus "atmospheric" a given tone leans toward. We've built presets modeled around several of these eras for Archetype Gojira if you'd rather skip the guesswork — you can browse the full collection here.