These Are The 20 Best Breakdowns Of The Decade

HEADBANG

If there’s one thing that really brings heavy fans together, it’s a love of the not-so-humble breakdown. 

We can’t get enough of them, so we’ve decided to compile a list of what we think are the 20 best breakdowns of the last decade. Feast your ears.

Check out the timestamp after each song title for the time of the breakdown in each song. 

20. THY ART IS MURDER – ‘FUR AND CLAW’ (2:00)
Taken from their 2015 album ‘Holy War’, this breakdown is absolutely beastly and certainly the most memorable on the record.

19. EMMURE – ‘FLAG OF THE BEAST’ (2:20)
Emmure are well known for their earth-shattering breakdowns, and this offering from new album ‘Look At Yourself’ is no exception.

18. PARKWAY DRIVE – ‘SWING’ (1:34)
Aussie metalcore legends Parkway Drive dropped so many great breakdowns on 2012’s ‘Atlas’. Here’s one of the classics. “SWING!”

17. BURY TOMORROW – ‘EARTHBOUND’ (2:27)
The lads in Bury Tomorrow are masters of metalcore as shown in the title track from their 2016 album ‘Earthbound’. Cracking stuff.

16. STRAY FROM THE PATH – ‘FIRST WORLD PROBLEM CHILD (FT. SAM CARTER)’ (2:00)
The breakdown at the end of this song makes us want to flip all the tables. The feature from Sam Carter is nice, too.

15. THY ART IS MURDER – ‘INFINITE FORMS’ (3:08)
You can almost taste the amount of groove in this one.

14. LOATHE – ‘IT’S YOURS’ (3:53)
British hardcore crew Loathe are one to look out for. Feel the power of the disgustingly heavy breakdown at the end of ‘It’s Yours’.

13. NORTHLANE – ‘DISPOSSESSION’ (3:17) 
This Northlane classic will never let us down.

12. STICK TO YOUR GUNS – ‘DIAMOND’ (1:45)
'Diamond’ is everything we love about Stick To Your Guns in two and a half minutes. All the mosh. 

11. VOLUMES – ‘WORMHOLES’ (4:09)
Volumes love a good breakdown, and ‘Wormholes’ is one of the original and best. Try staying still when this kicks in.

https://youtu.be/iLoDiIijO1k

10. THE WORD ALIVE – ‘TRAPPED’ (2:42)
This breakdown is plain dirty. It’s low and slow, and so aggressive. Awesome stuff. 

09. BEARTOOTH – ‘BODY BAG’ (2:43)
“MAKE SURE IT ENDS WITH YOU STILL LIVING”

08. ARCHITECTS – ‘A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN’ (3:30)
The lead single from ‘All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us’ is already a classic.

07. PARKWAY DRIVE – ‘DEDICATED’
Such a monster. “UNBREAKABLE!”.

06. CHELSEA GRIN – ‘RECREANT’ (3:45)
Possibly the most evil sounding song on this list, the breakdown at the end of ‘Recreant’ is stuff of legend.

05. A DAY TO REMEMBER – ‘EXPOSED’ (2:50)
A Day To Remember know how to kick off a pit. ‘Exposed’ is a fine example of this from their latest album, ‘Bad Vibrations’.

04. CODE ORANGE – ‘FOREVER’ (2:18)
Pure. Hardcore. Brutality.

03. WAGE WAR – ‘THE RIVER’ (0:51, 1:19, 2:05, 2:32, 3:30)
There are like, five breakdowns in this song. At least. 

02. THY ART IS MURDER – ‘REIGN OF DARKNESS’ (3:21)
The drumming defines this deathcore gem, with one of the most iconic breakdowns in the scene. “YOU WILL SEE THE TRUE FACE OF PANIC!”.

01. ARCHITECTS – ‘THESE COLOURS DON’T RUN’ (3:07)
Architects’ 2012 album ‘Daybreaker’ saw them seriously turn up the heavy, and this song is the perfect example of that attitude.

It never fails to absolutely go off live, and has one of the most memorable pre-breakdown lines in the genre… 

“You had it all, you fucking pigs.”

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