Metalcore Lore (Check Description)

In my novel Dragon of Grace, the central character Maria discovered extreme metal at age fourteen after moving out of her family home in Maryland. She stayed with her brother, Brandon, living with him in Prayer Springs, Georgia for the next several years. During this period, she learned about groups like In Flames, Morbid Angel, and Unbroken through their local record store. from 1994 to 1996, Unbroken's album Life, Love, Regret remained consistently her favorite, but that changed upon the release of State Craft's extended play, Never Forget. At the time, melodic metalcore was barely establishing its roots, incorporating aspects of melodic death metal while maintaining a number of distinct differences. Releases from other groups soon followed, and during the summer of '99, Maria and several of her allies secretly recorded a demo titled Meadows under the name Fields of Grace, heavily inspired by State Craft's early cover art. There were only five copies produced between them, and in October of 2000, North Carolina band Undying would put out their first full-length album, The Whispered Lies of Angels, which materialized mere days before Maria's group finished the second phase of their training. It was one of the last records she and Emily bonded over before the latter returned home to Arkansas, emerging stronger than ever nearly a year later to help the others cleanse the world of the insidious. Metal in general plays a huge role in the characters' early development, even being mentioned to other supporting cast members later as a coping mechanism for Maria. In contrast to popular media, the styles were darker and heavier to reflect the story's serious nature - especially hers in particular. Early on, she's more quiet and reserved, usually only speaking when spoken to. Later on she lightens up a little, but the core of personality remains consistent. She's dead-set on atoning for her mistakes, as well as protecting others from what she had to experience growing up.