How to Write Mathcore Lyrics

Want lyrics that do more than scream? Want them to snap, stutter, and line up with riffs that sound like a thrift store blender? Welcome to mathcore. Mathcore is music that loves complexity and chaos. Your words must match that energy. They need to be rhythmically precise when required and emotionally volcanic when required. This guide gives you the tools, tricks, and stupidly effective exercises you can use today to write mathcore lyrics that feel both technical and savage.

This is written for musicians who like to laugh and then break things. We will explain the nerdy terms like time signature and polyrhythm so they stop sounding like an inside joke. We will give real life scenarios where you might finish a verse on the subway, scream a chorus in the shower, or scribble a title on a pizza box in a practice room. We will show before and after lines that transform bland into brutal. Read this, use the drills, and your lyrics will finally behave like the riffs do.

What Is Mathcore

Mathcore is a subgenre of hardcore and metal that emphasizes rhythmic complexity, abrupt changes, and dissonant harmony. Bands you have heard of might include names that bounce between painfully technical guitar work and throat shredding vocals. Think of it as math rock with teeth. The music uses odd meters, frequent tempo changes, and riffs that sound like they need a degree in geometry to count. Your lyrics cannot be lazy. They must be surgical, visceral, and able to land on weird beats without collapsing.

Terms explained

• Time signature This is the count pattern of the music. For example four four means four beats per bar and each beat is a quarter note. Seven eight means seven beats per bar and each beat is an eighth note. Odd meters are counts that do not feel like standard pop counts.
• Polyrhythm Two or more rhythmic patterns played at once. Imagine your guitar riff saying one thing while the drums say another. It can feel thrilling and disorienting at the same time.
• BPM Beats per minute. This measures tempo. A blast beat is a rapid drum pattern that will ask much of your syllable delivery.
• Dissonance Sounds that clash. Dissonance is a tool not a crime. It creates tension that your words can either match or resolve.
• DAW Digital audio workstation. This is the app where you record and map your riffs. Examples include Reaper, Logic, Ableton Live, and Pro Tools.

Core Themes in Mathcore Lyrics

Mathcore lyrics lean into the dark and the precise. That does not mean you must be miserable. It means you must be specific. Here are reliable themes and how to make them feel raw and new.

• Existential collapse Not just I am lost. Describe the lamp on your ceiling counting the minutes it has left.
• Anxiety and panic Show the physical symptoms like the way your jaw clicks when you swallow while walking past a crowd.
• Social critique Target institutions with precise images. A bank teller filing your anger into an envelope is better than system sucks.
• Absurdist violence Use surreal metaphors like a moon that chews tax documents. Weirdness feels right next to technical music.
• Internal diary entries Short dated lines, time stamps, and objects make chaos feel anchored.

Why Mathcore Lyrics Are Different

In pop you can lean on long melodic vowels and wide phrasing. In mathcore you must fit words into jagged measures. The lyric line sometimes needs to act like a percussion part. That means pay attention to syllables, consonants, and stress patterns. The vocals will be an instrument more than an oracle. When the guitar hits a staccato chug you might want a consonant cluster to click with it. When the drums open into a blast beat you might want vowels extended into screams.

Real life scenario

You are in a practice room and the guitarist plays a riff that feels like a garage door with trust issues. The drummer plays a fill that stops on a count that makes you want to spit the word purge into the silence. If your lyrics cannot land on that silence they will feel like an extra tile on a roof that needs a tile pulled out for air. Your job is to be that exact tile.

Tools You Need

You will not write mathcore lyrics with charm alone. Bring these tools.

• Metronome A must. Use it to map out odd meter phrases. Click tracks hide nothing.
• DAW Record riffs and mark the bars. Slow the audio if you need to. Many tools let you loop tiny sections for practice.
• Voice memos Record rough screams and nursery level nonsense syllables. Later you can swap in real words.
• Notebook and pen Paper is easier for weird scrawl and emergency titles scribbled on pizza boxes.
• Reference library Keep favorite lines and weird images you like. Borrow tone not exact lines.

Step by Step Workflow

Below is a workflow you can use whether you start with lyrics or riffs. This is practical. Try one round and iterate.

Approach A: Riff first

1. Record the riff loop in your DAW. Loop a single section where the riff feels like it stops and breathes.
2. Tap the time signature. Count the beats out loud. If it feels like one two three four two three try to label it correctly such as five four or seven eight.
3. Do a vowel pass. Sing nonsense on vowel sounds while the riff loops. Use short syllables while the riff stabs and longer vowels when it opens. Record several passes. Mark moments you want to repeat.
4. Create a skeleton line. Match syllable counts to the riff. If the riff has three short hits then a rest, write three single syllable words and a pause. Example short stack could be cut. gut. spit. pause.
5. Replace nonsense syllables with words. Use concrete images. If the riff feels aggressive choose verbs like carve or unmake. If the riff slides choose images that slide like mercury. Test them at full volume.

Approach B: Lyric first

1. Write a one sentence emotional kernel. This is the promise of your lyric. For example I keep losing my shadow to the office clock.
2. Scan the sentence for strong beats. Read it aloud and mark stressed syllables. Those stress points will be the anchor points in weird meters.
3. Find or write a riff that can host the sentence. Sometimes the right riff appears after you place a few words on top. Swap until the prosody feels tight.

Mapping syllables to riffs

Mathcore often uses metric displacement. That means a saturated phrase might start on beat two or three in a bar. To avoid syllable smudging, write a grid. In your notebook write the count numbers and under each number write the word or syllable that lands there. Practice speaking that grid while hitting a metronome until it becomes muscle memory.

Example grid for a seven eight bar

• Count: one two three four five six seven
• Syllables: Raze the wall then split the light

Say it over the riff. If your jaw trips rewrite. Replace vowels or move words so the natural stress aligns with the stronger musical beats.

Prosody and Stress Mapping

Prosody means the rhythm of words. In extreme music prosody is the difference between chorus landing clean and everything sounding like rubber. Here is how to check prosody.

1. Speak the lyric at normal speed and mark the natural stresses. Use capital letters for stressed syllables. Example THE dog CLAWED the FLOOR.
2. Listen to the riff and mark the strong beats. Usually those are the beats you feel in your chest from the kick drum.
3. Align. If a stressed word falls on a weak beat change either the word or the melody so the stress lands on a strong beat.

Real life edit

Original line: I am feeling like the city is swallowing me

Spoken stress: i AM FEELing LIKE the CIty IS SWAL low ing ME

Too many weak stresses. Rewritten: CITY eats my shoes in the rain

Now stresses are sharper and fit percussive riffs.

Vocal Techniques and Safety

Your lyrics will often be delivered with extreme vocal techniques. Here are the basics and how to avoid sounding like a fried speaker.

• Fry and false cord These are techniques used for lower pitched screams and growls. Fry uses the vocal fry register. False cord uses tissue above your vocal folds. Learn both from a coach. You can hurt yourself if you try blindly.
• High screams Rely on a mix of head voice and controlled distortion. Hydration, warm ups, and rest matter more than bravado.
• Shout and speak Many mathcore vocal lines are shouted or spoken with rhythmic aggression. You can do this safely by using the diaphragm not the throat. Breathe low and push with support.
• Mic technique Keep your mouth a few inches from the capsule when screaming. Angle slightly to avoid proximity overload. Use a pop filter for close spoken parts.

Do not invent care advice. See a vocal coach if you feel pain. Vocal rest and technique are not optional. You can ruin your instrument with one stupid practice.

Lyric Devices That Work in Mathcore

Use these devices to make your words interesting and agile.

• Ring phrase Repeat a short line at the start and end of a section. The repetition becomes an anchor in chaotic music.
• Fragmentation Break sentences into clipped shards. Let the instruments glue them together.
• List escalation Use three items that grow stranger. Example: receipts, teeth, receipts of teeth.
• Time stamps Date lines and times give the listener a breadcrumb. Example June 3 03:12 AM the elevator hums like a confession.
• Technical metaphor Use mathematical, medical, or architectural metaphors. Example fractal grief or blueprint lungs.
• Phonetic design Choose consonants to match the riff. Chugs like hard C and K. Open vowels for sustained screams.

Before and After: Real Rewrites

These examples show how to turn generic into mathcore ready.

Before: I am angry at the system.

After: June nine ten PM the teller swallows my name

Before: I feel like everything is falling apart.

After: the ceiling counts the cracks and invoices me for air

Before: You hurt me and I will never forget.

After: you stamped my birthday into the ledger and left the receipt under my tongue

Before: This town is dying.

After: rust climbs the streetlight and eats the stop sign

Exercises and Drills

Use these drills to train your lyric muscle. Time yourself and do not edit while you draft. Speed creates brutal honesty.

Odd Meter Drill

1. Pick an odd meter like seven eight or five four. Set a metronome and count it out loud for a minute.
2. Loop a 4 bar riff in that meter or use a drum machine. Do a vowel pass for two minutes where you sing nonsense syllables aligned to the riff.
3. Replace the syllables with words that create a single image. Keep the same syllable counts. Repeat three times and record the best pass.

Consonant Match Drill

1. Play a palm muted chug riff. Choose hard consonants to match the chug like K T P D.
2. Write 12 short words using those consonants. Arrange them into a bar grid and chant over the riff.
3. Turn one of those words into a concrete image. Now you have a verse fragment.

Time Stamp Drill

1. Write three lines, each with a precise time and place. Example 02 07 AM laundromat, July.
2. Make each line do something. The first line shows, the second line reacts, the third line flips expectation.
3. Use these three lines as the chorus anchor. Build the verse around the lead in to those moments.

Working With Composers and Producers

Collaboration in mathcore is practical chaos. Your lyric will need to be flexible. Here are ways to be a useful collaborator without sounding like a diva with a thesaurus.

• Give syllable charts When you bring lyrics, give a simple count chart showing where each syllable lands. The drummer will love you for it.
• Offer placeholder syllables If you do not have the final words yet sing placeholders. They show the rhythmic role of the vocal part.
• Map dynamics Show where you want to whisper versus destroy. A whispered line can be the bridge into a blast beat and will be planned in the mix.
• Ask for a click track Producers can program clicks that change meter if the song shifts. It saves everyone time when you can count instead of guess.

Recording Tips

Capture the vibe and the math. Here are practical steps for a clean brutal performance.

• Warm up Ten minutes of breathing and light crackle on vowels. Do not go in cold.
• Record scratch takes Capture the first intent. Many times the first raw pass has the visceral edge you want even if the pitch is messy.
• Comping Record multiple passes. Comping is choosing the best parts of each take. Keep the ones that have emotional truth.
• Layering Double the chorus screams with slight timing differences. This creates a wall of sound that still sits with the math.
• Editing When aligning words to percussion, micro edit to the transient of the drum hit. Tight alignment makes the voice feel like part of the kit.

Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them

• Too abstract Fix by adding one concrete image per verse line. Abstraction alone floats in the void.
• Syllable smearing Fix by counting. Rewrite lines so stressed syllables land on musical accents.
• Vocal injury Fix by stopping immediately when you feel pain. Get a coach and rework technique.
• Lyrics fighting the riff Fix by simplifying either the lyric rhythm or the riff for that section. Less is a valid creative choice.
• Overwriting Fix with the crime scene edit. Delete anything that does not add a new image or effect.

Advanced Techniques

Once you can land a verse in seven eight and scream without crying, try these advanced tactics to level up your writing.

• Metric overlay Write a line that belongs in four four while the music is in five four. Use it as a deliberate destabilizer then resolve into the metric frame.
• Lexical stutter Repeat the first syllable of a word to mirror a guitar tremolo and then explode into a long vowel. Example ba ba burned.
• Counterpoint vocals Have two vocal lines play against each other rhythmically. One whispers and moves slowly, the other screams in fast subdivisions.
• Notated lyrics If you work with classically trained musicians write a basic score or rhythmic notation. It prevents the vocalist from guessing where to land.

Publishing and Metadata Tips

When your song is ready do not mess up the basics. Proper metadata helps with splits, royalties, and sync clears.

• Title clarity Use a title that can be said in a sentence. Avoid titling everything Untitled or Track One.
• Lyric sheet Submit a clean lyric sheet to your publisher and PRO. PRO stands for performing rights organization. Examples in the US are ASCAP BMI and SESAC. They collect performance royalties for you. Provide them with accurate writer splits.
• Store phrases If you expect sync opportunities add short lyric tags that can be sung in commercials. Even mathcore sometimes lands in drama.

What To Do When Writer’s Block Tricks You

Writer’s block for mathcore is usually metrics anxiety. The trick is to lower pressure and raise specificity.

• Step away from the meter. Write one violent sentence about your morning. Then force yourself to place it into the riff.
• Use the object drill. Pick one object in the room and write ten bad lines. Bad lines are training wheels that lead to good lines.
• Change medium. If you always type try handwriting. If you always scream try whispering the lyrics.

Action Plan You Can Use Tonight

1. Pick one riff you love and loop four bars in your DAW.
2. Count the meter out loud and mark the strong beats.
3. Do a two minute vowel pass. Record three different takes.
4. Choose the best pass and replace nonsense with concrete words. Use time stamps and objects.
5. Practice the line with a metronome until the syllables land without thinking.
6. Record three full takes. Pick your favorite and keep it. Comp later if needed.

Mathcore Lyrics FAQ

What if I cannot scream

Not everyone screams. Many effective mathcore vocalists use spoken or shouted delivery with pockets of clean singing. Focus on phrasing and rhythm. If you want to learn screaming get a coach and prioritize technique. Use yelling only in short bursts during practice to avoid strain.

How do I write lyrics for odd meters

Count the bar out loud and write a syllable chart. Practice speaking the line over the bar with a metronome. Replace placeholder syllables with words that keep the stress where the music demands it. Repeat until it feels like muscle memory.

Can I use poetic language in mathcore

Yes. Poetic language works when it is anchored in a concrete image. Avoid long abstract metaphors that do not sit well on percussive riffs. A single precise image will do more work than a paragraph of murky language.

How do I make my chorus memorable when the music is chaotic

Create a short ring phrase and repeat it. Use a different vocal texture such as clean singing or an extended vowel scream to mark the chorus. Keep the chorus language simple enough to be chanted or mouthed by a crowd even if the rhythm is jagged.

What are some lyrical themes that fit mathcore

Existential collapse, modern life friction, absurdist violence, surveillance anxiety, bureaucratic decay, and interior collapse. Pick one lens and squeeze fresh images from it. Avoid listing themes. Instead choose details that smell like the theme.

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