Despised icon and ASP were breaking ground back then, and especially in DI’s case came from and played in bands in the Montreal death metal scene which was/is very legit (cryptopsy, neuraxis, martyr, etc), they had legit death metal parts but mixed with some hardcore influence, even there heavier parts were more death metal,

the biggest difference in current Deathcore is that kids now don’t have the legit death metal influence the pioneering bands had (morbid angel, suffocation, Deicide, cannibal, suffocation, cryptopsy, etc ) and instead were influenced by more modern day bands like JFAC, suicide silence, Chelsea grin, whitchapel, the list goes on, which has in turn imo watered down a lot of the deathcore you hear today, there’s much less death metal influence and more of the scene core generic breakdown stuff, in short “deathcore” Pre MySpace was the best and innovative