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Grindcore
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Grindcore, often shortened to grind, is an extreme music genre that emerged during the mid–late 1980s. It draws inspiration from some of the most abrasive music genres – including death metal, industrial music, noise and the more extreme varieties of hardcore punk.
Grindcore is characterized by heavily distorted, down-tuned guitars, extreme tempos, frequently accompanied by blast beats, songs often lasting no more than two minutes (some are seconds long), and vocals which consist of growls and high-pitched screams. Lyrical themes range from social and political issues (Napalm Death) to gore (Carcass) and humor (Anal Cunt).
blast beat is a drum beat characteristic of grindcore in all its forms, although its usage predates the genre itself.
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Encyclopedia
Grindcore, often shortened to grind, is an extreme music genre that emerged during the mid–late 1980s. It draws inspiration from some of the most abrasive music genres – including death metal, industrial music, noise and the more extreme varieties of hardcore punk.
Grindcore is characterized by heavily distorted, down-tuned guitars, extreme tempos, frequently accompanied by blast beats, songs often lasting no more than two minutes (some are seconds long), and vocals which consist of growls and high-pitched screams. Lyrical themes range from social and political issues (Napalm Death) to gore (Carcass) and humor (Anal Cunt).
Characteristics
Blast beat
The blast beat is a drum beat characteristic of grindcore in all its forms, although its usage predates the genre itself. In Adam MacGregor's definition, "the blast-beat generally comprises a repeated, sixteenth-note figure played at a very fast tempo, and divided uniformly among the kick drum, snare and ride, crash, or hi-hat cymbal." Blast beats have been described as "maniacal percussive explosions, less about rhythm per se than sheer sonic violence." Napalm Death coined the term, though this style of drumming had previously been practiced by others. Daniel Ekeroth argues that the blast beat was first performed by the Swedish D-beat group Asocial on their 1982 demo. D.R.I. ("No Sense"), Sepultura ("Antichrist"), S.O.D. ("Milk"), Sarcófago ("Satanas"), and Repulsion also included the technique prior to Napalm Death's emergence.
Guitar tuning
The vinyl A-side of Napalm Death's debut, Scum, is set to standard tuning, while on side B the guitars are tuned down 2½ steps. Their second album and 1989's Mentally Murdered EP were tuned to C#. Harmony Corruption, their third offering, was tuned up to a D. Fellow grindcore practitioners Carcass also had the habit of the downtuning their guitars - specifically, to B. Bolt Thrower went further than Carcass, dropping 3½ steps down (A).
Song length
One well-known characteristic of grindcore and related genres is the 'microsong': songs lasting only a few seconds. In 2001, the Guinness Book of World Records awarded Brutal Truth the record for "Shortest Music Video" for 1994's "Collateral Damage". The song lasts 4 seconds. In 2007, the video for the Napalm Death song "You Suffer" set a new "Shortest Music Video" record: 1.3 seconds.
Along with the microsong, it is characteristic of early grindcore to have diminutive song lengths. Such is the example of Carcass' Reek of Putrefaction (1988), where the song span averages in about 1 minute and 48 seconds.
Lyrical themes
Napalm Death's songs address a variety of anarchist concerns, in the tradition of anarcho-punk. These themes include anti-racism, feminism, anti-militarism, and anti-capitalism. A number of grindcore musicians remain committed to political and ethical causes. Other grindcore groups, such as Carcass, have expressed disgust with the body, and are famous for their vegetarianism. Carcass' work is sometimes identified as the origin of the goregrind style, which is devoted to these bodily themes. Groups that shift their bodily focus to sexual matters, such as Gut, are sometimes referred to as "pornogrind". Both Anal Cunt and Pig Destroyer are controversial for their apparent misogyny. Seth Putnam's lyrics are notorious for their irony and black comedy, while The Locust and Agoraphobic Nosebleed tend toward satirical collage, indebted to William S. Burroughs' cut-up method.
History
Precursors
The early grindcore scene relied on an international network of tape trading and DIY production. The most widely acknowledged precursors of the grindcore sound are Siege, a hardcore punk group, and Repulsion, an early death metal outfit.
Siege, from Weymouth, Massachusetts, were influenced by classic American hardcore (Minor Threat, Black Flag, Void) and by British groups like Discharge, Venom, and Motörhead. Siege's goal was maximum velocity: "We would listen to the fastest punk and hardcore bands we could find and say, ‘Okay, we’re gonna deliberately write something that is faster than them'", drummer Robert Williams recalled.
Repulsion, from Flint, Michigan, cited street punk groups like Discharge and Charged GBH, crossover thrash such as Dirty Rotten Imbeciles and Corrosion of Conformity, thrash metal like Slayer, Metallica, and Sodom, early black metal (Venom) and death metal (Possessed), hardcore punk, like Black Flag, and older hard rock, as inspirational. The group is often credited with inventing the classic grind blast beat (played at 190 bpm), as well as its distinctive bass tone. Shane Embury, in particular, advocates the band as the origin of Napalm Death's later innovations. Kevin Sharp of Brutal Truth declares that "Horrified was and still is the defining core of what grind became; a perfect mix of hardcore punk with metallic gore, speed and distortion."
Other groups in the British grindcore scene, such as Heresy and Unseen Terror, have emphasized the influence of American hardcore punk, including Septic Death, as well as Swedish D-beat. Sore Throat cites Discharge, Disorder, and a variety of European D-beat and thrash metal groups, including Hellhammer, and American hardcore groups, such as Poison Idea and DRI. Japanese hardcore is also mentioned by a number of originators of the style, particularly GISM.
Napalm Death
Grindcore, as such, was developed during the mid-1980s in the United Kingdom by Napalm Death. The name "grindcore" is said to have been coined by Napalm Death's second drummer, Mick Harris. When asked about coming up with the term, Harris said the following:
Other sources contradict Harris' claim. In a Spin magazine article written about the genre, Steven Blush declares that "the man often credited" for dubbing the style grindcore was Shane Embury, Napalm Death's bassist since 1987. Embury offers his own account of how the grindcore "sound" came to be:
Earache Records founder Digby Pearson concurs with Embury, saying that Napalm Death "put hardcore and metal through an accelerator." Pearson, however, said that grindcore "wasn't just about the speed of [the] drums, blast beats, etc." He claimed that "it actually was coined to describe the guitars - heavy, downtuned, bleak, harsh riffing guitars [that] 'grind', so that's what the genre was described as, by the musicians who were its innovators [and] proponents."
In addition to Repulsion and Siege, key groups cited by current and former members of Napalm Death as formative influences include Discharge, Lärm, Amebix, Throbbing Gristle, Dirty Rotten Imbeciles and the aforementioned Celtic Frost and the Swans. Post-punk, such as Killing Joke and Joy Division, were also cited as an influence on early Napalm Death.
1980s grindcore after Napalm Death
Napalm Death's seismic impact inspired other British grindcore groups, among them Carcass and Sore Throat, and the Belgian group Agathocles. Early American grind practitioners included Terrorizer and Assück. S.O.B. are recognized as the first Japanese grindcore group, first recording in 1986, and primarily influenced by Siege and early Napalm Death. Patareni, of Croatia, and Fear of God, from Switzerland, are also considered important early practitioners of the style. Filthy Christians, who signed to Earache Records in 1989, introduced the style in Sweden, while Cripple Bastards established Italian grindcore. Guilio of Cripple Bastards asserts that the name itself took some time to migrate from Britain, with the style being referred to as "death-thrashcore" for a time in Europe. The German label TNT Records began to release grindcore recordings early on, advancing the "noisecore" (or "noisegrind") scene, exemplified by the American group Anal Cunt, described by Guilio as "the most anti-musical and nihilistic face of extreme music at that time."
1990s
Brutal Truth was a groundbreaking group in the American scene at the beginning of the 1990s. However, Sharp indicates that they were more inspired by the thrash metal of Dark Angel than the British groups. Nasum became the most prominent Swedish grindcore group, addressing political topics at maximum intensity. Scott Hull is prominent in the contemporary grindcore scene, through his participation in Pig Destroyer and Agoraphobic Nosebleed. ANb's Frozen Corpse Stuffed with Dope has been described as "the Paul's Boutique of grindcore", by Village Voice critic Phil Freeman, for its "hyper-referential, impossibly dense barrage of samples, blast beats, answering machine messages, and incomprehensibly bellowed rants." Pig Destroyer is inspired by thrash metal, such as Dark Angel and Slayer, the sludge metal of the Melvins, and grindcore practiced by Brutal Truth, while Agoraphobic Nosebleed takes cues from thrashcore and powerviolence, like D.R.I. and Crossed Out. Pig Destroyer's style is sometimes referred to as "deathgrind", because of the prevalence of death metal influences, as are Cattle Decapitation. The Locust, from San Diego, also take inspiration from powerviolence (Crossed Out, Dropdead), first-wave screamo (Angel Hair), obscure experimental rock (Art Bears, Renaldo and the Loaf), and death metal. Other prominent grindcore groups of the 1990s include Brujeria, Soilent Green, Cephalic Carnage, and Impetigo.
2000s
Leng Tch'e, Inhume, Regurgitate and Rotten Sound, all from Europe, and the American Circle of Dead Children, are contemporary groups who practice grindcore with strong death metal influences. The 21st century also saw the development of "cybergrind", practiced by The Berzerker and Genghis Tron, which borrows from electronic music.
Legacy
While abrasive, grindcore achieved a measure of mainstream visibility. As James Hoare, deputy editor of Terrorizer, writes,
Grindcore's impact quickly spread through the world of extreme music.
Industrial metal
Napalm Death's former guitarist, Justin Broadrick, went on to a career in industrial metal with Godflesh. Mick Harris, in his post-Napalm Death project, Scorn, briefly experimented with the style. Scorn also worked in the industrial hip hop and isolationist styles. Fear Factory have also cited debts to the genre.
Noise rock
Japanese noise rock group Boredoms took inspiration from grind, and toured with Brutal Truth in 1993. Naked City, lead by avant-garde jazz saxophonist John Zorn, performed an avant-garde form of polystylistic, grindcore-influenced punk jazz. Zorn later formed the Painkiller project with ambient dub producer Bill Laswell on bass guitar and Mick Harris on drums, which also collaborated with Justin Broadrick on some work.
Powerviolence
Powerviolence was a late 1980s outgrowth of American hardcore punk that borrowed from noise music. The style was similar to grindcore and took inspiration from Napalm Death and other early groups, but avoided elements of heavy metal.
Digital hardcore
The Panacea, a prominent digital hardcore musician, describes himself as "the digital version of Napalm Death." Agoraphobic Nosebleed and the Locust have also solicited remixes from digital hardcore producers and noise musicians. James Plotkin, Dave Witte, and Speedranch participated in the Phantomsmasher project, which melds grindcore and digital hardcore. Alec Empire collaborated with Justin Broadrick, on the first Curse of the Golden Vampire album, and with Gabe Serbian, of the Locust, live in Japan. Japanoise icon Merzbow also participated in the Empire/Serbian show, and has frequently mentioned his appreciation for grindcore.
Metalcore
Coalesce, an early metalcore group, released a split 7" with Napalm Death in 1997. Subsequently, mathcore groups such as Dillinger Escape Plan, Some Girls, and Daughters, and screamo groups, like Circle Takes the Square and Orchid, have been associated with grindcore by some commentators. These groups also include elements of post-hardcore. By 2009, metalcore and deathcore bands began to describe themselves as grindcore, but have been met with criticism.
See also
List of grindcore bands
Bibliography
- Appleford, Steve (1998). The family that plays together. Guitar, 15(12), 40-42, 45-46, 49-50, 53-54, 57.
- Blush, Steven (1991). Grindcore. Spin, 7(3), 35-36.
- Carcass (1988). Reek of Putrefaction. [CD]. Nottingham, UK: Earache Compact Discs, Cassettes & Records. (1994).
- Ekeroth, Daniel (2008). Swedish Death Metal. Bazillion Points Books. ISBN 978-0-9796163-1-0
- Grindcore Special (2009), Terrorizer, 180, 41-56, and 181, 41-56.
- Johnson, Richard (2007). . Disposable Underground, 15(38), 02-04.
- Lilker, Danny (2007). "A User's Guide to Grindcore." Grind Your Mind: A History of Grindcore [CD]. Liner notes. Mayan Records, MYNDD056.
- Mudrian, Albert (2004). Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore. Los Angeles, CA: Feral House.
- Sarcófago. (1986). Satanas. On Warfare noise [CD]. Belo Horizonte, MG: Cogumelo Records. (2007).
- Sepultura (1986). Antichrist. On Morbid visions [CD]. New York: Roadrunner Records. (1997).
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