Grindcore

In popular music, grindcore is considered an extreme subgenre of heavy metal characterized by high levels of speed, aggressive electric guitar riffs, and vocal styles that include shrieks, guttural growls, and rapidly delivered lyrics that are difficult or impossible to decipher. Grindcore artists tend to use the three standard heavy metal instruments (electric guitar, bass, and drums) to craft compositions that push extremes as part of a constant effort to make their music louder, faster, and more intense. Songs tend to be short, with some being measured in seconds rather than minutes.

As a distinct style, grindcore is rooted in the hardcore punk rock of the 1970s and the thrash metal of the early 1980s. It developed in both the United States and Europe over the course of the 1980s, emerging as a distinct subgenre of heavy metal in the latter half of the decade. In the twenty-first century, grindcore is considered a fringe genre in the spectrum of popular music, with a relatively small but highly dedicated and loyal fan base.

Brief History

The hardcore punk scene of the 1970s elevated rock music extremes to new heights, prompting artists in the heavy metal genre to push the limits of their compositions. This led to the development of thrash metal, a type of heavy metal that features rapid, up-tempo percussion; intense and driving guitar riffs; and a virtuoso lead guitar style known as shredding, in which soloists play intricate, highly detailed electric guitar compositions at an extremely fast pace. Grindcore evolved directly out of thrash metal and was initially inspired by a desire on the part of early artists to make the fastest, most intense, most hardcore thrash metal possible.

Various sources give differing accounts of grindcore's genesis and early evolution, but the generally accepted consensus is that the genre originated in the United States in the early 1980s and spread to the United Kingdom a few years later, where it matured into what many purists consider its truest form. During its initial evolution, grindcore was exclusive to an underground network of heavy metal music clubs, and followers of various bands frequently traded tapes to spread the music in the years before grindcore artists were signed to official record deals. Prominent early bands in the grindcore scene include the English outfit Napalm Death, whose seminal 1987 debut album, Scum, is often cited as the first truly grindcore album to register in the popular music mainstream. Other influential artists from the early days of grindcore include the American bands Repulsion and Siege and the British group Carcass.

By the early 1990s, the underground grindcore scene had exploded, leading to a massive influx of new bands. This, in turn, caused the grindcore sound to stagnate, as a growing number of artists were borrowing sounds and ideas from one another. During the 1990s, a new generation of grindcore groups developed innovations that drove the genre forward, introducing sonic elements from various other metal genres, including death metal and sludge metal. Grindcore music also became more ambient, and lyrical content introduced sexual, self-reflexive, and comedic elements. Key bands from this phase of grindcore's history include the American bands Pig Destroyer, Terrorizer, and the particularly controversial AxCx, also known as A.C.

Grindcore has since spawned numerous subgenres of its own, expanding into many different forms and attracting a worldwide audience. While grindcore has limited mainstream appeal and has not yet made a major breakthrough into the popular consciousness, its fans are noted for their devotion to their favorite bands and to the genre as a whole.

Topic Today

Grindcore has evolved into a number of distinct subgenres, including goregrind, deathgrind, pornogrind, and electrogrind. Goregrind is defined not by its sound but by its lyrical content, which shows a preoccupation with themes including violence, crime, and bloodshed. It arose largely as a reaction against the highly politicized lyrics that shaped early grindcore, which saw band after band repeating an approved set of left-oriented political opinions. Musically, goregrind also features regular shifts in pitch, and vocalists tend to use guttural growls while avoiding high-pitched screaming and shrieking.

Deathgrind first appeared during the 1990s and was noted for importing the technical elements of death metal music into the grindcore sound, leading to more intricate and complex compositions and what many fans and reviewers consider to be superior musicianship. Technical elements of death metal found in deathgrind include heavy distortion, double-kick percussion, down-tuned electric guitars played with techniques such as alternate picking and palm muting, and music that is composed and performed in no particular key.

Like goregrind, pornogrind is primarily defined by its lyrical preoccupations. Pornogrind features highly sexualized subject matter, with thematic fixations on extreme sexual acts. These stylistic innovations were introduced to help return grindcore music to its extreme roots, which were compromised when the genre became saturated with derivative acts during the late 1980s.

Grindcore pioneer Napalm Death is also credited with inspiring the electrogrind subgenre during the 1990s, when the band began to record experimental songs that featured industrial noise. The departure from convention was largely driven by a desire to push the grindcore sound into uncharted territory. By the early 2000s, electrogrind was a distinct new subgenre, and it included unique elements such as synthesizers and digitally produced sound effects.

Music journalists have noted that as grindcore continued to develop, its definitive characteristics became difficult to distinguish from the related genre of death metal. During its later career, Napalm Death adopted an increasingly death metal–oriented sound, while Carcass moved toward more traditionally melodic musical compositions. Grindcore's intense sound has also influenced people working in other genres, including such varied artists as world-renowned jazz musician John Zorn, who co-created the grindcore act Painkiller in the early 1990s.

Important grindcore bands include the aforementioned pioneers, such as Napalm Death, Carcass, Repulsion, and Siege, as well as Pig Destroyer, Terrorizer, Cattle Decapitation, AxCx, Brutal Truth, and Genghis Tron. Some highly influential grindcore bands also have obscene names, which are deliberately chosen to serve as an omnipresent reminder of the genre's extreme origins. Grindcore bands continued to produce music in the genre into the mid-2020s. New albums continued to be released, and the Internet and social media offered a community for fans. Fans also had the opportunity to see grindcore bands play at music festivals, such as the Obscene Extreme Festival.

Bibliography

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