Grind core
The grindcore (sometimes called grind) is a subgenre of Hardcore Punk derived from styles rooted in Punk-rock, mainly Fastcore and fusions such as crust punk or the D-beat, but despite that it is a Hardcore Punk style because it also has its part from Extreme Metal styles such as Thrash metal, Grind emerged at the end of the 80's created by the band Napalm Death with their 1987 album Scum, although after that album and another one, they would move away from Grindcore.
Features
Grindcore is characterized by its brutal distortion, guitars tuned several tones lower than usual, distorted basses, dizzying beats, blast beats and its mixture of vocals using both growls and shrieks . Lyrics in grindcore originally dealt with social political issues, although bands using gore themes and black humor are often seen. Another typical feature is the "micro-songs". Many groups have made songs that don't even last a minute. The speed of the songs is approximately 124-240 BPM. Grindcore is usually played with the classic hardcore punk lineup: electric guitar, bass, and drums, however it is not uncommon to find grind bands using other means to create their particular sonic brutality.
Historical roots and influences
Before making any decisive statement, it must be taken into account that the development of musical genres is not linear, but rather often coexists with each other and in different parts of the world. It is much easier to try to understand the developments as a linear evolution, for this reason many times you can fall into errors.
Grindcore is a musical aspect originating, by scene and by attitude, from punk rock, specifically from hardcore punk in England in the mid-1980s. These bands were heavily influenced by death metal bands that were already beginning to develop from the years 1983-1984 with the band to which paternity is attributed: Death, at that same time important bands such as Morbid Angel were born. It should also be noted that death metal has as its predecessor and main inspiration the band Slayer and some sonic references from the punk band The Exploited.
It is also pertinent to point out that crust punk, another aspect of hardcore punk, is basically contemporary with the development of grindcore; many death metal bands such as Cannibal Corpse (not necessarily directly) have been influenced by crust punk, mainly through the use of guttural vocals, which grindcore bands have also used. One of the most representative crust punk bands is Extreme Noise Terror, characterized by a rather terrifying hardcore punk sound.
In the influence and mix of genres for many as disparate as punk and metal. In the US, there were thrashcore (extremely fast hardcore) bands like Siege, D.R.I. and Repulsion that began to include elements of heavy metal, mainly thrash metal, taking the first steps of crossover thrash. This genre was represented with the 1987 album by D.R.I. Crossover, which is where the term was coined.
One of the first bands to define the style, and one of the first grindcore bands to become famous, was Terrorizer, formed in Los Angeles (United States) in 1986 by Jesse Pintado who would later form part of Napalm Death and Pete Sandoval -who would later be the drummer of Morbid Angel, both quality musicians but with an experimental vision of heavy metal and hardcore punk, who were going through a moment known as crossover (mixing or fusion). They released the LP World Downfall before disbanding, an album that became the cornerstone and fundamental pillar of the grindcore sound.
After Terrorizer, grindcore would become popular in the US and Europe through Carcass, Napalm Death, Agathocles and Anal Cunt. Some of its components are very technical and experienced musicians, which prevents this style from being considered truly antimusical, despite the fact that even the musicians and fans of this style use a symbol of two crossed eighth notes, as an ironic emblem of the style, to distance itself from pop music. It should be noted in this paragraph that the Napalm Death album released in 1987 called Scum, is the first album to be recognized as grindcore. Subsequently and naturally, the band explored other sounds more linked to death metal.
In Spain the genre had its cultivation since the beginning of the 1990s, with bands like El Kaso Urkijo (Barcelona), Ruido de Rabia (Euskadi) or Seqzión demenziados (Madrid).
Subgenres
Goregrind
Goregrind is a form of grindcore characterized by tracks with altered vocals and very low guitars, as well as gory or horror themes. The albums Effortless Regurgitation of Bright Red Blood by Regurgitate and A Chapter of Accidents by Dead Infection fully showcase the genre. Carcass is within this trend with Reek of Putrefaction, being the pillar album and pioneer of the genre.
Noisegrind
Noisegrind has an emphasis on chaotic noise and speed rather driven by the musician. Other features include an out-of-tune musical structure, improvised instruments, and poor production. Most noisegrind bands don't take themselves seriously and consist of only a few members, usually a vocalist, drummer (or electronic drum kit) and guitarist. Examples of noisegrind bands include: Anal Cunt, Sore Throat, and 7 Minutes of Nausea, among others. The sound is generally less brutal, but more chaotic compared to conventional grindcore, and often the riffs are so arbitrary that only one or two notes are perceptible.
Porngrind
Pornogrind is a version of goregrind that differs only in the content of the lyrics, which are based on sex and different perversions, paraphilias and degenerations of sexual behavior; In addition to that, it is characterized by its typical exaltation and exponentiation of the pig voice (Pig squeal), coming from the influence of brutal death metal. Examples of bands would be Regurgitate, Cock and Ball Torture, GUT, Torsofuck, C.A.R.N.E., Rompeprop, Urtikaria Anal, Lord Piggy ETC
Cybergrind
Cybergrind is a version of grindcore that mixes electronics with instrumental trying to create a more modernist version of this subgenre. The musical structure varies from brutal to funny, most of the time the songs of this genre contain lyrics, In cases like Spermswamp, combinations of jazz and swing are used, then it changes to grindcore. Examples of this subgenus would be Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Spermswamp Fecalized Rectal Sperm Spewage (F.R.S.S.), and Amphibian.
Fusions
Deathgrind
This is a genre that mixes the extreme brutality of death metal with the speed of grindcore, influencing especially with blast beats. Bands like Cephalic Carnage, Mortician, Brujería (in its early days), Cattle Decapitation, Carcass (on their album Symphonies of Sickness), Nemessis, Aborted, Dying Fetus and Impaled. It can be said that deathgrind is one of the most extreme styles, but it should not be confused with brutal death metal; the latter concentrates the forcefulness of death metal more, evolving into a more brutal genre. Although Deathgrind is a heavy style, it does not reach the exaggerations of Brutal Death Metal or genres encompassed in Extreme Metal, perhaps this is the reason why older metalheads often criticized this style as a failed attempt. to create "distorted death metal".