Grindcore is an extreme fusion genre of heavy metal and hardcore punk that originated in the mid-1980s, drawing inspiration from abrasive-sounding musical styles, such as thrashcore, crust punk, hardcore punk, extreme metal, and industrial. Grindcore is considered a more noise-filled style of hardcore punk while using hardcore's trademark characteristics such as heavily distorted, down-tuned guitars, grinding overdriven bass, high-speed tempo, blast beats, and vocals which consist of growls, shouts and high-pitched shrieks. Early groups like Napalm Death are credited with laying the groundwork for the style. It is most prevalent today in North America and Europe, with popular contributors such as Brutal Truth and Nasum. Lyrical themes range from a primary focus on social and political concerns, to gory subject matter and black humor.
Napalm Death are an English grindcore band formed in Meriden, West Midlands in 1981. None of the band's original members have been in the group since 1986, but since Utopia Banished (1992), the lineup of bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mitch Harris, drummer Danny Herrera and lead vocalist Mark "Barney" Greenway has remained consistent through most of the band's career. From 1989 to 2004, Napalm Death were a five-piece band after they added Jesse Pintado as the replacement of one-time guitarist Bill Steer. Following Pintado's departure, the band reverted to a four-piece.
Scum is the debut studio album by English grindcore band Napalm Death, released on 1 July 1987 by Earache Records. The two sides of the record were recorded by two different lineups in sessions separated by about a year; the only musician in both incarnations was drummer Mick Harris. The two sides are very different, and the two taken together serve to bridge stylistic elements of heavy metal and punk rock. While the songs on the A-side are influenced heavily by hardcore punk and anarcho-punk, the vocals and lower-tuned electric guitars on the B-side anticipate subsequent developments in extreme metal. Loudwire put it in the list of the best 10 metal albums of 1987.
Scorn is an English electronic music project. The group was formed in the early 1990s as a project of former Napalm Death members Mick Harris and Nic Bullen. Bullen left the group in 1995 and the project continued on until the end of 2011, as an essentially solo project for Harris. Harris restarted the project in 2019.
Earache Records is a British independent record label, music publisher and management company founded by Digby Pearson in 1985, based in Nottingham, England, with offices in London and New York. The label helped to pioneer extreme metal by releasing early grindcore and death metal records between the late 1980s and mid-1990s. Its roster has since diversified into more mainstream guitar music, working with bands such as Rival Sons, the Temperance Movement, Blackberry Smoke, Scarlet Rebels and the White Buffalo. The company also hosted the 'Earache Express' stage at Glastonbury Festival in 2017 and 'The Earache Factory' at Boomtown 2018. The label's logo is a homage to Thrasher magazine, as Pearson was a skateboard culture enthusiast.
Michael John Harris is an English musician from Birmingham. He was the drummer for Napalm Death between 1985 and 1991, and is credited for coining the term "grindcore". After Napalm Death, Harris joined Painkiller with John Zorn and Bill Laswell. Since the mid-1990s, Harris has worked primarily in electronic and ambient music, his main projects being Scorn and Lull. He has also collaborated with musicians including James Plotkin and Extreme Noise Terror. According to AllMusic, Harris's "genre-spanning activities have done much to jar the minds, expectations, and record collections of audiences previously kept aggressively opposed."
Nicholas Bullen is an English musician and a founding member of the grindcore band Napalm Death.
Whine is a live album by Scorn, released on October 21, 1997, through Invisible Records.
Vae Solis is the debut album by Scorn, originally released in 1992 on Earache in the UK, and Relativity in the United States. It features the same musician lineup as Side A of Napalm Death's Scum.
Colossus is the second album by Scorn, released in 1993 on Earache Records. It possesses elements of industrial and experimental music.
Guts of a Virgin is the first album by American band Painkiller, a band featuring John Zorn, Bill Laswell and Mick Harris. It contains twelve tracks and was released in 1991 on Toy's Factory in Japan and Earache Records in England.
Evanescence is the third album by Scorn, originally released in 1994 on Earache Records. It was remastered along with its remix album and released as a two disc set in 2009. Evanescence is often associated with industrial and experimental music. Nic Bullen left Scorn in 1995 and the band continued on as an essentially solo project for Mick Harris.
Ellipsis is a remix album by Scorn, originally released in 1995 on Earache Records. It was remastered along with Evanescence and released as a two disc set in 2009.
Zander is the sixth album by Scorn, released on February 18, 1997 through KK Records. For Zander, the band kept pushing the dirty bass and heavy beat sound, subtly changing with each subsequent release. In May 1997, Mick Harris decided to end the band to finish relations with KK Records, and from 1997 to 1999, he was making music with other names and other musicians, until 2000, when returned with the band with the record company Hymen Records for Greetings from Birmingham.
Anamnesis is a compilation album by Scorn, released in 1999 on Invisible Records.
Greetings From Birmingham is the seventh album by Scorn, released in September 2000 through Hymen Records. In May 1997, following the release of Zander, Mick Harris decided to end the band to finish relations with KK Records, and from 1997 to 1999, he was making music with other names and other musicians, until 2000, when returned with the band with the record company Hymen Records for Greetings from Birmingham.
Plan B is the eighth album by Scorn, released in August 2002 through Hymen Records. In 2000, Mick Harris returned with the band with the record company Hymen Records for Greetings from Birmingham, but eventually Harris parted ways with Hymen in 2002 after the release of Plan B. The intervening years since saw a break in recorded output with live dates popping up periodically.
Stealth is the ninth album by Scorn, released on November 19, 2007 through Ohm Resistance. After a five-year absence, November 2007 saw the band return to the studio properly with this album.
The Only Place is an album by Scorn, released in 2021 by Ohm Resistance. Mick Harris commented "The album was made with the only place in mind where I can let go of all the hatred, anger, and darkness that are what fuel Scorn".
