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.
Bolt Thrower was a British death metal band from Coventry. They formed in 1986 and released their first album with Vinyl Solution in 1988. The band then shifted to a new record label, Earache Records, soon becoming one of the best selling bands on that label. Their last label was Metal Blade Records. The band had a succession of members, and had toured Europe, the United States, and Australia. Over the course of their 30-year career, Bolt Thrower released eight studio albums, three EPs, one live album, three compilation albums and two demos. Their albums have sold over 100,000 copies in the United States as of 2005.
Diatribes is the sixth studio album by English grindcore band Napalm Death, originally released in 1996 on Earache Records. It was released as double 10" vinyl, regular CD, special digipak CD with space for the Greed Killing EP and MC. In 2010, Earache issued a re-release of Diatribes in a box set that also included the Greed Killing EP and the live album Bootlegged in Japan.
Brutal Truth was an American grindcore band from New York City, formed by ex-Anthrax, Nuclear Assault, and Stormtroopers of Death bass guitarist Dan Lilker in 1990. The group disbanded in 1999, but reformed in 2006 and continued to release music until 2014.
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.
Carcass are an English extreme metal band from Liverpool, formed in 1985. The band have gone through several line-up changes, leaving guitarist Bill Steer and bassist-vocalist Jeff Walker as the only constant members. They broke up in 1996, but reformed in 2007 without one of their original members, drummer Ken Owen, due to health reasons. To date, the band have released seven studio albums, two compilation albums, four EPs, two demo albums, one video album, and six music videos.
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.
Akercocke are an English extreme metal band from London, formed in 1997 by Jason Mendonça and David Gray. The band also features Paul Scanlan and Nathanael Underwood.
Utopia Banished is the fourth studio album by the British grindcore band Napalm Death. The album was released in 1992 by Earache Records. It is the first album featuring Danny Herrera on drums following the departure of Mick Harris. Metal Hammer put it on the list of the 20 best metal album of 1992.
Nocturnus, currently Nocturnus AD, is an American death metal band formed in Tampa, Florida, in 1987 by the drummer/vocalist Mike Browning. They were known for their science-fiction themed lyrics and use of keyboards, both of which were virtually unknown in extreme metal at the time. The 1990 debut from the band is considered by some to be the first progressive death metal album.
The Amenta are an Australian death metal and industrial metal band formed in 1997 as Crucible of Agony. By 2002 the line-up was Cesium 137 on lead vocals, Diazanon on drums, Ethion on guitar, Endrin on bass guitar and Chlordane on keyboards. In 2009 the line-up had Miehs and Pope joined by Cain Cressall on vocals, Dan Quinlan on bass guitar and Robin Stone on drums. The group has issued three studio albums, Occasus (2004), n0n (2008), and Flesh Is Heir (2013). The group went on an indefinite hiatus in 2013, but reunited in 2020.
Sore Throat were a British crust punk band formed in Huddersfield in 1987. They are known for being one of the earliest exponents of the grindcore subgenre known as "noisecore", as well as for launching the careers of several prominent members of the British heavy metal community.
Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone is the fourth studio album by English extreme metal band Akercocke. It was released independently on October 10, 2005, and on February 7, 2006 through Earache Records. This album is the first Akercocke release not to feature the original line-up of the band, with Matt Wilcock instead of Paul Scanlan on guitar; though the majority of the material was co-written with Paul Scanlan before he was fired.
Unseen Terror was a British extreme metal band formed by Mitch Dickinson (Heresy) and Shane Embury, and played extreme metal with a technical edge along with elements of hardcore punk. Their most notable feat took place in March 1988, when they recorded tracks for John Peel's BBC Radio 1 program.
Bootlegged in Japan is a live album from British extreme metal band Napalm Death, released in June 1998 through Earache.
Abramelin is an Australian death metal band, which formed as Acheron in 1988 and were one of the first such groups in the country. They were a main influence on the development of Australian heavy metal music in the early 1990s. The name change occurred in 1994 to avoid confusion with a similarly named international group; the new name was adopted from The Book of Abramelin, which concerns a mage of the same name. Members of Abramelin have also been in Blood Duster, The Berzerker, The Amenta, and Akercocke. Abramelin supported tours by Napalm Death (1995), Paradise Lost, Cathedral and Cradle of Filth (2001). They released two studio albums, Abramelin (1995) and Deadspeak (2000), before disbanding in 2002. Abramelin reformed in 2016. In May 2020 the band released their third album Never Enough Snuff.
Animosity is the fourth album by the band The Berzerker released in 2007. As with the first and third albums, a drum machine was used on the drum parts.
Oliver Michael Drake, known as Ol Drake, Old Rake or OL Drake, is an English musician, most notably the vocalist and lead guitarist of the thrash metal band Evile.
The Reawakening is the fifth and final album by the band The Berzerker released in 2008. This was the first album by the band not to be sold in stores after the band left Earache Records.
