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.
Fistful of Metal is the debut studio album by American heavy metal band Anthrax, released in January 1984 by Megaforce Records and Music for Nations internationally. The album includes a cover of Alice Cooper's "I'm Eighteen". This is the band's only album to feature original frontman Neil Turbin and original bassist Dan Lilker, who were replaced by Matt Fallon and Frank Bello, respectively. Former original guitarist Greg Walls claims that Anthrax "ripped him off" as he claims he wrote the material on the album.
Stormtroopers of Death was an American crossover thrash band formed in New York City in 1985. They are credited as being among the first bands to fuse hardcore punk with thrash metal into a style sometimes referred to as crossover thrash. The band is also known for reuniting Anthrax members Scott Ian (guitars) and Charlie Benante (drums) with their former bassist Dan Lilker. Their instrumental song "March of the SOD" from their 1985 debut album, Speak English or Die, was the Headbangers Ball intro anthem for many years. Another song from the same album, "Chromatic Death", was also used during the show as a segue between ads and videos.
Daniel A. Lilker is an American semi-retired musician best known as a bass player, but also guitarist, pianist, drummer and vocalist. He was the bassist for the thrash metal band Nuclear Assault and was a founding member of Anthrax with Scott Ian. Lilker was then playing rhythm guitar and recorded bass guitar and co-wrote on their first album, Fistful of Metal. He also founded crossover band Stormtroopers of Death with Scott Ian and Charlie Benante, and Billy Milano. He also plays bass with Brutal Truth, Exit-13, Malformed Earthborn, The Ravenous, Overlord Exterminator, Venomous Concept, Crucifist, Nokturnal Hellstorm, Nunfuckritual and Extra Hot Sauce.
Speak English or Die is the debut album by the American crossover thrash band Stormtroopers of Death, released in August 1985.
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.
Nuclear Assault was an American thrash metal band formed in New York City in 1984. Part of the mid-to-late 1980s thrash metal movement, they were one of the main bands of the genre to emerge from the East Coast along with Overkill, Whiplash, Toxik, Carnivore, and Anthrax, the last of which was co-founded by Nuclear Assault bassist Dan Lilker, who left Anthrax shortly after the release of their first album. Nuclear Assault released five full-length albums and toured relentlessly throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, and broke up in 1995. The band reunited briefly in 1997 and then permanently in 2002 before subsequently breaking up again in 2022.
Shane Embury is a British bassist and a member of the grindcore and death metal band Napalm Death since 1987.
Venomous Concept is an American hardcore punk band formed by Kevin Sharp of Brutal Truth and Shane Embury of Napalm Death in 2004. Sharp and Embury were joined by Danny Herrera and Buzz Osborne, who was later replaced by Danny Lilker. They have released three albums: Retroactive Abortion (2004), Poisoned Apple (2008), and Kick Me Silly VCIII (2016). They have also released two split albums: one with Japanese grindcore band 324 (2006), and the other with Australian extreme metal band Blood Duster (2008). The band's name is a play on Poison Idea, in the style of name-mangling Japanese hardcore acts.
Chronicles of Chaos was an extreme metal webzine. It focused on artists that are generally outside the metal mainstream, and occasionally covers other forms of extreme music as well. Online since August 1995, Chronicles of Chaos was one of the first webzines in the world for that genre of music. It has been a nonprofit publication since its inception. Chronicles of Chaos stopped publishing new articles in August 2015.
Nicholas Howard Barker is an English extreme metal drummer best known for his work in Cradle of Filth from 1993 to 1999 and Dimmu Borgir from 1999 to 2004. Currently he is the drummer for Brujeria, Borstal and Shining.
Need to Control is the second studio album by American grindcore band Brutal Truth, released on October 25, 1994 through Earache.
The Plague is the second extended play by the American thrash metal band Nuclear Assault. The six-track EP was originally released as a 12-inch vinyl record through Combat Records in 1987, and later combined with the band's full-length debut, 1986's Game Over, into one CD by Relativity Records.
Terrorizer was an extreme music magazine published by Dark Arts Ltd. in the United Kingdom. It was released every four weeks with thirteen issues a year and featured a "Fear Candy" covermount CD, a twice yearly "Fear Candy Unsigned" CD, and a double-sided poster.
John Connelly is an American musician, best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of New York City thrash metal band Nuclear Assault.
Exit-13 was an American grindcore band from Millersville, Pennsylvania. The band were formed in 1989 by Relapse Records founder and co-owner Bill Yurkiewicz (vocals), guitarist Steve O'Donnell and bassist Joel DiPietro. Their early recordings, including the Disembowelling Party, The Unrequited Love of Chicken Soup and Eat More Crust demos, their debut full-length Green Is Good (1990) and the EPs The Unrequited Love of Chicken Soup (1990) and Spare the Wrench, Surrender the Earth (1991) featured a line-up of Yurkiewicz, O'Donnell and DiPietro, with drum duties being shared between Bill Schaeffer and Pat McCahan.
Evolution Through Revolution is the fifth studio album by grindcore band Brutal Truth. This was the band's first album since 1997, recorded after an eight-year hiatus. Evolution Through Revolution was released on April 14, 2009. It sold around 1000 copies in its first week, and debuted at No. 65 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart.
Parabellum were a Colombian extreme metal band from Medellín active in the 1980s. The band was described by Terrorizer magazine as one of the world's first black metal bands, as well as the first extreme metal band from Colombia and one of the first from all South America. According to writer Emilio Cuesta, Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth—a musician associated with the early Norwegian black metal scene—has said Parabellum and Medellín's Reencarnación were both influential to his own band Mayhem.
Pounder is an EP from Nuclear Assault, released on June 1, 2015. It is the band's first EP since 1988's Good Times, Bad Times, and their first studio recording since 2005's Third World Genocide. This was also their final work as a band to include new material before Nuclear Assault disbanded again in 2022.
