A subjective history of grindcore

Grindcore Milestones

Artwork by Jeff Walker from Carcass,if I have a good memory...

Back to main page

With this page,my aim is to show grindcore evolution,reviewing what I think are the most important releases of the genre.I hope it's a good job.If you're not okay with this subjective work,tell me why.

Deep Wound (1982-1984) wanted to play faster than Circle Jerks.They did it with this 7".Musically,it sounds like extreme hardcore/punk,with funny lyrics and classic hardcore vocals.But what is important is the speed of this record.You won't believe it,the drummer is J Mascis,who'll be later Dinosaur Jr's leader.He keeps on rolling during the whole record.J Mascis is the originator of the blast-beat!Even if guitars and vocals still sound punk-rock,Deep Wound is the first step to grindcore.They broke up in 1984 when they get bored of the hardcore scene,even if Dinosaur Jr.,featuring two Deep Wound members (Mascis and Barlow) will retain the hardcore noise tradition.A band picture is available here.

Siege.In my opinion,the first grindcore act ever.Compared to this demo,Metallica was already ridiculous.It was recorded in february 1984,and it sounds like they did it yesterday.Only 9 tracks.Only 17 minutes,with the last track playing more than 7.To sum up,it's hardcore-rooted grindcore,with a clean guitar sound and furious,chaotic blast-beats.What makes the difference with Deep Wound is this singer,Kevin Mahoney,who throw his guts out in all the possible ways.High screams,spirited singing,or proto-death metal growling ("Conform","Grim Reaper"),all you can imagine is here.
Moreover,after 8 full-grindcore tracks,the band plays (in 1984!) what Painkiller is supposed to have invented in 1991,I mean a mix of hardcore and free jazz,with a dominant bass line and a screaming saxophone.This was re-issued by Relapse in 1994,but it's no available anymore.You can hardly find an anthology from Lost & Found, including Deep Wound, Siege, Void and Septic Death full demos ("A time we'll remember vol.7").Good luck.

And here arrives Repulsion,who incorporates Possessed/Death's metal in Siege's punk/grindcore,increasing chaos and violence.Listen to it,no words to describe this chaos,these running guitars,this incredible drum sound.And this voice full with pesticide.Still in wait for availability.Contact Relapse if you want it and scream your hatred.

In the second part of the 90's,grindcore became banal in the metal universe.Today,bands keep on copying the old precursors I've talked about in this page.I guess the best "grindcore" (if it is) band today is The Dillinger Escape Plan.They have the grindcore hatred,and mix it with everything that passes through their head.The only word for them is:FANTASTIC.
As old grindcore.

Napalm Death,always considered as the grindcore fathers today,didn't really invent the style.I mean,they invent then spread the word,but they just tried to push the genre into a more brutal path.
I think they failed at this game.When you listen today to their first releases,it sounds too much like a 80's album.Too easy to date.
Some said Napalm Death was the first to write short songs as "The Kill",but they are wrong.Siege already wrote a 25 second song.
Lee Dorrian's high vocals still make impression on me,but not the growls (he sounds like a bear!).
Guitar sound isn't loud enough.
Drums are overwhelming the whole album.
Rotten production.
But these records are good for all their defaults.Strange,isn't it ?I mean,it's excellent because it's old-sounding.
It's anyway "must-haves",just for the high-pitched screams and this chaotic drumming.No one ever drummed like Mick Harris on these albums,and no one will again.I adore the way he let his cymbals run.
Everybody knows the rest of Napalm Death's biography.Line-up brutal changes,musical changes,productors changes,too much changes.
They did a great guitar job on "Diatribes" and "Inside The Torn Apart",but it lacked speed.The last album,"Enemy of The Music Business" (what a shitty title!),come back to their grind/death roots while retaining this excellent guitar sound.May the band follow this way...

The album that sums up entire discographies of bands like Mortician,Impetigo or Last Days of Humanity (lol).
Carcass' first album took Death/Repulsion's gore lyrics and turn them into a pathological,obsessed with science trip.Check the booklet!
Musically,it's maybe the sickest work ever.Mixing vomiting growls and vomiting screams,with a very bad production (it was recorded 2 or 3 times because of the studio engineers) which,paradoxically,increases the sickness degree.
I'm not a great fan of this kind of grind/gore excess,with "Bleuaaaaaargh!" vocals,but it's a good LP for those who want to discover the style.

A band full of references (Repulsion,DRI,Death...).
But this excellent LP features an extraordinary drumming work by Pete Sandoval from Morbid Angel.Octopus drumming,with a lot of cymbals toying.
Terrorizer's "World Downfall",despite of its classical lyrics,is the first album to control grindcore power and to avoid usual drumming blur.
My only problem with it is those too classic death metal vocals,but the rest is excellent.
You'll notice it's maybe the only good production work of Scott Burns,known for destroying Napalm Death's "Harmony Corruption".
Just buy it.If you want more stuff in the Terrorizer style,search for Nausea LPs (with Terrorizer's singer Oscar Garcia).More info here.

Blur.That's all folks.
Seth Putnam pig screams,insane guitars,insane drums.
If you want total chaos,without melodies,just chaos,this is the album you should purchase.
Including most of the "Morbid Florist" EP tracks.
After this LP,Anal Cunt will evolve and develop their hardcore side,especially on their last Earache release ("It just gets worse").
Hard to follow them though.Their discography is full with 7" and bootlegs.
It's not worth anyway.
In my opinion,this album is the beginning of the new grindcore scene.A new grindcore scene who forgets to play music.
I hate it.And you???

Other bands you should listen to:Agathocles.Great band from Belgium.Nasum,very brutal crust/grindcore.Jerry's Kids.Amazing grindy hardcore-punk from Boston.The rest is just history.
Not real grindcore,but a mix of grindcore rythm and free jazz:Naked City's second album "Torture Garden".
On the sound page you'll find some samples of this excentric,inventive band.Listen to it,and appreciate.
It's insane music.

Other Siege covers 1 2

Deep Wound complete7" cover

After a good first album which is quoted now as a reference (despite of its too "classical" approach of the style),Brutal Truth came back in 1994 with "Need To Control".
More varied than their previous effort,this album features industrial/noise ("Ironlung"),punk-rock ("Media Blitz" taken from the Germs' repertoire),slow but still aggressive metal ("Collapse","Ordinary Madness") and of course hardcore-rooted grindcore ("Choice of a new generation").
Clever lyrics are growled and screamed by the first-class throat-killer Kevin Sharp,and it is maybe my favourite appearance on a grindcore CD.A little Lee Dorrian-sounding,but better!
Guitar sound is also very original,higher than most releases in the genre,with a little "industrial/noisy" feeling to it,playing from catchy riffs to proto-Dillinger Escape Plan complex melodies.And as always,rythmic section does a good job,even if some people will regret the new drummer does not play as fast as Scott Lewis on "Extreme Conditions".Killer bass work is provided by ex-SOD-Anthrax-Nuclear Assault Dan Lilker (check the intro on "Displacement").
Just buy it,and ignore their others albums,which are too much banal ("Extreme conditions...") or too much complicated ("Sounds of the animal kingdom").This is the perfect compromise between efficiency and experimentation.