Grindcore: What It Is And What Its Been

In the ideal weight of the grind core scene there is some question as to what exactly grind core is. This could be because of the terminologies way of systematically changing, or quite possibly because of the genres for-fathers. With its punk rock ideas and death metal vibe the genre its self is always morphing into something different. Yet at the same time Grindcore goes full circle and meets back with its punk roots in the end.

Within the muck of the early 80’s punk rock and the overlooked hardcore scene a new genre was planting its seeds. With the roots relating back to such anti-mainstream and anarchy thriving bands, its no wonder why the genre was easily overlooked, or overshadowed if you will, by its predecessors. Many early bands were short lived and more or less unable to get gigs within local scenes. Siege, often listed as one of the first grind core bands and cited as a large influence by other bands, are a perfect example of a band with a short lived career. However the seeds of the genre had not yet begun to sprout its stock. The punk scene that had earlier cast out there offspring, were now opening their doors to these bands. The bands coming on the scene now were not only taking from there punk counterparts, but were now taking a step of faith into the death metal genre.

Much like Death or Possessed, grind core was taking on the sound of heavy distortion, low tunings, and pounding riffs, still maintaining the inverted style of shred from its punk roots. With bands like Napalm Death, and Carcass tearing up the scene it had seemed like the seeds planted were about to sprout open. Death metal brought many things into the equation other than the guitar and drum styles, but it also gave the grind core a distinct, or not so distinct, vocal style. Many grind core bands use the guttural style of vocals, although on the extreme opposite there is an equal amount that use the ear piercing high pitched screams. While at the same time many incorporate both styles into their music. In a sense you could consider grind core the red-headed step child of death metal, while it does contain many of the same aspects there are many varying elements in the music. Death metal contains rhythm tic beauty, and a strong rhythm progressive feeling at that, in most cases grind exchanges the rhythm for speed then leaves the progression to the general structure of the song. The list goes on and on with the similarities and differences. Although the influences are primarily Punk, Hardcore, and Death Metal the genre still continues to grow. With the seeds rooted so deep now sprouting beautiful blossoms will the plant known as grind core continue to grow?

Today more than ever, you can find bands that call themselves grind core. While some not always true to the meaning, there are plenty that are. Many bands consider themselves on the line of Hardcore or Grindcore but the genres themselves have changed so much since the early days when bands like throw down considered themselves hardcore. It seems now that any kid who can play a power chord and dresses like chick and slants his hair, starts a grind core band. However its not just the emo wave of grind core bands that still exist. Grindcore itself has given birth to many other genres, including noise core, industrial grind, and so many others. While most of the bands create a genre name for themselves, most simply can be considered grind. The true stem of the plant branches off and reaches many other genres. However there is some debate as to what grind core exactly is, the one fact is that it is still alive today.

The thing with grind core is that it doesn’t have any set boundaries. Many bands have there way expressing themselves. Grindcore song structure can range from a guitarist just wanking out, to the band writing complex musical arrangements. The lyrics to the songs are no different than the songs themselves, they can be political much like punk rock, they can be descriptively brutal like death metal, and even some bands lyrics are just comical. The real question is will the plant known as grind core continue to grow and thrive, or will it just wilt and fade out like some fad?

Comments

[Phe4rTheGod]

Grind core...lol...

[gizmodious]

Wow, this guy must fap listening to grindcore watching plant documentaries on the discovery channel.

IMO it will stay where it belongs, in the underground... and most grindcore fans I know wouldn't have it any other way.

[decayingdave]

''...Core'' genres tend to be more of a novelty than anything else, un-originally a step away from where they originated from and not far enough from their predecessors to be considered unique. In other words, boring - Hence the reason why I don't listen to it.

[TW909]

lets hear some METAL!!!

[redvetteZ06]

Hey you mispelled "grind". It's spelled g-a-y.

[sam i am]

Too many seed analogies I think.

Also it just seemed like some kind of purist rant to me. If I didn't already have a vague idea of what grincore is, this article would not have enlightended me one bit.

[arnob_oblique]

all i remember is sprouting, leaves, trees, stems... a nice revision of my grade 5 Botany

[quam]

lol. Yeah i plants on my mind for some reason. It happens when your ripped.

[HavokStrife]

Grindcore is worse than ****in' rap.. but no, let's have story time over it...

[Klepa]

Most of Grindcore bands are just **** ... But there are also kickass ones like Carcass and of course Cephalic Carnage!

[quam]

Eh the site was lacking an article, so i wrote one. If you dont like the music don't read the article.

[Y00p]

You write an article about what a certain type of music is about, and then get offended when people who come in here learning about it, say it's not a good article?

It's not a good article.

[FretboardToAsh]

still maintaining the inverted style of shred from its punk roots.

what? punk is shred now?

[Paddles]

decayingdave wrote:

''...Core'' genres tend to be more of a novelty than anything else, un-originally a step away from where they originated from and not far enough from their predecessors to be considered unique. In other words, boring - Hence the reason why I don't listen to it.

You must be confusing grindcore with modern metalcore. The former predates the latter by almost 15 years and is still going strong today. lern2elitist.

[Lrn2play]

Grindcore isnt music, its an interactive show you go to. and As said above, if it isnt underground, it isnt grindcore, sort of like punk is, "the only true punk band is the one youll never hear about"

[cocky_rooster]

thank you paddles

[ifeastonbums]

good article. i can't vouch for accuracy as grindcore never appealed to me. i did read the article to get some insight.

[TyrsFromAbove37]

Everything negative has been said...which pretty much sums up this genre...

You must understand that liking this music and thinking you're hardcore for doing so (and writing a bad article about it) don't make it good music...

-TFA

[emr_steelmech]

whether you like grindcore or not, that article was still poorly written. I got no useful insight into the genre or its history. I want my 3 minutes back.

[legatobebop]

"i want my 3 minutes back"

jesus christ relax

[X-face]

redvetteZ06 wrote:

Hey you mispelled "grind". It's spelled g-a-y.

rofls

but, seriously Grindcore music is good. but its an acquired taste.

[b4t3man]

Grindcore is the one genre that I've never had an appreciation for. Carcass' latter releases were great but other than that... Plegh.

Shit article by the way.

[seanplaysforblb]

wow i actually liked this article, maybe cause i actually like the music. And your saying if its not underground its not grind.wrong. so if say pig destroyer gets popular but plays the same style music its not grind anymore. you have your head up your ass

[the*matt]

I get really mixed up with all of the different genres that seem to change from place to place so a few more examples would have been good plus I thought grind and grindcore were different?

[BoyWithACoin]

It's always been aweful.

[Tyler Durden]

i love it how everyone is on this guys nuts for writing a bad article, yet more then half cannot put 2 coherent sentences together lol

[The_String_Man]

how is it different from thrashcore/deathcore/brutalcore?
or are they all the same?

[GuitarShredder+]

I like Metalcore bands like Bullet For My Valentine and As I Lay Dying. That's what metalcore is. But by the bands you mentioned, Grindcore seems a lot heavier than Metalcore. This comment was entirely irrelevent. I think I spelled that wrong. But either way, your grammar should improve before writing an article like this. I helps take some of the shittiness away.

[isabiggles]

how is it different from thrashcore/deathcore/brutalcore?

'Thrashcore' is what's known as crossover thrash. It takes thrash influence. Brutalcore doesn't exist and deathcore is much more breakdown chugga chugga influenced. If you can hear 'Bree bree!' then it's deathcore.

[TheEternalHate]

i'm glad to see that more people besides me hate grindcore.

[-tempest-]

i have never listened to grindcore before. that being said; i read the article to find some good examples of grindcore(bands/sound) to broaden(spelling?) my musical taste. i came in not knowing anything about grindcore and im leaving confused.

[mikey son]

isabiggles wrote:

how is it different from thrashcore/deathcore/brutalcore?

'Thrashcore' is what's known as crossover thrash. It takes thrash influence. Brutalcore doesn't exist and deathcore is much more breakdown chugga chugga influenced. If you can hear 'Bree bree!' then it's deathcore.

Thrashcore isnt thrash at all. It just gets confused that way since alot of the bands go into crossover thrash.

[mikey son]

Also thrashcore is older than grind which has been around for decades

[metal4ever6328]

Once again we lump a whole bunch of bands into a classification and hate them without ever listening to them. I love Beneath the Massacre, and I hate Cephalic Carnage. Regardless of "genre".

[xHellbound]

It all sounds like rock to me. Every band has something that makes it unique. If it doesn't, that's why you're not listening to it.

[seanplaysforblb]

haha thrashcore doesnt exist. hardcore and thrash have always been close. thrash has more metal than punk in it and hardcore was more punk with less metal in it. It has changed over time and become blurred(as almost all genres have). Almost like a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde. It kinda sucks that punk has influenced so much stuff.

[ShadesOfNight]

my god people stop ****ingwell "core"ing things
i dont like grindcore, deathcore, most modern metalcore or whatever the hell else is going on in the 13 year old scene kids mind. It seems nowadays any ignorant elitist retard who wants to feel they can string together a good argument, just takes a random word and sticks "core" after it. I mean, "core" seems to say that it is the root of something, it is in fact quite the opposite, it is an offshoot, a subgenre, of something much bigger. i.e. metalcore - the new wave of thrash metal, deathcore - the new wave of death metal, grindcore - the new wave of post-punk hardcore grind. The only real "core" is Hardcore because it is the original genre.
now stop arguing and go post some comments on other pages where your bigoted opinion counts...such as...not on this website

[funk_solo]

to above, you do understand grindcore is a genre that's a couple decadrs old and not "whatever the hell else is going on in the 13 year old scene kids mind."

[CryingAlone]

gizmodious wrote:

Wow, this guy must fap listening to grindcore watching plant documentaries on the discovery channel.

IMO it will stay where it belongs, in the underground... and most grindcore fans I know wouldn't have it any other way.

1+

[ad a sdfibsgi]

grindkore

[Bartlett]

lets just put core on the end of it and create a new genre country and westerncore or popcore even better reggaecore

[pdpdrummer232]

your all retarted. arguing over genres?
its just music. people can call it what they want.
but dont go around calling shitty metal bands grind, or hardcore theres a difference but thats for the band to decide.
NOT YOU.

[shreddhed]

why are there so many generes of metal???

black metal, death metal, and thrash were hard enough to keep apart for me. Now we have to have grindcore, doom, metal core, deathcore, jazzcore...

how bout we just call it plain old metal from now on

[SurfinWithSatch]

Vegetarian Progressive Moter Oil Wheelie Bin Grincore Waffles.
Let's keep it simple. Metal, Rock, Blues, Pop, Reggae, RnB, Rap, Punk, Motown, Classical, Jazz, Country, Folk. I may have missed 1 or 2 out but generally these are the Main genres that all these subgenres stem from, what the hell is wrong with just picking a main genre. My band plays a mixture of metal, rock, blues, reggae and punk. But rather than go into rediculously named genre we just say "Rock" because that's what all of our music eventually boils down to at the end of the day. Non of this progressive rastafarian punk, metal glistened blues rock here.

[punk&metal]

it seems like every new band now days is making a new genre, its stupid, like wats the difference betewn pop punk and emo, or hair metal and glam?! seriously its just a ****ing name, ur nott any cooler kuz you add 'core' after everything

[Rokeman]

Sooner or later, some band will claim to play a mix of every type of music possible.

It'd be called something like Maxcore i'm guessing.

Also, there is waaaay too many subgenres for everything.

[shredtildeath]

shreddhed wrote:

why are there so many generes of metal???

black metal, death metal, and thrash were hard enough to keep apart for me. Now we have to have grindcore, doom, metal core, deathcore, jazzcore...

how bout we just call it plain old metal from now on

Because bands like Amorphis are worlds apart from Deicide who are very different to Megadeth who are different to Candlemass who are different to Meshuggah.

Just metal is way too broad.

[Mr. McBrettman]

i like the article, but maybe because i like the genre. too many haters tho. not all has to be underground. i like pig destroyer, dr. acula, and carcass. its crazy, heavy, awesome stuff. there is a lot of subgenres, but with all the different types of music, ppl saying they like metallica and ppl who like morbid angel would both say they r metal fans, and that just doesnt say who they r...

[Mr. McBrettman]

word.

Tyler Durden wrote:

i love it how everyone is on this guys nuts for writing a bad article, yet more then half cannot put 2 coherent sentences together lol

[metal-head666]

**** all this core shit. grind"core" is an excellent genre yet all the emo kids come up to me going.. man listen to this brutal shit. what do i hear.. dr acula or something shitty like that. it should be called grind. it shouldnt be the same as the 80's and 90's with napalm death and an-al cu-nt

[metal-head666]

**** all this core shit. grind"core" is an excellent genre yet all the emo kids come up to me going.. man listen to this brutal shit. what do i hear.. dr acula or something shitty like that. it should be called grind. it shouldnt be the same as the 80's and 90's with napalm death and an-al cu-nt

[metal-head666]

metal-head666 wrote:

**** all this core shit. grind"core" is an excellent genre yet all the emo kids come up to me going.. man listen to this brutal shit. what do i hear.. dr acula or something shitty like that. it should be called grind. it shouldnt be the same as the 80's and 90's with napalm death and an-al cu-nt

ignore me im stoned as shit...

[MasmaI]

Ugh...Once again a bunch of people who hate "core" genres join together to say how much they hate it while somehow also making fun of scene kids in the process. Look, I love deathcore; it's my favorite genre, but i hate most grindcore bands. I know, there are way too many sub-genres, but they all are descriptive and help to explain exactly what you are listening to. All you annoying pricks need to get bent. Just shut up and enjoy some music. God.

[kattaway96]

X-face wrote:

redvetteZ06 wrote:

Hey you mispelled "grind". It's spelled g-a-y.

rofls

but, seriously Grindcore music is good. but its an acquired taste.

really cuz i tried to listen to it about a million times at my friends house and i still cant stand it. although the guy who wrote the article says that there are different types of grindcore.

[Wolfsblood138]

redvetteZ06 wrote:

Hey you misspelled "grind". It's spelled g-a-y.

Nice.

[-AnTRaX-]

shreddhed wrote:

why are there so many generes of metal???

black metal, death metal, and thrash were hard enough to keep apart for me. Now we have to have grindcore, doom, metal core, deathcore, jazzcore...

how bout we just call it plain old metal from now on

then do it, f**** if you don't like a subgenre name then just don't use them, really...

no one cares about subgenre names ist just a matter of money and propaganda.

if the genre is called "grindcore" then what is "goregrind"??

also... i have read about another grindcore sub-subgenre called "porngore".

i ask what the f**** is porngore??

[-AnTRaX-]

by the way i like a lot carcass. duhhh
one great band