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Grindcore: An introduction to the most extreme for
Originaly appearing in Spin Magazine. Volume 7, Number 3, Jan '91,
Pages 35, 36
Transfered to computer data, by Flesh
GRINDCORE
By Steven Blush.
GRINDCORE BANDS ARE DOING FOR METAL WHAT THE GETO BOYS DID FOR RAP.
THIER TOP-VOLUME BRAND OF MACHINATED MADNESS MAKES SLAYER AND CO.
SOUND LIKE MR. ROGERS' HOUSE BAND.
A half-dozen years ago it seemed Heavy Metal was destined to
continue as purely mindless, directionless music But recently-
spearheaded by the punk-influenced, speed-laced breakthrough of
Metalica, the bad-ass mayhem of Guns N' Roses, and the major
successes of rap-funk-enhanced acts like Faith No more-the era of
Spandex and headband-clad lunkheads is being challenged by a new
metal attitude eager to find new ways to experiment with both the
sound and image of of Rock's hardest edge. The trend is most
evident in the rise of Grindcore. Breaking past the death-metal
barrier, these acts constitute metal's most important development
in years- and it's grislier than ever.
Primarily a U.K. phenomenon, grindcore's innovators blend the
hyperspeed velocity of grungy death-metal merchants like Slayer and
early-era Celtic Frost with industrial wall-of-noise texuring a~la
Throbbing Gristle, early Swans, and present day Ministry. Realease,
and promoted through Nottingham, England-based indie label Earache
Records, gnarly bands such as Napalm Death, Godflesh, Carcass,
Morbid Angel, Entombed, and Nocturnus are on the verge of modern
consciousness. don't expect any of these acts to appear on American
Bandstand or The Arsenio Hall Show in the near future, but their
underground status is altering the face of the genre.
the grindcore story dates back to the summer of 1987 when Earache
honcho Digby Pearson put out the first Napalm Death album, Scum,
a full-legnth epic comprising of brutal 30-second supersonic blasts
that garnered critical acclaim and significant sales. "That album
came out at the perfect time," Pearson says. "The harcore thing was
still strong, but this was the first time that a band ad a real
strong metallic edge into their music, while speeding it up beyond
all recognition- which is Napalm Death's hallmark. they just put
hardcore and metal through an accelerator- no one could be sure
what the results were gonna be- andwe just went for it.
"Basically, a lot of this label has grown out of Napalm Death's
early involvement" Pearson continues. "There have been a lot of
different members in Napalm Death over the yaers, and a lot of the
bands that those members went on to join- Godflesh and Carcass, for
instance- are also on the label. Thje band has been central to the
label, really."
The man credited with forming the grindcore style and dubbing the
term (grind is a Brit-metal synonyme for Thrash) in Napalm
primarily member-bassist Shane Embury. "Grindcore is now being
accepted as the next extension from thrash metal," Embury offers.
"At the same time, I always though this kind of music could become
popular. It's influencing a lot of people, and that's pretty weird
to me. as far as how this whole thing got started, we were really
into Celtic Frost, Seige- Wich is a hardcore band from Boston- a
lot of harcore and death-metal bandsbands, and some industrial
noise bands like the early Swans. So, we created a mesh of all
those things. It's just everything is going at a hundered miles per
hour, basically.
"As far as where we're going in the future," Embury continues,
"I think we've gone as far as we can with the 'gods of speed'
thing. We're starting to get into slower stuff, going for longer
songs, as oposed to our blast aspects. Also, the noisy industrial
stuff is cming more to the forefront. If you're familiar with our
latest album [Harmony Corruption] I think you've got a good idea
as to our new direction. We're getting into real painful noise: I
just want to annoy people at the moment."
While Napalm is the barometer by which all other grindcore
purveyors are measured, the musical spectrum of these artists is
significant. On the straight-up death meyal tip , Florida bands
such as Morbid Angel, Massacre, and Nocturnus are powerful members
of Pearson's lable. And while the Sunshine State has long been
associated with a heavy-thrash contingent, Pearson's contingent
with those bands comes from his long time association with the
cult metal band, Death, who introduced him to the whole spectrum
of drastic groups. The most severe, by far, is Morbid angel, whose
ferocity makes Testement sound like Faster Pussycat in comparison.
Led by madman guitarist Trey Azagthoth- his surname is taken from
the Sumerian god of war and disorder- Morbid Angel's latest album,
Alters of madness, is not for the weak of heart. Azagoth gained
notoriety at last year's New Musicc Seminar in New York City by
biting himself and drinking his own blood on stage. At the time,
he told people that he was a 300 year-old vampire, a charge he now
vehemently denies. "When I do something like that onstage, it's not
something I'm parading or some kind of gimmick," Azagthoth says.
"It's just personal expersion. If I feel like drinking blood on
stage, I'll do it. But I'm not totally strange, I'll do some normal
things, too."
At this point in the discussion, azagthoth took a breif
intermission to stop his pet pit bull from mauling his next-door
neighbor's dog. He then added, "I'm into contradictions. I'm into
extremes."
Even more over the top is Carcass, led by onetime Napalm
guitarist Bill Steer. Fusing sordid grindcore crunch with
anatomically correct gore lyrics, Carcass has some of the nastiest
song titles in rock history: "Cadaveric Incubator of
Endoparasites," "Swarming Vulger Mass of Infected Virulency," and
"Excoriating Abdominal Emanation," to name a few. "When we started
the band in early '87," Steer recalls. "there were a lot of bands
with so-called gore lyrics, but they were just writing about horror
films and stuff like that. To us, that was inefective, it didn't
have any impact on the listener. We wanted to introduce something
that was a little more realistic. I mean, obviously, it's got a
fantacy element too, because some of the ideas are overblown. But
at the same time, the roots are in reality, and that's why we use
medical terminology. Also, i'd like to think that there's an
element of humor there. We're not afraid to parody ourselves at
times."
But arguably, the most innovative of these bands, is Godflesh,
fronted by guitarist Justin Broadrick (formerly of Napalm death and
Head of David). Frustrated by isular limitations of metal, and
disillusioned by isular politics of the "alternative" scene,
Broadrick set out to stake his own unique territory. Combining
nasty guitar riffing and grotesquely strained vocals with the
inhuman beat box rythms and sampling of the best Wax Trak acts,
Godflesh possesses a sound that defies explaination, a sound truly
exemplary of the grindcore aesthetic.
But just because these bands share a common background and often
tour together doesn't mean they like each other. In fact there's
a fierce rivalry between Earache acts. "I think the only way we fit
into this whole Earache thing is the fact that we evoke extreme
reactions," says Broadrick. "But too many other bands on the label
are extreme in a bad way, it's justr sensationalism. We feel
further apart from that scene because we're not a metal band. To
me, Carcass's music is really powerful, but it lacks any real
direction; what they're singing about doesn't mean anything. I
think we've gotten a legnthier vision of where music can go, where
as a lot of bands are already working within a set of confines.
Death metal's been around for ages- and I liked it originally for
the power- but now it's gone beond a joke. I don't wanna say that
Godflesh is the only band that's actually doing anything extreme,
but I do think that we actually fulfill what this whole grindcore
sound is all about. That's why I don't think may of these bands
will last." Heated competition not withstanding, grindcore is bound
to make important inroads for music. This year will bring new
releases from all the aformentioned acts.
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