Grindcore is one of those fence-sitter genres. It wants to be punk, but it also wants to be metal.

Like crossover, a lot of bands from the movement draw on influence from both punk and metal genres, but both of those movements have their own overall goals.

Grindcore also shares themes and imagery with both punk and metal, from the horror and the occult (BLOOD, Carcass, Repulsion) to the political and social (Napalm Death, Brutal Truth, Terrorizer).

So, my question is: Is grindcore more metal than punk, or more punk than metal?

Qualities of punk music:

• Composition follows lyrics; often verse-chorus, some narrative
• Rhythmic, mechanical, blocky riffs guided by percussion

Qualities of metal music:

• Narrative, repeating, motif-based composition
• Speedy, organic, fluid riffs, esp. on lead instrument

Just tell us what you think in the comments.

I was curious. Being the open-minded kind of guy that I am, I decided to check out some of the racist, misogynist and homophobic music we can find under the “grindcore” label:

So I came to this conclusion: It’s just as shitty, if not shittier than your run-of-the-mill leftist/vegan/antifa grindcore. I doubt anyone takes it seriously, and if they do, they should probably reconsider their lives.

Why? Because they don’t actually believe in what they’re saying, and they fail to realize that your political opinions matter less than your music. Otherwise the belief in their opinion would shine through in the music, and it might be a little bit good…

A lot of people like to make bands to play shows and entertain people, but they don’t take the music seriously at all. They probably don’t know shit about music. If you want to entertain people, making shocking, offensive noise is the next best thing to do in terms of entertaining people, next to actually making thought-out songs.

Now, they’ve already pushed sonic offensiveness to the extreme, now they need to be ideologically offensive in order to get shows from audiences of tough guys who think their political opinions matter outside the realm of actual politics. (HEY, this applies just as much to vegan antifa grindcore as it does racist nazi grindcore!)

Now, I ask, why are extremist right wing ideology and prejudice statements so offensive? It’s really dumb, at best. But hardly offensive.

The next time you get offended like a fundie Christian would get offended at the notion of evolution, take a step back and THINK about whether you’ve been brainwashed, and whether you should roll your eyes and laugh instead of bitching and moaning!

It’s just like you’re going out of your way to destroy every little ant in the world after you found an ant trail going into your bag of organic banana chips in the cupboard.

Don’t be such a fundie Christian and get hung up on a person who acts like a nazi. Or whatever you think is a nazi or some other adjective.

Relax, roll your eyes and keep on spreading good ideas!

At best: This is for our readers to find some interesting newcomers. ~Ed.

Famine Year (Finland) – This almost seems to be rehashed from the same batch as all of the others who take part in the “Fellowship” of Discharge: crusty d-beat. Their saving grace, however, is that their songs will vary in intensity at all the appropriate times.

AB:NORM (Germany) – Brutal songs with sonorous riffage. AB:NORM also features the vocalist from cult German grind band, BLOOD. Their releases can be downloaded at their official website(!)

Freewill (Indonesia) – There seems to be a lot of influence from Terrorizer and early Kataklysm. Cascading percussion and guitars weave themselves into unrelenting, forceful, AND coherent passages — Go check them out!

Grindcore is violent, murderous music by people who care about the world. One could say it is anti-human, or non-anthrocentric, since it tends to veer away from human perspectives, like its brothers in death metal and black metal.

So, after we’ve covered the usual political topics, we have one left to consider, and it’s a tricky one:

Overpopulation.

Why is it tricky? Because in order to depopulate, people need to die. (So it goes). In order to have zero population growth, people will need their “freedom to reproduce” taken away. And not everyone will agree with this — a lot of people have the idea in the back of their head that humanity can continue on reproducing and growing, because science will find a way to allow us to go beyond our 7 billion people.

Anyone who speaks out against overpopulation and unchecked growth will be going against the herd, and outcasted.  But if anyone knows the history of grindcore musicians, they’re not afraid of being outcasted for what they truly believe in.

Something tells me this would be the perfect lyrical theme for a good song, too.

Overpopulation is the world’s top environmental issue, followed closely by climate change and the need to develop renewable energy resources to replace fossil fuels, according to a survey of the faculty at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF).

>ScienceDaily

The reality is that our Earth has a limited amount of resources to offer to humans, without destroying herself. For one, there needs to be enough land and fertilizer to go around to feed billions of mouths, and enough fresh water to grow those crops

But while that happens, millions of others starve. And because of unchecked population growth, those millions grow into billions of starving people. The land that those crops were growing on eventually loses the ability to produce its own nutrients, and becomes barren and desertified. So in essence, we’re digging deeper into a dry well.

Once that gut-reaction has kicked in, I then think of the horrible history of overpopulation predictions. Most famous, the 18th century demographer Thomas Malthus said mass starvation was inevitable because population increases geometrically while food production grows arithmetically. He didn’t anticipate the coming of the Industrial Revolution. His successors in the 1960s, such as Paul Ehrich and the Club of Rome, similarly didn’t see the Green Revolution that was galloping around the corner of history.

So it is tempting to say now that the overpopulation argument will smack into some new technological development. It’s not quite true to say there is a diminishing amount of resources, because the genius of human beings is to find new ways to use what is there. Two centuries ago, nobody could have conceived that the sun’s rays or the waves in the ocean were a resource to be used — but solar and tidal power make it so.

And yet, and yet … why do my own arguments leave me echoing with doubt? A dark voice in my head says: You would accept that, to pluck an absurd number, 100 billion people would be too many. You don’t think human genius is infinitely expansive; there is a limit to what it can solve. So isn’t the question just where you draw the line? If 100 billion is too much, why not 9 billion?

>Seattle Pi

The blissfully ignorant point at graphs and say “Oh look, there’s millions of people who aren’t in poverty and starving anymore,” neglecting to see that we’re still walking up the escalator that’s going down: the population of the people in above-poverty is staying proportionately the same to the people in poverty. But the total population still grows. It seems like we’re going somewhere, but we’re still stuck in the same rut, walking up the same steps.

Think of the earth’s resources as a pie, and that we live in a perfect world where everyone gets an equal slice without fighting. There’s four people, there’s four equally-large slices for them. There’s 12 people, there’s 12 modest slices for them. If there’s 800 people, there will be a ridiculous sliver for each of them.

Overpopulation is the elephant in the room, because when you bring it up, you’re essentially saying “there’s not enough room for everyone on this lifeboat.” But for the sake of everyone on it, do we let it sink and everyone on it die, or let a couple drown and continue to float on? This is a problem that genuinely concerns everyone!

The usual argument against population control is “UR A ELITIST EVERYONE IS EQUAL AND DESERVES A CHANCE. CONTROLLING POPULATION IS INHUMANE!!!”

Consider this: does anyone deserve the “chance” to be equally born into a crowded hellhole? Do we really want to do this to our children, leave them a burned out, dried-up Earth to our future generations? An Earth with a hazy atmosphere which burns your eyes, water and artificial food that is poisoned with industrial byproducts and hormones, and wars fought over dwindling precious resources?

Now tell us which direction is more inhumane.

Here’s a few more resources and articles on overpopulation:

Overpopulation Myths

Negative Population Growth

Next on the Environment Agenda: Population Control!

7 Environmental Problems That are Worse Than We Thought

RIAA Radar

I found this today on the Internet, and it made me think about the one unifying theme that grindcore tries to get through our thick ape-skulls: WE ARE SCREWED IF WE DON’T DO SOMETHING ABOUT OURSELVES!

It’s probably no coincidence that grindcore was born in this time. Even though it’s no easier than it is harder to live in these tumultuous times as in the past. The problems seem different than in the past, but the only thing that changed is context.

It’s the same problem humanity has had since life became easy: We lack self-control. Control over our thoughts, feelings and actions. We do what we think we want instead of what we really want, deep down, and we ignore the worst problems that are growing right beneath our noses, because instant gratification isn’t hard to come by these days.

Grindcore music exemplifies the chaos that comes out of this lack of self-control, the lack of self-control and responsibility of the individual, which is, quite possibly, the root of all of our problems. Look at most lyrical themes of grindcore bands (esp. Napalm Death) and you’ll see they are of a political mindset, but they are driven by the horrors we see in this day and age, and how they wish it could be changed.

There was an interesting video posted at deathmetal.org about the era Kali Yuga — the age of strife and instability, as described in ancient Hindu texts.

Considering the parallels between the description of Kali Yuga and the state of humanity in modern days, it’s difficult to say that it was just a myth.

So what is the solution? Realize life is short. Life is a rare thing in the universe, and we have to do something with our own lives, and take the reins over our superficial desires. Humanity needs to find its purpose, but we’re standing on each others’ feet if we keep using our technology for consumption and pointless hedonism, and believing “our purpose in life is our pleasure” instead of using it to discover our purpose and place in the universe! We’ll go extinct by then!

Humanity is more important than an individuals’ short term desires, because an individual is part of humanity! We’re all part of it. And if life means something to you, you need to do something instead of sitting around and sighing about all the problems.

If you want to help humanity, you must start with yourself, have some inner strength and self-discipline, and subconsciously, you’ll encourage others to do the same. Look at where you fit in with the world, and whether or not you can do something to make a difference.

…I’m probably preaching to the choir here. A lot of grindcore fans, crusties, and even metalheads can be very level-headed and active and helpful in their local communities, and there’s more of them out there getting into this mindset. But I’m just the messenger spreading the message here.

Napalm Death – Rise Above

[...]

Inner strength must detect
The love we each possess
Before we may reach
Appreciating it in anyone else

Electro Hippies are an oft-overlooked group that was very underground and short-lived, lasting only 4 years since their inception in 1985, and are usually only noted for having Jeff Walker of later Carcass fame as their bassist.

The Hippies’ music was no-nonsense crust punk: the exposed, fleshless bones of grindcore. Protesting with sonic power the evils of groups such as McDonald’s and embracing your typical, wholesome DIY values.

The Only Good Punk gives us a look at the influences surrounding the Hippies at the time. They released a split 7″ with Napalm Death, both tracks being jokish 1-second micro-songs.

© Peaceville, 1987

Track Listing:

1. Faith (0:39)
2. Acid Rain (2:53)
3. Run Ronald (0:40)
4. Scum (1:05)
5. B.P. (0:47)
6. Unity (1:59)
7. Terror Eyes (2:40)
8. So Wicked (0:46)
9. Profit (0:54)
10. Freddy’s Revenge (1:47)
11. Mistake (0:43)
12. Things Of Beauty (4:05)
13. Protest (0:30)
14. Gas Joe Pearce (0:54)
15. Lies (1:55)
16. Tortured Tears (1:31)
17. Turkeys (0:56)
18. D.I.Y. (1:01)
19. Suck (0:42)
20. Deception (2:53)
21. Could You Look Me In The Eyes (1:42)
22. Sometimes I’m So Glad (2:03)
23. At The Edge (1:02)
24. Reject (1:26)
25. Escape (0:58)
26. Mega Armageddon Death (0:05)
27. Mother (Live) (2:16)
28. Faith (Live) (0:22)
29. Unity (Live) (1:58)
30. Sheep (Live) (1:22)
31. City (Live) (0:55)
32. Acid Rain (Live) (2:52)
33. Run Ronald (Live) (0:32)
34. Chickens (Live) (0:41)
35. So Wicked (Live) (1:02)
36. Profit (Live) (1:06)
37. Meltdown (Live) (1:51)
38. Mega Armageddon Death (Live) (0:07)
39. Mega Armageddon Death Extended (Live) (0:24)
40. Silver Machine (Live) (3:49)

Most of the tracks themselves are punky, simple, but show a semblance of riff organization to be found in later grindcore bands and songs by the masters of crust-metal, Amebix. Not just that, but the tracks bleed into one another (especially Acid Rain/Run Ronald/Scum), with the dying gasp of one track’s end seeding the life of the next, which could be unintentional, but is notable anyway.

It’s difficult to sit through the entire album, but this compilation has the best of the Electro Hippies, so you’re free to skip around some of the slower tracks.

I’ve seen it a thousand times,and probably you too: a new underground band comes out and if its mildly good it gets promoted to the four winds, sometimes even “deserving” cult or legendary status at only a few months of releasing the first demo. As having success with a band is easier than it has ever been, a local scene can fill itself with hordes upon hordes of new acts expecting its fifteen minutes under the sun, most of them crap because of their motivation.

Some see the amount of bands coming out nowadays as a good thing, but for the more observing, the current state of affairs is tragic: more bands don’t necessarily mean more bands of superior quality.

For those believing that metal is dead because there aren’t any good bands coming out in recent years, it must be said that is not entirely true – there are new bands releasing pretty good music considering their amateurishness, which means they are often far ahead from the herd. Not great nor classic stuff, but music with potential to become excellent, given some time, work and effort. Usually, you can catch them on MySpace and other music channels.

The problem with relentless promotion of the type already explained is that if mediocre stuff can be easily promoted nowadays, the music with potential can too, and that can be perjudicial in the long term for those bands, as an early bout of success in the scene can terminate its potential for further growth. I’ve also seen it. It’s like the scenesters, in non-violent way, clip a band’s wings before it learns to fly by giving the band what they want before they deserve it – recognition.

~ Too much indiscriminate band support is negative and can eventually kill the underground

I’m very inclined to agree. In local bands, why is it that even the mediocre get so much praise and support?

There’s just so much focus on selling a band and its image that it takes precedence over the music quality itself, and anyone can be a star – even in underground music. Then the scene becomes more important than the music.

Because of this, everyone wants to join their friends in being local rockstars. The deafening noise of the thousands of 2-day record hack-bands drowns out all of the good ones, and we never get to listen to those.

This could be a blessing in disguise though: there’s probably an amazing grindcore or death metal band out there that we haven’t heard of yet and doesn’t get any recognition, we just have to keep on searching for it.

© 625 Thrash, 2007

Track Listing:

1. Oxygen Corrosion – 00:53
2. Self Termination – 01:25
3. Enslaved By Machinery – 01:08
4. Manipulator – 01:49
5. Zone Killer – 00:20
6. Decontamination – 01:09
7. Street Sweeper – 00:13
8. Dead Inside – 01:01
9. Human Trafficking – 01:19
10. Hydraphobia – 01:36
11. Mind Ripper – 01:21
12. Armored Virus – 01:20
13. Mass Communication Mindfuck – 01:19
14. Nuclear Deterrence – 01:20
15. Paranoia – 01:18
16. Necessary Death – 00:51
17. Protection Maze – 00:54
18. Lobotomized – 01:18
19. Internet Era Alienation – 00:42
20. Evolved Into Obliteration – 01:12

Total Length: 22:28

Again, there wasn’t anything truly new on this album, as far as grindcore goes. The lyrical themes and art are typical, but welcome. The riffs, drumming, and so forth are all reminiscent of Brutal Truth or Terrorizer, but aren’t too cliché. All of this said, the innovation well has been dry for years, and World Extermination was probably the most refreshing and well-executed grindcore album to come out in recent years.

(World Extermination was re-released on Earache Records, March 2, 2009)

What makes grindcore what it is?

“‘These kids on MySpace and Headbanger’s Ball with the lame breakdown death metal bands really need to quit calling that crap grindcore — it’s offensive,’ chides bassist James Delgado of Dallas grinders Kill the Client about this most grating of pet peeves. And he’s right, you know.” – Scott Alisoglu, “Kill the Client: The Art of Grinding,” Metal Maniacs, February 2009, vol. 26, no. 2, p. 92.

vivalaranter attempts to dissolve the confusion of death metal and grindcore with metalcore and deathcore:

The point he makes about grindcore is that it doesn’t contain any faux and random bits for the sake of “complexity” and “depth”.

Grindcore is simple and straightforward, and doesn’t weaken itself to try and dazzle us and our friends at parties with guitar squeaks and pig squeals.

Now, in posting this, I’m not encouraging a battle between TRUE/FALSE GRINDCAWR because there’s really no point. This is what angsty teens bicker about with each other on band forums. There’s really no such thing as “true grindcore”, because that is irrelevant to what makes the music, but there is such a thing as false and bad music.

By figuring out what kind of music doesn’t do anything for us, all we have left is the music that DOES do something for us just from listening to it — this has little to do with the people who listen to it or the kinds of hairstyles or clothes or album art the band members have — I suppose the music that can do this is what you would call your “true grindcore”.

What we should learn from this is what we really want out of the music we listen to.

Do we want good sound? Anyone can do this with the right studio producer and equipment. Good sound is important sometimes, but did Carcass need it?

Do we want the best technicality? Anyone with the time to go to Berklee School of Music can learn to play guitar like Yngwie Malmsteen, but theywon’t necessarily learn learn to put powerful music together like Carcass or Ludwig van Beethoven.

Do we want the best image? For the most part, grindcore imagery is very consistent. This is where death metal got their imagery from. This isn’t what we listen to the music for… Is it?

The truth is that “good grindcore” tends to have a very sturdy musical “structure”. It’s easy to follow, but the way it works itself out is heavy and powerful.

As a closing example, I give you Carcass: