Short History of Grindcore

Grindcore: The same one-upsmanship that led Thrash to evolve into Death Metal pushed Death bands into increasingly extreme territory in order to stand out from one another and establish that they were the meanest, scariest, gnarliest Death Metal band around. This led to Grindcore, which is essentially Death Metal played at a relentless hyperspeed pace with incredibly guttural vocals and a lyrical focus on blood and guts to almost the complete exclusion of anything else. Carcass were leaders in this general direction, though they were more musically varied than most Grind. The genre really took off with the advent of Cannibal Corpse and Napalm Death in the early 90s. Though it is musically even more limited than Black Metal, it remains a highly popular genre, with plenty of bands still trying to out-gross each other. Pioneers: Carcass, Napalm Death, Cannibal Corpse. Notable Bands: Exhumed, Genital Grinder, Aborted, Gorgasm.