The Difference Between Grindcore and Death Metal
Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 1:10 pm
We (FLOURISHING) had nothing better to do than try to think of 5 bands that somewhat, kinda, sorta fell under the deathgrind tag...
Taken from Decibel.com
http://decibelmagazine.com/Content.aspx?ncid=364127
By Garett Bussanick (Flourishing and Wetnurse)
To accurately and responsibly report our top 5 death/grind hybrids, I'd like to first address a thing or two. Death metal is pretty easily identified by most extreme metal enthusiasts. But what about grindcore? I find that this term has been misused and misunderstood over the years. It seems to me that sometimes people equate grindcore with blast beats, which is obviously not the whole story. Furthermore, there was a time not too long ago when people considered the spastic type of music from bands like Daughters or The Dillinger Escape Plan as grindcore. It was pretty fast with some blasts. It was intense sounding. But I would not call these bands, or bands inspired by them, grindcore. Sure, speed is an essential part of the formula, such as blast beats and fast riffs, but it's not the ultimate characteristic. And vocally, most anything extreme will work.
So what sets grindcore apart from other fast, intense, and heavy genres? In my estimation, it comes down to the riffs. There are two defining components to questionless grindcore riffing in my opinion. Component #1: Slide riffs. These are usually power chords moved about in a fast, 'slidey' manner on the fretboard and are often chromatic. It's based in punk. To illustrate, for a righty guitarist, there is often more left hand sliding and less right hand picking... chords reached and heard outnumber chords picked. Never palm-muted, this riffing style creates the wall of guitar that is not as easily defined or emotion-based as death metal riffing, which is usually more elaborate in approach with more easily discernible patterns. Component #2: Riffs, whether slide or not, often have short, atonal, quickly repeated phrasing. They come across kind of sterile in an emotional sense, but have a machine like quality that when coupled with, say, a blast beat, brings the muscle that is grindcore. I'd like to close this segment by saying that the above has been noted to set the parameters upon which our "top 5" choices are based. And so, with these ideas in mind, here are our top 5 bands that have at some point melded elements of both death metal and grindcore.
5. Human Remains
Approimate Makeup = Death: 80% / Grind: 20% - Fun Fact: Paul Miller sang for an earlier incarnation of Flourishing
Human Remains isn't quite the first band that comes to mind when thinking of death/grind. This is because these elements took back seat to their incredibly awesome and unconventional approach. But I do see elements of both, and I wanted to include them since they're one of our favorites! Here is a second fun fact: I spent a good portion of my youth living in the same area as the band was from. In '91 or '92, I was at the Middletown fair wearing some metal shirt, and my friend and I were approached by the band to buy a demo. I remember clearly they were selling demos out of a shoebox. This was the first time I had heard of them, so my friend and I declined. So, yeah...hindsight and all that.
4. Pungent Stench
Approximate Makeup = Death: 70% / Grind: 30% / Fun Fact: I learned years later that the cover of "Been Caught Buttering" is actually one head split in half vertically down the back and folded outwards to look like two aged dudes. Of course, they're, or he is himself, kissing.
We'll not consider much past Been Caught as they moved away from death metal into that bluesy, stoner-ish vibe on later releases. And during their reunion, they seemed to release very straight ahead death metal from memory. So with the early EPs, splits, and first couple of records, there is a great meeting of death metal (the downtuned thrash variety) and definitive grind. There are many excellent examples of slide riffing happening during this era, particularly on the Disharmonic Orchestra split, which I enjoy via the excellent compilation release, Praise the Names of the Musical Assassins.
3. Repulsion
Approximate Makeup = Death: 25% / Grind: 75% / Fun Fact: They played in Brooklyn last summer. I did not go.
Rightfully credited with creating the grind format, I feel they had a bit of a death metal quality going on as well, especially with some of the riffs and the Slayer-esque solos. Slide riffs, distorted bass (the Scott Carlson bass grind!) and, of course, some of the earliest blasts were done by them, all of which helped to define grind. I really should have gone to see them when they played here last year. I've never seen them, and I have no idea if I'll ever get an easier chance. Honestly, I can chalk it up to laziness, as the fire for show-going seems to fizzle with age.
2. Carcass
Approximate Makeup = Death: 65% / Grind: 15% / Fun Fact: Due to Swansong, the band only amounts to 80% (ouch!)
I think Reek is really the only thing they did that can be considered grind and I've always thought of them as a death metal band. There are surely some grinding parts on Reek and maybe some on Symphonies, but I think of the majority of Symphonies and definitely all of Necrotisicm are death metal. I'm not sure why these guys have been called the "gods of grind" when it wasn't their strongest characteristic. I would like to go on and say that I find Necroticism to be the finest death metal release ever. It still sounds fresher than just about any heavy music made in the last 18-19 years since its release. If I never heard it, I would believe someone if they told me it came out today.
1. Hemdale
Approximate Makeup = Death: 60% / Grind: 40% / Fun Fact: My daddy wants to sell you flowies
Uh oh, look out...gore! Both the Flourishing drummer, Brian, and I used to mailorder from Visceral Productions when it was around, which was Hemdale drummer Craig Rowe's label/distro. I still have the old distro lists and catalogs, which were getting more and more comical over time with descriptions of their releases, especially Hemdale's. Let it be known that Hemdale is the definition of death/grind. I can think of no other band who combines both so well into one whole. I only wish that the album "Jerry's Massage Parlor" was realized. As far as I know, it was recorded, but never released and I've never come into contact with anyone who had it. The last song I know of that was released was on the Relapse Solid comp and I've always thought that song was the only thing that ever got oaut from that album.
Taken from Decibel.com
http://decibelmagazine.com/Content.aspx?ncid=364127
By Garett Bussanick (Flourishing and Wetnurse)
To accurately and responsibly report our top 5 death/grind hybrids, I'd like to first address a thing or two. Death metal is pretty easily identified by most extreme metal enthusiasts. But what about grindcore? I find that this term has been misused and misunderstood over the years. It seems to me that sometimes people equate grindcore with blast beats, which is obviously not the whole story. Furthermore, there was a time not too long ago when people considered the spastic type of music from bands like Daughters or The Dillinger Escape Plan as grindcore. It was pretty fast with some blasts. It was intense sounding. But I would not call these bands, or bands inspired by them, grindcore. Sure, speed is an essential part of the formula, such as blast beats and fast riffs, but it's not the ultimate characteristic. And vocally, most anything extreme will work.
So what sets grindcore apart from other fast, intense, and heavy genres? In my estimation, it comes down to the riffs. There are two defining components to questionless grindcore riffing in my opinion. Component #1: Slide riffs. These are usually power chords moved about in a fast, 'slidey' manner on the fretboard and are often chromatic. It's based in punk. To illustrate, for a righty guitarist, there is often more left hand sliding and less right hand picking... chords reached and heard outnumber chords picked. Never palm-muted, this riffing style creates the wall of guitar that is not as easily defined or emotion-based as death metal riffing, which is usually more elaborate in approach with more easily discernible patterns. Component #2: Riffs, whether slide or not, often have short, atonal, quickly repeated phrasing. They come across kind of sterile in an emotional sense, but have a machine like quality that when coupled with, say, a blast beat, brings the muscle that is grindcore. I'd like to close this segment by saying that the above has been noted to set the parameters upon which our "top 5" choices are based. And so, with these ideas in mind, here are our top 5 bands that have at some point melded elements of both death metal and grindcore.
5. Human Remains
Approimate Makeup = Death: 80% / Grind: 20% - Fun Fact: Paul Miller sang for an earlier incarnation of Flourishing
Human Remains isn't quite the first band that comes to mind when thinking of death/grind. This is because these elements took back seat to their incredibly awesome and unconventional approach. But I do see elements of both, and I wanted to include them since they're one of our favorites! Here is a second fun fact: I spent a good portion of my youth living in the same area as the band was from. In '91 or '92, I was at the Middletown fair wearing some metal shirt, and my friend and I were approached by the band to buy a demo. I remember clearly they were selling demos out of a shoebox. This was the first time I had heard of them, so my friend and I declined. So, yeah...hindsight and all that.
4. Pungent Stench
Approximate Makeup = Death: 70% / Grind: 30% / Fun Fact: I learned years later that the cover of "Been Caught Buttering" is actually one head split in half vertically down the back and folded outwards to look like two aged dudes. Of course, they're, or he is himself, kissing.
We'll not consider much past Been Caught as they moved away from death metal into that bluesy, stoner-ish vibe on later releases. And during their reunion, they seemed to release very straight ahead death metal from memory. So with the early EPs, splits, and first couple of records, there is a great meeting of death metal (the downtuned thrash variety) and definitive grind. There are many excellent examples of slide riffing happening during this era, particularly on the Disharmonic Orchestra split, which I enjoy via the excellent compilation release, Praise the Names of the Musical Assassins.
3. Repulsion
Approximate Makeup = Death: 25% / Grind: 75% / Fun Fact: They played in Brooklyn last summer. I did not go.
Rightfully credited with creating the grind format, I feel they had a bit of a death metal quality going on as well, especially with some of the riffs and the Slayer-esque solos. Slide riffs, distorted bass (the Scott Carlson bass grind!) and, of course, some of the earliest blasts were done by them, all of which helped to define grind. I really should have gone to see them when they played here last year. I've never seen them, and I have no idea if I'll ever get an easier chance. Honestly, I can chalk it up to laziness, as the fire for show-going seems to fizzle with age.
2. Carcass
Approximate Makeup = Death: 65% / Grind: 15% / Fun Fact: Due to Swansong, the band only amounts to 80% (ouch!)
I think Reek is really the only thing they did that can be considered grind and I've always thought of them as a death metal band. There are surely some grinding parts on Reek and maybe some on Symphonies, but I think of the majority of Symphonies and definitely all of Necrotisicm are death metal. I'm not sure why these guys have been called the "gods of grind" when it wasn't their strongest characteristic. I would like to go on and say that I find Necroticism to be the finest death metal release ever. It still sounds fresher than just about any heavy music made in the last 18-19 years since its release. If I never heard it, I would believe someone if they told me it came out today.
1. Hemdale
Approximate Makeup = Death: 60% / Grind: 40% / Fun Fact: My daddy wants to sell you flowies
Uh oh, look out...gore! Both the Flourishing drummer, Brian, and I used to mailorder from Visceral Productions when it was around, which was Hemdale drummer Craig Rowe's label/distro. I still have the old distro lists and catalogs, which were getting more and more comical over time with descriptions of their releases, especially Hemdale's. Let it be known that Hemdale is the definition of death/grind. I can think of no other band who combines both so well into one whole. I only wish that the album "Jerry's Massage Parlor" was realized. As far as I know, it was recorded, but never released and I've never come into contact with anyone who had it. The last song I know of that was released was on the Relapse Solid comp and I've always thought that song was the only thing that ever got oaut from that album.
