Grindcore

Grindcore is extreme metal at its most compressed and violent — blistering blast beats often above 200 BPM, heavily distorted riffs, guttural-and-shriek vocals, and songs frequently under two minutes, sometimes mere seconds. Birmingham’s Napalm Death crystallized it on 1987’s Scum, fusing hardcore punk’s speed and DIY politics with death metal’s heaviness, while Repulsion and Terrorizer set milestones on the US side. It is loud, chaotic, and confrontational, with lyrics ranging from politics to gore. Brevity and intensity are the whole point.