Crust punk

Crust punk lyrics generally discuss real-world issues as a means of activism. In particular, they discuss political and social themes such as class struggle, environmentalism, anarchism, and anti-capitalism.^[7] Sometimes these themes are hyperbolised to the point of discussing the apocalypse, religious control and nuclear destruction. Many bands also discussed feminism, animal rights and veganism or vegetarianism.^[8] In contrast, Amebix's lyrics sometimes discussed mysticism and Gnosticism.^[9]

Crust punk is a derivative form of anarcho-punk, mixed with metal riffs.^[1] The overall musical sound was described by SFGate writer Loolwa Khazzoom as being "stripped down".^[10] Drumming is typically done at high speed, with D-beats sometimes being used.^[3] In Sober Living for the Revolution: Hardcore Punk, Straight Edge, and Radical Politics, author Gabriel Kuhn referred to the genre as a "blend of 1977 British punk, roots culture and black metal", with the genre often taking influence from death metal, grindcore and powerviolence.^[11]

The most prominent influences upon crust punk were Crass and Discharge. Crass introduced the genre's anarchist ideology and its tattered, militaristic aesthetic, while Discharge introduced its apocalyptic themes and influence from heavy metal, particularly Motörhead.^[14] Other metal bands to include the style included Hellhammer and Trouble.^[1]

El crust punk fue establecido por las bandas Amebix y Antisect , ambas surgidas de la escena anarcopunk y que utilizaban imágenes oscuras, mórbidas y postapocalípticas. Amebix había comenzado su carrera tocando un estilo más influenciado por Killing Joke , mientras que Antisect comenzó tocando simplemente anarco-hardcore punk. Amebix adoptó por primera vez influencias del metal en su álbum de 1983 No Sanctuary , mientras que Antisect lo hizo en su EP de 1985 Out from the Void . Estos lanzamientos fueron los primeros lanzamientos de crust punk, y el álbum posterior de Amebix, Arise (1985), codificó el sonido del género. ^{[ 1 ]} Sin embargo, Amebix también trajo un abanico más amplio de influencias que la mayoría de las otras bandas del género, particularmente bandas post-punk como Public Image Ltd. , Bauhaus , Joy Division y especialmente Killing Joke . ^{[ 9 ]} Pronto, la primera ola de bandas de crust punk se consolidó con la formación de Hellbastard , Deviated Instinct y Concrete Sox . ^{[ 1 ]} Esta primera ola del género estuvo estrechamente relacionada con la incipiente escena del metal extremo , con los miembros de Amebix y Hellhammer incluso frecuentando los mismos círculos de intercambio de cintas , influyéndose mutuamente. ^{[ 15 ]}

En los años siguientes, el género se extendió a otros países. El más importante de ellos fue la escena sueca de crust punk y d-beat , que pronto produjo a Anti Cimex y Agoni, quienes rápidamente realizaron giras por el Reino Unido. ^{[ 16 ]} De esta escena pronto surgió la escena sueca de death metal , que alcanzaría gran notoriedad gracias a Entombed . ^{[ 17 ]}

American crust punk began in New York City, in the mid-1980s, with the work of Nausea. The group emerged from the Lower East Sidesquat scene and New York hardcore,^[18] living with Roger Miret of Agnostic Front.^[19] The early work of Neurosis, from San Francisco, also borrowed from Amebix, and inaugurated crust punk on the West Coast.^[20][21]Disrupt (Boston),^[22]Antischism (South Carolina), Misery and Destroy (Minneapolis) were also significant U.S. crust groups.^[1]

In the late 1980s, bands including Doom, Excrement of War, Electro Hippies and Extreme Noise Terror began to merge crust punk with the sound of UK hardcore punk, creating the crustcore subgenre. Felix Havoc described Extreme Noise Terror's segment of the "Earslaughter" split album with Chaos UK as the first album in the genre.^[1]

In 1994, Orange County, California's Dystopia released their debut album Human = Garbage which merged sludge crust punk and sludge metal.^[23] An important American crust punk band was Aus Rotten^[24] from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Crust punk also flourished in Minneapolis, shepherded by the Profane Existence label.^[25] In this period, the ethos of crust punk became particularly codified, with vegetarianism, feminism, and sometimes straight edge being prescribed by many of the figures in the scene.^[25] The powerviolence scene associated with Slap-a-Ham Records was in close proximity to crust punk, particularly in the case of Man Is the Bastard and Dropdead.^[26] Prominent crust punk groups (Driller Killer, Totalitär, Skitsystem, Wolfbrigade, and Disfear) also emerged from Sweden, which had always had a strong D-beat scene. Many of these groups developed in parallel with the much more commercial Scandinavian death metal scene.^[27]

During this time, crust became prominent in the American South, where Prank Records and CrimethInc. acted as focal points of the scene. The most well-known representative of Southern crust was His Hero Is Gone,^[3][28] whose early material incorporate elements of powerviolence and experimental music. By the band's final album The Plot Sickens (1998), they had begun to incorporate influence from the Japanese hardcore style burning spirits, to create a more grandiose and melodic take on crust punk. This sound was then continued by three of the members' subsequent band Tragedy. At the same time, in Spain bands such as Hongo, Das Plague and Ekkaia were merging crust punk with elements of screamo, creating a fusion genre which at the time was called "emo crust".^[29]

In the early 2000s, the Spanish emo crust genre and Tragedy–His Hero Is Gone melodic crust style began to merge, leading to the beginning of the neo-crust subgenre. During the mid–2000s, this became the most prominent style in the crust scene, producing subsequent acts such as Fall of Efrafa and From Ashes Rise.^[29] Soon, bands such as Trap Them emerged, incorporating increasing elements of hardcore and death metal.^[30] By the end of the decade, many international crust punk bands had shifted their style to favour black metal influences.^[29] In 2017, Bandcamp Daily wrote that Fluff Fest, held in Czechia since 2000, has become a "summer ritual" for many European crust fans.^[31]

Crack rock steady is a punk rock fusion-genre, which combines elements of crust punk and ska punk.^[32] Lyrics often focus on themes such as drug-use, religion,^[33] politics^[34] and social issues.^[32] Other genres sometimes incorporated in conjunction with the style include hardcore punk^[33] and heavy metal.^[35] Notable bands within the genre include Choking Victim, Leftöver Crack, Morning Glory and Star Fucking Hipsters.^[33]

Crustcore (also known as crusty hardcore), is a sub-genre of crust punk that takes influence from hardcore punk and sometimes thrashcore. Crustcore bands include Extreme Noise Terror, Doom, Disrupt,^[1] early Wolfbrigade,^[36]Neurosis,^[37]Baptists,^[38]Discharge^[39] and Filth.^[40]

Neo crust is a genre that merges crust punk with elements of various extreme music styles including black metal, screamo, post-rock, hardcore punk,^[41]death metal, sludge metal and doom metal.^[42] Unlike most other punk–metal fusion genres, neo-crust's sound is neither distinctively rooted in punk or metal; instead, it frequently shifts between the two, disregarding genre boundaries.^[42] It is often dark, heavy, and melodic.^[42] The genre makes use of a melancholic tone and a post-civilization aesthetic, often including dead trees and barren landscapes, as well as poetic band names and lyrics. Some bands, such as Cwill and Remains of the Day even incorporate violins into their music.^[29]

The style originated as a amalgamation of two separate sounds that began concurrently in the late 1990s: the screamo influenced "emo crust" style of Spanish bands Hongo, Das Plague, Ekkaia, Madame Germen and Blünt; and the melodic crust sound of later His Hero is Gone and early Tragedy, which was influenced by the Japanese hardcore style burning spirits. By 2002, Ekkaia and Tragedy had toured together, and subsequently adopted elements of each other's styles. This style was soon termed neo-crust by Alerta Antifascista records founder Timo Nehmtow, and saw widespread popularity in the punk scene during the mid–2000s. By the end of the decade, the sound had decline in popularity.^[29] Notable bands include His Hero is Gone, Tragedy,^[43] and Fall of Efrafa.^[42]

Crust punk and black metal evolved alongside one another, with the members of early crust band Amebix and first-wave black metal band Hellhammertape trading with one another.^[15] Thus, pioneering black metal bands such as Hellhammer, Bathory and Mayhem were inspired by crust punk,^[44] and early crust punk bands such as Sacrilege, Amebix and Antisect were influenced by Hellhammer and Celtic Frost.^[1]

Blackened crust

El crust punk se vio afectado por una segunda ola de black metal en la década de 1990, con algunas bandas enfatizando estos elementos del black metal. Iskra es probablemente el ejemplo más obvio de crust punk influenciado por la segunda ola del black metal ; ^{[ 45 ]} Iskra acuñó su propia frase "blackened crust" para describir su nuevo estilo. El grupo japonés Gallhammer también fusionó crust punk con black metal ^{[ 46 ]} mientras que la banda inglesa Fukpig fusiona elementos de crust punk, black metal y grindcore. ^{[ 47 ] [ 48 ]} Downfall of Gaia de Alemania mezcla crustgrind y black metal, junto con elementos de sludge metal , doom metal y post-metal . ^{[ 49 ]} Young and in the Way de Carolina del Norte han estado tocando blackened crust desde su formación en 2009. ^{[ 50 ]} Además, la banda noruega Darkthrone ha incorporado rasgos de crust punk en su material de mediados a finales de la década de 2000. Como escribió Daniel Ekeroth en 2008,

En una paradoja de lo más irónica, el black metal y el crust punk han comenzado a fusionarse recientemente. Miembros de Darkthrone y Satyricon han declarado últimamente su pasión por el punk, mientras que entre los crusties, el black metal es la última moda. De hecho, el último álbum de la banda de crust punk Skitsystem suena muy black metal, ¡mientras que la última obra maestra de black metal de Darkthrone suena muy punk! Esto habría sido inimaginable a principios de los 90.

— ^{[ 51 ]}

El crust punk dio origen al género grindcore , con bandas como Extreme Noise Terror , Napalm Death y Carcass . ^{[ 5 ]} Sin embargo, Pete Hurley, ex guitarrista de Extreme Noise Terror, declaró que no tenía interés en ser recordado como pionero de este estilo: «"grindcore" fue un término legendariamente estúpido acuñado por un chico hiperactivo de West Midlands, y no tenía nada que ver con nosotros. ENT era, es y —sospecho— siempre será una banda de hardcore punk... no una banda de grindcore, ni de stenchcore, ni de trampcore, ni ningún otro término sub-sub-sub-core que se te ocurra». ^{[ 60 ]} Este sonido grindcore inicial con influencias del crust punk a veces se denomina "crustgrind". ^{[ 5 ]}