Genre story · Metal
Deathgrind
The short, hostile attack of grindcore carrying a thicker and more elaborate death-metal guitar sound.
Deathgrind formed where early extreme-metal and hardcore networks overlapped in the late 1980s and 1990s. Carcass helped establish a harsh sound at that intersection. Other groups including Brutal Truth and later Nasum drew on both traditions in different proportions. Its name describes a meeting between styles rather than one geographically fixed movement or a particularly fast version of all Death Metal.
Fast can still be heavy
Blast beats and sharply compressed song sections come from Grindcore, while low growling, heavier death-metal riffing and more developed structures can change the weight of the arrangement. Some recordings barely leave room to recover; others contrast bursts of speed with longer passages. What counts is the actual mixture, not a track-length limit.
Close but not identical
Deathgrind is not simply another word for Grindcore, Goregrind or Brutal Death Metal. Particular bands move between those forms over their careers. It is a fusion of Death Metal and Grindcore rather than a branch of only one of them.
Essential recordings
- 1989CarcassSymphonies of SicknessEarly grind and death-metal elements in a dense, abrasive sound.
- 1992Brutal TruthExtreme Conditions Demand Extreme ResponsesA ferocious, metal-connected grindcore reference.
- 1998NasumInhale/ExhaleA later Swedish interpretation of extreme grind with death-metal intensity.