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Crust punk (also known as stenchcore or simply crust) is a fusion genre of anarcho-punk and extreme metal that originated in the early to mid-1980s in England. Originally, the genre was primarily mid-tempo, making use of metal riffs in a stripped-down anarcho-punk context, however many later bands pushed the genre to be more grandiose, faster or more melodic. Often songs are political, discussing environmentalism, anarchism, anti-capitalism, feminism and animal rights.
The genre originated in the early to mid-1980s with Amebix and Antisect, bands active in the anarcho-punk scene who began to incorporate the influence of heavy metal bands such as Hellhammer, Motörhead and Trouble. The influence of these bands led to the genre's first wave with Hellbastard, Deviated Instinct and Concrete Sox. By the late 1980s, the genre had begun to merge with hardcore punk, typified by Electro Hippies, Extreme Noise Terror and Doom. During the 1990s, this sound was continued by Swedish and Japanese bands including Skitsystem, Driller Killer, Disclose and Gloom, while other areas brought in outside influences such as Dystopia with sludge metal, His Hero is Gone with powerviolence, Choking Victim with ska and Disrupt with grindcore. During the 2000s, the most prominent sound in the genre was the neo-crust style of Tragedy, Fall of Efrafa and From Ashes Rise, which pushed the genre into more metal-influenced but also melodic and post-rock-inspired territory. At the same time, Swedish bands like Disfear and Wolfbrigade were also pushing crust punk into an increasingly melodic direction, through the incorporation of elements of melodic death metal.
The term "crust" was coined by Hellbastard on their 1986 Ripper Crust demo. This name was derived from the "crusty" appearance of the genre's practitioning bands. Punk historian Ian Glasper states, in his book Trapped in a Scene, " Rippercrust sic is widely regarded as the first time the word 'crust' was used in the punk context, and hence the specific starting point of the whole crust punk genre, although some would attribute that accolade to the likes of Disorder, Chaos UK, and Amebix several years earlier." In the same book, he quoted the group's vocalist and guitarist Malcolm "Scruff" Lewty "A lot of people say we started the crust punk genre, but whatever. If they wanna say that, I don't mind, but I'm certainly no Malcolm McLaren, saying I invented something I didn't."Glasper 2009, 185
In the following years, the genre spread to other countries. The largest of these was the Swedish crust punk and d-beat scene which early on produced Anti Cimex and Agnoni, who both quickly toured the United Kingdom. From this scene soon originated the Swedish death metal scene, which would be brought to prominence by Entombed.
American crust punk began in New York City, in the mid-1980s, with the work of Nausea. The group emerged from the Lower East Side squatting scene and New York hardcore,Init 5, 25 September 2007. [1] Access date: 18 June 2008. living with Roger Miret of Agnostic Front.John John Jesse interview, Hoard Magazine, June 2005. Access date: 18 June 2008 The early work of Neurosis, from San Francisco, also borrowed from Amebix, and inaugurated crust punk on the West Coast.Adam Louie, Mastodon, Neurosis show review, Prefix magazine, 29 January 2008 [2] Access date: 18 June 2008Anthony Bartkewicz, Decibel Magazine No. 31, May 2007. [3] Access date: 18 June 2008 Disrupt (Boston),Nick Mangel, Disrupt LP review, Maximum Rock'n'Roll #301, June 2008, record reviews section. Antischism (South Carolina), Misery and Destroy (Minneapolis) were also significant U.S. crust groups.
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. Havoc Records described Extreme Noise Terror's segment of the "Earslaughter" split album with Chaos UK as the first album in the genre.
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,Andrew Childers, "Kick in the South: A Look Back at Prank Records and the Southern Crust Scene." 5 April 2008. [4] Access date: 21 June 2008 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".
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.
Notable bands include His Hero is Gone, Tragedy, Fall of Efrafa and From Ashes Rise.
Members of the sub-culture are generally outspokenly political, possessing anarchism and Anti-consumerism views.
2000s
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. Soon, bands such as Trap Them emerged, incorporating increasing elements of hardcore and death metal. By the end of the decade, many international crust punk bands had shifted their style to favour black metal influences. In 2017, Bandcamp wrote that Fluff Fest, held in Czechia since 2000, has become a "summer ritual" for many European crust fans.
Subgenres
Crack rock steady
Crack rock steady is a punk rock fusion-genre, which combines elements of crust punk and ska punk. Lyrics often focus on themes such as drug-use, religion, politics and social issues. Other genres sometimes incorporated in conjunction with the style include hardcore punk and heavy metal. Notable bands within the genre include Choking Victim, Leftöver Crack, Morning Glory and Star Fucking Hipsters.
Crustcore
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, early Wolfbrigade, Neurosis, Baptists, Discharge and Filth.
Neo crust
Neo crust is a genre that merges crust punk with elements of various extreme music styles including black metal, screamo, post-rock, hardcore punk, death metal, sludge metal and doom metal. 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. It is often dark, heavy, and melodic. 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.
Crasher crust
Crasher crust is a genre that originated in Japan. It blends d-beat, crust and a huge emphasis on noise elements. Often utilising both fuzz and distorted guitars, reliance on crash cymbals for drumming and raw recording.
and Gloom coined its name. Some bands include Gloom, Zyanose, Lebenden Toten, Scene Death Terror and Zodiak.
Legacy
Black metal
Crust punk and black metal evolved alongside one another, with the members of early crust band Amebix and first-wave black metal band Hellhammer tape trading with one another. Thus, pioneering black metal bands such as Hellhammer, Bathory and Mayhem were inspired by crust punk, (2025). 9781936239757, Feral House. ISBN 9781936239757 and early crust punk bands such as Sacrilege, Amebix and Antisect were influenced by Hellhammer and Celtic Frost.
Blackened crust
Crust punk was affected by a second wave of black metal in the 1990s, with some bands emphasising these black metal elements. Iskra are probably the most obvious example of second-wave black metal-influenced crust punk; Iskra Interviews . Iskra coined their own phrase "blackened crust" to describe their new style. The Japanese group Gallhammer also fused crust punk with black metal"Hard of Hearing", Terrorizer no. 171, June 2008, p. 56. while the English band Fukpig merge elements of crust punk, black metal, and grindcore."C: Do you think that FUKPIG has founded a style of his own? Misery: Nah its just d-beat crust, with added horror C: and then What difference to FUKPIG from the rest of the bands? Misery: We add more black metal / horror influences, but are still inspired by the same things C: Is Necro-Punk your style? Misery: Yeah, necro in the black metal style playing crust punk, so yeah Necro Punk." Interview: Fukpig Germany's Downfall of Gaia mix crustgrind and black metal, along with elements of sludge metal, doom metal and post-metal. North Carolina's Young and in the Way have been playing blackened crust since their formation in 2009. In addition, Norway band Darkthrone have incorporated crust punk traits in their mid-to-late 2000s material. As Daniel Ekeroth wrote in 2008,
Red and anarchist black metal
Red and anarchist black metal (also known as RABM or anarchist black metal) is a subgenre that melds black metal with anarchist crust punk, promoting ideologies such as anarchism, environmentalism, or Marxism. Artists labelled RABM include Iskra, Panopticon, Skagos, Storm of Sedition, Not A Cost, Black Kronstadt, and Vidargangr.
Grindcore
Crust punk led to the development of the grindcore genre, by bands including Extreme Noise Terror, Napalm Death and Carcass. However, Pete Hurley, the guitarist for the group, declared that he had no interest in being remembered as a pioneer of this style: "'grindcore' was a legendarily stupid term coined by a hyperactive kid from the West Midlands, and it had nothing to do with us whatsoever. ENT were, are, and — I suspect — always will be a hardcore punk band... not a grindcore band, a stenchcore band, a trampcore band, or any other sub-sub-sub-core genre-defining term you can come up with."Glasper 2009, 279 This early crust punk-leaning grindcore sound is sometimes dubbed "crustgrind".
Culture
Crust punks are associated with a DIY-oriented branch of punk garb. Similar to anarcho-punk, most clothing is black in colour. Denim jackets and hooded sweatshirts with sewn-on patches, or vests covered in studs, spikes and band patches are characteristic elements of the crust punk style of dress or pants covered in band patches.Kevin Stewart-Panko, "I Saw Disfear Three Times in Three Days", Decibel, no. 46, August 2008, p. 22. Crust punks also sometimes wear dreadlocks and piercings. Julian "Leggo" Kilsby of Deviated Instinct describes crust as "a punk-y biker look, more akin to Mad Max. Mad Max 2 is the crustiest film ever made!"Glasper 2009, 287
See also
Further reading
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