If you’re into extreme music or movies or artwork, eventually you will ask: how far does it go? Where’s the edge? At what point will the work I’m consuming make me want to barf? You may freeze frame the camera going into Drew Barrymore’s intestines in Scream, you may seek out Martyrs and Faces of Death, but eventually you will come upon something you’ll find unpalatable: “Hammer Party,” “2 Girls, 1 Cup,” Budd Dwyer’s final press conference. Everyone has a limit. Grindcore is for people who have a high threshold for the ugliest sounds. The guitars sound like churning shit. The drums sound like industrial equipment malfunctioning. Vocals are shouted, screamed, gurgled, or shrieked. If there is bass, it ain’t grooving. The lyrics are rarely pleasant. Just check out names of the genre’s offshoots: goregrind, pornogrind. This is music for sickos. Originated by artists like Napalm Death and Carcass, grindcore is an offshoot of hardcore punk and the gnarliest noises and subject matter of thrash. There’s not much to say about the songwriting, other than they’re all like Hobbs’s conception of life: nasty, brutal, short. The most famous grindcore song is Napalm Death’s “You Suffer.” It is one second long.
Pig Destroyer is one of the most heralded grindcore bands because they are poetic (in a way) and they haven’t killed each other. (Grindcore bands are usually short-lived.) Some prefer Phantom Limb, some prefer their debut, I’m recommending Terrifyer because it’s the one with the big, beat-up titties on the cover. You should play it for your grandmother after church.