AN EXHAUSTIVE STUDY is exactly that, an exploratory documentarian medium rather than an authoritative statement. This time around it is a vehicle tasked with collecting and discovering the history of bands/albums that would find a natural fusion between emergent crust punk (“stenchcore”) and nascent death metal movements. I’ll attempt a moderately chronological set of albums herein that are essentially… eh, ideally crust punk and death metal hybridized whilst trying to avoid too much direct crossover with grindcore, thrash and (eventual) black metal associations; These variations will inevitably be included in some capacity due to the joyous form-shattering nature of crossover experimentation in the 80’s and 90’s as well as the “there are no rules” mindset in terms of sub-genre of the last two decades. Most of the research (er, listening) for this series was done between 2014-2018 but it was not a thorough practice so, it remains a second revision of a primary list. Please feel free to recommend bands or albums for this venture while keeping in mind a full discography for each band is not the goal, unless multiple releases are particularly important. Feel free to debate entries, etc. this is not a declarative practice on my part. I don’t care about teaching you a damn thing, I want to learn together!
NO BARRIER TO ENTRY (2011-2020)
For our final entry thus far, Part IV, we must first note that the internet age is fully upon us no matter what corner of the country we’ve sourced, that social media and the availability of underground music on sites like YouTube had at this point made the history of both death metal and crust punk, alongside their cohesive components, easily researched and combined by the careful study of absolutely anyone. The barrier to entry was gone, the tricks of the trade were elucidated, the demystification of each artform was severed into piecemeal commodity… and the viable income for artists hoping to reissue and continue to profit off of their ‘classic’ art was gone with it. Reissues, remasters, etc. are now labors of love rather than viable stratagem to revive old bastards with great ideas for new tours and ‘just alright’ comeback records.
This finds our goals continuing to shift towards an intentional harmony of sub-genre elements rather than happy accidents of crossover thanks to ever present genre mash-up trends no longer cycling out of fashion and being available in fairly constant doses, be it independent Bandcamp focused artists or otherwise. In fact we see an ever increasing trend of digital only “labels” focusing on niche digital distribution channels, which were originally intended as a promotional tool. There is no longer quality control with open access for all and the consumer must self-curate through a certain aspect of bedroom project Hell. A monopolized “fee”-based market is at least a preferable option to the old mp3.com model, or partnering with social media-based marketing houses and depending on Amazon owned web hosting/store services to sell and market items. So, I cannot be as “complete” as I’d been on past entries in this series because the study itself would lose shape without honing in more carefully on aspects of -actual- death metal rather than aesthetics and -actual- crust punk rather than borrowed technique. Here I am referring to elements of the already established canon when I say “actual” while considering that crust punk itself features no notable innovation beyond perceived neocrust movements and various sub-genre hybridization otherwise (“post-punk + d-beat”, etc.) No more consideration for “death metal from a crust perspective” or “crust punk from a death metal perspective” since the lines are already too blurred to hold any water at this point.
Vote, suggest other bands, fill in the blanks, and let me know if I’ve gotten something wrong!
BONES ‘Bones’ (Planet Metal, 2011)
When Chicago extreme metal fixture Usurper split up in 2007 the line-up, excepting Rick Scythe, formed Bones, an unusual crossover event between Celtic Frost influenced death metal, hardcore punk, and hints of Usurper‘s oddly devolved black/thrashing sound. Although this isn’t death/crust by my own standards you won’t find this band labeled anything else by listeners so, we can go with the crowd on this one since I don’t really have a dog in this fight. The album is generally under-baked in terms of songwriting but I do think they’ve done some exciting things with simplicity here. I’d call it Hellhammer death metal over deathcrust any day.
Is it death/crust? Please vote:
CANCER SPREADING ‘The Age of Desolation’ (Memento Mori, 2011)
Cancer Spreading are one of the more underrated death/crust bands of the last ten years or so, having pretty much nailed the death-attuned stenchcore sound from their first tape. The quintet hail from Modena, Italy though their sound seems to have been influenced by the big deal bands coming out of Oakland a few years prior, plenty of Bolt Thrower heaviness applied to what are verifiably thrashing crust songs. ‘The Age of Desolation’ is putrid, over the top and always impassioned in a way that I’ve found rare while exploring the post-2010 region of the sub-genre hybrid. Some of this comes from songwriting that pulls more influence from the wider variety of crust, not just sticking to d-beat centered death metal. Their second album is even better in most ways but I have some nostalgia for this one because 2011 was when the death/crust movement hit me hardest to start and this was a band that actually made good sense of the sub-genre combination.
Is it death/crust? Please vote:
HELLCRAWLER ‘Wastelands’ (Hollow Earth Records, 2011)
Hellcrawler are quintet from western Slovenia and their sound does kinda kick off sounding fairly typical for the time period, Swedish crust influences and some clear nods of death n’ roll make for an interesting enough listen. Think of it as if late 90’s Entombed were a bit more interested Motörhead‘s classics but decided to keep things desolate, post-apocalyptic and perhaps only crust punk in atmosphere. This album does eventually open up and reveal a more varied sound than that so, don’t rely on a quick first impression. Not the most impressive record of the bunch this time around but still more or less fitting the bill.
Is it death/crust? Please vote:
METRALLA ‘Cráneos de Guerra’ (Self-Released, 2011)
Metralla was a quartet featuring members/ex-members of Rapture (Mexico), Blood Reaping, Hacavitz, and their style was generally death metal heavily influenced by thrash and punk with some clear nods to d-beat throughout. The thrash influences carry this thing more than anything else, though the vocalist is occasionally impressive despite the heavy use of effects. A strange album outside of the context of underground Mexican death metal, but folks who love straight forward death metal with a punkish kick will enjoy this one.
Is it death/crust? Please vote:
AGNOSY ‘Past the Point of No Return’ (Active Rebellion, 2011)
After trying their hand at a crossover thrash/crust album circa 2009, Beginning of the End would see three of their members start a modern crust influenced death metal band, Agnosy in 2010. If you are familiar with Martyrdöd and the great wave of Tragedy influenced crust during the 2000’s you’ll instantly get what ‘Past the Point of No Return’ is all about. Although I’d lump its style in with plenty of other bands around this time period, these Londoners had a leg up via an intensely loud and professional sound with a particularly sharp guitarist. The songwriting was pretty flawless from the start with this band and I’d say their second album was even better a few years later.
Is it death/crust? Please vote:
EXTINCIÓN ‘O Martelo da Morte’ (Discos Macarras Records, 2011)
Extinción are a quintet from Galicia region of Spain who appear to be a “one and done” band in terms of albums so far, having released ‘O Martelo da Morte’ a decade ago to some moderate hype. Around 2013 their vocalist Paul would join the better known death metal band Come Back From the Dead and seems to have kept busy with that group since. The artwork on the LP is pretty amazing and the message of the record is satisfyingly nihilistic but the vocals and the riffs don’t always compliment each other or, the patternation of the vocals doesn’t always make sense. Otherwise a strong crossover between death metal brutality and mutilated thrashing stenchcore sounds, especially the rhythm guitarist’s work.
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ABYSS ‘The Reins of Horror’ (Dark Descent Records, 2012)
Toronto’s Abyss were one of many bands to take clear influence from the Oakland-area brutal stenchcore scene and put their own ‘old school’ death metal minded spin on it; Their taking more from Autopsy than Bolt Thrower made for one of my favorite bands in this style as they built up towards ‘Heretical Anatomy’ in 2015 and that whole ideal was met pretty early on with this second demo, which was partially self-released and then picked up by Dark Descent. I’ll touch upon their full-length when we get there. The only interesting trivia related to this band is that Max from Tomb Mold was in the band (after this tape, though) and vocalist David went on to form underrated deathgrind band Bleeding Out after they split in 2018.
Is it death/crust? Please vote:
ACEPHALIX ‘Deathless Master’ (Southern Lord Recordings, 2012)
After an amazing (and I’d say original) debut album Bay Area death/crust fixtures Acephalix appeared unstoppable as they cranked out two monstrous demo tapes, a compilation of ’em, and then this album in a matter of about one year. Then they just didn’t do shit for fives years, focusing on other projects for various reasons. It was a shame that that momentum couldn’t hold because as much as I appreciate the death metal focused ‘Decreation’ (2017) as an exemplar work the wild, philosophy obsessed death-size punk monstrosity that the band represented at the time has been impossible for other groups to replicate. You’ll rarely find me talking up a death metal drummer outside of Sandoval but I definitely think the presentation from Dave Benson on this album is just out of this world, of course owing its magick to the sync with the guitars/songwriting but I dunno, this album is just foully under appreciated beyond folks need to grouse over if and why the band ‘split’ for a few years after. This was a limited tape release in 2011 but I’m using the Southern Lord release just for the sake of when this record hit the public (or, me) in bigger numbers. Could geek out about this one all damned day and it is too damned hard to stop listening to it but, you get it, an essential record.
Is it death/crust? Please vote:
PUTREFACTION ‘Blood Cult’ (Distro-y Records, 2012)
‘Blood Cult’ is thus far the major statement from Irish trio Putrefaction who are definitely not trendies having been slashing away at death/crust hybridization since 2005 at this point and it is a powerful statement at that. These guys definitely lean towards the pure metallic hardcore/crust punk sense of movement, mixing Scandinavian d-beat rock kicks with hits of extreme drumming and harsh vocals. Think of their sound more like, you’d heard Sepultura covering Ratos de Porão and Final Conflict during their death/thrash leaning era and kinda ran with it, eventually linking that idea with the fidelity of modern Bolt Thrower edged takes on crust. Sounds like a bit of work getting there but their sound is entirely approachable, death metal d-beat aiming for a sense of punk movement rather than brutality. Whatever, shits great.
Is it death/crust? Please vote:
MARTYRDÖD ‘Paranoia’ (Southern Lord Recordings, 2012)
This popular Swedish kängpunk mutation had crossed over into some melodic death metal influences for their fourth album (as well as its even more melodic follow-up ‘Elddop’) and although you’ll find folks suggesting it is black metal influence there is almost no precedence for this in their sound. If you are not familiar with the band, think of Agrimonia with more succinct, catchier songs and vocals closer to slight more controlled Tomas Lindberg and well, some folks consider Tragedy an influence here and I don’t think that is an outrageous call to make. Anyhow, is it death/crust? I figure it is ok to loosen up a bit here for the sake of something elevated yet entirely traditional in execution, always hitting a murderous impulse even when they are being remarkably melodic. There was a period of about five years where I listened to ‘Paranoia’ and ‘Elddop’ every week so, hard to come up with any non-glowing thoughts here.
Is it death/crust? Please vote:
USURPRESS ‘Trenches of the Netherworld’ (Selfmadegod, 2012)
Although they became better known for their later work which incorporated sludge and progressive rock influences into a Swedish death metal sound, this Uppsala band’s early years were defined by a crossing of underground late 80’s Swedish death and d-beat/crust punk influences. This first Usurpress album sported quite complex and erratic songs, amplifying the grind-fed influences of Nirvana 2002 and early Carbonized then easing out of their spiraling riffage with punishing punk kicks. The balance of the experience doesn’t reveal itself at first but returning to it over the years reveals a very well thought out, punishing record that bears just enough of the spirited Lovecraftian edginess that too often lacks in bands tributing the early Swedish scene today. This might be my favorite from the band but ‘The Regal Tribe’ is a close second.
Is it death/crust? Please vote:
BOMBS OF HADES ‘The Serpents Redemption’ (Blood Harvest Records, 2012)
Though I am a fan of this Västerås based quartet Bombs of Hades still very sounded like a fun side-project on their second album. An effective crossing of a sort of ‘Severed Survival’ stab with some crust punk influences, though the guitar sound always read as a sort of digital effect and the vocals are very middle ground, landing well framed choruses with fairly bad vocals for my own taste. Their masterpiece moment comes with ‘Atomic Temples’ (2014) for my own taste, and at this point every review for this album was basically just marveling at who was in the band rather than the songs themselves. Not a bad record but their next two are the high points thus far.
Is it death/crust? Please vote:
DEVIATED INSTINCT ‘Liberty Crawls… to the Sanctuary of Slaves’ (Profane Existence, 2012)
At this point we can chalk up a lot of what we’ve appreciated the most over the last three decades of crust punk/death metal hybridization to some of the key innovations from Deviated Instinct not only for their brand of death/thrash heaviness bolstered stenchcore but for their inspired art direction and style that took risks beyond a few riff variations. When the band reformed in 2007 it was clear they weren’t going to rush to the studio and I think this pays off when we approach this record and the one that they followed up with in 2018. They’ve held onto the stylistic essence of their kind of late 80’s heyday and flexed a bit of organic heaviness into it with a production sound that feels live in studio and conscious of how things might bleed together in thrilling ways. We’ve seen a lot of bands adding death/doom, sludge, and even “tribal” grooves to crust over the years but when Deviated Instinct leans into some doomed movements it sounds all the more fitting, as if we’d waited well over a decade for them to show us how it was really done. They’d brought the whole package here and on ‘Husk’ which I will probably gush even more over once we get there.
Is it death/crust? Please vote:
FACADA ‘Nadir’ (Black Hole Productions, 2013)
We will break the new rules for Part IV just once here with a deathgrind record featuring heavy crust punk influences and primarily because Facada‘s ‘Nadir’ is one of the best deathgrind records out of Brazil in the last decade. Classic grindcore hits, Extreme Noise Terror levels of harassment, and some legendary folks on guest spots made this album a goddamned event back in 2013/2014. For my own taste this is record is shoulder-to-shoulder with Napalm Death‘s ‘Enemy of the Music Business’ / ‘Order of the Leech’ as exemplar for its mutant mix of sub-genre and the crust + powerviolence influences are pronounced enough to fit the theme here.
Is it death/crust? Please vote:
MAMMOTH GRINDER ‘Underworlds’ (20 Buck Spin, 2013)
Mammoth Grinder hit a joyous, once in a lifetime ceiling here in terms of taking an idea and finding their own original sound via punk influenced death metal that treads deep into threads of modern sludge, hardcore punk, d-beat, and even some doom. The band would reform at some point with another record that was aiming for something similar but the bounding crust movement was replaced by cleaner death metal/hardcore hybridization. For my own taste ‘Underworlds’ is the kind of record a band could never recreate, just the perfect time, brilliant layout, inspired style, and thunderous production. Is it death/crust? Not exclusively but most of these songs are riffing on d-beat in some way.
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HELLISHEAVEN ‘Abyss of War’ (Self-Released, 2013)
Lublin, Poland based death metal quartet Hellisheaven more or less started this band as a side project from their main grindcore band Suffering Mind around 2008 and the idea is pretty much just Bolt Thrower worship with a fairly rough do-it-yourself sound. This is an example of crust punk mindset, grindcore album length and kind of lacking death metal riffs but I wanted to throw it in here for the sake of acknowledging the sort of bands we’d seen so much of as the “trend” of this style of death metal project began to become a constant pop-up, a sort of “easy” type of project to blow off steam with.
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BOMBS OF HADES ‘Atomic Temples’ (War Anthem Records, 2014)
Around 2015 I started doing the research for this list while I was writing on a community-based website solely because I wanted to acknowledge the increasing trend of the death metal/crust punk crossover phenomenon and get more recommendations from friends who also appreciated death metal with pronounced punk music influences. The album that basically inspired this list was probably Prophecy of Doom‘s album to start but ‘Atomic Temples’ was the album that served as the sort of ideal example of what I was looking for in terms of then and there. Funnily enough when I listen to this third Bombs of Hades record today it kinda just sounds like a really good death n’ roll record with some Celtic Frost influences until we push past the first couple of opening pieces. “Palace of Decay”, “Cadaverborn” and the massive nearly 12 minute title track offer a slow-burning album that only gets better with each listen. This record and their prog rock death/punk follow up ‘Death Mask Replica’ are yet underappreciated for pushing the boundaries of typical punk influenced death metal a bit.
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AGNOSY ‘Traits of the Past’ (Scream Records, 2014)
If you’re looking for a consistent crossover between death metal and modern crust punk variations these London based fellowes are among the most consistent and high quality of the last decade. I do kind of prefer the Tragedy heavy influence of the first record compared to the more straight forward wallop of this one but that isn’t to say Agnosy have lost any of their edge or polished sound. This one is more patient with its songwriting in terms of revealing the hooks so it takes a few songs to pick up the thread from the previous record. Again, excellent guitar work and a sound that will make for a good “for fans of” if you’re into Martyrdod.
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LEFT CROSS ‘Infernal Assault’ (Self-Released, 2015)
Left Cross is just one part of an elite circle of Richmond, Virginia area extreme metal factions with its members notably featuring in bands like Antichrist Siege Machine, Embra, and Unsacred. Primarily a death metal release but clearly aiming for a crust punk angle as well ‘Inhuman Assault’ is the band’s first demo, their sound would change a bit on their debut full-length in 2017 and the hype worthy EP they’d released with Stygian Black Hand last year though those changes aren’t drastic in terms of style, moreso production values edging towards greater extremes. This demo is very straight forward, almost tuneless and a great place to start with their general sound. Jump over to their ‘Chaos Ascension’ album and you’ll see they’d develop a distinct sound pretty quickly.
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TOMBSTALKER ‘Black Crusades’ (Shadow Kingdom Records, 2015)
‘Black Crusades’ is the sort of album that seemed like a pretty average, maybe even kinda sloppy death metal upon release but since then I’d spent quite a bit more time with it revealing these deeper layers of Bolt Thrower extremes and sludgy, crusted and even thrashing touches that are slightly buried by the molten HM-2 guitar tone. I’d more or less been dismissive of this album when I’d reviewed their 2017 EP and eh, that is something I’d regret a bit now that I see this record as a sort of grinding, d-beat/Swedish death influenced machine with incredible production values and huge, hollow growls.
Is it death/crust? Please vote:
BLACK BREATH ‘Slaves Beyond Death’ (Southern Lord, 2015)
Seattle’s Black Breath have thus far put out a flawless discography and ended (if they’re done) on a truly high note with ‘Slaves Beyond Death’ incorporating classic thrash metal influences with their spirited crossover between Swedish death metal guitar rumble and high-brained death metal/hardcore. The notion that these guys cut some of their hardcore punk influences for the sake of longer death metal songs is commonly stated within reviews but continues to be a wrong or, incomplete, thought. They’ve more or less just written longer songs with bigger grooves. The title track alone expresses this balance, landing somewhere between 90’s hardcore, Obituary, some Power Trip level thrash and basically outdoing the entire death/hardcore wave of blandness we’ve been served these last several years. Is it death/crust at this point? I think we could argue on that, definitely not an exclusive influence as a greater sphere of hardcore applies here beyond crust.
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ABYSS ‘Heretical Anatomy’ (20 Buck Spin, 2015)
This is another one of those albums I can’t just skate through quick to refresh my memory, I have to sit down and listen to the whole thing. Not only for the light crust punk influences but the general Autopsy and early Swedish death metal vibes hammered out throughout its fairly short run. If you play this record back-to-back with ‘The Reins of Horror’ and consider the progress made in just a few years ‘Heretical Anatomy’ really was a prime note to go out on. Also, the art direction for the LP is just great. It would be fair to consider this a pure death metal album in most respects but I still found the d-beat and crust influences to be somewhat notable.
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SUBTERROR ‘Antropomortum’ (Black Hole Productions, 2015)
Brazilian trio Subterror formed around 2009 quickly turning their stenchcore sound towards deathgrind extremity but keeping the d-beat variations coming as they reached a sort of pinnacle here on their final release, which qualifies as a full-length over on the punk side of the planet. The movement here is always energizing, brutal drumming with some real precision on display compare to the status quo. Definitely a death/crust album if we consider the way crust evolved within Brazil’s own spheres beyond the early 80’s. Some members went on to form Burial Temple though the drummer unfortunately passed away soon after, they’ve released one short demo since. This album is excellent especially if you want a bit of Terrorizer energy in your death/crust.
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SUFFER THE PAIN ‘Midnight Sacrifice’ (Phobia Records, 2015)
Västerås, Sweden based metalpunk band Suffer the Pain ride the line between death metal influenced kangpunk band and black/death influenced hardcore punk band. A fairly raw, cacophonous black metal worthy production value maintains its clear presence for the sake of very simple pieces that roll through in one or two minute bursts which may showcase plain Swedish hardcore punk movements, or death metal influenced yet very straight forward crust pieces. These distinctions are fairly vague, it would suffice to say these guys are a pretty average d-beat band with some extreme metal influences to their vocals and sound design. Very basic work but fairly effective nonetheless.
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WINDS OF GENOCIDE ‘Usurping the Throne of Disease’ (Pulverized Records, 2015)
This final record (so far) from Durham, North East England crust band Winds of Genocide would be their defining statement, a very well crafted and stylized connection between real-assed classic stenchcore sounds and simple ‘old school’ death metal songwriting. Members here would soon focus on Uncoffined before soon taking a turn towards Thronehammer and various other projects. You’ll find a lot of bands moved on from the crust “trend” after this year, a lot of certain records just didn’t sell or weren’t appreciated until the market desaturated. That said, this is still a very good record and one of few that get the crust punk/stenchcore side of things approximated to some reasonable degree.
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NECROABBOT ‘Hell Torment’ (AreaDeath Productions, 2015)
Though their guitar tone sounds a bit like a digital plug-in and the songwriting is fairly bland, generic but still tunefully written, Taiwanese death metal band Necroabbot manage a pretty serviceable example of death metal production meeting crust punk by the numbers songcraft. Some folks might appreciate the straightforward nature of the style and the pretty sharp graphic design here but I found this record entirely average. Still, if we are simply sourcing the best examples of hybridization, ‘Hell Torment’ does do a fine job of hybridizing d-beat with death metal, simplifying each set of traits to a bare minimum.
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CANCER SPREADING ‘Ghastly Visions’ (Memento Mori, 2016)
Although this album originally released on a bunch of European labels at once, I own the later CD issue from Memento Mori which has the same artwork but with the band name up top instead of the logo within the artwork. This one might seem a bit more death metal centered than the first album did five years prior but as the tracklist pushes on you’ll get the classic stenchcore influences observed on Cancer Spreading‘s wild debut now landing in subtler form thanks to a slightly more dynamic production. Plenty of riffs, a forceful and noisome atmosphere and an excellent example of death metal and crust punk living together in soul-crushing harmony. An exemplar band when we consider what this exploration set out to excavate.
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HOSTILITER ‘A New Dawn for Lost Mankind’ (Suoni Oscuri, 2016)
Another Italian extreme crust band, this one hailing from Viterbo and playing a form that emphasizes the variety available to the point of origin where we don’t necessarily reach a death metal ideal but we do find Hostiliter hitting upon notes of death/doom here and there. I would say the song “Nell’Abisso” is one of the more inspired moments here as it finds the band bringing their own take on a classic sound, giving it some later Bolt Thrower movements and generally working outside of the usual realms without straying from that core concept. The original entries that’d crossed death metal extremity with crust punk movements created this sense of momentum and uncertainty, a dread that the train would not stop yet there is no way to tell what comes next and in this sense Hostiliter are memorable.
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FALSEHOOD ‘Falsehood’ (Self-Released, 2017)
Falsehood is a side-project formed back in 2009 by Begrime Exemious guitarist F. Thibaudeau with the line-up filled out as time allowed, resulting in a 2011 demo tape and this 2017 album which also features Azath bassist/vocalist Derek O. on second guitar. ‘Falsehood’ is definitely the sort of album which seems to have birthed as a sort of reaction to the lacking variety we’d find in a lot of bands sporting passion-void ‘Realm of Chaos’ approximations, their sound actually has some sprawl here, including a Nausea style piece “Waste” the sort of ballad that serves its eventual eruption and works in Falsehood‘s death/doom angle gradually. The album wasn’t necessarily overlooked but the sincere fandom for death/crust had kinda waned out of fashion at this point and ‘Falsehood’ does reek of a for true fans kind of gig throughout. Actual death metal, actual stenchcore and each of ’em working well together.
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PHANTOM CORPORATION ‘First Commandment’ (Self-Released, 2016)
So, the obvious thing here up front is the Away illustration on the cover here, which is probably enough for many people to buy it straight away but this project only gets more interesting as we dig into it. A thrash influenced death/punk record that probably leans more towards varietal metalpunk influences than just pure late 80’s crust, ‘First Commandment’ comes via former members of Dew-Scented who’d split up in 2018. These guys clearly have the heavy metal/punk continuum in mind at all times, fans of the old and the new whose enthusiasm shows in every note. The recording itself is very sharp with Dan Swanö‘s final touch giving some serious presence to the bass guitar tone. Check out their other EP and split with Slaughterday while your at it, this one was surely overlooked.
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HEXX ‘Hexx’ (Self-Released, 2017)
We’ve got roughly eight minutes of Perth, Australia based extreme crust folks Hexx on this self-titled 7″ debut and man, what a ride. Noxious noise, stenchcore, noisecore, and sure some death metal sized ideas here. The whole thing comes a bit too full-range for a definite death/crust tag but the sentiment is there and they’re not making jackass toughguy nonsense with it. This one is a blast, give me 25 minutes of this shit or give me death.
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TARPAN ‘Бездна (The Abyss)’ (Self-Released, 2018)
Tarpan hail from Southern Russia and definitely fit into the HM-2 grinding realm of crust-skunked death metal filth we see more and more of these days. This record stands out to me for its sound, not solely relying on Swedish death for stylistic direction but offering a sort of maxed-out death n’ roll touch folks will appreciate after listening to Bombs of Hades. Otherwise this probably caught my ear for its Autopsy-esque riffing and doomed movements. Not sure if it is essential but still damned good.
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THE OCCULT ‘Necropolis’ (Self-Released, 2018)
After a few years working on a modern hardcore sound this Moscow based quartet would branch out into the realm of what folks were calling “Entombed-core” at this point, usually referring to a mixture of bombastic 90’s hardcore/metalcore songwriting amplified to HM-2 popping death metal production. These guys were actually very good at this, probably better than some of the more popular bands doing it, such as Gatecreeper, which isn’t saying much in my book. If you landed on that Tombstalker record and said, “Ok, go dumber and heavier!” this is basically it and the artwork and production values are similarly class. At least half of this band would form Gosudar around 2018 and their debut full-length hits next month. Definitely don’t miss ‘Necropolis’, even if it isn’t too far outside of the norm it makes a great first impression.
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NEOLITHIC ‘Cult of Ignorance’ (Deep Six Records, 2018)
Any band that kicks it out the gate via a split with Martyrdöd would obviously catch my ear at this point though these Baltimore, Maryland area folks aren’t necessarily playing neocrust but rather a d-beat and 90’s hardcore influenced sound that seems to cross into some light Bolt Thrower influence over time. I’d reviewed this and loved it at the time, though I wasn’t as sure about what they were aiming for when their 2019 self-titled EP released. This first 7″ is their majorly potent statement, very detailed songs aiming for immediate dynamic where every moment demands attention. Probably doesn’t fall into the death/crust realm too neatly but surely death metal/metallic hardcore punk.
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DEVIATED INSTINCT ‘Husk’ (Terminal Filth, 2018)
They’re back after six years with four more songs and somehow sound even more dead serious this time around, punching into the faster ’til doomed shit right off the bat and sporting one of my favorite Mid paintings of all time. Although I’d been the ‘Guttural Breath’ fanatic before these guys reformed it was their two latest EP releases that convinced me to go back and collect some of their legacy work and appreciate the importance of this band, Deviated Instinct are influential sure, but more importantly they’ve always been seriously good metalpunk then and now.
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SLAVERY FARM ‘Reborn’ (Self-Released, 2018)
At this point we could consider Rotterdam, Netherlands based project Slavery Farm an extreme metal boosted crust punk band with some European hardcore influences, a few hits of grindcore and I’d say a bare minimum expression amounting to death metal. I am not personally a fan of this record’s vocal performances, they remind me of buying old Euro-hardcore compilations back in the day and hearing twenty Stampin Ground style bands in a row, no real feeling to the performances. That said, maybe it’ll be more to your own taste, I just have some hang-ups for certain “sterile” or callous elements of late 90’s/2000’s hardcore that contradict the organic, dynamic realm of crust.
Is it death/crust? Please vote:
DEFY THE CURSE ‘Defy the Curse’ (Hammerheart Records, 2018)
Crust influenced Swedish death metal from the Netherlands, Defy The Curse sports members/ex-members from all manner of bands you might know (Legion Of The Damned, Collision, Slam Squad, Inhume and Acid Deathtrip) but sounds like none of ’em. Supercharged production, some interesting lead ideas, and a very straight forward sound make this debut EP a pretty solid impulse buy, I mean you’re grabbing it for the punkish adrenaline this thing gives off to start but when sitting down to parse their riffs out it lands like your average death metal record today. Uncomplicated, lots of groove, and some hardcore punk/crust energy applied. Definitely more of a “for fun” record, approaching death/punk hybridization as an easy effort has become increasingly common and I definitely side-stepped several records in this style for the sake of little notable content. These guys go a bit wild and have their own personalities so, worth a spin for sure.
Is it death/crust? Please vote:
HELLEXIST ‘Taste of Agony’ (Broken Noise, 2019)
Hailing from Johor Bahru in southern Malaysia Hellexist represent a less typical form of death metal/crust punk hybridization, taking influence from d-beat/Japanese hardcore to some degree and brutally puking the vocals over the top. It does kinda sound like early powerviolence meets d-beat to start but the quartet do a fine job of mixing things up as they roll on. It is ultimately aiming for the stenchcore ideal, landing on crust punk adjacent compositions that are fairly simple and predictable stuff but, still effective enough for the style.
Is it death/crust? Please vote:
OBDUKTIO ‘Ihmiskunnan Viholliset’ (Caligari Records, 2020)
Obduktio are an off the wall death metal/punk band from Joensuu, Finland usually configured as a trio and featuring Niklas Heiskanen (Sadistic Drive, Coffincraft). I would have mentioned their first two albums by now but I wanted to leave room for some current bands at the end of this list rather than pack the list with 2015 releases. ‘Ihmiskunnan Viholliset’ will inevitably sound like a standard crust, hardcore punk and grind influenced record on paper but these guys bring their own weird fucking energy to each piece that resists a lot of typical moments and this despite their third album leaning more death metal than ever. Essential stuff if you missed ’em last year. I basically love this album, I mean fire up “Elämäsi Katoaa” and fuck off out of life with that riff.
Is it death/crust? Please vote:
AHNA ‘Crimson Dawn’ (Caligari Records, 2020)
A bit of a wait for a second full-length but hey, this is my personal favorite release from the wildly experimental Ahna, an underground anomaly out of the Vancouver, British Colombia area who aim for heavily atmospheric stenchcore when kicking off ‘Crimson Dawn’, leaning into death metal texture as the album progresses. A perfect example of death metal and crust punk ideals upheld and married in a convincing manner. Much like Falsehood‘s debut there is some strong consideration for the whole early history of crust here and this includes dual vocals which are easily referenced to Nausea but persist within the oldest art-crust traditions since. Super fine work yet busted and raw enough to keep things feeling out of control and unpredictable.
Is it death/crust? Please vote:
KARST ‘Genesis of Nervous Decay’ (The Crows Nest, 2020)
Of course I wait until the end to point out Los Angeles “encrusted death” metal band Karst, who formed in 2018 via former members of death metal, post-doom, and grindcore bands you’ve likely never heard of. The main draw of their sound is the extreme metal perspective and songcraft that takes influence but not exact shapes from crust punk. A death/crust band for folks who lean heavily in the death metal sphere and still want riffs, blasts, and blackened moments. I picked this release to emphasize their death metal skills and to make sure they’d sit next to Ahna, who brought a similar (but more equally death/punk) energy to 2020.
Is it death/crust? Please vote:
So… Although the 2010’s found death/crust defined, populated, common, and a regular pastime for folks looking to kick out some defiant extreme punk without a huge technical commitment. Lots of side projects but still mostly killer! Let me know what I’ve missed, I’m sure there is a lot but please make sure we’re talking death/crust and not just crust. The next feature in this series will “remaster” the Wild Rags discography review and include previously overlooked titles, we will then move on to a “An Exhaustive Study: Thrash Metal behind the Iron Curtain [1981-1991]” feature! Contact me at: grizzlybutts@hotmail.com to help me make this a bit more fleshed out and comprehensive. Thanks for checking this out.
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