Napalm Death
This quartet from Birmingham, England, was formed in 1981. Dispensing with their original style by the mid-80s, they then absorbed punk and thrash metal influences to create the new sub-genre of grindcore, arguably the most extreme of all musical forms. Comprising Lee Dorrian (vocals), Bill Steer (guitar), Shane Embury (bass) and Mick Harris (drums), they specialized in sub-two minute blasts of metallic white noise, over-ridden by Dorrian's unintelligible vocal tirade. The lyrics dealt with social and political injustices, but actually sounded like somebody coughing up blood. Their main advocate was Radio 1 DJ John Peel, who had first picked up on the band's SCUM opus, playing the 0.75 second-long track You Suffer three times before inviting them to record a session for the programme in September 1987. This would come to be acknowledged as one of the Classic Sessions in Ken Garner's 1993 book on the subject. Elsewhere Napalm Death were the subject of derision and total miscomprehension. They were, however, the true pioneers of the ‘blast-snare’ technique—whereby the tempo of a given beat is sustained at the maximum physical human tolerance level. They went on to attract a small but loyal cult following on the underground heavy metal scene. Since then, grindcore has developed considerably and found mass acceptance among the rank and file of the metal world. They remain, however, the antithesis of style, melody and taste and represent the punk concept taken to its ultimate extreme. The band members also have side projects; Bill Steer is a member of Carcass, Shane Embury plays with Unseen Terror and Mick Harris drums in Extreme Noise Terror.