What Even is “Thrashcore” Anyway?

Thrashcore is one of the most influential genres in punk and hardcore and you probably haven’t heard of it, let alone know what it is. No, thrashcore isn't isn't an alternative name for crossover thrash. No, thrashcore isn't a term for thrash metal-leaning metalcore. Thrashcore is, in fact, a style of hardcore punk that suddenly appeared in 1983 with the release of Houston's DRI, Westfield's Deep Wound and Italy's Raw Power's début albums, all of which were pre-dated by Asocial's 1982 demo, showcasing an even faster and even more abrasive form of hardcore than that of the time. The tempos far surpassed that of regular hardcore bands (hence it also being referred to as “fastcore”), there were occasional lead guitar parts, borrowed from heavy metal and the vocals shouts push so far to their brink that they became the prototype for musical screams.

Until in 1984, thrashcore's style began to splinter with Septic Death's “Need so Much Attention” and Seige's “Drop Dead”, both of which incorporated tempo changes with droney and sludgey down tempo parts, which could easily be cited as some of the first backdowns. This is where the start of thashcore's influence becomes evident as the style at these two bands are playing which eventually evolve into powerviolence, when Infest release their début in 1997. If you haven’t heard of powerviolence either, then I don't blame you, the only band that's ever gained notability for playing the style is Nails, and they were only formed in 2009.

It could, however, be argued that sludge metal was influenced by this style, as it was emerging around the same time with bands such as the Melvins and Green River.

By 1985, Japan's S.O.B. released their début “Sabotage Organized Barbarian”, which would become known in the western tape trading communities and eventually find its way into the hands of musicians in the then-emerging Birmingham hardcore scene. Thanks to this, grindcore pioneers Napalm Death have cited that they took significant influence from S.O.B., referring them as one of their biggest influences. And honestly... this is obvious, if you compare the early grindcore sound of Napalm Death, Carcass and Repulsion to the sound of any of the aforementioned thrashcore bands then the influence is clear.

Both styles are extremely high speed, primarily power chord-based styles of hardcore punk that almost exclusively use skank and blast beats, they only real difference is that thrashcore's vocals are intense shouts while grindcore is more likely to be screamed. Many cite death metal as being an influence on grindcore, however Possessed's “Seven Churches” (commonly thought of as the first death metal album), was released in late-1985, while Repulsion (commonly thought of as the first grindcore band) had already released three releases (two in 1994 and one in 1995) by that time, the only significant reason for thinking this relation exists is that the two genres commonly use the same style of vocalisation and that later bands such as Pig Destroyer are influences by the genre.

Furthermore, Charlie Benate of American thrash metal band Anthrax says that he first heard blast beats on NYC Mayhem's 1985 demo tape, inspiring him to learn the technique.