Crust Punk is a unique musical genre with a story of its own. The crust is loud, aggressive, in-your-face, and feels like an assault on your auditory senses. It’s been described as raw, primal, and most often an angry musical style.
The crust punk bands feature political lyrics that tackle issues like racism, police brutality, and the treatment of women by men. The main goal for the bands is to create music that challenges the listener to think about their lives and values in relation to society at large.
What is Crust Punk Music?
Crust punk (also known as crust or stench core) is a form of music influenced by English punk rock and extreme metal. The style, which evolved in the early-1980s in England, typically has songs with dark and pessimistic lyrics that linger on political and social ills. The term “crust” was coined by Hellbastard in their 1986 Ripper Crust demo.
The band Amebix are considered pioneers of the genre for incorporating anarchist themes, heavy metal riffs, and d-beat into their music. Crust punk also draws inspiration from hardcore punk bands such as Discharge and Motörhead.
The History of the Crust Punk
The history of the crust punk movement may be traced back to England in the 1980s. The term was first coined by a crust punk group called Hellbastard, who, on their 1988 album Heads Will Roll, released the track “Crusties,” which “is credited with originating the term.” The song is about how punks were getting tired of being held responsible for the damage done by individuals giving “punk” a bad name.
Bands like Amebix and Antisect are credited with laying the groundwork for crust punk. These bands often cited anarcho-punk groups like Crass and Class War to influence their sound.
Famous Crust Punk Bands
Bands such as Napalm Death, Sore Throat, and Doom helped develop the UK’s style in the mid-1980s. Many of these bands also influenced anarcho-punk acts such as Crass and Conflict. From the early 1990s, the crust began to fuse elements of extreme metal with the speed and aggression of hardcore punk.
This led to a more abrasive and raw sound that has since been described as grindcore. At the same time, others like Doom used heavy doom riffs to create a more “sludgy” feel than other examples of the genre. Other bands formed in the late 1980s and early.
Here are some bands of Crust Punk:
Crass
Doom
Discharge
Amebix
Wolfbrigade
His Hero is Gone
Antisect
Eskorbuto
Antisect
Axegrinder
Extreme Noise Terror
Hellshock
Nausea
The Varukers
Victims Family
