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This List Really Grinds My Gears
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Thumbs up: +4
Grindcore is not one of my favorite subgenres, but I like it well enough on the whole. My experience with it has not been particularly broad, as I don't listen to it with much regularity, and so I have a lot of empty spaces. Of all my genre lists, this is possibly the most practical, because I do need help remembering what grindcore I like and how much I've heard.

Like my other genre lists, this is not meant to dictate for all time and all purposes what is and is not grindcore; there may be bands that are borderline or adjacent or individual albums by grindcore bands that are not in themselves grindcore. This is just for my own organization and reference.

I originally included Anaal Nathrakh and Melt-Banana on the grounds that grindcore forms part of the basis for their styles (and, more critically, because it was getting lonely at the top of the list), but considering either of them a grindcore act without heavy qualification would be quite a stretch. I already know that I like them anyway, so their inclusion on this list was not helpful to me in terms of making this a resource; on revision, I decided to nix them (and also the non-grind Carcass albums).

The first portion of the list contains albums that I count among my favorite grindcore releases. From then on, the list is broken into tiers of ratings 9/10 down to 6/10. If it isn't on the list, I haven't heard it or I didn't like it.

Last updated December 28, 2023.

Created by: ScreamingSteelUS | 17.12.2021


1. Gridlink - Longhena
2. Gridlink - Coronet Juniper
3. Contrastic - Contrastic
4. Contrastic - Mamun
5. Takafumi Matsubara - Strange, Beautiful And Fast
6. Nails - You Will Never Be One Of Us
7. Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Frozen Corpse Stuffed With Dope
9/10 from here on down.
8. Japanische Kampfhörspiele - Verk Ferever
9. Liberteer - Better To Die On Your Feet Than Live On Your Knees
10. Love Lost But Not Forgotten - Love Lost But Not Forgotten
11. Takafumi Matsubara - Mortalized (Poison EP)
12. Agathocles - If This Is Gore, What's Meat Then?
8/10 from here on down.
13. Anal Cunt - Fuckin' A
14. Antigama - Depressant
15. Antigama - The Insolent
16. Antigama - Whiteout
17. Assück - Misery Index
18. Besta - Eterno Rancor
19. Birdflesh - The Farmers' Wrath
20. Brujeria - Brujerizmo
21. Brutal Truth - Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses
22. Bufihimat - I
23. Captain Cleanoff - Rising Terror
24. Carbonized - No Canonization
25. Carcass - Symphonies Of Sickness
26. Chepang - Chatta
27. Cloud Rat - Qliphoth
28. Dephosphorus - Sublimation
29. Endon - Through The Mirror
30. Ernia - How To Deal With Life And Fail
31. Exhumed - To The Dead
32. Extreme Noise Terror - A Holocaust In Your Head
33. Full Of Hell - Garden Of Burning Apparitions
34. Genghis Tron - Board Up The House
35. Gridlink - Amber Gray
36. Gridlink - Orphan
37. Helpless - Caged In Gold
38. Houkago Grind Time - Bakyunsified (Moe To The Gore)
39. Houkago Grind Time - Houkago Grind Time 2: The Second Raid
40. Implore - Depopulation
41. Implore - Subjugate
42. Japanische Kampfhörspiele - Neues Aus Dem Halluzinogenozinozän
43. Japanische Kampfhörspiele - Welt Ohne Werbung
44. The Kill - Kill Them... All
45. Lock Up - The Dregs Of Hades
46. Lymphatic Phlegm - Roughly Excised - Putrefindings, Morbidescriptions And Necrognoses
47. Nails - Unsilent Death
48. Naked City - Torture Garden
49. Napalm Death - The Code Is Red... Long Live The Code
50. Napalm Death - Harmony Corruption
51. Napalm Death - Throes Of Joy In The Jaws Of Defeatism
52. No One Knows What The Dead Think - No One Knows What The Dead Think
53. Owdwyr - Receptor
54. Pharmacist - Flourishing Extremities On Unspoiled Mental Grounds
55. Pig Destroyer - Prowler In The Yard
56. Pig Destroyer - Terrifyer
57. Pound - ••
58. Psudoku - Deep Space Psudokument
59. Psudoku - Planetarisk Sudoku
60. Repulsion - Horrified
61. Repulsion - Violent Death
62. Sugar Wounds - Calico Dreams
63. Sugar Wounds - Mechanical Friends
64. Terrorizer - Caustic Attack
65. Terrorizer - World Downfall
66. Tithe - Penance
67. Tulip - Derangement, Exquisite Tenderness
68. Wormrot - Hiss
69. Wormrot - Voices
70. Agathocles - Grind Is Protest
7/10 from here on down.
71. Agathocles - Razor Sharp Daggers
72. All Pigs Must Die - Nothing Violates This Nature
73. Anal Cunt - 40 More Reasons To Hate Us
74. Anal Cunt - 5643 Song EP
75. Birdflesh - All The Miseries
76. Birdflesh - Extreme Graveyard Tornado
77. Brutal Blues - BB
78. Brutal Blues - Brutal Blues
79. Carbonized - Disharmonization
80. Caustic Wound - Death Posture
81. Cloud Rat - Pollinator
82. Cloud Rat - Threshold
83. Crisis Sigil - God Cum Poltergeist
84. Cult Leader - A Patient Man
85. Death Toll 80k - Step Down
86. Deathrite - Revelation Of Chaos
87. Dephosphorus - Impossible Orbits
88. Desecration - Gore And Perversion
89. Desecration - Murder In Mind
90. Endon - MAMA
91. Exhumed - Horror
92. Exhumed - Necrocracy
93. Extreme Noise Terror - Extreme Noise Terror
94. Extreme Noise Terror - Extreme Noise Terror / Driller Killer
95. Fawn Limbs - Darwin Falls
96. Fawn Limbs - Sleeper Vessels
97. Flagitious Idiosyncrasy In The Dilapidation - Flagitious Idiosyncrasy In The Dilapidation
98. Fuck The Facts - Desire Will Rot
99. Full Of Hell - Trumpeting Ecstasy
100. Full Of Hell - Weeping Choir
101. Gaza - I Don't Care Where I Go When I Die
102. Gigantic Brain - Gigantic Brain
103. Gigantic Brain - They Did This To Me
104. Gravesend - Gowanus Death Stomp
105. The HIRS Collective - We're Still Here
106. Implore - Black Knell
107. Japanische Kampfhörspiele - Blaskapelle Bürgermeister Bratwurst Bier Geschenkekorb Bibelstelle Bumskabine Bienensterben Völkermord
108. Knoll - Interstice
109. Last Days Of Humanity - Horrific Compositions Of Decomposition
110. Lifetaker - Der Letzte Raum
111. Lock Up - Demonization
112. Looking For An Answer - Dios Carne
113. Meth Leppard - Woke
114. Morgue Supplier - Inevitability
115. Mortician - Hacked Up For Barbecue
116. Nails - Every Bridge Burning
117. Napalm Death - Apex Predator - Easy Meat
118. Napalm Death - Diatribes
119. Napalm Death - Greed Killing
120. P.L.F. - Jackhammering Deathblow Of Nightmarish Trepidation
121. Parlamentarisk Sodomi - Har Du Sagt "A" Får Du Si "Nal"
122. Pig Destroyer - Head Cage
123. The Plasmarifle - While You Were Sleeping The World Changed In An Instant
124. Rotten Sound - Apocalypse
125. A Scanner Darkly - A Scanner Darkly
126. Septic Tank - Rotting Civilisation
127. Stillbirth - Annihilation Of Mankind
128. Suffering Quota - Suffering Quota
129. Teethgrinder - Dystopia
130. Teethgrinder - Misanthropy
131. Teethgrinder - Nihilism
132. Trap Them - Blissfucker
133. Trap Them - Crown Feral
134. Ultra Vomit - Panzer Surprise
135. Unrest - Grindcore
136. Vermin Womb - Decline
137. Vermin Womb - Permanence
138. Wadge - Grindcore Lu'au
139. Wake - Devouring Ruin
140. Wake - Misery Rites
141. Wake - Sowing The Seeds Of A Worthless Tomorrow
142. Weak Flesh - A Bird In Hand
143. WVRM - Can You Hear The Wind Howl
144. WVRM - Colony Collapse
145. ACxDC - Satan Is King
6/10 from here on down.
146. Afgrund - The Dystopian
147. Agathocles - Mincer
148. All Pigs Must Die - Hostage Animal
149. Anal Cunt - 88 Songs
150. Anal Cunt - Another E.P.!
151. Anal Cunt - The Old Testament 1988-1991
152. Ass To Mouth - Degenerate
153. Axis Of Despair - Contempt For Man
154. Brujeria - Esto Es Brujeria
155. Carcass - Reek Of Putrefaction
156. Corrupt Moral Altar - Mechanical Tides
157. Dephosphorus - Ravenous Solemnity
158. The Drip - The Haunting Fear Of Inevitability
159. Exhumed - Death Revenge
160. Fluids - Exploitative Practices
161. Internal Rot - Grieving Birth
162. Keitzer - Ascension
163. Keitzer - The Last Defence
164. Knelt Rote - Alterity
165. Knoll - Metempiric
166. Leng Tch'e - Razorgrind
167. Maruta - Remain Dystopian
168. Melt-Banana - Scratch Or Stitch
169. Melt-Banana - Speak Squeak Creak
170. Milking The Goatmachine - Milking In Blasphemy
171. No/Más - Consume / Deny / Repent
172. Raised By Owls - Dreadful
173. Theories - Vessel
174. Weekend Nachos - Apology


Disclaimer: All top lists are unofficial and do not represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
[ More lists by ScreamingSteelUS ]



Comments

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Comments: 7   Visited by: 49 users
17.12.2021 - 13:55
RaduP
CertifiedHipster
Staff
I hear the call of reccs, and I must say the lack of Pig Destroyer is... terrifying. And Discordance Axis ought to be pretty inalienable. And really no Napalm Death? No goddamn Full Of Hell?

So without namedropping too much, I'd suggest reconsidering Nasum, Nails, the OGs in Repulsion and Terrorizer and Carcass and Brutal Truth, the grind but not really of Naked City's Torture Garden and Painkiller's Guts Of A Virgin, the rot in Wormrot and Internal Rot, Fuck The Facts, and last but not least, Gridlink's Takafumi Matsubara.
----
Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking
One day there will be no heart at all?
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17.12.2021 - 14:18
ScreamingSteelUS
Editor-in-Chief
Admin
Written by RaduP on 17.12.2021 at 13:55

I hear the call of reccs, and I must say the lack of Pig Destroyer is... terrifying. And Discordance Axis ought to be pretty inalienable. And really no Napalm Death? No goddamn Full Of Hell?

So without namedropping too much, I'd suggest reconsidering Nasum, Nails, the OGs in Repulsion and Terrorizer and Carcass and Brutal Truth, the grind but not really of Naked City's Torture Garden and Painkiller's Guts Of A Virgin, the rot in Wormrot and Internal Rot, Fuck The Facts, and last but not least, Gridlink's Takafumi Matsubara.

"(Work In Progress)" applies to the list itself, not my listening experience. Although I guess both are true.

I haven't made it all the way through my ratings yet (just down to the letter "F," in fact), although I do admit that I'm missing several of those bands anyway (and I forgot to add Carcass). One of the reasons I started this list is that my grindcore knowledge is lacking compared to the other genre lists I have, so this is to help bolster it.
----
"Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader

I'm the Agent of Steel.
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17.12.2021 - 14:21
RaduP
CertifiedHipster
Staff
Written by ScreamingSteelUS on 17.12.2021 at 14:18

I haven't made it all the way through my ratings yet (just down to the letter "F," in fact)

I don't know how I somehow didn't realize that you only added bands starting with A-E so far.
----
Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking
One day there will be no heart at all?
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17.12.2021 - 21:23
ScreamingSteelUS
Editor-in-Chief
Admin
Written by RaduP on 17.12.2021 at 14:21

Written by ScreamingSteelUS on 17.12.2021 at 14:18

I haven't made it all the way through my ratings yet (just down to the letter "F," in fact)

I don't know how I somehow didn't realize that you only added bands starting with A-E so far.

Now that I've finished making my way through my ratings, the list is looking a little more complete, although there are still some pretty big gaps; grindcore isn't one of my favorite genres, so this is mostly contemporary releases I've listened to for the MSAs, with not much in the way of background.

I do own Discordance Axis's The Inalienable Dreamless, but I haven't listened to it in full yet; I bought Brutal Truth's Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses six or seven years ago and I wasn't that impressed by it, though I'm willing to believe that I just didn't have as well-developed an ear for grind at that point and I would benefit from revisiting it. I thought for sure I had already heard Painkiller's Guts Of A Virgin, but I apparently did not rate it and I remember nothing about it, so maybe not.

There is a lack of Pig Destroyer aside from the not-super-grindcore Head Cage and a total absence of Nasum and Repulsion. The rest of the bands you mentioned are represented, though not in a very spectacular fashion. I will take these as recommendations (that will have to wait until after the MSAs).
----
"Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader

I'm the Agent of Steel.
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18.12.2021 - 11:41
RaduP
CertifiedHipster
Staff
Written by ScreamingSteelUS on 17.12.2021 at 21:23

Now that I've finished making my way through my ratings, the list is looking a little more complete, although there are still some pretty big gaps; grindcore isn't one of my favorite genres, so this is mostly contemporary releases I've listened to for the MSAs, with not much in the way of background.

I do own Discordance Axis's The Inalienable Dreamless, but I haven't listened to it in full yet; I bought Brutal Truth's Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses six or seven years ago and I wasn't that impressed by it, though I'm willing to believe that I just didn't have as well-developed an ear for grind at that point and I would benefit from revisiting it. I thought for sure I had already heard Painkiller's Guts Of A Virgin, but I apparently did not rate it and I remember nothing about it, so maybe not.

There is a lack of Pig Destroyer aside from the not-super-grindcore Head Cage and a total absence of Nasum and Repulsion. The rest of the bands you mentioned are represented, though not in a very spectacular fashion. I will take these as recommendations (that will have to wait until after the MSAs).

I don't think there's any Nasum, Pig Destroyer, Repulsion or Discordance Axis album I wouldn't recommend. Same goes for Painkiller and Naked City, though not all of their stuff is grind-adjacent.

Now that you actually populated the list I can come at you with some more specific recommendations. But first, I'm a tad disappointed by some of your 6/10 picks, especially Weekend Nachos and Internal Rot. So, some reccs:

Insect Warfare's World Extermination, Death Toll 80k's Harsh Realities, Magrudergrind's self-titled, Atka's Untitled Album 1, the first three !T.O.O.H.! albums, Assück's Anticapital, Yacøpsæ's Tanz, Grosny, Tanz..., Wormrot's first two albums, Full Of Hell's album with Merzbow, Dead In The Dirt's The Blind Hole, Agoraphobic Nosebleed's Agorapocalypse and Frozen Corpse Stuffed With Dope. And for the really early stuff: Infest's Slave and Siege's Drop Dead.
----
Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking
One day there will be no heart at all?
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18.12.2021 - 11:46
RaduP
CertifiedHipster
Staff
Also not sure where you would categorize the entire genre of screamo, but Orchid (USA-MA)'s discography takes less than an hour to listen to. Funeral Diner's The Underdark, City Of Caterpillar's self-titled, Pageninetynine's Document #8, and Saetia's self-titled are all classics.
----
Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking
One day there will be no heart at all?
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18.12.2021 - 11:47
RaduP
CertifiedHipster
Staff
Also noticed that a bunch of the bands that I wanted to recommend are not on MS. I got some work to do.
----
Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking
One day there will be no heart at all?
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