Powerviolence

Powerviolence (sometimes written as power violence) is a raw and dissonant subgenre of hardcore punk, which lasted from early 1987 until late 1998. The style is closely related to thrashcore and grindcore. In contrast with grindcore, which is a "crossover" idiom containing musical aspects of heavy metal, powerviolence is just an augmentation of the most challenging qualities of hardcore punk; like its predecessor, it is usually socio-politically charged and iconoclastic.

History

Powerviolence's nascent form was pioneered in the late 1980s by Infest. The microgenre solidified into its most commonly recognized form in the early 1990s, with the sounds of bands such as Man Is the Bastard, Crossed Out, Neanderthal, No Comment, and Capitalist Casualties. Powerviolence groups took inspiration from Siege, SSD, Deep Wound, Hirax, Impact Unit, Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, Negative FX and Corrosion of Conformity.

Spazz vocalist and bassist Chris Dodge's record label Slap-a-Ham Records was a fixture during the rapid rise and decline of powerviolence, releasing influential records by Neanderthal, No Comment, Crossed Out, Infest, Slight slappers, and Spazz. The label's Fiesta Grande was an annual powerviolence festival held at 924 Gilman from 1993 to 2000. Spazz drummer Max Ward's label 625 Thrashcore has started its own festival, Super Sabado Gigante, in a similar vein. While powerviolence is closely related to thrashcore (often referred to simply as "thrash"), the style is distinct from the thrash metal groups active in the same place, at the same time.