, mixed with metal riffs. The style, which evolved in the early 1980s in England, often has songs with dark and pessimistic lyrics that linger on political and social ills. The tempos are often fast, but just short of thrashcore or
. Drumming is typically done at high speed, with D-beats sometimes being used, and the genre often taking influence from death metal,
, and powerviolence. The initial inspiration for the
. Swedish D-beat groups such as
also early influences.
Amebix also brought in influences from various post-
punk bands, including Public Image Ltd., Bauhaus, Joy Division, and Killing Joke. The early metal sound of Black Sabbath and Motörhead was also a big influence on both
Amebix and
Antisect.
Doom, Excrement of
War,
Electro Hippies, and
Extreme Noise Terror were among the first
bands to have the traditional UK "crust" sound. Additional subgenres of this style began to develop.
Deviated Instinct, from Norwich, created "stenchcore", bringing both the look and sound - dirty and metallic, respectively - to their natural conclusion.
Crust is partly defined by its "bassy" and "dirty" sound. It is often played at a fast tempo with occasional slow sections. Vocals in
crust punk are often shrieked or shouted, and may be shared between two or more vocalists. The lyrical content of
crust punk tends to be bleak and nihilistic, yet politically engaged.
Crust punk songs are often about
nuclear war,
militarism,
animal rights, police, personal grievances, oppressive states, and
fascism. While the term was first associated with Hellbastard on their 1986 "Ripper Crust" demo,
Amebix has been described as the originators of the style, along with
Discharge and
Antisect.
American crust punk scene started in NYC in the mid-1980s, with the work of
Nausea. The early work of Neurosis also borrowed from
Amebix, and inaugurated
crust punk on the West Coast.
Disrupt,
Antischism,
Misery, and
Destroy were also significant U.S. crust groups. In the 1990s, an important
American crust punk band was Aus-Rotten.
Crust punk also flourished in Minneapolis, shepherded by the Profane Existence label. In this period, the ethos of
crust punk became particularly codified, with vegetarianism,
feminism, and sometimes
straight edge being prescribed by many of the figures in the scene. The powerviolence scene associated with Slap-a-Ham Records was in close proximity to
crust punk, particularly in the case of
Man Is the Bastard and
Dropdead. Crust was also prominent in the
American South, where Prank Records and CrimethInc. acted as focal points of the scene. The most well-known representative of Southern crust was
His Hero Is Gone. Prominent
crust punk groups (
Driller Killer, Totalitär,
Skitsystem,
Wolfbrigade, and
Disfear) also emerged from Sweden, which had always had a strong D-beat scene. Many of these groups developed in parallel with the much more commercial Scandinavian death metal scene.
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