Crossover thrash

Crossover thrash, often abbreviated to crossover,^[2] is a form of thrash metal that contains more hardcore punk elements than standard thrash. It is sometimes referred to as punk metal, though this is generally incorrect due to the existence of other music genres that combine forms of punk rock and heavy metal, such as grunge and crust punk. While thrash metal is heavily influenced by hardcore punk, the overall sound of crossover thrash is more punk-influenced yet more metal-sounding and aggressive than traditional hardcore punk and thrashcore. The term was coined by the band D.R.I. with their album Crossover, released in 1987.^[3]

Terminological ambiguity

The genre is often confused with thrashcore, which is essentially a faster form of hardcore punk rather than a more punk-oriented form of heavy metal.^[4][5] Throughout the early and mid 1980s, the term "thrash" was often used as a synonym for hardcore punk (as in the New York Thrash compilation of 1982). The term "thrashcore" to distinguish acts of the genre from others was not coined until at least 1993.^[6] Further confusion is added by the fact that many crossover bands, such as D.R.I., began as influential thrashcore bands.^[4] The "-core" suffix of "thrashcore" is necessary to distinguish it from crossover thrash and thrash metal, the latter of which is often referred to simply as "thrash", which in turn is rarely used to refer to crossover thrash or thrashcore. Still more confusingly, thrashcore is occasionally used by the music press to refer to thrash metal-inflected metalcore.^[7]

History

Crossover thrash evolved when performers in hardcore punk and heavy metal began borrowing elements of one another's music. Despite some opposition from "purists" in both camps, the marriage seemed natural, since both punk and metal styles were intense, riff-driven, and often, but not exclusively, manically uptempo. Punk-based metal bands generally evolved into the genre by developing more musical technique than the average hardcore outfit, and getting bored with the musical limitations of "pure" hardcore (which focused on very fast tempos and very brief songs). Especially early on, crossover thrash had a strong affinity with skate punk, but gradually became more and more the province of metal audiences. The scene gestated at a Berkeley club called Ruthie's, in 1984.^[8] The term "metalcore" was originally used to refer to these crossover groups.^[9] Hardcore punk groups Corrosion of Conformity,^{[10][11][12][13]} Dirty Rotten Imbeciles^[14] and Suicidal Tendencies^[15][16] played alongside thrash metal groups like Anthrax, Metallica and Slayer. This scene influenced the skinhead wing of New York hardcore, which began in 1984, and included groups such as Cro-Mags,^[17] Murphy's Law, Agnostic Front,^[18][19] and Warzone.^[20] Other prominent crossover thrash groups include Municipal Waste, Nuclear Assault, SSS , Stormtroopers of Death,^[14][21] Cryptic Slaughter, SSD, DYS, GWAR, and Septic Death. British bands such as Electro Hippies, the Exploited and Discharge were hugely influential as well.

Musical characteristics

Crossover incorporated fast paced thrash riffs mixed with breakdown riffs commonly used in hardcore and helped forge two derivatives, one known as groove metal (sometimes referred to as post-thrash), and one known as metalcore.^[1]

List of crossover thrash bands

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

• The Accüsed
• Agnostic Front
• Annhilation Time
• Attitude Adjustment
• Beowülf
• Blast!
• Bombnation
• Body Count
• Blunt Force Trauma
• Carnivore
• Corrosion of Conformity
• Cro-Mags
• Cross Examination
• The Crucified
• Crumbsuckers
• Cryptic Slaughter
• Concrete Sox
• Dayglo Abortions
• Deus Fuma Crack
• D.R.I.
• Discharge
• Dresden 45
• Dr. Livingdead
• D.Y.S.
• Electro Hippies
• English Dogs^{[citation needed]}
• Excel
• The Exploited
• Final Conflict
• The Fun Boys
• Gama Bomb
• Gang Green
• GWAR
• Hellbastard
• Hirax
• Leeway
• Lifeless (uk)
• Lobotomia
• M.O.D.
• Matanza
• Municipal Waste
• Nuclear Assault
• Poison Idea
• Possuído Pelo Cão
• Prong
• Ratos de Porão
• Send More Paramedics
• Slapshot
• Soziedad Alkohólika
• SSD
• Short Sharp Shock (SSS)
• Stormtroopers of Death
• The Mentors
• The Stupids
• Suicidal Tendencies
• Uncle Slam
• Wehrmacht
• The Cooters
• The Detonation

References

Bibliography

Blush, Steven and Petros, George; American hardcore : a tribal history; Los Angeles, CA : Feral House : Distributed by Publishers Group West, 2001. OCLC 48658495