The difference, by ear
Post-hardcore keeps hardcore's ethics and infrastructure and abandons its musical rules - the tempo, the brevity and the shouting are all now optional.
Hardcore punk is shouted where post-hardcore is part sung, part screamed, and much faster: 190 to 250 bpm against 120 to 170. Songs run longer in post-hardcore: usually 3 to 6 minutes, against under a minute to 2 minutes in hardcore punk. To hear the difference, play Fugazi next to Black Flag. Post-hardcore grew out of hardcore punk, five years later. Washington DC appears in the origins of both.
In figures
Post-hardcore
Where it sits
Rock › Punk rock › Hardcore punk › Post-hardcore
In short
Hardcore that allows itself dynamics, empty space and irregular structures. Emo, screamo and mathcore all branch off from here.
How it sounds
- Wide dynamics: near-silent passages alternating with explosions.
- Bass with its own voice, often leading, and guitars in unusual tunings.
- Loose structures with sections that never repeat.
Key acts
- Fugazi
- At the Drive-In
- Refused
- Thursday
Start here
The pickRefused - The Shape of Punk to Come. The title was an arrogant joke that came true.
Full page →Hardcore punk
Where it sits
Rock › Punk rock › Hardcore punk
In short
Punk accelerated to 200 bpm, songs of one minute and shouted vocals. Without it there is no thrash, no grindcore, no metalcore.
How it sounds
- Tempos of 180 to 250 bpm with galloping or skank drum patterns.
- Songs under a minute, with whole albums running twenty minutes.
- Shouted rather than sung vocals, and direct political or personal lyrics.
Key acts
- Black Flag
- Minor Threat
- Bad Brains
- Discharge
Start here
The pickBad Brains - Bad Brains (the ROIR cassette). The fastest band of the decade.
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