The difference, by ear
Crust is slower, metallic and sincere. Power violence is faster, uglier and frequently sarcastic.
Both are growled or screamed, but crust punk keeps to a narrower band: 150 to 220 bpm against 60 to 320. Songs run longer in crust punk: usually 1½ to 3 minutes, against under a minute to 1½ minutes in powerviolence. To hear the difference, play Infest next to Amebix. Both grew out of hardcore punk, crust punk first and powerviolence three years after.
In figures
Powerviolence
Where it sits
Rock › Punk rock › Hardcore punk › Powerviolence
In short
Hardcore taken to the limit: abrupt tempo shifts, twenty-second songs, blast beats cut with parts as slow as tar.
How it sounds
- Abrupt switches between blast beats and slow passages, with no transition.
- Songs of ten to forty seconds, albums with twenty-five tracks.
- Deliberately ugly sound, with distorted vocals and clipping bass.
Key acts
- Infest
- Man Is the Bastard
- Spazz
Start here
The pickInfest - Slave. Twenty minutes that feel longer than a doom album.
Full page →Crust punk
Where it sits
Rock › Punk rock › Hardcore punk › Crust punk
In short
D-beat soaked in metal and mud: thick tone, apocalyptic themes, trousers unwashed since 1989.
How it sounds
- Thick, muddy guitar tone with a very prominent distorted bass.
- Alternation between fast d-beat and slow passages close to doom.
- Two vocalists - one low, one shrill - and apocalyptic or ecological themes.
Key acts
- Amebix
- Doom
- Tragedy
- His Hero Is Gone
Start here
The pickAmebix - Arise! It sounds like the end of the world, which was the point.
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