The difference, by ear
Both are growled or screamed, but black metal is a little slower: 160 to 280 bpm against 200 to 300. Songs run longer in black metal: usually 4 to 9 minutes, against under a minute to 2 minutes in goregrind. To hear the difference, play Carcass next to Bathory. They share a root in heavy metal, and black metal came first, by six years.
In figures
Goregrind
Where it sits
Heavy metal › Grindcore › Goregrind
In short
Grindcore with pitch-shifted vocals and lyrics from a pathology textbook. Carcass wrote the rules on their first two albums.
How it sounds
- Vocals run through a pitch shifter into an underwater sound.
- Simple riffs, extreme tempos and deliberately filthy production.
- Lyrics and cover art drawn from medical and pathological imagery.
Key acts
- Carcass
- Regurgitate
- Last Days of Humanity
Start here
The pickCarcass - Symphonies of Sickness. Better produced than the debut, which is a low bar.
Full page →Black metal
Where it sits
In short
Tremolo picking, blast beats, shrieked vocals and deliberately cold production. More an aesthetic than a technique - atmosphere matters more than clean sound.
How it sounds
- Tremolo picking on open fifth voicings, with vocals in the high register.
- Deliberately thin, cold production - the missing bass is an aesthetic choice, not an accident.
- Fast blast beats, drums often mixed back, atmosphere placed above technique.
Key acts
- Bathory
- Mayhem
- Darkthrone
- Emperor
Start here
The pickDarkthrone - A Blaze in the Northern Sky. The production is intentional, not a flaw.
Full page →