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gorenoise

Gorenoise

United States ¡ 2000s
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Description

Gorenoise is an internet-born microgenre that fuses the gurgling, pitch-shifted vocal aesthetics and macabre pathology themes of goregrind with the texture-first extremity of harsh noise and harsh noise wall.

The style prioritizes obliterating distortion, clipping, and tape-saturated, basement-level fidelity over riffs or song structure. Tracks are typically very short or arranged as continuous, amorphous slabs of noise; rhythm can be absent, replaced by sputtering drum-machine blasts or junk percussion pushed into the red. Medical samples, surgical ambience, and grotesque artwork complete the transgressive, DIY package.

Where goregrind still leans on riffs and drums, gorenoise minimizes musical gesture to focus on timbre, saturation, and body-horror atmosphere—effectively treating the classic “toilet bowl” vocal as another noise source within a wall of hiss, feedback, and low-end rumble.

History
Origins

Gorenoise emerged in the mid-to-late 2000s as a cross-pollination of goregrind’s grotesque aesthetics and the extremity of harsh noise scenes. Early precursors included noisecore and gore/noise hybrids in the 1990s, with acts that blurred the lines between blastbeat mayhem and feedback-saturated chaos.

Internet era and microlabels

The genre took shape on blogs, forums, CDr/tape microlabels, and later Bandcamp—spaces that favored rapid-fire, DIY releases. Artists often operated as anonymous or one-person projects, exchanging splits and short EPs, and cultivating a community that valued texture, saturation, and transgressive presentation over traditional musicianship.

Aesthetic consolidation

Through the 2010s, gorenoise codified common traits: hyper-pitched gurgle vocals, drum-machine splatter or no rhythm at all, lo-fi recording chains (cassette decks, cheap mixers, overloaded pedals), and medical/forensic sampling. The result is a deliberately abrasive, body-horror soundscape distinct from riff-centric goregrind and more structured noisegrind.

Present day

Gorenoise remains a niche, highly DIY practice. Its catalog lives largely on limited tapes, CDrs, zip archives, and Bandcamp micro-releases, sustaining a global network of artists who continue to push the extremity of texture and concept rather than songcraft.

How to make a track in this genre
Sound sources and setup
•   Start with cheap or easily overdriven gear: a contact mic, a dynamic mic, a junk mixer, a cassette deck, or a basic audio interface. Add harsh noise staples—distortion, overdrive, fuzz, feedback loops, and EQ/filters. •   Treat the voice as a noise source: use ultra-low, pitch-shifted gurgles (the classic goregrind approach) run through pedals or plugins to merge with the noise bed.
Rhythm and form
•   Either omit rhythm entirely (letting feedback and static dominate) or program primitive, over-clipped blastbeats on a drum machine/DAW and bury them in the mix. •   Emphasize short tracks or single long walls. Structure is textural: build, smear, and erode layers rather than write riffs.
Harmony and timbre
•   Harmony is not a priority; focus on bandwidth, density, and saturation. Use EQ to carve subterranean rumbles, midrange filth, and sizzling highs. •   Use static elements (HNW) and dynamic bursts (feedback squeals, mic hits, junk percussion) to create contrast.
Sampling and themes
•   Incorporate medical/forensic samples, surgical-room ambience, or tape hiss. Keep it brief and textural to avoid narrative. •   Artwork and titles typically reference pathology and body horror—maintain the transgressive visual identity.
Recording and mixing
•   Embrace clipping: push levels into the red, print to cassette, or use bitcrushers to exaggerate grit. •   Glue the whole with a limiter that audibly strains. The “wrong” sound is often the right one for gorenoise.
Top albums
Exhibit B: Dehumanization Tactics
Torture
Fijian Fantasies
Phyllomedusa
War Crime: 37 Tracks - 37 Homicides
Torture
Putrefaction in Progress
Last Days of Humanity
Suburban Pest
Phyllomedusa
Craniorachischisis
Craniorachischisis
Main artists
Influenced by
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Harsh Noise
Harsh noise is an extreme form of noise music characterized by dense, high-volume, full-spectrum distortion that largely rejects melody, harmony, and conventional rhythm. It focuses on texture, saturation, and the psychoacoustic impact of sound. Rather than songs, works are often evolving blocks of feedback, amplified object sounds, and overloaded electronics, shaped into walls, bursts, or streams of sonic pressure. The aesthetic foregrounds physical intensity, unpredictability, and timbral complexity, often presented at ear-splitting sound-pressure levels. Although related to industrial and power electronics, harsh noise minimizes the role of beat and voice, emphasizing raw noise generation and continuous timbral sculpting. The scene is deeply DIY, thriving on small-run tapes, CDrs, and underground performance spaces.
Harsh Noise Wall
Harsh noise wall (often abbreviated HNW) is an extreme substyle of noise that focuses on producing a monolithic, static "wall" of sound with virtually no perceivable change over long durations. The texture is typically broadband, high-gain, and unrelentingly loud, emphasizing sheer density and timbral grain over dynamics, rhythm, or melody. Aesthetically, HNW tends toward minimalism and austerity: the piece begins and, for the most part, remains the same until it ends. This reduction of musical events is intentional, directing the listener’s attention to micro-level fluctuations in the sound mass, bodily perception, and the temporal experience of endurance. Releases are commonly issued in long-form formats and often feature stark visual presentation and conceptual themes of anonymity, erasure, or anti-performance.
Noisegrind
Noisegrind is an extreme fusion of grindcore and harsh noise that prioritizes overwhelming sonics, abrasion, and velocity over traditional song structure. Tracks are typically ultra-short, relying on relentless blast beats, walls of feedback, and mangled vocals that blur the line between music and pure noise. The genre often dispenses with melody and conventional riffing in favor of texture, saturation, and saturation-driven dynamics. Its aesthetics come from DIY punk and noise tape culture: raw production, live-to-tape chaos, and an emphasis on immediacy, shock, and catharsis.
Goregrind
Goregrind is an extreme offshoot of grindcore distinguished by ultra-guttural, often pitch-shifted vocals, relentless blast beats, and brief, abrasive songs that emphasize grotesque, medical, and anatomical themes. Its guitar tone is typically down-tuned and heavily saturated, with simple, chromatic riffs delivered at very high tempos, while the bass often mirrors the guitars for added weight. Lyrically and visually, the genre leans into forensic, pathological, and splatter aesthetics, frequently using clinical jargon and shocking artwork as a form of transgressive satire. Production ranges from deliberately lo-fi, tape-traded rawness to modern, crushing clarity, but the core aesthetic remains claustrophobic, noisy, and visceral.
Grindcore
Grindcore is an extreme fusion of hardcore punk and metal characterized by blisteringly fast tempos, blast-beat drumming, heavily distorted guitars, and harsh, screamed or growled vocals. Songs are often extremely short—sometimes mere seconds—favoring intensity over conventional structure. The style ranges from politically charged and socially conscious lyrics to grotesque, gore-soaked imagery (especially in substyles like goregrind). Production can be raw and abrasive or tightly modern, but the aesthetic consistently emphasizes sonic extremity, density, and cathartic impact.
Power Electronics
Power electronics is an extreme, confrontational branch of post-industrial noise built around high-gain oscillator tones, mixer feedback, and screamed or declaimed vocals. It prioritizes texture, loudness, and psychological intensity over conventional rhythm, melody, or harmony. Developed to push beyond the boundaries of early industrial music, the style often employs simple but punishing signal chains—oscillators into distortion and filtering—alongside tape manipulation, contact mics, and live feedback loops. Lyrical content tends to be provocative, examining power, control, and taboo subjects as critique or transgression. The result is a stark, minimal, and abrasive sound designed to unsettle and overwhelm.
Lo-Fi
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Noisecore
Noisecore is an ultra-chaotic, noise-saturated offshoot of hardcore punk and grindcore that pushes extremity to its limit. It favors split-second song structures, explosive blast beats, feedback squall, and improvisation over melody, harmony, or traditional arrangement. Releases often contain dozens or even hundreds of micro-tracks, recorded lo‑fi on cassette or 4‑track, emphasizing raw immediacy, distortion, and overload. Vocals are typically screamed, barked, or reduced to texture; guitars and bass are mangled through high-gain pedals and feedback loops to form a nearly continuous wall of noise.
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