Angry Voice

Metal (often used to mean heavy metal in its broad, umbrella sense) is a loud, guitar-driven style of rock defined by high-gain distortion, emphatic and often martial rhythms, and a dense, powerful low end. It foregrounds riff-based songwriting, dramatic dynamics, virtuosic guitar solos, and commanding vocals that range from melodic wails to aggressive snarls and growls. Harmonically, metal favors minor modes, modal color (Aeolian, Phrygian), chromaticism, and tritone-inflected tension, while thematically it explores power, mythology, the occult, social critique, fantasy, and existential subjects. While adjacent to hard rock, metal typically pushes amplification, distortion, precision, and thematic intensity further, forming a foundation for many specialized subgenres.

Stenchcore is a dark, metallic strain of crust punk that emerged in the mid-1980s United Kingdom. It blends the d-beat drive and political urgency of anarcho/crust punk with the weight, riffing vocabulary, and atmosphere of early extreme metal. The style is characterized by downtuned, overdriven guitars; mid-to-fast d-beat and double-time passages interspersed with slower, doomy sections; and a bleak, apocalyptic mood cemented by cavernous, murky production. Lyrics typically address war, environmental collapse, authoritarianism, and existential dread, delivered through harsh, barked vocals. The name “stenchcore” nods both to the grimy, reverb-heavy sound and to the macabre, death-tinged imagery common in artwork and themes.