Axegrinder was a band formed in 1986 in London. They played music heavily influenced by Amebix, and other punk rock bands that had been experimenting with metal riffs and sounds.
The members of the band had originally been part of two anarchist punk bands based in London: Stone the Crowz and the Proudhon. After both bands fell apart, the original Axegrinder lineup came together to form Tyrants of Hat. Tyrants played a few, violent gigs but broke up because they felt the anarchist punk scene was dying. Axegrinder came together as a politically motivated band without a defined sound.
The bands' tastes were gradually shifting towards metal bands like Slayer and Celtic Frost. They released a demo in 1987 Grind the Enemy It was packaged with a booklet and a patch (as a nod to Crass) and was self-distributed with a run of only 400 copies. One of these found its way to Peaceville Records and the band was invited to record a song for the A Vile Peace compilation album. The track was called "Where Evil Dwell" and showed the band struggling to find its sound. However, when the grindcore sound became big in the underground, the band finally found its identity. They began playing slow or mid-paced mash-ups of metal and punk riffs, setting them apart from their grindcore contemporaries, and making them a crust archetype.
Members[]
- Final line-up
- Matt - Bass
- Darryn - Drums
- Cliff Evans - Guitars
- Steve - Guitars
- Trev - Vocals
- Former members
- Jel - Drums
Discography[]
- Grind the Enemy (Demo, 1987)
- Live 11-7-87 (Demo, 1987)
- The Squat Tape (Demo, 1988)
- The Rise of the Serpent Men (1989)
External links[]
- Official Myspace
- Axegrinder at Encyclopaedia Metallum