If Crossfade had a time machine available, the first thing we'd do is travel back to the late 1950s when everyone was up in arms over Elvis and his gyrating pelvis. We'd turn off The Milton Berle Show, plug in the turntable, and give them a crash course in powerviolence and fastcore.
Or maybe we'd bring these hypothetical People From the 1950s back with us to the present-day Churchill's Pub. We'd skip the past 60 years of guitar-based din and get right to the fast-and-brutal punk-metal hybrids of the 21st Century, courtesy of Chest Pain and Mindless, a pair of Texas-bred hardcore bands more rottweiler than hound dog.
Though the internet may tell you that Mindless is a fastcore band, and that Chest Pain play powerviolence, Mindless vocalist Faiza Kracheni thinks those terms are overused, "Any band that uses blast beats or is faster than mid-tempo hardcore is automatically labeled one of the two." Ironically, her disregard for genre may be a bonafide fastcore move, as the subgenre cuts out the breakdowns and stomp hooks of '80s hXc (and later, Youth Crew, which exaggerated those qualities), instead opting for straight-ahead blinding, shredding speed.
While fastcore may be self-explanatory, it could take the less experienced a hot second to understand powerviolence, another speed-oriented punk variant. Only this time, tempo (and grindcore shriek) is paired with the growling monster dirge of crusty sludge metal. Though songs usually last less than a minute (and sometimes less than half a minute), their structures are packed more densely than a Yes album. "I think we write songs with just as many parts and riffs as other bands," says Chest Pain bassist, Matt Needles. "We just play them three times as fast."
Drugged Conscience presents Chest Pain and Mindless with Destructive Bodies and No Children. Tuesday, July 26. Churchill's Pub, 5501 NE Second Ave., Miami. The show starts at 8 p.m. and there's a $5 cover. Call 305-757-1807 or visit churchillspub.com.
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