Blackened Hardcore

Blackened hardcore is the fusion of hardcore punk with black metal that coalesced in the 2000s and 2010s: hardcore's velocity, brevity and physical directness driven through black metal's tremolo-picked minor riffs, blast beats, shrieked vocals and bleak, anti-religious atmosphere. Rooted in crust punk and d-beat, the style was codified by bands such as *Cursed* and *Trap Them*, whose records with producer *Kurt Ballou* defined its dense, overdriven sound, and spread through labels like #Deathwish Inc.#, #Southern Lord# and #Prosthetic Records#. A European wing around Belgium's Church of Ra collective, *Oathbreaker*, *The Secret* and *Celeste*, pushed the fusion toward shoegaze and post-metal.