Music Sound

D-beat

D-beat is a drum beat, specifically a fast rock beat unique to Hardcore Punk, especially in its UK and European variants. Its name is derived from the British band Discharge, as the best-known use of this style can be attributed to their drummer Terry/Tezz. All over the world, D-beat has a cult following and has developed most heavily in Scandinavia, Japan, and Brazil. It is a contemporary term most common outside North America. D-beat bands almost exclusively have anti-war, anarchist messages and closely follow the bleak nuclear-war imagery of 1980s Crust punk bands, often to the point that you can tell a D-beat record by its exact imitation of Discharge album covers.

Example of a D-Beat drum tab:
H:|x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-:||
S:|--o---o---o---o-:||
K:|o--o-o--o--o-o--:||
   1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & :

Scandinavian D-beat

Early Scandinavian D-beat bands, such as Anti-cimex, are associated with very noisy and distorted guitar and have a very maxed out sound. This wave of D-beat hardcore punk emerged in the early 1980s, particularly in 1983 with the release of Anticimex's 2nd 7", the genre-defining "Raped Ass" EP, notable for its raw recording and prominent Discharge influence. Even some of the more distinctly American sounding Swedish bands whose range of influence is classified as "thrash" (such as Mob 47) essentially employ a very fast D-beat.

Scandinavian bands remain some of the most well-known D-beat bands, although their sound has become faster, much heavier and more metal-inspired.

Japanese D-beat

Japanese D-beat bands, however they fit into the wide range of Discharge influenced punk, are usually notable for either their faithful emulation of the European Discharge-influenced punk aesthetic (something at which bands like Disclose excel) or for their technically advanced playing, employing a D-beat in the context of a more transcendent and original whole. Bands such as Bastard and Deathside are notable for their strong sense of melody and their subtly metallic playing, drawing influence from other aspects of Discharge's playing as well as North American Discharge-influenced bands such as Poison Idea.

Resurgence of interest

While bands have played in this style since the early 1980s, hardcore punk is currently experiencing a resurgence of interest in Discharge and Scandinavian/Japanese influenced hardcore in the new millennium. Groups from around the world such as Wolfbrigade and Tragedy are largely responsible for the movement towards the fusing of the driving Discharge sound with dark, melodic elements reminiscent of Amebix, while other bands such as Portland's Warcry or Canada's Decontrol exemplify a kind of punk nostalgia, playing pure D-beat hardcore and proudly wearing their influences on their sleeves. In a Maximum RocknRoll column, hardcore-punk critic and former Destroy singer Felix von Havoc predicted that the strongest new trend in hardcore would be a fusion of the energy and vitality of Straight edge Youth crew hardcore with the heaviness and ideals of d-beat punk.

Examples of D-beat bands

Avskum
Bastard
Decontrol
Discharge
Disclose
Disfear
Ratos de Porão
Skitsystem
Uncurbed
Wolfpack/Wolfbrigade

See also

• Breakbeat

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Music Sound, v. 2.0, by MultiMedia

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.