Neocrust is a term used for describing the fusion of crust with the epic, darker and melodic elements of both other hardcore and metal sub-genres such as screamo, post-hardcore, melodic death metal, sludge, doom metal, post-metal and black metal; sometimes even incorporating classical instruments into the sound, such as violins, cellos and acoustic guitar.
It is rooted in bands such as His Hero is Gone, Wolfbrigade and From Ashes Rise (Paradoxically a Tragedy contemporary.
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Neocrust is a term used for describing the fusion of crust with the epic, darker and melodic elements of both other hardcore and metal sub-genres such as screamo, post-hardcore, melodic death metal, sludge, doom metal, post-metal and black metal; sometimes even incorporating classical instruments into the sound, such as violins, cellos and acoustic guitar.
It is rooted in bands such as His Hero is Gone, Wolfbrigade and From Ashes Rise (Paradoxically a Tragedy contemporary. Borrowed from Tragedy, they are close colleagues); although Tragedy (which includes 3/4 of HHIG) are credited with laying down the blueprints for the genre in less nebulous terms. Tragedy are specifically credited with bringing melody into crust and giving the subgenre its signature epic, melodic and emotional leads with heavy use of pick slides to signal the transition into those sections as well as utilising dual vocals. Their riffing style was derived from the aforementioned His Hero Is Gone.
Neocrust became particularly popular in the modern hardcore scene through other bands such as Ekkaia, Ictus, Alpinist, Remains of the Day, Madame Germen, Martyrdöd, Masakari, Vestiges, Downfall of Gaia and Fall of Efrafa.
Remains of the Day were one of the earliest full-on neocrust bands inspired by Tragedy who also actively included a violinist in their line-up. They utilised dual vocalists and emotional lyrics plus prominent screamo elements. The Japanese band Muga were the earliest Tragedy "clone".
Madame Germen, influenced by Remains of the Day, relied on His Hero Is Gone riffing rather than Tragedy whilst displaying Iberian peninsula folk elements, recurrent use of clean guitar melodies and utilising dual vocalists with socially-charged and aware lyrics sung in Gallego.
Whereas Martyrdöd combined crust with black metal influences and vocals plus At the Gates melodic death metal riffing as well as unrelenting d-beat with lyrics exclusively in Swedish addressing dark themes.
Ekkaia combined Tragedy melodies with melodic death metal and dual vocals with prominent screamo elements plus socially-charged and aware lyrics in Spanish.
Alpinist also used dual vocals whilst displaying prominent screamo elements, highly technical/complex drumming and witty-mocking themes behind real socially-charged/aware lyrics in German with bits in English plus the usual Tragedy melodies and d-beat.
On the other hand, Ictus went for a sound built around very long songs with lyrics in Spanish and sludge metal influence and melodic death metal riffing plus unrelenting unyielding d-beat galloping with few respiring moments. Their sole full-length is a 1 single long & complex track concept album.
Masakari opted to take accentuated His Hero Is Gone influence and borrow from their highly energetic and metallic sludge/crust/d-beat sound as well as the classic Discharge strong nuances and old Japanese hardcore/d-beat alike, all mixed with obvious Fall of Efrafa elements.
Vestiges, being extremely influenced by Fall of Efrafa, created very atmospheric and complex songs based around a both abrasive and ethereal/ambient mixture of post-black metal, post-metal, sludge, d-beat and crust; leaving behind a sole album that reads as an epitaph for Mother Earth.
Probably the most diverse neocrust band was Downfall of Gaia, as they took a crust framework and mixed it with sludge, black metal, post-metal and doom metal; eventually forgoing d-beat entirely in favour of blast beats to carry the music incorporated across lengthy songs with lyrics in German and English. They subverted the genre.
Fall of Efrafa are credited with bringing disparate post-metal and post-rock influence into crust whilst simultaneously mixing it with sludge and doom metal sections plus often using d-beat in an unusual and irregular way as catharsis and climax for their songs rather than building entire songs around d-beat. They released an elaborate and ambitious trilogy of concept albums attacking everything, from religion/"god" itself to modern society to governments to humans/man in an anthropogenic sense to animal abuse. Thus, inspiring the most common form of modern neocrust.
All these bands took on the Tragedy sound and added their own elements, developing the style to its next logical progression as well as taking it into new directions. Although Tragedy remain unsurpassed.
