Precursors The most prominent influences upon crust punk were
Crass and
Discharge. Crass introduced the genre's
anarchist ideology and its tattered, militaristic aesthetic, while Discharge introduced its apocalyptic themes and influence from
heavy metal, particularly
Motörhead. Other metal bands to include the style included
Hellhammer and
Trouble. Soon, the first wave of crust punk bands was solidified with the formations of
Hellbastard,
Deviated Instinct and
Concrete Sox. From this scene soon originated the
Swedish death metal scene, which would be brought to prominence by
Entombed. American crust punk began in New York City, in the mid-1980s, with the work of
Nausea. The group emerged from the
Lower East Side squat scene and
New York hardcore, living with
Roger Miret of
Agnostic Front. The early work of
Neurosis, from San Francisco, also borrowed from Amebix, and inaugurated crust punk on the West Coast.
Disrupt (Boston),
Antischism (South Carolina), Misery and
Destroy (Minneapolis) were also significant U.S. crust groups. An important American crust punk band was
Aus Rotten from
Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. Crust punk also flourished in Minneapolis, shepherded by the
Profane Existence label. In this period, the ethos of crust punk became particularly codified, with
vegetarianism,
feminism, and sometimes
straight edge being prescribed by many of the figures in the scene. Prominent crust punk groups (
Driller Killer, Totalitär,
Skitsystem,
Wolfbrigade, and
Disfear) also emerged from Sweden, which had always had a strong D-beat scene. Many of these groups developed in parallel with the much more commercial
Scandinavian death metal scene. During this time, crust became prominent in the
American South, where
Prank Records and
CrimethInc. acted as focal points of the scene. The most well-known representative of Southern crust was
His Hero Is Gone, whose early material incorporate elements of powerviolence and experimental music. By the band's final album
The Plot Sickens (1998), they had begun to incorporate influence from the Japanese hardcore style
burning spirits, to create a more grandiose and melodic take on crust punk. This sound was then continued by three of the members' subsequent band
Tragedy. At the same time, in Spain bands such as Hongo, Das Plague and Ekkaia were merging crust punk with elements of
screamo, creating a fusion genre which at the time was called "emo crust". By the end of the decade, many international crust punk bands had shifted their style to favour black metal influences. ==Subgenres==