For those of us who like to know the stories behind our favorite bands and scenes, the plethora of books now available about extreme music has been invaluable. But if you want a great way to condense a lot of this information into a medium that includes the music itself, you can’t go wrong with a great documentary. Banger Films and Metal Injection have both spent the past several years on this effort, and a new film from Death by Digital promises to be an excellent addition, especially for readers passionate about grindcore. Slave to the Grind puts this loud, chaotic world of noise into perspective, from the words of the artists themselves, to the many stylistic threads that run through the sound’s insane machinery.
Director Doug Brown is passionate about this project, and feels strongly about grindcore’s place in extreme music:
“Grindcore truly has a history that is shared by both punks and metal heads. On one hand you have the 80’s hardcore scene. You have this swell of hardcore coming through the UK that was pissed off and politically charged. On the other hand, you have the beginnings of death metal around the time of the first wave of thrash. Grindcore fused metal and punk in a way that isn’t just “half of one and half of the other.” Grindcore is very much it’s own thing. History is so important, and the goal of documentary film-making is storytelling. The history of grindcore has not been told in documentary form and I am excited to show the world what we’ve made.”
He’s also chuffed about the level of support he’s received from the scene itself:
“This film was done with the support of a community. We had the pleasure of sifting through nearly 1,000 hours of raw fan submitted concert footage. We conducted nearly 100 hours of interviews with 72 subjects from around the globe. A project of this magnitude was made possible because of the support from the bands and fans since day one. We are honored to be making this film along side the heavy music community.”
Check out the trailer for the film below! Slave to the Grind will debut at the Calgary Underground Film Festival on April 21, 2018. Follow the film’s Facebook page to stay up-to-date on future screenings!
