Introduction by John Peel. In 1986 it was unimaginable that death metal and grindcore would ever impact popular culture. Yet this barbaric amalgam of hardcore punk and heavy metal would define the music threshold of extremity for years to come. Initially circulated through an underground tape-trading network, death metal and grindcore spread to every corner of the globe. This book conquers the lofty task of telling the two-decade-long history of this underground art form through the eyes and ringing ears of those who propelled the movement.