Extreme Noise Terror

Formed in Ipswich, England in 1985, ENT are widely considered one of the earliest and most influential European grindcore bands, and particularly the forefathers of the crust punk, grind subgenre. The original idea was to set out to be the fastest Hardcore Punk band ever, consisting of dual vocalists Dean Jones and Phil Vane, guitarist Pete Hurley, bassist Jerry Clay and drummer Pig Killer, Vane and Hurley had previously played with Discharge-influenced acts Freestate and Victims of War, whilst Jones and Pigkiller had been in Raw Noise. Aside from Discharge, the band cite Anti Cimex, Rattus and Kuro, as early influences. The band signed to Manic Ears after a solitary gig supporting fellow UK punks Chaos UK, releasing a split LP with the band in 1986 entitled Radioactive Earslaughter. Although there were musical similarities between the two bands, ENT were already beginning to twist hardcore into what would later become known as "grindcore". In 1987, ENT came to the attention of John Peel. After seeing them live at the Caribbean Centre in Ipswich with his wife and son, Peel offered them their first (of four) Peel Sessions for BBC Radio 1. A second Peel Session was recorded the following May. During this period, the drum stool was filled by former Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris, although he left soon afterward and was replaced by Tony "Stick" Dickens (of crust band Doom).

ENT's debut album, A Holocaust in Your Head was later voted number 3 in Terrorizer's essential European grindcore albums, who described it as "marrying a thick crust-punk crunch and vitriolic lyrical assault with the newborn, clattering fury of grindcore, 'Holocaust...' followed Napalm's heroic uppercuts and haymakers with a Doc Martin in the goolies." The band undertook a headline tour of both Europe and Japan in support of the album.

On their return, ENT recorded a third Peel Session, which was released along with their first as a full- length LP by Strange Fruit. The band then embarked on another European tour, after which they released their sophomore record, Phonophobia, through Vinyl Japan and returned to tour Japan once again. Further radio support from John Peel brought ENT to the attention of Bill Drummond of The KLF; Drummond asked ENT to re-record a version of KLF's hit single "3 a.m. Eternal", with the intention of the band performing live on Top of the Pops at Christmas. The BBC, however, felt that the song was inappropriate for broadcast on daytime television and thus refused to air the track, leading to the KLF boycotting the show. The single eventually saw limited edition release through KLF Communications and won Single of the Week from both the NME and Melody Maker. The two bands were later asked to appear at the 1992 BRIT Awards, at which they caused controversy by firing blanks from machine guns into the audience, a performance that the NME listed at number 4 in their "top 100 rock moments".

Extreme Noise Terror continued to tour throughout 1993 and 1994, signed to Earache and recorded Retro-bution, essentially a compilation of re-recorded material due to the band's dissatisfaction with their earlier recordings. A short UK tour followed, followed by touring in Europe and the US. Shortly after, Phil Vane left to join Napalm Death, while Napalm Death frontman Mark "Barney" Greenway agreed to join ENT during the recording of their next album, Damage 381. The album, whose title comes from the BPM recorded on the title track, saw ENT moving further into grind metal territory, reincorporating some of the blast beats and screamed vocals that had been missing from their previous two releases. The album also benefited from a production from noted metal producer Colin Richardson. At the same time Napalm Death asked Greenway to return, which he agreed to do, leaving ENT once again lacking a second vocalist. Vane subsequently returned to the band in 1997.

In 2001, the band signed to Candlelight and released their fourth full-length album, Being and Nothing. The band also played a fourth session for BBC Radio 1 in February 2001 and continued to tour round Europe, including a slot on the main stage at Wacken Open Air in 2003. In 2005 Ollie Jones of Desecration joined the band on guitar followed by bassist Andi Morris a while later. In 2007 ENT toured the US and released a split recording with Driller Killer through French label Osmose. The following year the band released a split 7" with Trap Them (released on Deathwish Inc.) to coincide with their joint US West Coast Distortion tour followed by further touring in places such as Indonesia, Russia, Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, Finland, Germany, Estonia and at the Obscene Extreme Festival in the Czech Republic.

Next album Law of Retaliation came out in early 2009. Terrorizer described it as "a rabid, intense and gleeful return to explosive, hyper-speed hardcore punk insanity". The band continued to tour with shows throughout 2009 in Europe and a third Japanese tour.

On 17 February 2011, Phil Vane died in his sleep due to a cerebrovascular accident at the age of 43. The band struggled to come to terms with his death but continued playing live shows across Europe and Asia and in 2014 the former Gorerotted and The Rotted vocalist Ben McCrow ,joined Dean in the traditional ENT 2 vocal assault. In 2015 the band undertook further touring including in the USA, Colombia and Mexico.

Extreme Noise Terror’s self-titled new album is set for release on 5th November 2015 and sees the band returning to their Hardcore Punk routes with a manic, stripped down and highly aggressive raw sound that perfectly compliments the chaotic attack that saw the band become a firm favourite throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s with Punks and Metal fans alike. Recorded again at Springvale Studios with longtime producer Mark Harwood, the album also features the lead guitar talents of guest musician Kody from Singapore Hardcore Punk band Minus and includes a cover of ‘I Like Cola’ by ‘80s Japanese Hardcore pioneers Outo alongside that sits nicely alongside 12 of the band’s fastest, most intense and catchy tracks to date. Says iconic frontman Dean Jones of the recording “This album takes us purely back to the days of “Holocaust in Your Head” ,”Earslaughter” and” Phonophobia”. With the true original blend of frenetic, super hi-octane fuelled madness mixed with a few “Show Us You Care” style, catchy as hell, circle moshing break up bits .Our best album yet. If this doesn’t blow your head off, nothing will !”

30 years after their initial formation, the band shows no sign of mellowing or slowing things down. Hardcore Punk, Crust or Grind ? This is Extreme Noise Terror.