I'll start this off with a disclaimer. I have not heard every band in the world, so this list is limited to just bands that I've heard. Anyway, I do have a solid knowledge of music that is out there, and a lot of my friends will sometime ask me who I think are the heaviest, fastest, or just the most intense bands or music acts out there. Well, I'm going to answer a lot of those questions here. My use of genres is really only to allow the reader to imagine what any bands they may not have heard yet actually sound like. It's not for me to pigeonhole a band or anything like that, because a lot of these bands cannot be really pigeonholed into a single genre.
Nails
Hardcore bands have come a long way in the last 20 years or so. It used to resemble classic punk rock much more in its early days (which really go back more than 30 years). However, there were the bands like Discharge that really not only blurred the lines between metal and hardcore, but just really brought music at that time to a whole new level of intensity. Nails may be that band of this generation. It's way too early to tell, as they only have 2 full length releases under their belts at this time, but their blend of hardcore, power violence, grindcore, and thrash is possibly the most intense thing that I have ever heard. Their albums hit hard and quick. They don't mess around, they just really throw it at you as hard as it can. They're fast and aggressive, but also heavy at the same time, even having short sludge moments in some of their songs (but as I said, they don't really mess around, so those are indeed short sections).
Napalm Death
True story, after seeing Napalm Death one weekend, the next weekend I saw Jackson Browne. That may help to give an idea as to how diverse my tastes can get. Anyway, Napalm Death are really the godfathers of grindcore. They started off as more of a hardcore punk band in the early 80's that just sped it up more than they probably realized (or exactly as much as they realized, but that doesn't have the same effect). The result would quickly turn into what we consider to be grindcore today. One of the best things about Napalm Death is their ability to evolve, yet still remain just as intense as they were the previous day. Sure, there was a bit of a lull in the 90's at one point, but at this point they're still just as fast and intense as ever, just with better structure to their songs. Just listen to the first real song on Utilitarian, "Errors in the Signal", the beginning of that song is as intense as you can make it. Sure, there's other bands today that may have a slight edge, but nobody blows them out still to this day.
Pig Destroyer
Pig Destoyer was really the first band that I listened to that helped me to realize that I really do like grindcore. A lot of the grind that I had heard previous to them had been fairly generic. Still today there remains a lot of grind bands that really don't do anything special to me, that sound very calculated, and to me there's really nothing intense about that. Pig Destroyer, on the other hand, brought different elements into it. Their earliest stuff is where it started, with the riffs being beyond just generic grind riffs, incorporating more thrashy and even more sludgy styles. This became more a part of their music as they've gone on. Like Napalm Death, Pig Destroyer have evolved their sound as they have gone along, but also like Napalm Death, they haven't lost their intensity at all. In fact, I'd even consider them to be more intense than they ever have been.
Skeletonwitch
They've become one of my favorite live bands over the last 7 or 8 years. There's a heavy blend of both black metal and thrash with Skeletonwitch. In 10 years since the release of their first album they've released a grand total of 5 full length albums. They're one of the bands out there that have only gotten more intense as they have gone on. One of the best things about them though is that they're not just another blackened thrash band. While I appreciate almost any band that fits within the general description, Skeletonwitch have something special to them. They're catchy, without a whole lot of melody. All of the melody within the band comes from the riffing (not surprising, especially since they're on this list), but there's a certain groove that they can create that really makes the music fun to listen to. Throw in that Chance Garnett may be one of the most intense frontmen in all of metal, and you have yourself something that is as intense as anything out there.
Sunn O)))
I know, I know, there's going to be a ton of people out there who will argue with me on this until they're red in the face. However, first of all, this is my list, not yours. Second off, hear me out, this does require a couple of things, the first being a more abstract way of thinking, and second being that you need to have seen them live to understand this. First off, Sunn O))) can be something so soothing that it can be great to put yourself to sleep when listened to on low volume. However, when you listen to it as it's meant to be listened to, it's far from soothing. Seeing them live really helped me to realize what they are meant to be, a LOUD band. They are easily the loudest band that I have ever seen live, and with the added bass from the subs, there's even more feeling added to it. I've seen them live a few times now, and while the music is so slow that you can't even have a regular drummer play along with it, at the same time, when on at the right volume, which is as loud as you can play it, it's very intense. Oh, and no, it's not just like how you can turn any music up to make it more intense, it's in a completely different way that you need to really know to understand.
Weekend Nachos
The best way to explain Weekend Nachos is as a band that starts with hardcore, and just goes where they would like from there. They definitely keep it within the realm of hardcore and metal, but they'll go into anything from powerviolence to sludge, to maybe something more like grind, or even just keep it as hardcore. They're easily the toughest band here for me to really describe, but the music most closely goes along with hardcore. Either way, their live shows are legendary for both the intensity and the humor that goes along with it. One of the best things about the band is their great sense of humor that goes with a lot of what they do, but not only that, but the down to Earth subject matter of their music is a huge relief as well.
Leviathan
The subject matter around Leviathan is a huge reason for the intensity of the music, but at the same time there is much more. My favorite part of Leviathan is the riffing, without a doubt. There is some incredible riffing that goes along with every song. It's black metal, but introduces other elements, but stays at a very hard and fast pace for the most part. Also, just the music itself is just so angry and hateful, not in a racist or bigoted sort of way, but in a way where it pretty much tells everyone to go fuck themselves. The vocals are in a clear black metal fashion, the pace is that of regular black metal, but there is just so much more to it than just black metal.
Curse of the Golden Vampire
Justin Broaderick and Kevin Martin combined on the Curse of the Golden Vampire release titled Mass Destruction. At the time I first heard it, I thought it was the most intense thing I have ever heard. It combines glitch, grind, and industrial music. It's almost like Justin wanted to go back to his Napalm Death days for an album and make it something even more intricate. Well, he didn't fail at all. Songs like the opener, Total Annihilation of Self or United Snakes of America are ones that are sure to make your heart race with just aggressive pounding, yelling, and riffing. Everything is there, but at the same time it's done in a way that's unique, that isn't just some band doing their calculated version of what a certain genre calls for.
All Pigs Must Die
They're a hardcore band, without a doubt, but they're about as hard hitting as any hardcore band out there. It's a wall of noise, anger, and aggression from the beginning to the end with these guys. Not much I can really explain here, but they're one of the few bands on this list that bring their level of intensity while keeping it within a single genre.
Naked City
From a band that keeps everything mostly within one genre to a band who has no shortage of genres. Naked City is a John Zorn project that is meant to reflect a lot of things that he observed while living in Japan. The self titled album is largely a jazz album, but just breaks into occasional cases of what I call spazz outs. It keeps you on your toes for the most part. In the middle of the album there are a series of tracks that seem to be based on grindcore for a large part. Some of these tracks have even become band names (Blood Duster, Fuck the Facts). They also released an album called Torture Garden, this is an entire album of those grind type tracks, but they're not just grind, they're largely spazz outs as well featuring Yamatsuka Eye on vocals (he does all vocals on their original studio recordings, later a boxed set was released with Mike Patton doing the vocals). If I'm correctly informed, Torture Garden is really their first album. Anyway, you get about 42 tracks in about 30 minutes on Torture Garden, as it's intense and to the point. Absinthe is an ambient album that incorporates some really creepy stuff, and a part with a fly buzzing that somehow actually is very intense if you've submerged yourself within the atmosphere of the album. Radio, Grand Guignol, and Heretic are all albums that I tend to lump more together, even if they really are all still fairly different from each other. Then there's Leng Tch'e, an album that is now also a band name. It's 1 30 minute sludge masterpiece that keeps building and building until it just becomes a mass of agony. The album is based on the form of execution by the same name that literally translates to a hundred pieces. It was just that, the executed, while still alive, would be cut into hundreds of pieces. They would be forced to smoke opium before in order to keep them alive for as long as possible while this was going on. Anyway, the album starts off with heavy, droning guitar, then builds and builds until you have Joey Baron blowing everyone's minds on the drums, Eye's agonizing screaming, and Zorn just screeching on that saxophone. It's all almost too intense for man to bear, while being amazingly abrasive, even for fans of the most intense forms of music, but Leng Tch'e may be the most intense of the bunch.
Well, there's 10 bands right there. There are plenty more, but I figure 10 is enough for now. Those are 10 groups that are, without question, very intense bands.
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