Discharge are an English hardcore punk band formed in 1977 in Stoke-on-Trent, England. The band is known for influencing several sub-genres of extreme music and their songs have been covered by some of the biggest names in heavy metal and other genres. The musical sub-genre of D-beat is named after Discharge and the band's distinctive drumbeat.
The band is characterized by a minimalistic approach to music and lyrics, using a heavy, distorted and grinding guitar-driven sound and raw, shouted vocals similar to a political speech, with lyrics on anarchist and pacifist themes, over intense drone-like rhythms. The band's sound has been called a "grave-black aural acid assault." Discharge "paved the way for an astounding array of politically motivated, musically intense and deeply confrontational bands". Discharge was "explicitly political" and displayed a "revolutionary/activist" attitude that moved British hardcore punk away from its pub rock origins and towards a "dangerous and provocative" or anti-establishment leftist territory.
Discharge paved the way for various extreme metal styles such as thrash metal, black metal, crust punk and grindcore.