Napalm Death - Scum (1987)

As it stands I pretty much fucking loathe, grindcore, because much like death metal it eventually became just a contest to see who could play the fastest and growl the lowest. Unfortunately in the case of grindcore it also became a game to see who could write the shortest song, which thankfully as far as I know Napalm Death still holds that honor. Likewise it became the main musical vehicle for loser musicians with no talent whatsoever who would start solo grind projects with as far as I can tell the only intention being to gross somebody out. Lame.

Starting out as a hardcore punk band in 1982 and after a series of demos and members passing through their ranks, the band finally recorded the first half of, 'Scum' in August of '86, while the remainder of the record, side two, was finished in May of '87 with a slightly different line-up. As it stands this is considered the first grindcore album and although I've just professed my hatred for the genre, I can honestly say I like early grindcore pioneers, such as, Carcass, Repulsion and these dudes from, Birmingham, England, UK.

Going back to this early recording its clear to see that grindcore hasn't evolved much in the past 20+ years, but what makes these early records actually standout is that there is a sense of character to it, or if you wish, there's actually music underneath all the raging blastbeats, distorted guitars and grumbly shouted vocals. Of course as this is grindcore, most of the songs are under two minutes, in fact several are even under a single minute, while, 'You Suffer' has the prestigious honor of being the shortest song ever recorded, clocking in at 1.316 seconds. Nicholas "Nik Napalm" Bullen shouts, screams, growls and screeches throughout the first twelve songs while future Cathedral front man, Lee Dorian does similarly on the remaining songs, though his grunts of torture are rather amusing if I do say so myself. That's a good thing. To me it sort of sounds like a fat humorous Saturday morning cartoon character that's trapped in a big sack with a mouth full of honey while he fights his way out. Lyrically its quite different too with words on politics, social issues and just good 'ol fashioned hate. Also technically I'm not sure if this album or grindcore can even be consider a sub-genre of metal since this baby just sounds like an overly caffeined hardcore punk band on smack.

The whole experience is really an audio nightmare too since both sides were recorded in an 8-track studio. The guitars have an awful early 80's hardcore punk tone to them, although the drums are raw and absolutely intense throughout, but they tend to overshadow the vocals most of the time. The overall volume and clearness is total balls too, and it just gets worse when you flip the record over.

So, why do I like this album? Fuck if I know, man, I just do. Its simple and intense and it has that youthful rebellious spirit behind it like so many other greats from the 80's had. I mean who the hell would have thought music like this existed as far back as '86. Craziness, I tell you. Strangely when the bands not blasting away there's amazingly a few catchy riffs within this record, which may or may not make you bang your head, but for what its worth I choose to do so to the title track as well as a few others.

By some stroke of odd luck I remember I heard Napalm Death when I was quite young, seriously when I was about 10 or 11, and it happened just because my older brother had one their records. 'Utopia Banished' I believe to be the one in question. I fucking hated it.

As it stands this is the only Napalm Death record I own and probably the only one really worth listening too, even though the whole thing is completely hit or miss depending on your appreciation for early extreme music makers.