Napalm Death - Scum (1987)

Napalm Death, for those of you who haven't listened to them before, is a four piece Grindcore band from Birmingham, England. They formed in 1981 and are considered to be the creators of Grindcore by mixing Crust Punk with Death Metal. They are currently signed to Century Media and consist of Mark "Barney" Greenway (Vocals), Mitch Harris (Guitar & Backing Vocals), Shane Embury (Bass), and Danny Herrera (Drums).

Napalm Death's 1987 album Scum was the first full length release for the band after seven demo tapes. The original founders of the band had all left the band before this release and the lineup on the album consisted of Nik Bullen (Vocals & Bass for tracks 1-12), Justin Broadrick (Guitar for tracks 1-12), Lee Dorian (Vocals for tracks 13-28), Bill Steer (Guitar for tracks 13-28), Jim Whitley (Bass for tracks 13-28), and Mick Harris (Drums). The album consists of 28 tracks that include "Multinational Corporations", "Instinct of Survival", "The Kill", "Scum", "Caught in a Dream", "Polluted Minds", "Sacrificed", "Siege of Power", "Control", "Born on Your Knees", "Human Garbage", "You Suffer" (the current Guiness Book of World Records holder for shortest song ever recorded, at 1.316 seconds), "Life?", "Prison Without Walls", "Point of No Return", "Negative Approach", "Success?", "Deceiver", "C.S. (Conservative Shithead)", "Parasites", "Pseudo Youth", "Divine Death", "As the Machine Rolls On", "Common Enemy", "Moral Crusade", "Stigmatized", "M.A.D.", "Dragnet". When I first listened to this album, it didn't really go over so well with me. I was accustomed to the typical Barney Greenway vocals of Napalm Death and not the Nik Bullen and Lee Dorian vocals, which is why I was thrown off at first. The album is hard hitting and grows on you. Lots of blast beats and fast paced tempos, which slowed down at odd points throughout the songs. The album almost takes on a different feel after "You Suffer", mainly cause of the different lineup. Nik Bullen's vocals on the album are more of him just shouting as fast as he can, where as Lee Dorian's vocals on it are more growl like and fast paced.

Overall, the album was okay the second time around. It takes a few times listening through to fully get the feel of the album. If you're a fan of Death, Obituary, Carcass, or Grindcore in general, you should have the album in your collection. It's well done for their first release. The album was released on May 6, 1987, and you can get the album on itunes and amazon.

Overall Rating: 4.1 out of 5

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