Napalm Death - Scum
Earache Records - 1991
By Phil Whitehouse
Generally regarded as the first real grindcore album, Napalm Death's first effort 'Scum' is a high-octane, super-charged and mega-heavy stomp through 28 tracks of hate-fuelled heaviness.
Setting the template for almost all future grindcore bands, Napalm Death specialise in short, sharp bursts of frantic riffing, lunatic drum-bashing and broken-glass-gargling vocals.
If you're a fan of singing along to the lyrics in your records, then you'd better be a fast reader, and have some preparatory surgery performed on your vocal chords - the lyrics are completely incomprehensible without looking at the lyric sheet, so quickly delivered are they. And even with the lyric sheet, it's a matter of interpretation which part of 'aarr-oogg-rraa-eeff-oog-hg' meant 'genocide of the starving nations'.
Obviously, if you're a fan of the grindcore genre, then this is an essential record in your collection. If you're currently a mere nu-metaller and you're looking to move into something a bit heavier, I'd look for something a bit more accessable. Then again, this is grindcore we're talking about...
Earache Records - 1991
By Phil Whitehouse
Generally regarded as the first real grindcore album, Napalm Death's first effort 'Scum' is a high-octane, super-charged and mega-heavy stomp through 28 tracks of hate-fuelled heaviness.
Setting the template for almost all future grindcore bands, Napalm Death specialise in short, sharp bursts of frantic riffing, lunatic drum-bashing and broken-glass-gargling vocals.
If you're a fan of singing along to the lyrics in your records, then you'd better be a fast reader, and have some preparatory surgery performed on your vocal chords - the lyrics are completely incomprehensible without looking at the lyric sheet, so quickly delivered are they. And even with the lyric sheet, it's a matter of interpretation which part of 'aarr-oogg-rraa-eeff-oog-hg' meant 'genocide of the starving nations'.
Obviously, if you're a fan of the grindcore genre, then this is an essential record in your collection. If you're currently a mere nu-metaller and you're looking to move into something a bit heavier, I'd look for something a bit more accessable. Then again, this is grindcore we're talking about...
