Classic album review- Napalm Death-Scum

Napalm Death
Scum
1987

The album that pioneered (but didn't invent) the grind core genre is nearly thirty years old. So how does it measure up now?

It's always interesting to listen to an artists earlier work when they have been around as long as Napalm Death has (getting on for forty years now). In a way it feels good because unlike anything else in their discography, apart from their early demos, nothing has come before it so it does not have expectations to live up to. Then again, as it now considered a milestone in music, maybe it does in a different kind of way.

Ground-breaking is a word that is often attached to this album. Although it was probably the band Repulsion with their Horrified who truly invented grindcore , Napalm Death were the band who brought it to public attention and became the flag bearers with this album. So hoe seminal is it?

In a way, this album is arguably not a proper album because it is cobbled together from two different recordings featuring two different line ups . For younger listeners who have discovered the band at a different point in their career, this album may seem unfamiliar on a first listen. The fact that their are no members in the bad today who even played on this album kind of put the idea across that this is arguably not really the same band. Technically it isn't. Even on this album there is barely one actual original member. Founder member Nick Bullen lefr after recording the a side, guitarist Justin Broadrick also departed around the same time, leaving Mick Harris to build a new line up and thus be the only person who played on the whole of this Delete repeated word


The main characteristic of this album is speed. There are no tracks longer than two minutes. The production is almost non existent. You cant tell that line up changes after the first twelve tracks unless your listening very carefully.

The A side was recorded in August 1986. Contained within it is one second long "You Suffer." But that is the thing with this album, it is about being listened to as almost one big long song, as the individual songs themselves are too short and fast to really be recognised as songs on their own.

The A side flows very well into the B side. It does not feel tacky or too different. The early days of Napalm Death was like a constant revolving door. And one thing is for sure that new members have always bough something new to the table. There is a little more production on the B side and more metal influence (the a side was more rooted in punk.) Future Cathedral vocalist Lee Dorrian's vocals sound like he is in intense pain, and to many calling them vocals would be a bit of a stretch.  Another thing about this album is that it seems that the vocalists are not really singing the lyrics properly, as trying to follow them on the lyric sheet is very difficult.

All in all this album does naturally sound somewhat dated due t its lack of production, but never the less it still remains a classic and a milestone.

Nathan.