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- Scum (1987)
- From Enslavement to Obliteration (1988)
- Mentally Murdered EP (1989)
- Harmony Corruption (1990)
Scum
6.5
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 / Life? / Prison without Walls / Point of No Return / Negative Approach / Success? / Deceiver / C.S. / Parasites / Pseudo Youth / Divine Death / As the Machine Rolls on / Common Enemy / Moral Crusade / Stigmatized / M.A.D. / Dragnet
Welcome
to the Terrordome, ladies and gents! While they’re generally considered
the founders of “grindcore”, a brutally fast and violent genre
that combines the velocity of speed/thrash metal (D.R.I., Slayer) with the
grunts of death metal and the political orientation and aggression of hardcore
punk (Discharge being the obvious influence), Napalm Death in retrospection
also stands as an extremely influential training camp for musicians who’d
help shape the course of extreme music during the next decade or so*.
The downside of this is that nowadays, none of the musicians performing on
this release are still in the band, and another remarkable thing about the
record is that there’s a different line-up featured on each half, Harris
being the only constant factor. The first 12 songs, up to the 2-second (!)
long “You Suffer” are created by Harris, Nick Bullen (bass/grunt)
and Justin Broadrick (guitar), while the second line-up consists of Harris,
Lee Dorrian (throat), Bill Steer (guitar) and Jim Whitely (bass). As for the
music: there’s not much of a difference between the rackets made by
these two “bands”. Most of the songs are ridiculously short and
aggressive, with singers that apparently don’t care about their tonsils
and vocal chords.
The lyrics are allegedly political (at least, that’s what titles such as “Siege of Power,” Multinational Corporations” and “As the Machine Rolls on” suggest), but totally undecipherable, while the non-existing production job causes the maltreated cymbals to completely overwhelm everything else during the first half. The second half of the album (songs 13-28) have a slightly clearer sound, with a more industrial guitar tone and a less fuzzy bass. While the first line-up wins the award for the shortest song, the average song-length is probably still around 90 seconds. The second line-up, on, the other hand, refuses to produce heroic epics and, by consequence, more than half of their contributions stay under one minute. With 28 blasts of fury that are as uncompromising and extreme as (probably) their outlook on life and lyrical concerns, the band wilfully alienates practically anybody, basically making this album one huge “fuck you”. There are only a few instances (the title track, the Slayer-esque “Siege of Power”) where you could speak about actual “songs”, because elsewhere, the maddening extremity of the noise bursts is likelier to make you laugh and cringe than shit your pants. While “Life?” introduces the second line-up with a bang, completely over the top chaos such as “Parasites” and the hellish racket of “Pseudo Youth” (with Harris shrieking on top of Dorrian’s growl), have more in common with (and probably influenced) later noise-acts such as The Boredoms, Melt Banana and John Zorn’s Naked City (also with The Boredoms’ Yamatsuka Eye) than with the metal/hardcore-scenes at that time. Scum gave the start sign for countless bands to desperately trying to become the most extreme outfit around, but most of ‘em weren’t capable of coming up with more than pale imitations (despite better production jobs). No matter how amateurish some of this may sound nowadays, the kids of Napalm Death took things as far as they could (and that’s probably why they continued this for only one more album), and they did have something going for them that slightly modified the perception of extreme music.
* Mick Harris and Nick Bullen, original members of Napalm Death, would later collaborate as Scorn, an ambient-oriented project, while Harris would also work with countless avant-noise musicians (Bill Laswell, John Zorn). Broadrick formed Godflesh, Steer formed Carcass (the second-most important grindcore band) and nowadays plays in retro-rock (!) band Firebird, Dorrian founded crucial neo-Sabbath doom band Cathedral.
From Enslavement to Obliteration (1988)
6
Evolved as One / It’s a M.A.N.S. World / Lucid Fairytale / Private Death / Impressions / Unchallenged Hate / Uncertainty Blurs the Vision / Cock-Rock Alienation / Retreat to Nowhere / Think for a Minute / Display to Me / From Enslavement to Obliteration / Blind to the Truth / Social Sterility / Emotional Suffocation / Practise What You Preach / Inconceivable / Worlds Apart / Obstinate Direction / Mentally Murdered / Sometimes / Make Way! / Musclehead / Your Achievement? / Dead / Morbid Deceiver / The Curse
From
Enslavement to Obliteration, a.k.a. The Return of Mad Fozzy
– The Sophomore Demolition, finds the band (the second line-up
of the debut, but Shane Embury replacing Jim Whitely) further honing the assault
of Scum, although the non-initiated probably don’t notice any difference
at all. The band had already become the most notorious offspring of the Earache-label,
which became a hotbed for extreme European (mainly British bands, although
they also released Entombed’s seminal debut) metal, and believe it or
not, but allegedly, From Enslavement to Obliteration was anxiously
awaited by decibel-junkies all across Europe. If anything, these freaks got
what they wanted, because the band’s rigid attack hasn’t softened
one bit. Even though opening track “Evolve as One” comes off as
something entirely different, with Dorrian alternately screaming like Henry
Rollins ca. 1988 and grunting like a maniac, the majority of the tracks fit
nicely under the “louder and faster than everyone else”-category.
Only the truly dedicated Napalm Death-fans know what they’re singing
about, but titles such as “Mentally Murdered,” and “Emotional
Suffocation” are fairly obvious and moreover, Dorrian’s mindless
grunts seem to have adapted themselves to it, as they more and more resemble
this loud, deep rumbling instead of actual words (like “Blrrrurullgorrgggllbbrrurrghhhoooorrgghhh”).
Uh, highlights? Well, I’m not really capable of distinguishing most cuts from each other (even though I keep on trying), but tracks that usually stick with me like an unwanted infection are the opening track (because it’s out of step with the rest), the powerful groove of “Unchallenged Hate,” the astounding duet of “Inconceivable” (a blast!) and the title track, which already points forward to the band’s thrash/death-direction on later releases. So, From Enslavement to Obliteration is probably as good/disgusting (depends on your taste) as Scum, but instead of “What the friggin’ hell?”, you’ll think “Oh My God, no, the torture never stops!” With an approach this extreme, the band luckily realized it had already reached a dead end, and a change was necessary. However, the classic line-up that’s responsible for this unholy uproar quickly fell apart as other, less demanding projects (well, less extreme, though Steer’s Carcass wasn’t your average rock band either) took up their time. Nowadays, only bass player Embury still plays with Napalm Death. They’ve slowed down a bit, but are still among the leaders of the pack when it comes to extreme metal. Ideally suited for bad, bad days.
Note: Enslavement comes with five bonus tracks that add nothing new to the album, although the few seconds of “Your Achievement?” and the inconceivable “Dead” are grand!
Mentally Murdered EP (1989)
6
Rise Above / The Missing Link / Mentally Murdered / Walls of Confinement / Cause and Effect / No Mental Effort
Try
listening this EP with headphones at maximum volume (like I usually do), and
you’ll feel like you’re tramped underfoot by a family of elephants.
Holy Satan, what a hellish racket this 16-minute release is. “Rise Above”
immediately suggests a different approach – 150 mph instead of 220,
while the band also seems to incorporate thrash’s sense of structure
and, um, refinement. However (before you start thinking to hire them at your
marriage party), it’s still insanely brutal music and Mentally Murdered
might even be their most sonically extreme release yet. It sounds remarkably
better than the first two albums (so finally you get to hear what a maniac
Harris was), it only has six songs (and trust me, 16 minutes of this will
do, unless you’re already braindead) and the music is a convincing combination
of the linear fury of hardcore (“The Missing Link” and “Mentally
Murdered” are nearly completely founded on one riff and, by consequence,
almost interchangeable) and technically more advanced thrash (the spectacularly
extreme “Walls of Confinement” even boasts something you might
define as a “solo”). This is nowhere more apparent than in the
marathon-length “No Mental Effort,” which features several distinguishable
passages and scary sound effects coming straight from Lucifer’s quarters.
While the music is more effective than ever, Dorrian’s vocals go completely over the top on this one. I’m well aware of the fact that “grunters” are a different class from the Geddy Lees and Robert Plants among us, but come on! This grindcore/death metal kind of vocalising has never been my thing, but whereas the average ones (including Napalm Death’s next vocalist) simply growl impossibly deep and can be understood if you’re holding a lyrics sheet, Dorrian’s aping a diesel engine, which partly ruins this guilty pleasure. So, Mentally Murdered is probably a matter of taste, and it ain’t exactly mine, but I’m sure it’ll work excellent as a companion to The Butthole Surfers’ Locust Abortion Technician when you’re babysitting the neighbours’ kids.
Harmony Corruption (1990)
7
Vision Conquest / If the Truth Be Known / Inner Incineration / Malicious Intent / Unfit Earth / Circle of Hypocrisy / The Chains That Bind Us / Mind Snare / Extremity Retained / Suffer the Children // Hiding Behind
A
crucial line-up change took place somewhere in 1989, and Napalm Death would
never be the same again (for better or worse). Steer left, but continued the
fast & extreme orientation with the appropriately titled Carcass (a band
whose graphically detailed debut – Reek of Putrefaction –
contained songs such as “Genital Grinder” and “Vomited Anal
Tract’), while Dorrian rediscovered Black Sabbath’s sludge-feasts
with doom-metal band Cathedral. However, they were soon replaced by vocalist
Mark ‘Barney’ Greenway (former grunter of Benediction) and two
American guitarists, Jesse Pintado and Mitch Harris (no relation to Mick).
I’m not a first-hand witness, but apparently the band’s new direction
wasn’t appreciated by the band’s hardcore fan-base, as they traded
in their nearly avant-garde experimentalism in for a much more accessible/conventional
brand of death metal. Not only the liner notes contain messages not to be
misunderstood (“Finally, a total Fuck Off to all the people who label
us rockstars or say we’ve sold out.”), but they even included
a song that’s some kind of defensive mission statement: clocking in
at 121 seconds, “Extremity Retained” reconciles the former grindcore-attack
with the new metal-oriented one and the band makes sure you get they don’t
need anyone to tell ‘em what to do (“Everybody has the right to
opinionise, but to us your pettiness is used to occupy your tiny minds”).
Don’t get me wrong here: the band does sound immensely impassioned throughout Harmony Corruption, and thankfully they avoided the standard death metal clichés of rotting corpses, torture, blood-covered scalpels and Satanic crosses. Instead, they bring their early socio-critical attitude together with more personal concerns: the ultra-groove of “Mind Snare” is in fact an anti-drugs song (“All essence of being in turmoil, your white powder god brings life to the boil, forget all your family and friends, heroin becomes guardian till the end”), while “Unfit Earth” (with backing vocals by Deicide’s Glenn Benton and Obituary’s John Tardy) addresses ecological concerns. I can guarantee you that when you see these guys, a Greenpeace membership card is not the first think you’ll think of, but it’s cool anyway, and certainly more interesting than “Suck the vomit through intestines, leaving nothing but bones, violently cutting, seriously hacking, sounds of death fill the air” (by Cannibal Corpse in the same year). In fact, despite the fact that the album’s produced by Scott Burns, who was like the death-producer in the late ‘80’s and early ‘90’s and worked with most of the seminal bands (Death, Obituary, Deicide, Cannibal Corpse), Napalm Death’s approach may be closer to Sepultura’s, the Brazilian thrashers who also worked with Burns. The lumbering intro to ‘If the Truth Be Known” is standard thrash, certainly when they kick into a pretty impressive groove after an acceleration (watch out for Harris’ double bass-technique) and a second one that lends the band its destruction speed. Now, while Burns was considered the He-Man of that particular era, I’d say the production on this album is fairly dated by now (arguably because it was replaced by a paradigm - ‘grunge’ and everything it entailed - that championed other bands and sounds). It still works when you play it full-blast, but with low volume, Greenway’s inhuman bark is way too prominent, at the expense of the grinding, circular guitar patterns of Pintado and Harris (a problem that also marred Sepultura’s Arise somewhat).
Of course, those vocals are still a good way to crack you up, but Greenway’s certainly among the better vocalists in the genre (plus, if you listen carefully, you might actually understand what he growls). As for highlights, it’s hard to tell, because – like it or not – most death metal albums are pretty monotonous, but apart from a few songs that are quite unremarkable, you could say that the exciting blasts like “Inner Incineration” and “The Chains That Binds Us,” where the band refuses to tone down their sonic violence, have the largest impact. However, the best is saved for last, with “Suffer the Children” (and arguably the bonus track “Hiding Behind”) being the only truly classic track (in my opinion, of course) on this album. Propelled by a demolition groove even the most prominent thrash/death bands would kill for, it packs more punch than a Stealth rocket and gives the opportunity to all members to shine: Barney’s grunt is nowhere as expressive (hehe), Mick Harris can switch from a nearly-swinging mid-tempo pace to insanely fast hardcore hitting, while Pintado and Mitch Harris deliver riffs that would make Hetfield piss his pants – heck, even Embury’s fuzzy bass is audible! Harmony Corruption is a fairly unique release in the Napalm Death-catalogue, as they’d never sound as traditional again, but it’s also exceptional because it’s one of the very few death albums I actually like. It’s not a life-changing experience or anything (that’s why they called it ‘death’, I guess), but the best moments on the album (like “Suffer the Children”) are a lot of fun when a vicious blast is exactly what you need. When you’re making pancakes, for instance.
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