Napalm Death - Scum

How does one approach a review of a revered classic that spawned a genre? There are various debates about whether Scum was the first grindcore record, but there can be no argument that it was the first one that blew up on any particular scale. It was the album that cemented this weird sounding “grindcore” as a real thing. It also put Earache on the map, and seeded the entire worldwide scene that would follow. That’s a pretty big achievement if you ask me.

The most hilarious thing about Scum is Napalm Death’s ridiculously OTT revolving door line up, with the only thing Sides A and B both have in common is drummer Mick Harris. I think personally I prefer Side A as it has a much better sound, but in reality the real grindy stuff happens on Side B, with track after track after track of pummelling punk goodness. Obviously Side A has “The Kill”, “Scum”, “Siege Of Power” and the classic “You Suffer” but Side B just churns out a gauntlet of really similar sounding tracks – not that there isn’t any decent tunage here too (“Life?”, “Deceiver”, “Conservative Shithead”, “Divine Death” and “Dragnet” to name a few).

It’s because of the disjoined “is it a record / isn’t it a record?” argument that I think most people prefer the follow up, From Enslavement To Obliteration, which is a lot more solid and expands upon the sounds on Side B of Scum (with the same line up, no less) and also comes across as more of a full album rather than two separate studio sessions crammed together on one disc. Scum is, in all honesty, a bit shakey, and isn’t something that I listen to on a regular basis. But you gotta know your roots. I spend most of my time in grind and its freakish subgenres, so it’s only right that now and then the granddaddy of grindcore albums gets a spin.

Hey, I own it three times, so it can’t be that bad!

Carcass - Symphonies of Sickness

This is one of the albums that changed my life, as far as music is concerned. By far superior to anything else the Carcass discography, Symphonies of Sickness is the ultimate expression in downtuned guitars, scatterfuck dual vocals and blasting drums. The crisp and warm guitar tone can only be described as grinding. This is the definate grindcore guitar sound; fuzzy, yet grating enough to create a suitable amount of audible chaos. Symphonies can sound a bit flat on CD, but this original Earache pressing sounds absolutely unbelievable. It holds a deep, almost fathomless sound. I dare any melo-death nerd that scorns at Carcass' early cannon to come listen to my copy of Symphonies and disagree to it's sheer awesomeness!

The music here has always held a very morbid vibe for me. I've seen it all as far as gore and splatter is concerned (thanks to the internet), but there is something downright disturbing about Carcass' all out graphic medical dialogue. Where some lyrics verge rather obviously into the regions of bad taste comedy, some passages of nauseating atomical gore descriptions succeed in truly curdling your stomach and rumbling your bowels enough to get your colon kicking like a frightened horse. "Excoriating Abdominal Excoration", "Swarming Vulgar Mass of Infect Virulency" and "Cadaveric Incubator of Endoparasites" are but three prime examples of this. I thought it was so cool that in high school I used to insult people by calling them Carcass song titles; "Fuck off, you absolute swarming vulgar mass of infected virulency!"

Whilst it may not share the same production efforts as later "polished turd"-era Carcass, Symphonies of Sickness holds a fantastic mix and is light years ahead of previous record Reek of Putrefaction, bridging the gap - and taking the best from - past and future efforts. The perfect balance and the perfect record! It is very hard to get such a fine balance between grind and death metal, but this here is a shining example. Whilst I do not believe that Necroticism onwards was the correct logical step for a band waist deep in filth such as Carcass, I do believe that it would have been astronomically difficult to top a record like Symphonies of Sickness if they had continued in this vein.

Napalm Death - From Enslavement To Obliteration

Where Scum put grindcore on the map for most people, From Enslavement to Obliteration took the whole genre to new depths of mental speed and heavyness. I read once, I think in Terrorizer magazine, FETO being described as the bastard of a younger brother to Scum. Scum may have started it all, but FETO perfected the blueprint. To be honest, it just rips your fucking head off. 

I got this picture disc as a gift one Christmas a few years back and I was very, very surprised to see it. I had never heard of a picture disc version before, let alone in full colour, and I feared that a family member had spent a lot of money on a bootleg. Nevertheless, some quick research revealed that this pressing is indeed genuine (and rather rare); Earache pressed a bunch of these up in 1990, just after the initial gatefold run. I find the full colour artwork rather bizarre, even to this day, being so used to seeing the original purple'n'white. Dig from Earache also uploaded the original full colour version of Scum to his blog Ask Earache, even though it was never used in any (legitimate) pressing of Scum. You'd be very surprised at how different it looks.

Unfortunately my copy is a bit crackly, and opener "Evolved as One" skips a bit. Picture discs aren't exactly known for their excellent sound quality but other than the signs of wear it sounds really, really good. Better than the fucking CD, anyway! It is definitely a collectors item though, I think most fans would be better off settling for the dynamic represses of new or the original FETO pressing on black wax with the bonus 7" (which I am still looking to obtain). If Earache had ever pressed Scum with the same full colour picture together with this it would make for some fantastic wall art. 

I always used to think that FETO's one flaw was that it couldn't stand up to the music of today for sheer impact, but as I've matured and realised that loudness isn't everything (also having the bastard on vinyl helped - so much better!), FETO has come full circle for me as something to listen to and enjoy often. After all, it is a blistering whirlwind of a record. It is also mental to think that this line up of Napalm Death lasted for so little time - who knows if they would have gone on to make more powerful things than FETO? It is sad to see how back in the day Napalm Death chewed up and spat out it's members, but some of the bands created in it's wake are equally or more so breathtaking (Godflesh, Cathedral, Scorn and Carcass to name a few).