Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
it's a classic., March 6, 2004
Napalm Death has one foot in the obnoxious, raw energy of hardcore punk and the other in the dirty, aggressive chops of thrash metal. However, _Scum_ is a big extension of these genres rather than a narrow amalgamation of them.When the album begins, you might suspect that this is just another badly produced thrash album from the 80s. Nothing could be further from the truth, and once those grindcore assaults kick in, you'll be viscerally aware this fact. The heart of (most of) these songs, framed and sometimes divided by simple thrashery, is the band's distinctive contribution to metal: audacious assaults that basically consist of numbingly fast blastbeats and a greasy smear of guitars playing thrashy-NWOBHM riffs cranked to max-speed with incomprehensible, guttural vocals. The songs are all very short: at even with 28 tracks the album is over in 33-minutes (the shortest song, "You Suffer", is all of two-seconds). Some of my favorites are "Control", "DRAGNET", "Divine Death", and the eerily hypnotic "Instinct of Survival". Why would anyone want to listen to this anyway? On the one hand, sonically it represents to me social decay, our regression back to primitivism in the democratic age. On the other hand, it's very fun and intense listening, and catchy also. Ultimately, it is a great sound with power and intensity rarely matched (although you might not be able to feel that power if you aren't able to take this music seriously). Both this album and _From Enslavement to Obliteration_ are essential metal albums. Napalm Death was the first to do something that countless bands have since attempted, but where Napalm Death succeeded in uncharted waters, most bands failed utterly while following in their footsteps. Highly recommended.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Grindcore's godfathers make their mark, April 11, 2006
All you need to know about Napalm Death is that they created grindcore. They made their first demo, "Halloween," in 1982, but this 1987 album, "Scum," was the band's first real/official release. "Scum" has a somewhat retched production (these songs sound like they were recorded in someone's garage), but, other than that, every ingredient for classic grindcore is in place, here. The band members skillfully combine death metal (violent barks and occasional high pitched shrieks) with speed of light thrash. Fueled by insanely fast, pulverizing, walloping blast beats, these songs careen, plow forward, and crush everything in sight (including the listener's ear drums). These songs are also full of fret-board smoking (though somewhat repetitive) riffs and whiplash tempo changes. A couple mini guitar solos also sprout up (in "Polluted Minds" and "Parasites").
This album has one last defining characteristic: short songs. Many of these songs are less than a minute in length (in fact, "You Suffer" set the record for the world's shortest song-1.316 seconds), and the longest song on here is the title track, which is two minutes and thirty-eight seconds long.
Songs like "Caught...In A Dream" and "Born On Your Knees" are maelstroms of guitars and ultra-fast, crashing drums; "Scum" has blazing riffs and a pounding, head-rattling blast beat; and songs such as "Sacrificed" and "Success?" are backed by excellent, almost inhumanly fast drumming. Lastly, some songs--like the slower, churning, "Siege Of Power," and "Deceiver" and "C.S." (which both have jackhammer rhythms)-- even manage to be kind of catchy.
Napalm Death will probably never get inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, but they sure know how to get the listener's head banging. This is absolutley essential listening for all death metal/grindcore fans, and metalheads in general.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
godfathers of grind, January 1, 2000
This is the first album of the mighty Napalm Death, greatest grindcore band of all times. The sound and the songs have a brutal hardcore and a very little death metal influence, but their music is original. Songs often burst into overall chaos, probably due to the enthusiasm of the members at that time, being youngsters, making their first record etc...anyone getting into grind should buy Scum and From Enslavement to Obliteration immediately!
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