To begin what could be a habitual center for my thoughts on the state of music (on an album to album basis of course), I’d like to clear a few things, at least for my own guidance in developing this blog. Although my interests mainly fall into the extreme side, I won’t hesitate to write on an album that falls into gentler or even mainstream territory: I have no doubt there will be something here the moment Lil’ Wayne’s new album leaks. But I know that I like my comfort zone, namely metal, drone/noise and hardcore, and it’s likely I will focus a lot on these genres. But the latest in general rock, or even sometimes electronic and hip-hop, won’t go under the radar. Anyhow, as the first post of hopefully many, I feel that it’d be a good idea to start off with a classic.

Ah, the glorious Napalm Death. Founded in what is essentially middle-of-fucking-nowhere England, this band founded in 1982 by Nicholas Bullen and Miles Ratledge (neither of which are in the band any longer, might I add) took everything we learned from the British punk and New Wave of British Heavy Metal movements and, well, shit on all of it. The band has been through countless many members throughout its existence, from Mick Harris (who later did some fantastic work with avant-garde jazz legend John Zorn and Bill Laswell under the guise of Painkiller) and Justin Broadrick of Godflesh and Jesu fame. They sound almost nothing like they did back in ‘82, when they were essentially an angry punk band, while now their sound is a fusion of death metal and grindcore. Even though I am a big Napalm Death fan, I have to say their overall discography is extremely inconsistent; some albums are absolute classics (Scum, From Enslavement to Obliteration) to utter crap (Harmony Corruption). But as the title implies, I’d like to focus on a single album in particular, specifically the one I consider to be not only their best but also one of the best albums ever: Scum.

Released in 1987, Scum was not only the full-length debut of Napalm Death to the world, but probably the debut of the nihilistic grindcore genre that they almost singlehandedly created (some might say Carcass was also instrumental in this, as well). Those who found The Clash, or Wire, or even Iron Maiden to be the epitome of anger in the English middle class during the 1980s will find themselves probably turned off by Napalm’s complete lack of production, the non-stop pummeling of Broadrick’s guitar and Harris’s drums, and the blunt lyrics that include such lines as “Paid to obey / Forced to be silent / Human garbage / to be destroyed.” In fact, it’s not hard to see Napalm Death in the same way one would view Black Flag, in the way that Napalm has no pretensions about how they express their bitter anger towards society. But there is a fundamental difference between the two bands; Black Flag, as angry towards the Reaganite lifestyle they were, had no problem with having a little fun, alcohol-driven or not. Napalm Death, on the other hand, doesn’t even stop to reflect on such delusions of grandeur. In fact,only one song on Scum reaches 3 minutes, “Siege of Power,” which turns out to be a rare occasion for Broadrick to loosen up and have a guitar solo. Otherwise, Napalm pummels through song after song with driving guitar riffs that even the most avid 80s hardcore fan would find discordant and Harris’ machine gun drumming that often descends into a chaotic but glorious blastbeat. In fact, little trivia — Scum’s 12th song, “You Suffer,” has the world record for the shortest song ever recorded. Go figure.

 While the album is 28 tracks, it only takes little more than 30 minutes for Napalm Death to make their point. When listening to grind, traditional metal fans often find themselves alienated by the anger-fueled ADHD combo of extremely distorted guitar, cymbal overload and the growls of most grind vocalists, but “Scum” seems to be the exception to this. This is due to something Napalm Death had that’s rare in many grind bands: they’re entertaining. Modern grind like Nasum or Discordance Axis try hard to push the limits and, for many listeners including me, this is a good thing. But often I will even admit that such bands are like coffee — you’re gonna hate it first time off no matter what (I certainly did). But it’s not hard to see that Napalm Death has a unique sense of talent, with their mishmash of the speed of Motörhead, the brutality of bands like Morbid Angel, and the social message of Black Flag (albeit filtered through angry nihilism), there’s something for every metal fan here. In fact, when I first heard Scum in 7th grade,  I was at the stage where Rancid and Bad Religion were kings to me; but I loved Scum immediately, as I did that same year for Slayer’s “Reign in Blood”in the same way — i.e. one of stunned shock at how extreme it was but also how liberating it was to know somebody in the world pushed this far. But unlike Rancid, this album and this band stayed with me, even through the times that the only bands i listened to were Sonic Youth and Pavement.

To conclude, it’s been 8 years since I first heard this album, and my respect has grown for it more. 8 years ago I certainly wasn’t listening to or tolerating what I tolerate and listen to now (then I thought Cannibal Corpse was pushing it — now i find Cannibal Corpse to be humorous background music for gaming sessions), but Scum has yet always had a staying power in my music library that few albums have ever obtained. A true classic.