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Napalm Death - Scum (1987)
MOSH 003
Earache Records
PRODUCTION INFO:
NAPALM DEATH ARE:- LEE - LEAD GROWLS ALL A-SIDE LYRICS BY NIK & JUSTIN '82-'86
THANKS TO JUSTIN WHO PLAYED GUITAR AND NIK |
SIDE ONE - RECORDED & MIXED AT RICH BITCH 8-TRACK BIRMINGHAM AUGUST '86 - ENGINEERED BY MICK IVORY - PRODUCED BY N.D., UNSEEN TERROR & HEAD OF DAVID. SIDE TWO - RECORDED & MIXED AT RICH BITCH 8-TRACK BIRMINGHAM MAY '87 - ENGINEERED BY MICK IVORY - PRODUCED BY N.D., DIG & UNSEEN TERROR. FRONT COVER ARTWORK BY JEFF (Walker, Carcass -Web) - CHEERS MATE. BACK COVER PHOTOS BY NICK ROYLES -CHEERS MATE. |
Together with that little technical info there is a huge fucking thanks list which I couldn't possibly dream to put here. Really, believe me, it's fucking huge. That's the problem with having too many friends and knowing all the underground: when you finally score and release an album, everyone wants their names on the thanks list.
The line up for SIDE - A of SCUM is:
NICK BULLEN: BASS & VOCALS
JUSTIN BROADRICK: GUITAR
MICK HARRIS: DRUMS
This information is NOT provided on the album!
(DE)CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM:
Scum had a major impact on the british underground when it was released in
1987. This impact was them spread throughout the world. The most extreme bands
of the time, like Siege and Repulsion where heavy influences, but even them
where kinda slow compared to the sheer aggression of Scum. The fame of Napalm
Death being the fastest band in the world spread like fire. Bands like O.L.D.
(Old Lady Drivers, an american band that followed Napalm's footsteps and where
soon under contract with Earache) popped here and there,it was the beggining
of grindcore, the whole underground got excited about grindcore's possibilities.
Bands that thought that hardcore had reached a limit with bands like Discharge
saw that something new and even more extreme was comming up. Dig (Earache's
owner) himself said: "They influenced every hardcore band of that time....and
most of the bands of the label".
Scum is peculiar not only for being the landmark of grindcore, but it is also
the beggining of a highly sophisticated, and underestimated, form of music.
I think that grindcore and free jazz have a lot in commom. They both are apparently
disorganized, annoying noise. They have very few melodic lines, and have a lot
of dissonant and twisted sounds. They both use detuned or downtuned instruments,
and they do not respect the pentatonic scale. It's atonic music for deranged
ears! It isthe kind of music that takes some time to be digested and understood.
This record made Napalm famous for being extreme, for being the extremest shit
around, a fame that the band somewhat resents nowadays. Shane Embury already
comented that he doesn't want people to be around saying: "Napalm Death?
Oh yeah! I know them! Total noise freaks aren't them?". Probably the tongue-in-cheek
aspect of it has left him a little upset.
M usically speaking Scum is very raw. The production is what you might expect
from the band's first record. It's the traditional kind of production used by
eighties hardcore bands. The songs are extermely short and fast, it is actually
much more aggressive than brutal, since the prodution is not that good. The
guitar's distortion is not very heavy, but it is actually muddy and noisy, fast
and to the throat. The whole album can be resumed with the track "You Suffer"
which lasts for about 0.7 seconds. A blast beat line, a charge of sound, that's
it. It's a bit dadaistic too, the apparent chaos of it. It has a lot of energy,
and the songs work perfectly in the live mosh pit.The title song also represents
the concept of the album well. A furious blast beat followed by a slow, dense
and heavy middle part.
The lyrics (check out the lyrics page) are not
very original. Traditional punk anthems, addressing the world's problems:
genocide, polution, overpopulation, injutice, social chaos, etc. Nick and
Justin wrote the lyrics when they were very young and were very much influenced
by the period I think, it doesn't sound that different from you average
hardcore band complaining about the world. Lee Dorrian didn't write anything
on this record, since he got in just on time to record his vocals, not to
write, so his work as a lyricist can only be appreciated on the next album.
But, even if they are not that original, they are quite well written and
tastefully done.
Scum influenced a whole new generation of metal/hardcore bands, and definitely
was one of the release that made grindcore and death metal more popular in the
early nineties. It's influence is enormous, going from japanese electronic outfits
and hardcore bands to new-wave Jazz musicians like John Zorn. As justin Broadrick
and Nick Bullen said when they were in the band, "it is the end of music
as you know it".
INFORMATION ON THE RELEASE:
Scum was released on CD and Vinyl LP formats. According to Earache itself, Scum was released on the following editions: CDjLP w/ green, orange, blue, gold, yellow sleeves and picture disc (1987)
The album was also released in a double CD edition with "From
Enslavement to Obliteration". But this edition of the album has
been DELETED.
SONGLIST FOR "SCUM":
SIDE A: 1 - Multinational Corporations 2 - Instinct of Survival 3 - The Kill 4 - Scum 5 - Caught In A Dream 6 - Polluted Minds 7 - Sacrificed 8 - Siege Of Power 9 - Control 10 - Born On Your Knees 11 - Human Garbage 12 - You Suffer |
SIDE B: 13 - Life? 14 - Prison Without Walls 15 - Point Of No Return 16 - Negative Approach 17 - Success? 18 - Deceiver 19 - C.S. 20 - Parasites 21 - Pseudo Youth 22 - Divine Death 23 - As The Machine Rolls On 24 - Common Enemy 25 - Moral Crusade 26 - Stigmatized 27 - M.A.D. 28 - Dragnet |
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