NAPALM DEATH — Scum (review)

NAPALM DEATH — Scum album cover Album · 1987 · Grindcore Buy this album from MMA partners
2/5 ·
topofsm
For those who are looking for classic death metal at some of it's earliest incarnations, Napalm Death is your band. If that's the case though, why is this album rated so low? Well, to be honest this isn't quite as classic as the band is. Sure, it also was the forefront of grindcore in it's heyday, but there are still a few kinks in the genre to 'grind' out.

Therefore this album is more of a punk release than anything. It was created when the term grind was just being termed, and was a heavier evolution of punk music. This shows, as most of the ever-so-short songs don't even cross into tempos of modern grind as we know it. A lot of the time there are slower (for grind) tempos that almost sound groovy.

The instruments and production don't really help either. Granted, grindcore is the last place you are going to find sparkling clean production or flawless musicianship, but the early production really comes off as quite fuzzy and sloppy. The vocals would improve vastly in later releases as well.

Overall, it's apparent that not every genre-creating album can be a flawless masterpiece, and Scum is a pretty good example. For those looking for Napalm Death's best, the later death material is what you should be looking for. And there are far better early grindcore releases, one such influential one being Horrified by Repulsion. Therefore, if you're going to get this album, it's going to be for the gimmick that it's the first grindcore album, and not much else.
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Certif1ed wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Must admit I loathe it, in terms of an album to actually listen to, but have the greatest admiration and even respect for it as a landmark in metal music. One only has to listen to Venom's Black Metal to realise that genre defining masterpieces can also be horrendous noise, with a very low quotient of actual musicianship. Spotting the true implications of what in reality is quite abysmal music is a fine art unless you're gifted with hindsight. It's well noted that "Scum" is a logical extension of punk - an interpretation close to punk's outspoken ideals, but it's also true that it bears much in common with avante-garde music, since, all genres and labels aside, it completely annihilates conceptions of what music can sound like and how it can be performed. I think it's a bit more than a gimmick, even if accidentally...
UMUR wrote:
more than 2 years ago
I fully agree and couldn´t have said it much better. Scum is a classic but not necessarily a very good album.

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