Lately, I have been trying to find some classic heavy metal albums to listen to and download. I'd find some lists online, and there was one album that kept popping up on these lists, mostly the best 80s metal albums list: Napalm Death's "Scum." I was not quite sure what to think of the band and album based on just the names of the two things alone. But, I figured, what the hell? I'll give this band a shot like I would do any other band.
Well....I downloaded the record and saw that one, this album had nearly 30 songs on it and two, the majority of the songs were under a minute long, save for a couple songs that were over two minutes long (the longest song being nearly four minutes long.) I was like, shit, this must be the most ridiculous music I will ever hear, and boy howdy, was that the case. All I kept thinking the whole time listening to this record was, "This is what started all the (blank)core shit." The music was fast and brutal, and the lyrics were not understandable whatsoever. It was just heavy, crazy, fast music that was, at the time, very extreme and never heard before. But, the one thing that stood out for me that actually made this record somewhat tolerable and not too shabby was the music and instrumentals. It was pretty much taking what the thrash bands were doing at the time, along with the music of Sabbath and Maiden, and just turning it on it's head and pushing it farther out than it already was and making it more extreme. It wasn't just "chug, chug, chug" like the majority of the so-called "metal" bands today. It actually had riffing going on along with some chugging, but the riffing was at hyperspeed. It was like Slayer on steroids and speed. The vocals I could give two shits about. I'm not the hugest fan of the low, growling singing that is not distinguishable. That's just not my bag. I would like to, at least, SOMEWHAT understand what is being said. That was not the case with this band and, in particular, this album. No understanding of the singing and lyrics whatsoever. But, in all honesty, I'm glad I gave the album and the band a chance. I can see why this is such an influential record in the metal world, because it pretty much set the groundwork for the shit today. But, at the same time, it can be a bad thing that this album is so influential on extreme metal bands today, since a lot of the extreme metal bands today are, for lack of a better word, shit. Very cookie cutter to me. Then again, there could be some bands out there today that I haven't heard that I'll discover and may dig. But, this band and this album are way more tolerable than some of the extreme metal today simply because of the instrumentals. It's just full of energy, power, and speed, along with a shit ton of brutality. The extreme bands out today, to me, cannot hold a candle to Napalm Death. Like most music, especially metal and hard rock music, the music of yesteryear is way better than the music of today, and that "older" stuff is Napalm Death. If you are a metal fan in general, you should check out this band just to check them out.
Information:
Classic Band Members:
Lee Dorian - Vocals
Jim Whitely - Bass
Bill Steer - Guitars
Mick Harris - Drums, Vocals
Classic Album:
"Scum"
Classic Tracks Off of "Scum":
"Instinct of Survival"
"Siege of Power"
"Success?"
Take it easy dudes. Until we meet again,
Bonzo Brad
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