In the late 1980's a new sound was beginning to emerge from the English midlands, it was like a blend, or 'crossover' between the recent 'hardcore punk' scene in the U.S and Traditional metal. But there was a difference, while the hardcore scene was singing mainly about 'straight edge' and teenage angst. And metal up till now, had been dealing with pressing topics such as dungeons and dragons, this new scene was singing (i use the term lightly) about political and social issues.
The band leading this scene was Napalm Death, formed in Ipswich in 1982. The band had been touring constantly for a number of years when they were signed by 'Earache'. There debut album 'Scum' was produced by two different line-ups, recording one side each.
The cover art is an amazing hand drawn, political piece by Jeff Walker. The sound on this album is borrowed from US hardcore bands such as 'Minor Threat' and Black Flag, and heavy metal bands such as Slayer and early Metallica. (Though they made all of there influences sound like Backstreet Boys.) Napalm's songs were all less than three minutes on this album. Many coming in close to thirty seconds and one with no more than one second of sound on the whole song. The songs are really just short blasts of brutal energy, tuneless guitars and growling vocals. And on this album we are presented with a staggering 28 tracks. The music is mostly very pleasing, but there are a few tracks where we really don't no where to look, because of the lack of direction. Highlights on this album are 'Scum', 'Instinct of Survival' and 'Prison without walls'. The only disappointing part of this album is the production which due to the fact that this was a very new style of music, must have been very difficult to produce, and is therefore rather sketchy in some parts. But then again Mick Harris's drum parts are caught very well indeed. All in all, this album shows very clearly the roots of this band and of death metal and grindcore in general.
A great album for anyone who enjoys listening to bands from Minor Threat, Black Flag and Sick of it All, through to Slayer, Metallica and Anthrax and obviously Carcass, Morbid Angel or The Haunted.

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Waking up