Scum

Just half an hour of pure rage. Essentially a soundscape with breaks. Also that Dresden story on the top rated review is mad. I had that image in my head listening to this 🙃

I saw the album cover, read the name and the Wikipedia blurb and was expecting the worst. I was pleasantly surprised though, some excellent drums, melodies coming through here and there despite themselves. I must confess though that I wasn’t able to discern the transition point between the A and B sides, which are apparently fundamentally different. Side A - decent drums with gutteral shouting, Side B - decent drums with gutteral shouting, maybe some difference in the guitars? I read that at one point this was the lowest rated album on this, I have to disagree with all the 1 star people and wonder why they’re even doing this project at all? It can’t all be Rumours by Fleetwood Mac, I’m here for it all, from this so some overproduced garbage from Beyoncee, and I’d choose this over the overproduced garbage any day.

On some level, I had a feeling the metal representation in the 1001 Albums books would largely be token records of a few of the many subgenres that are out there. Thus far on my journey, I've seen examples of traditional heavy metal, New Wave of British Heavy Metal, glam metal, thrash metal, industrial metal, alternative metal, and nu metal. While today is no exception to being a token nod to its subgenre, the subgenre itself is something the casual person wouldn't even come across compared to those I've listed. For today, we get to shine a light on grindcore, a fusion of extreme metal and hardcore punk characterized by distorted, down-tuned guitars, high-speed tempo, blast beats, very harsh vocals, and abbreviated song lengths. One of the big names credited with laying the groundwork for grindcore is England's own Napalm Death, with their influential debut album, Scum. Let me state this right now - this genre is very difficult to approach for the average person. I am not looking to gatekeep here, but I do want to be upfront that this album, and grindcore in general, is a very abrasive type of music. Nicholas Bullen and Lee Dorian's vocals are very hard to decipher through all their growling and shouting. The riffs from Justin Broadrick and Bill Steer go by super-fast, while Mick Harris' drumming is frantic and relentless. I personally became accustomed to this music after familiarizing myself with the genre's stylistic origins, such as hardcore punk and death metal. I can't imagine this would be an easy listen for someone who has never listened to metal before, or whose only familiarity with metal music is whatever got played on FM radio. If this style of music is not for you, I understand. As someone familiar with this style of music, I had a good time with this record. The riffs I can pick out from Justin and Bill are very gnarly alongside Jim Whitely's distorted bass, Mick's blast beats hit hard in a manner that I couldn't help but feel elated by, and I dug the band's penchant for extremely anti-capitalist, pro-environmental sentiment in their lyrics. Really, my only issues with this album are, oddly enough, characteristics of grindcore as a whole. First, as I mentioned, the song lengths are largely abbreviated. While there are a few tracks that do take a few minutes to build that sinister mood, such as "Instinct of Survival", the title track, and "Siege of Power", most of the songs tend to last no more than a minute and don't allow enough time to sink in and latch onto any particular motifs. Hell, one of the most noteworthy songs on the record, "You Suffer", is only one second long, which is hilarious but also lends itself to being a bit of a novelty. The other problem with this album that's also indicative of grindcore is the production. Yeah, it's pretty rough, and while I'm certain it is intentional, it is nevertheless a hurdle. I will say that grindcore is better appreciated in a live setting, where the impact is immediate and intense. At the end of the day, I still consider Scum to be a great record, fundamental in the pantheon of extreme music. Napalm Death is still active after several lineup changes, with none of the people from the two lineups on this album around. In fact, some of the ex-members went on to form other notable extreme metal bands like Godflesh and Carcass, which is cool to see.

Ultra infuential in its own very specific and niche corner of the music world. I can only admire the audacity to take an idea, as crazy as it may sound, and just run with it. Actually this style is Hardcore Punk taken to its absolute stylistic limits, with even faster and shorter and louder and noisier songs, sometimes even jokingsly so. It's mostly about taking a piss on the very concept of a "song" and I can't think of anything more punk than that. Key tracks: Scum You Suffer

Perfect music to raise the black flag and start slitting some throats. Five stars because it's high time we hanged the billionaire scum with the guts of corrupt politicians and perverted zealots. Also, fuck polite music. This is 33 minutes of undiluted sonic fury. Deal with it.

If Monster from the Muppets recorded an album, it would be this one.

237. Scum - Napalm Death (1987) 10.17.26 Variety: 1 Adequacy: 2 Listenability: 1 Uniqueness: 5 Emotionality: 2 = 2.2 rounded down to a 2 INTRO "The multinational corporations/ Makes its profit from the starving nations/ Another product for you to buy/ You'll keep paying until you die" Extreme music is a very mixed bag for me. For someone who is squarely and comfortably in a world where melody is king, the discordant, abrasive stuff generally has very little overlap. I also love a lot of experimental stuff that falls outside of those core pop tenets. I LOVE it when an artist manage a fusion of the weirder stuff with a pop sensibility or vice versa. By it's very nature, extreme music, especially the type of metal and punk or grindcore ( I hate the endless variations of "core" in music as a descriptor of genre, and find them utterly ridiculous in how micro and specific they get almost to the point of uselessness when there is often so very little space between one bands sound and another) which, by its very nature does not leave a lot of space for interpretation, ambiguity or subtleness. The stuff I do end up liking from it are the ones that crank up the atmosphere WAY UP so that even if you don't care for the vocals, find the playing to be messy, the individual instruments indecipherable do to amateurish production, or the lack of dynamics or melody to be frustrating, then you can at the very least pick up on an interesting mood or feeling. In this way I can approach something like Napalm Death and find merit in the message, and the form of the delivery system, even if its not one I much care for. I totally disagree with those who say this kind of music can't be art. It has intention, it has style, and it has a specific message. You don't have to like any of those three things, but you must admit they exist. This is an album that I've seen on a ton of lists, and as someone interested in the history of metal and how it evolved and mutated and spread out to so many subgenres, it has a lot of worth. I've tried a couple of time and have never been able to make it all the way through. The political messaging I think is on point here, and I generally like the disruptive, angry tone, it's the style that fails for me. Without even approaching any sort of clarity, how does that message get across? Sitting here in my comfortable home in 2026, far across the pond I can safely say no thanks, and move on, but i know just enough about Thatcher era Britain to realize that maybe these guys did serve as a much more potent and justifiably angry and abrasive delivery system than anyone like me would give them credit for. I'll give this one more go and see if I can make it through with anything more than an appreciation of the effort. In my age I've grown simultaneously more patient with stuff I did not care for as a young person, but also a bit more discerning and possessive of my time, and willing to skip something based on vibes or a trusted review if I think it'll be a dead end. There are SO much more valuable things to do with my time considering that if I'm even very lucky, I'm still about more than halfway dead at my age. Let's see if these lads are worth a last look. THE TRACKS Side one "Multinational Corporations" - I'm at once enheartened that even back in 1987 people knew how crooked and anti-human corporations were, and saddened that it's only gotten worse. The atmosphere on the opening track is like fury and righteousness bubbling up from right under your feet. "Instinct of Survival" - This would no doubt be rad as fuck to experience live. My headphones at least are giving me one tenth of the power and anger and we get an extrapolation on the opening track that is very much more of a song, and which spells things out. "The Kill" - At 23 seconds this is more of an exclamation point than a song, but it's still damn arresting. "Scum" - Fuccccccck yeah. This was actually pretty rad. We get a crunchy riff, and some chaotic and ear busting drums that turn this into almost a bit of doomy sludge. One of the longer and better realized songs on the album, the lyrics are even still relevant if maybe you just applied them to phone screens instead: "Hide behind T.V./ Hide behind life/ You should be living/But you only survive" "Caught... in a Dream" - Great opening here, and the crazy as hell drumming along with the chainsaw guitar gave it a lot of value. More sadly relevant truth bombs being dropped as well: "Forms of escapism/ And entertainment/ Occupy and disable thought" "Polluted Minds" - The band remains on point, even as they begin to lose me once more in with the sonic assault and the growling vocals. "Sacrificed" - The first song that switches things u into the personal with a song about betrayal and lost friendship. The feedbacky heavy ambient soundscape for the most of this was great, but the vocals are really starting to grate. "Siege of Power" - Some more cool riffing to open this one ad we have the makings of another awesome, actual song. The vocals are more controlled, and good thing at an almost 4:00 run time the singer might blow his vocal chords out otherwise. Found myself nodding my head to this one. "Control" - More of the same, but shorter, and sloppier. "Born on Your Knees" - The vocals are even worse when barked at this speed. Thankfully we get something approaching a riff halfway through so there's that I guess? "Human Garbage" - Much more interesting, with some acrobatic drumming to start us off, then we quickly descend back into a blur of barking and growling, but... there's a great riff that pulls things back up. The dynamics on this largely worked. "You Suffer" - Maybe these guys do have a sense of humor with the 5 second "song" here. Side two ends at least on an interesting note. Side two "Life?" - And side two begins, with an almost entirely different band ( same drummer) and a bit of a style switch up. The production is way muddier, the vocals alternate between orc and goblin, and we get a preview of how this one is going to largely jettison the punk aesthetic and lean much more into the philosophical nihilistic death metal stylings but the tightly focused political messaging remains. "Prison Without Walls" - Self improvement via blast beats. "Point of No Return" - The drumming is even tighter and faster, but this is getting tiring. "Negative Approach" - It's a good thing this opening salvo of songs is so short, because I might find myself skipping them if not. I'm starting to remember about where it was that gave up on this album on my previous attempts. At least the first half had some interesting riffing and dynamics, as spread out as they were. "Success?" - This one got 1000x better when it slowed down around the middle and became a not completely garbage metal song, but then the singer had to come back in and shit the bed. "Deceiver" - Side "C.S." - two "Parasites" - can "Pseudo Youth" - eat "Divine Death" - a "As the Machine Rolls On" - giant "Common Enemy" - bag "Moral Crusade" - of "Stigmatized" - dicks. "M.A.D." - No, "Dragnet" - really. HIGHLIGHTS - "Instinct of Survival" MIDLIGHTS - "Multinational Corporations" - "Caught... in a Dream" - "Sacrificed" - "Siege of Power" - "Control" - "Human Garbage" LOWLIGHTS - "The Kill" - "Polluted Minds" - "Born on Your Knees" - "You Suffer" - All of Side Two FINAL THOUGHTS This album totally deserves a pot on the list as something you SHOULD listen to. Or well, at least be aware of. I think you might do well to sample it and come away with a feeling whether it's your sort of thing or not before diving into the whole thing. In terms of influence though, I don't think this one can be understated. The crunchy, grimy, brutal, blast beat, anarcho-punk, guttural proto-death metal elements as well as the presentation - and maybe more importantly the success of the album ( helped immensely by John Peel playing songs from it on his popular radio show - on opened up whole vistas and probably blew a ton of minds. I've never seen numbers on it, but I wonder how the explosion of similar bands after this would compare to the Sex Pistols. For anyone looking to educate themselves on the history of metal in general, this is a required stop along that journey I think. You might ( probably will given the reviews here) hate it, but you'll come away with a better understanding of the era and where bands like Carcass, Cannibal Corpse, Exhumed, and Godflesh got a lot of their ideas from. Even if you are a big metalhead, there's a very good chance you don't like any of that stuff, and that's cool, because Metal is a big umbrella. But... it's also a LOT more incestuous than some other subgenres and the family tree of influences has been obsessively tracked by enough people that there are some very clear lineages to follow that are super interesting. For someone like myself, while this sort of thing is not my jam - I can appreciate it, and even soak up the energetic, and purposeful atmosphere. The production is way better than I had recalled and I was able to take in a better differentiate the instruments and find a handhold that a lot of this kind of music lacks. Given that these are essentially two entirely different bands playing on both halves makes even more fascinating. Sure the drummer stuck around, but even he altered his style for the second half. It's almost like finding one of those mythical missing link fossils embedded in the strata where you can see in real time the midway point between two evolutions. So yeah, there's a TON of stuff to find interesting about this album, but as far as liking it musically, I'm on the lower end. At barely over 33:00 it was n slog at all, and more than a few ties I did find myself nodding my head and reveling in the crunchy tones and doomy atmosphere, but the vocals on both sides of the thing ( and for most stuff like this) will forever be a hard ceiling that keeps me from truly enjoying things enough to call it especially enjoyable. So I end up splitting the difference between the originality, influence, and concept and the listenability, and it comes out at slightly less than a wash, so I'm more than happy to put it in with the stuff that has some artistic merit, but which just does more or less nothing for me. In addition to being very unenjoyable ( especially side two), it's black and bleak and utterly devoid of humor, and tells a lot of truths that are sadly just as applicable to 2026 as they were to 1987. If you do listen to this, do yourself a favor and bring the lyrics up so you can follow along as the world dissolves before your very eyes in the sludgy, acid lake that is capitalism without restraint. Possible turn-Offs might include: - plentiful unintelligible orc and goblin vocals - muddy, sloppy production that gets infinitely worse on side two - a chaotic, angry, and unrelenting mood with a side of nihilistic despair You Might enjoy this if you: - can look past the genre stylings and latch onto the solid messaging - want something that will wake you the hell up in the morning - got some unresolved anger issues and have a nice secluded place to listen to this at full volume and "work some shit out" - would like something to play at a loud volume to piss your neighbors off PLAYLIST ALTERATIONS - Even the highlights I doubt I'd keep around. Though this was a bit of fun and made me think they'd be a blast live. Entirely different lineup nowadays though. From the almost entirely different lineup on side two even: Tiny Desk Concert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e81LZCHhNKQ FURTHER LISTENING Precursors: - Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing by Discharge - The Feeding of the 5000 by Crass - 20 Jazz Funk Greats by Throbbing Gristle - Drop Dead by Siege - City Baby Attacked by Rats by GBH - Chaos UK by Chaos UK - Complete Disorder by Disorder - Reign in Blood by Slayer - To Mega Therion by Celtic Frost - The Return...... by Bathory - Plastic Surgery Disasters by Dead Kennedys Contemporaries: - Scream Bloody Gore by Death - The Ultra-Violence by Death Angel - Crossover by Dirty Rotten Imbeciles - Money Talks by Cryptic Slaughter - Don't Be Swindle by S.O.B. - Human Error by Unseen Terror Descendants: - Streetcleaner by Godflesh - In Battle There Is No Law by Bolt Thrower - Reek of Putrefaction by Carcass - Horrified by Repulsion - World Downfall by Terrorizer - Left Hand Path by Entombed - Eaten Back to Life by Cannibal Corpse - Morbid Florist by Anal Cunt - by Pleasures Pave Sewers by Lock Up

I claim to like metal so here was quite the test of that statement. Truly abrasive noise, but an album that left me intrigued. In the end the guttural vocals were hard for me to get past. Without the vocals this would be a 3.5 that I try to talk myself into rounding up. The pounding drums and screeching guitar sawing hit a good groove, especially on side one, enough that I could almost forget the incomprehensible lyrics. I can see how these guys became influential. So it gets a 2.5 that will gladly round-up to a 3/5. Because that cover is metal AF! Some other points. Finally, got an album from the bottom 20 global ratings. (As of this review at least.) I get why this is rated so low, I guess.

Boy, this is hard to get through. I guess it is unique in the two halves are basically by two totally different bands (other than the drummer). Can't think of another album quite like that. But oof, it's not for me. Even though it's a lot of song, they are mercifully short.

Metal - a genre i was not familiar and had quite the antipathy towards - has presented me with some really great surprises on this list. I have come to love some metal albums, especially some of the earlier ones. This is not one of those albums. This is noise. This is the recorded brain farts of a drunken neighbourhood dad-rock band trying to be edgy.

It was horrible and offensive. Listened to threes songs and turned it off. Industrial garbage that I will not listen to agan.

To quote the movie Billy Madison “one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.”

I can’t get into this noise……omg

When I saw this pop up I thought "yeah sweet this is my kind of music" and I was going to write some spiteful review like "to everyone who hates this, that is how I feel when The Byrds come up" but this really was tough to get through, so much of it is just noise with words I couldn't even begin to comprehend. Plenty of energy though! 2.5 Stars.

Fajne całkiem. Ostre...

I think I can just about get this to a 2. It's not exactly "just noise" but equally, it's hard to latch onto anything about it. I almost certainly won't listen again, but it didn't inspire hatred and loathing either.

Fuck me, that was shite.

I'm a big fan of metal. This was awful. 28 songs over 33 minutes. Each song the drummer smashed out the same rapid beats, each song the vocalist shouted incoherent zombie noises while standing a meter away from the mic. Distinct, I'm sure relevant and appealing to some, but not me.

When I say I want more diverse album selections I mean world music not whatever this is

No puedo creer que este disco esté en esta lista. En serio. Que suerte que sólo dura 33 min.

The first time I stage dived was at a Napalm Death concert. The first Napalm Death album I bought was this one. It was meteoric back in the day. Something, something about the wheelchair story..

This was gnarly. Too gnarly for me. Great music but it's not for everyone. A tad too much for this metalhead.

Nope

Really truly not for me

cool if i completely and finally gave up on humanity

3.5/5 https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/napalm-death/scum/ Grind will never be my favorite subgenre of metal, but I can appreciate it from time to time. And then, of course, Napalm Death is the blueprint. This album is strange due to it being essentially two different bands operating under the same name, and the difference between the first and second half is noticeable. Both, however, have their own distinct view of what grind is and how it should sound, and both work. One is slightly more melodic, the other is just harsh. Will I listen to this often? Probably not, but it's still cool to check out from time to time.

I was actually quite enjoying this for the guitar until Life? and it fell apart and I understood the 1 star reviews. It gets a 2 because I liked Siege of Power

Speed metal meets punk meets a shit sounding unintelligible lemmy

Genre defining album, not everyone’s taste but excellent never the less

It's a bit much for me, and I've certainly heard more easily digestible death metal and hardcore records out there. But this feels like the most difficult-to-follow record you could've possibly picked - with squelchy, belching, incomprehensible vocals, wind-up monkey machine-gun drum fills, and just an overall very samey and repetitive structure, with songs that fuse into one another seamlessly. And I understand that's pretty much entirely the point; the grindcore folks probably eat this up. For my money though, I need something a bit more varied, and something to latch onto. That'll probably come if I end up doing subsequent listens of this thing or if I listen to the rest of Napalm Death's catalogue (maybe they iterate and develop on the ideas on this album?), but for now, can't say this did too much for me. Another one of those difficult-by-nature records that really doesn't lend itself to a single daily listen, which is how I'm judging these, obviously.

Hooray not only did they ruin a Cardiacs song, they also made one of the worst, like, bottom 5 albums I’ve ever heard in my life.

Lead singer is a shy but angry dog

I am a fan of grindcore and extreme metal, but this album should be replaced by a better example of the genre. Napalm Death has better albums than this. 28 songs in a blur in 33 minutes. For all the shitty British pop music on here, I'm glad people had to suffer through this one.

I’m discovering that grindcore does not make good desk work music. Seriously, this album is a kick in the ass. I really enjoyed this record, but I’m just too damn old to have this much angst and anger inside me, so it is not something that I will be putting on in the future. All the same, I can see why it is here. Before looking, I’m going to guess that this one is going to be controversial.

Noise more than anything

Yeah I figured there would be more of these. 1000+ albums in and I still hate metal. At least it was short.

The best part of this album was eventually hitting the stop button.

...pretty damn monotonous. If you've heard 3 seconds you've heard the whole album. Pity I don't have a memory like a goldfish, because this is pretty damn monotonous. If you've heard 3 seconds, you've heard the whole album. Pity I don't have a memory like a goldfish, because this is...

I mean, it is not bad; it's just not good. Guess it's an acquired taste. 5/10

This album may be a Grindcore classic, but I find it to be a steamy pile of mierda! Easily one of the hardest albums to get through on this list, and definitely not something that one needs to endure before they die.

You Suffer when you listen to this.

Perfect 1 star rating - anything more isn't what this music is all about.

It's nice that they brought in their pet dog to sing for them. This list has a major lack of canine singers

You might not like it but you have to listen to it, spawned a genre & changed heavy music. It’s brutal, it’s quick & it’s intense. What more could you need?

I suffered

Napalm Death - Scum. I understood this is the lowest ranked album on the list and that is where it belongs. 28 pieces of just awful noise with some screaming guy about death and whatever in just 33 minutes which felt like 2 hours. Well not for me to just say it kindly…

Well, that was painful. Shit.

⭐ Jag är ingen riktig metalhead men jag kan uppskatta metall och även extrem metal men detta går mig förbi. Nu har jag lyssnat igenom albumet och i vanliga fall brukar jag försöka lyssna mer än en gång men jag orkar inte när det gäller detta, det bler 1,5 lyssning. I mina öron är det för odynamsikt, de är säkert skickliga musiker (jag kan höra att det finns vissa kvaliteer) men det är bara en matta med malande och det väcker inget intresse hos mig, det finns ingen önskan att någonsin lyssna på det här igen. Det blir en 1a. Bäst är Scum

i want to put a zero, but thats no possible, so i give a one

Can't get the purpose. Boring, extremely monotonous even rhytmically, harmonicaly poor by I am sure skilled musicians. Is it taking the piss?

In the middle of all the chaos, it’s actually the breakdowns and sludgier parts that make the album interesting, as is often the case with this kind of extreme metal. Otherwise, well, you just wait for the next blast beat or the three-note solo… sometimes two. Shame the production is pretty fucking rough, but this is still impressive for its time, especially the second half. Grindcore hasn’t evolved that much since, after all. The drummer absolutely kills it and clearly carries the whole thing. Tracks like Success or Pseudo Youth are genuinely good, and for me it’s really the crossover with punk and death metal that makes this chaos enjoyable. But it’s definitely not something I’d play around the house anytime soon, though. 3 stars to help it avoid being the lowest-rated album on the list. It doesn’t deserve that.

this album is my introduction to grindcore, and honestly, i kinda loved it. the only thing that just bothers me a tiny bit is that most of the lyrics were unintelligible (which i understand is part of the appeal of the genre), but i just wanna know what they're singing about, that's all. apart from that, i honestly loved the speed and the noise of this album, pretty good stuff

Not my thing

(0.6) Rough listen

They do seem a little angry and shouty. Is probably be angry too if I had to listen to any more of this.

NO SKIPS, NO FRILLS, NO MERCY!! This album is a nonstop masterpiece of violence and anger. Most songs don’t even make it past the 2 minute mark. I could see someone criticizing that the songs feel less like completed fully fleshed out songs and feel more like the groundwork for the idea of a song. But those people are wrong. Short fast and angry is the best version of metal. It’s just pure joy! Well, no not joy, actually it’s pure hate but it’s beautiful in its execution. It feels like it’s being recorded in an abandoned building. The artwork is *chefs kiss*. Am I biased because I’m a huge metal fan? Yah totally. But this album still fucking RIPS!!

So many questions, so few answers from the album. I'm giving it a bump because it is the preeminent album for whatever this is.

Loved this album.

Not my type of metal 1/5

I think you had to be there

liked it more than i thought i would but all the songs do just sound the same to me - a relaxing bedtime listen :)

They are scum

I TRIED. I really tried

As an album that defined a sub-genre, this certainly belongs on this list and, from an intellectual point of view I'm glad I listened to it. It's not really a style of music that I'm in to, but there are a lot worse 2 star metal-style albums out there: most of them either very shouty or involving far too much heavily styled American hair. This at least was something new, and, particularly on Side A, you can hear that I think. So, despite being almost certainly unlikely to listen again, it'll get 3 stars. Just for having some balls

I feel a little bit dumber

Certain albums that have shown up on this list are difficult to put into words. Scum by Napalm Death is one of them. I honestly have no idea who could find this remotely enjoyable, especially once the band shifts back and forth between a relatively normal punk/metal tempo and something almost unearthly in its fury, anger, and sheer speed, with vocals screamed with such force that the lyrics become completely unintelligible while seemingly forcing its listeners to uncontrollably shit their pants. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a true migraine, but I’m fairly certain this is what one would sound like. Was I glad I heard Scum before I died? That is the eternal question, isn’t it? I’ll let my rating provide the answer. P.S. This album almost got a 2 just for one specific scene in Silicon Valley, where Gilfoyle uses “You Suffer” to track the volatility of Bitcoin in the office.

While this is OK when they are doing straight metal, the rest of the time is just a brutal assault on the ears. It's just not a great listen.

This wasn’t the one at all. Distorted sound, can’t even hear the lyrics. Turned it off

Need I say more?

Not the best lineup or album from Napalm Death, but easily their most important work Favourite tracks: Instinct of Survival, Scum, You Suffer, all of side B (I love Cathedral)

Not for me

Behöver jag ens säga något. 1/10.

What a slog. That felt very long for an album of 2 minute songs. Just not my thing. 2 stars because I like my music weird just not that hard.

So let's get the story straight. In 1985 three lads, with the band name Napalm Death, head into a studio and record a bunch of hardcore punk tracks. These don't get released. A year later the three lads have argued, got bored, joined other bands and by now, all that's left of the Napalm Death that recorded those tracks is the name and the drummer. With three new lads added they head back into the studio. But this Napalm Death is no longer interested in Hardcore Punk and instead record Grindcore Metal. But they don't record enough to fill an album, so the tracks recorded the previous year are added, to produce an album of 28 songs, with a runtime of 33 minutes. (The shortest song on the album lasts 1 second) The result is an album where the A-side and the B-side are essentially two different works - you know, exactly like Kate Bush did in Hounds of Love. It's actually really difficult to rate this. Everything is at maximum all the time. The vocals are at maximum screaming to the point off just being a sound like the Muppet's Animal after a few drinks. (DICTION, PLEASE! As my old singing teacher would say.) The guitars are so distorted that it's difficult to tell whether they were intended to sound this way or were just really badly recorded or recorded on faulty equipment. Whatever happened they become a wash of feedback and distorted noise. Everything is at maximum volume at maximum speed for maximum impact. So let's be honest, is it any good? Well, no. It's badly recorded, possibly badly performed and sounds like a relentless assault on the ears. By any normal standards it's a 1 star album. But being good probably isn't the aim here. It's MEANT to be relentless assault on the ears. And on that level it succeeds brilliantly. It's either meant to sound the way it does or it was a happy accident that they liked so much the first time that they did it again a year later. It's probably not an album you're going to reach for often (if ever again) but it certainly is worth experiencing.

Thrashy madness

#256 Heard Before? Most assuredly. Since as long as I can remember I've been interested in the extreme in art. One of the first heavy albums that made sense to me. Notes: - one of my first thoughts about this list was "will we get anything actually noisy?" so kudos are due. - few albums have such obvious goals and accomplish them so thoroughly. the fact that this music still manages to alienate people all these years later is an artistic triumph and gives me warm feelings about art in general. - although obviously it's a sad thing that it is still politically relevant. - the mix is thin, shrill, and muddy, with the cymbals dominating every track. deal with it. - short songs that make a point. songwriters take note. - i recently slagged Metallica for not understanding how silly metal is. this is what I'm talking about. Napalm Death is unironic and have a serious message. but they get there by leaning into the absurdity of the genre. it's perfect because there is nothing cool about this music. it's as much of a soft target as Celine Dion. but they don't care. Verdict: You suffer? No, YOU suffer. Listen Again? By now, there are many many albums that sound like this. But sometimes it's still interesting to revisit origin points.

Fuck yeah man, this album was so good. hardcore punk speed, extreme metal heaviness, blast beats, shouted/growled vocals, anti-capitalist/social-political rage, and songs so short they barely have time to exist before they punch you and leave. The first Napalm Death song I heard was on the Mortal Kombat soundtrack in 95. Twist the Knife. That soundtrack was actually pretty bad ass. Had some great death metal songs, and some great techno songs as well.

28 songs in 33 minutes. It's pretty wild stuff!

I’m convinced the singer is actually the Cookie Monster. At least it was over quickly.

Well... that was a thing...

at least it was short

schlimm. ned chönne fertig lose.

Started kind of ok and got much worse but the start wasn't quite as bad as we expected.

Good production but i jus dont like metal

'The multinational corporation / Takes its profits from the starving nations.' It takes itself, & its experiment, too seriously, but not in the way metal is so often an insufferably boring art form. No, Scum is the natural culmination of punk losing its ironic edge, a loss the hardcore ethos incarnates. I like a whole lotta hardcore, but it isn't lost on me that e'en the Minutemen no longer enjoy the joyful & playful ironies of the Ramones. 'Hide behind TV / Hide behind life / You should be living / But you only survive.' So, Napalm Death are hardcore to the nth degree of sincerity, which is why they don't suffer from the grandiosity of metal but still fall victim to self-importance. I like it sonically - it's a mess, & I'm often messy - but solemnity has a price.

No thank you

Me: I hope I get a nice chill, easy listening album today Album generator: Scum by Napalm Death

It was scum, yes, so 5/5 on title accuracy. It's like the dead dove do not eat meme of albums.

didnt like. Too hard core

Nice. Not my favourite though.

When the US military and CIA are torturing the enemies of the state, they are playing Napalm Death.

Album #188: Napalm Death – Scum ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The band and album name just sum it up perfectly. This isn’t my kind of thing, honestly. I don’t like these kinds of blast-beat, pig-fucking-style vocals that you can’t understand over the top of everything. I don’t like music without melody. I’m not really a big metal guy, and the more extreme metal gets, the less interested I am in it. But I’ll tell you what: this proto stuff is often more interesting to listen to than the later stuff, especially with this kind of music. These guys were basically creating the blueprint. They were one of the first bands to ever do this kind of stuff. And you have to give respect to the trailblazers, even if you don’t necessarily go on to enjoy the genre itself. The proto stuff tends to be more pure than later bands with names you can’t understand because they’ve stylised their fucking band logo into some incomprehensible squiggle. They’re the ones who take it too far. They miss the point of the music by leaning too hard into each individual element, like blast beats and horrible vocals. With Napalm Death, there’s something very unique and meaningful about this music. It feels like it’s really from the heart. It’s an interesting album. It’s very lo-fi. It doesn’t necessarily sound great, but it’s got this kind of DIY punk energy to it that I really, really like. It’s 33 minutes, with something like 24 tracks on it. Is it very one-note? Yeah. Is it headache-inducing? Oh, it is. But you know what? You need this kind of music sometimes to clear the head, clean the palate, reset yourself and cleanse your soul. This stuff, for me, in moderation, pushes everything else out and clears my mind. And what’s really interesting, on a very personal note, is that of the three albums I’ve reviewed so far that are in the absolute bottom reaches of the ratings on the generator, all three have spoken to me more about the state of the world and resonated more with me about modern-day living than almost any of the other albums. You’ve got Laibach with Opus Dei, with its genius anti-authoritarian message disguised behind this fascist-sounding marching music. You’ve got John Zorn with Spy vs Spy, which I interpreted as this completely manic representation of the chaos of life, the relentlessness and the violence of it all. And then you’ve got this, which is much more on-the-nose messaging about anti-authoritarianism, anti-corporatism and all that stuff. That stuff might have been quite out there in the ‘80s, but it’s fucking true now. All the stuff they’re saying is, even if you can’t understand it, the messaging is true. What Napalm Death were saying then is true now. And I don’t want to go into this hippie-bullshit stuff, but we are all just cogs in a fucking machine. Napalm Death were right. And they deserve credit for being right.

Als je de vocals (wat het best gedefinieerd kan worden als 'gebrumpel') wegdenkt is het her en der nog best aardig. Helaas kan je die alleen niet zomaar wegdenken.

Screaming gibberish vocals. Instruments rock

Not for me

Oavsett vad man tycker om den tunga musikstilen så.. finns det en formula.. tyvärr

The first half of this is cool if you like the more hardcore end of punk and it's pretty good at it, but mostly it just makes me want to listen to Discharge. The second half brings some more elements in from metal, but I feel like the guitar ends up sounding a bit underwhelming in it, and it's definitely the weaker side.

wow - lots going on here. i feel like there were genuinely good songs on here but it's all trapped between short bursts of noise. all that being said, crazy that they were doing this so early on. highlights: instinct of survival scum

Napalm Death's first album is interesting. First things first, each side is done by a different line-up (except the drummer; he's in both) which is weird and cool. I believe I liked the vibe of the first side more than the second one. These guys are true to punk ethos all the way, the themes of the album tend to be anti-authoritarian/corruption, rejecting conformity and just flat-out outrage to the outside world. The vocals are a bit weird, there is some coherence but majority of it is caveman-like grunting/barking, which is something both sides share. Though second side has a shrieking backing vocalist to compliment the grunting. In general I prefer harsh vocals from other extreme genres like Black Metal, they just seem technical I suppose, these not so much. As you might be able to tell by the album cover, the guitars are razor-sharp. The drums are a literal madhouse machine, though I found that sometimes the drum beats got a bit repetitive, I feel like I heard the same beat in like maybe 8? songs. They just started blending together, but most of the time the drums were fine. I'm not confident I could hear much bass, if any, maybe it's just mixed weird because it's a punk album or it's drowned out completely. I feel this hunch inside of me leaning towards to 4 stars, and I believe it aligns with my rating system, so 4 stars it is. This honestly wasn't that bad, I think the current global rating of 2 stars is a bit overkill. People are however entitled to rate how they want. p.s. I'd love to go to a grindcore show, watching videos on YouTube get me so hyped up. Highlight Song/s: "Scum"

RAH BUM DAH! BA-DAAAHHH!! *extreme speed drums and guitar playing the same chord or couple notes* GUH GUH MMMMMMBAMMMMMM MRUHR MRURH!!!! AAAYYAA YAAA RRUUUUUHHHMMM!!!!!! *song ends*. And yet the lyrics actually are precisely punk and fight the power (apparently, not that you would know any of that). Cool album artwork, but can't get behind something that I so actively dislike listening to.