Reviews (page 3 of 8)
Its really hard to make an album like this, but really hard to listen to
I have heard this style used many times and they were always a great experience
Somewhere off the shores of hell there is an American camp playing this album on blast for POW’s.
When I first heard Napalm Death it was an eye opener and me and my friends decided we could form a band of similar quality. I was going to be the guitarist, one of my mates could do a passable job of shouting into a microphone, we struggled for drums and bass, but these didn't seem important at the time. Anyway, nothing much ever came of that short-lived endeavour. As for the album, I love the first side, but the second side is just a bit too muddy and the flashes of brilliance are less frequent. Having not heard this album for a long, long time, it reminds me of other bands like Nuclear Assault, who were around at the same time and doing the same sort of thing. A strong 4 stars, but not quite enough for 5.
A blast (beat) from the past. Enjoyable as always
Aus den 1001 Alben. Dann hör ich es mir doch mal von vorne bis hinten an! Gefällt mir gut, kenne es ja schon ein bisschen. Schön schnell und brutal. Irgendwie ja aiuch auch geil, dass es nicht so „gut“ produziert ist wie die neueren Sachen. Dadurch aber auch ein bisschen weniger einfach zugänglich.
I kinda needed this. OG Grindcore. This hits hard.
Listened to this album and compulsively headbanged. Napalm Death is one of the greatest bands of all time. Want to see a sight? See them live and see their Pulp-looking vocalist lose absolutely every inch of chill he has screaming about every single bullshit thing about capitalism. Also, check out that one review about the guy banging out a German goth in a pub bathroom while listening to Napalm Death. Makes more sense than anything in the world.
Forgot about this. What an album. Noise roaring then every so often an awesome riff breaks out before degenerating into nauseous sludge. Or in Napalm Death terms “DWA BRAH BURGH BUURRGGG RRRAARR DOH” Lee Dorian does the vocals on the second half of the album and he’s a tremendous singer outwith napalm death. Go listen to Hopkins (witchfinder general) by cathedral for something more palatable
This is one of the first examples of metal (particularly Death Metal) mixing with Punk. Loud, aggressive and unflinching. It is too to bottom an adrenaline rush. 22 songs in 33 mins tells you all you need to know.
Never heard of em, guess I like death metal? This rocks! Short album, short songs, tons of energy, all headbangers
Groovy as hell. Title track slaps
Not my usual sound but I enjoyed this. I guess at a little over a minute per song no individual one drones on for too long.
Unrelenting noise that will brutalize you 33 minutes but somehow feel longer. I liked it. I hadn't listened to Napalm Death for decades but appreciate this slab of grind core. I will admit the vocals annoyed me after a while but that is the point in some ways. I questionably influential
Didn't think I'd like this as I'm not really into hardcore or metal (some punk is okay, but definitely not my go-to,) but I'd honestly much rather listen to this than most of the 80s/90s brit pop on here. I can appreciate the insane level of skill required for the drums on this album + the vocals & bass. Very distinctive, very much projecting the vibe of impending doom showcased in the lyrics.
It took me a second to get into this but it had me laughing out loud. You Suffer was obviously my favorite. I loved the ones that were less than a minute and extra points when they ended in a random scream. Also, extra points for a great album name and band title. While it may not be a traditional 4 stars, it’s a 4 for me
Straightforward and brutal, like a punch in the face.
Not exactly easy listening, but I can see why it's on the list. BRACING.
If 'scaring the hoes' took music form... I loved it
I have no idea how to rate this album. Listening to it was a terrible experience but I respect the bizarre choices made here on an artistic level so much. The lyrics here are stellar, but you literally cannot understand them through the growling. I was looking at the lyrics in real time as the song played and 80% of the time I couldn’t confirm that he was saying the same words I was looking at. Half the tracks on the album are less than a minute long and essentially sound like a British Cookie Monster reciting an anti-capitalist haiku as fast as he possibly can. This album sucks and it also rules, I think I understand people who like art that is hostile to the consumer now.
If you would like to try crack cocaine without the downsides try this album.
Sounds like my childhood
Heavy mf punk and hardcore. Not my everyday but a fun listen!
I mean, I'm not going to put this on for the dinner guests, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't entertained by this. It's certainly not boring! And it doesn't overstay it's welcome. The 30 second songs of just one riff and a few screamed words make me laugh and give me a bit of life. A solid 3.5 that I'm gonna round up just to bring up that average score a little. ;)
Want Half an hour of fun? 1. Find the lyrics for this album 2. Press play 3. Try to read along...
pesadaço, um som específico mas bom pra curtir em alguns momentos, tocam bem e tal
I don't think I had ever listened to any Napalm Death before this. Hard to believe this came out in 1987. So much music today owes to this album. I will be revisiting for sure.
Catchy riffs, angelic voice, hypnotic drums - 4/5
Monstrously heavy and fast - you have to be in the right mood for it, for sure. I saw Napalm Death live as a teenager, and managed to take a flailing fist in the neck whilst deep in the mosh pit. Neck injuries at metal shows are just the absolute worst! 😩 Fave track - "You Suffer", mainly because it was sometimes possible to select this as a karaoke song in Japan. Hilarious stuff. You're given three attempts, and you're counted in, and it's still ridiculously hard to nail it!
As a lover of brevity and a self editor, this is perfection. Visceral and immediate.
Ik kan me voorstellen dat dit niet zo geliefd is onder velen. Ik heb ze echter 2x live gezien en dat is echt indrukwekkend. Vandaar de 4 sterren, ik heb dit album thuis maar vaak luisteren doe ik het niet
I met Bill Steer once; a very pleasant man. There's no use trying to intellectualise this - either you're on board for these short, sharp punches to the nose or the effect is something akin to anti-music. The animating spirit behind these Vorticist sound sculptures resonates with me. You can't hum a tune from Scum, but Napalm Death's existence was, and remains, a necessary counterpoint to some of metal's more conservative tendencies.
Hugely enjoyable listen in places, the opening of Instinct of Survival just kicks your face off. Very noticeable the change in make up of the band half way through. I think in general I find the first half better, or easier to tell the songs apart, but they both have a distinctive style. If you read the lyrics it's actually possible to pick out the words from the first guy, the second guy, you're fucked. Played some of the second half to my 11 year old when I got home. She said she liked it and it was inventive. Among other things. Faves, Instinct of Survival, Siege of Power, Born on Your Knees, CS, Pseudo Youth, Moral Crusade. Afterwards, the girl said she wanted to listen to mice. So I searched Spotify and found a band called Mice Parade, who seem to be pretty good!
Good dumb fun.
I can see why so many people really hated this album, but I genuinely enjoyed it. I was debating giving a 3.5 because it does get repetitive at times, but I found jamming along too cathartic to give anything lower than a 4 and I love the message behind the album. Favourite tracks (in no particular order): Multinational Corporations, Caught...in a Dream, Control, Deceiver.
These guys are death incarnate
6/6 reee roooos
The great thing about the Thrash / Punk / Speed Metal on this list is 28 songs, 33 minutes. This music and Napalm Death in particular just thrusts it's message in your face, blows up your home and leaves. Unlike the one hour, eighteen minute Kanye West College Dropout I had to sludge through. This album gets a lot of hate from this group, but these guys are more gifted musicians playing with the tenacity and talent to get this music out than about ⅔ of the rest of this list. 3.75/5.
First time I have ever heard it, and I like this album! I can see how some people wont, though - Its mostly screaming vocals and very quick tempo. 4/5
Se me hace un poco demasiado duro y me cuesta terminarlo. Aun así, resulta muy interesante en su planteamiento
the album that influenced an entirely new genre. Indecipherable grunting over the top of crunching metal. Not for everyone therefore. But...... gets my vote
28 tracks, 33 minutes, beastial roar vocals, and the heaviest music I've ever heard. The lyrics are undecipherable and there is no way the words claimed are coming out of the singers' mouths. I really shouldn't like this, but somehow it all comes together and creates an engaging and enjoyable listen that you can't help but bob your head to. The opening 12 tracks with the original vocalist are particularly enjoyable. It may be noisy, but it's a lot more than a noise. The songs have melody, tunes, emotion and meaning. There's no doubt this record delivers the band's artistic intent. 3.5/5
A landmark album. I am a huge metal head but I can't listen to a great deal of grindcore. I prefer the longer songs, so especially the first half.
At time novelty at time to be taken seriously - at times comical at times kick ass - good album - needs further listening
Kinda bangin
E D G Y M E T A L H E A D B A N G E R S
Fantastic!
I'm not a metal fan at all, but I dug this album. The vocals didn't do it for me (it sounds like random mumbling and grumbling), but the drumming and guitar is clearly expert and sounds fantastic. I don't think it's an album I'm coming back to again, but it's something I'm glad I heard once.
тоже классика, своего рода, на 4 у меня точно вытягивает
I generally like metal-adjecent genres, but not metal itself, and this album did not change that. Despite cramming a whopping 28 songs into 33 minutes, there is not one distinct thing about any of them. The vocal sound like an ape being tortured and barely qualify as language, the music itself is good, but indistinct across 28 songs.
Nothing against some hardcore metal but this isn't for me for a couple of reasons: it often leans towards the frantic, without being counterbalanced with the chugging heaviness of good thrash, like early Metallica. Second, the vocals aren't to my taste. Other than that I've nothing inherently against it for being heavy and I appreciate that its runtime is just over 30 minutes. Probably best consumed in small doses
classic rebel adolescence album
5 - AVERAGE
Napalm Death absolutely deserve to be on the list in some capacity, and this is undoubtedly a highly important album in forming the bedrock for Grindcore and other extreme metal genres, but I can't help but think they went on to release far better material than this once they honed their melodic craft and incorporated more of a death metal influence into their sound. Side 1 of Scum is an absolute cracker, upping the extremity of anarcho-punk to new heights with tracks such as "Instinct of Survival" and "Siege of Power", but the production, inexperience in songwriting and lack of dynamic range on the second side lets the package down somewhat. You can very much tell that it was recorded in two separate sessions with two entirely different remits. Personally, I'd swap this out for any of Harmony Corruption, Utopia Banished, Enemy of the Music Business or even their most recent album Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism, but it's still an album I'd revisit and that I enjoy.
Might be the funniest thing I've listened to so far. It's getting a 3 for that and because this is what I was expecting RATM to sound like. Those guys weren't nearly as pissed off as these jolly fellows.
200626 11:54 3.5
A paradigm-bending classic I first heard via Jon Peel, then a friend taped it for me on a C30 cassette, which meant I never heard the last couple of tracks on this 33 minute/28 song album. Good to be able to read the lyrics while listening as otherwise most are incomprehensible. Technically proficient, initially energising but exhausting after about 20 minutes.
An unrelenting wall of noise. I liked it.
Deserves to be on this list more than a lot of albums.
Jodå, det här har helt klart en energi som jag kan uppskatta!
It sounds like what I expect heavy metal to sound like.
Wichtig, aber nicht deren bestes Album.
Weckt starke Erinnerungen an meine ersten Jahre Wacken. Mittlerweile ist mir der Sound aber zu stupide und eintönig.
Aus historischen Gründen schon gut, dass das hier in der Liste ist. Wahrscheinlich aber ihr einziges Album hier in der Liste und "Scum" ist weit davon entfernt, ihr bestes Album zu sein.
I'm going to guess that this is probably not going to be one of the more highly regarded albums in this project, and I was certainly skeptical going in. I like some metal, even some of the more extreme subgenres like death metal and black metal, but I've never really listened to grindcore (and, yes I'm aware the boundaries of the various subgenres are somewhat fluid). I was generally aware of Napalm Death's existence but hadn't really listened to them before this. The biggest surprise for me was how cohesive this was as an album, which is surprising when you consider that the first and second halves were recorded with almost entirely different lineups, with the drummer being the only performer on all 28 songs. Said drumming is muscular and drives the pleasantly chunky guitars fantastically. The vocals were you pretty standard metal indecipherable cookie monster growls for both lead singers, but this isn't a genre where lyrics or vocals are particularly important. I did look up the lyrics for some of the songs out of curiosity, and it's nice to see a band of this kind not going for the shock value of gore or satanism or extremist ideologies in what they put out.
6.5
It’s so fast it almost feels like it’ll fall apart. It never does. Wild stuff.
Early grind. Pretty solid.
I think a lot of later bands have done this sound better, but to be fair a lot of later bands have done it worse, too. Pretty middle of the road, to be honest. It's got more energy than it knows what to do with, and as far as grindcore goes, the vocals are relatively intelligible. It, however, still features some of the genre stereotypes (and I guess it may be the progenitor?) that I don't care for like the overwhelming blast beats and the fact that a lot of these songs drop off a cliff by the time you can get into them (if you can) so you kinda have to know what's coming. Which is tough, because there are a LOT of songs and a surprising amount of variety for grindcore. It will surprise nobody that knows me that I prefer side A to side B. Anyway, decent album and an essential listen to understand a vast part of western music from the mid-80s on. Meet you in the mosh pit, or possibly at a deadlift PR attempt.
The vocals just make it hard to listen to for me, but the instrumental sections are classic thrash.
Ah yes, grindcore my beloved. Well, maybe "beloved" is a strong word, but compared to what everyone else seems to think of this, it may as well be my favourite thing ever. I like a lot of metal, much of which is on the more hardcore/extreme side. But this even for me is a bit too much. I still appreciate and enjoy a lot about it, the intense blast beats, insanely fast guitar playing, and absurdly aggressive vocals are all still really cool things to experience. But I'm glad this album is as short as it is, I don't think I could handle any more. I'm glad I've heard this, and maybe if I build a tolerance to it I could get more into grindcore, but for now I don't see myself refurning to this any time soon.
Good for what it is but doesn’t push the needle for me
No denying the influence but the production makes it sound like a bee trapped in a washing machine
Didn't mind the first half since it was mostly speedy drumwork and some solid chord progressions borrowing from hardcore. Wasn't a fan of the growl vocals but that's okay, I can work around that & appreciate what I like. Second half filtered me or rather, I filtered it out. It drops much of the recognizable hardcore inspired stuff that I was enjoying & just becomes this abrasive wall of sound. At a certain point, I just stopped paying attention. I was about three songs from the closer when I learned the album was still trudging along. Then it started going back to the hardcore stuff & I was like, oh thank god, the light, the light.
When considering the concept of a book called "1001 albums you must hear before you die" it is thoroughly plausible to consider this as a more appropriate entry than a seventh Beatles album or some other album millions of people have already heard yet is of minimal artistic consequence. I'm not trying to be a music snob; like I've said many times already, I have a lot of time for (and own and enjoy) plenty of music I consider to be "disposable" or "lowbrow" and I stand by them as a valid artform and capable, as with any music, of being good or bad. If we're honest, the majority of people who like music (most people?) would think that Scum is terrible. There is little about it that conforms to any accepted norms of what makes music enjoyable to listen to. As a piece of art though, unintentionally or not, it is of huge importance. Not all things extreme make a difference. You'd be forgiven for thinking Scum just survives because Napalm Death maybe pushed things more than the next band, but there's more to art than that. It would take a staggering combination of foolhardiness and arrogance for any artist to proclaim they were going to make a debut album that would be influential and have people still writing things about it 40 years later. I haven't investigated further, but I'm pretty confident no such claim was made by Napalm Death (nor by Unseen Terror, Bolt Thrower, Carcass, Doctor and the Crippens, Electro Hippies, Extreme Noise Terror etc.) This music was influential though! and here I am writing about it 40 years later. I have countless punk and metal records I prefer to this, and Scum doesn't come down off my shelves particularly often, but it really matters. So many of those albums that make it onto my turntable more regularly may never have been made if Scum hadn't been. And of course, this was only the beginning.
Love it or hate it, you just have to respect how relentlessly berserk this thing is. Are you really not glad you've heard this before you died? Favourite track: Siege of Power
Historically important but not something I’d listen to despite liking metal. Not thrash.
I quite enjoyed this! The guitars were awesome I'm personally not a fan of the vocal style, which drops it a star. As an instrumental though this would rock 3 ⭐️
I was wholly unable to understand any of the lyrics on this one I think. It was close to a 2 for me but for some reason that's not entirely clear to me it ends up being a 3. Maybe it's the absolute breakneck energy that's pulling it up Standouts You Suffer 3/5
That was certainly sound.
Raw and Brutal
Interesting!!
I really don't hate it. the instrumentals are actually really cool, the the vocals do sound vaguely like a dog, bro is definitely not singing the lyrics on Spotify
прикольно, даже жалко что так мало звучит забавно, как будто мужика заперли в кабинке и он там бесится не очень динамично, просто плотно и размыто зашло под рабочие часы чтобы я слушал это вне работы и получал удовольствие, наверное нет) даже не заметил как альбом закончился, все на одном дыхании
Good!
Kaip metalui tai labai to ir tikėčiausi.
I don't love this, but I do like it and more than anything else, I give props for being one of those essential extreme metal albums.
You suffer!!
Don't think I've heard napalm death before, but heard of them. I would've thought it was thrash or death metal. Apparently it's grindcore... I'm not sure I've ever heard that term, definitely couldn't have told you what it was. Wikipedia tells me it's a fusion of hardcore punk and heavy metal, which after listening describes it pretty well! It definitely has trappings of hardcore punk, which I like, but then mixed with fairly heavy metal with a lot of growling and incomprehensible lyrics. Really heavy on the old double bass pedal, which as I've said before, I'm a sucker for. 28 tracks in 33 minutes is very hardcore punk. I enjoyed quite a bit of this, but it is very inaccessible, and probably the reason it has such a low score. There's far worse stuff then this on this list imo though. I think the first half was better than the letter, felt more like hardcore punk at the start. Got a bit too mad in the latter bits. I'm saying 3.5, my favorites were scum, caught in a dream and siege of power. I've listened since I wrote this and it's not worth a 3.5.... Going to 2.5
this having mainly 1 star ratings…….metalheads truly are humanity’s most oppressed people 🥀 anyways je pourrais pas dire c’est quoi ma toune préférée parce y en a genre 490 pis elles durent en moyenne 45 secondes chaque but this shit went hard
Like the music - great drums in particular but also guitar work. Also lyrically very good just not a fann of the screamo delivery.
Man, me 20 years ago was really into this. I hear the influence and appreciate it. 28 songs in 33 minutes? This was an incredible back-to-back with the previous day's album, nine songs at 1H 06.
I almost didn't mind the first half. Its the kind of music I can imagine getting into if its super loud, the band is live and I've had a few. Second half was too heavy for me.
The musicianship is solid but the vocals sound like Cookie Monster on the toilet.
I'm certain that I will not revisit this. There are definitely some cool elements and its for sure ambitious. But damn, this is a hard listen. I kind of just want it to be over. The drums are really cool. The vocals are insane. I also like how it shifts mid way through. I guess that was a different line up? Kind of unique.
Most folk mellow with age. As a younger man I liked a lot of hardwe rock and metal, Merallica and Slayer... but this sound was lost on me and just noise. Nowadays I really get into it. Been listening to Entombed and Obituary, forgot about this band. Great energy. Song too short though!
So not my bag but three stars for effort. 28 songs in 33 mins.
Quite liked this. Not the greatest metal album I've heard but it was punchy and fun. A decent time.
Now we are talking. This album is about annoyance. For me, the percussion is stupid. I like that this album exists
What was intense. Fun at times, not so fun at others. 28 songs in 33 minutes, which most of them sound very similar.
8번째 9번째 트랙이 좋음
Wow. Napalm Death are a band I genuinely have fond memories of listening to, alongside Extreme Noise Terror, on the radio courtesy of John Peel. Listening to this whole album was the aural equivalent of wearing a hair shirt. I now feel cleansed and righteous. It may be some time until I listen again...
Eh
top 3 - Scum, Caught… In a Dream, Control. Enjoyed it more than I expected, would give it another listen.
Reading the lyrics as I went... 1. Awesome messages, very haiku 2. Absolutely 100% no way he's actually saying/ singing that...
it's a lot
Holy crap. Ever expected to see this here. That’s awesome. Not saying this album is awesome. I remember this being too extreme for me in high school. I’ve heard of them but the music was so obscure and not even played on our local metal college station. Lot of small short burst songs found in hardcore. The song scum is good.
A departure from my norms, but the man-child in me thinks it’s fun and amusing. What clearly began as a joke slowly morphed into a real thing. Kinda like Trump, minus all the fascism and rape.
Honestly had fun with this one
hard rock. not good.
Fede rytmer, virkelig godt instrumentalt, selvom vokalen er lidt udfordrende 🌟
GOES HARD
Very hard and noisy.
Welp, hard to say wtf this is. Sounds like a caveman stumbled into a metal band and started banging shit together- the singing is giving neanderthal, but the playing tbh kind of rips. It's very very noisy esp percussion but not at all messy. I don't hate this but it's also REALLY not my thing. It seems to execute grindcore or whatever the fuck this is rather well, has a sense of fun, I could see getting down to this when extremely smashed
there is a great album underneath the mix. i wanna hear more of the guitar and the bass
I guess this makes the list because it's the "first" grindcore album? There are many, many better grindcore albums (from Napalm Death, Assuck, Discordance Axis, Nasum, Brutal Truth and others). Even as a fan of the genre and extreme music in general, it's hard to ignore how difficult this is to listen to simply because of the poor production. Was this recorded in a garbage disposal? With so little extreme metal being represented on the list, it's a shame that this is the pick simply because it was first. It can be done so much better. 4 for influence. 2 for enjoyment. I guess that makes a 3.
When this started I was like "oh no". But this hit me on the right day and when I got to the title track I started kind of enjoying it. They really shine on the songs that are less than 30 seconds. I don't know if they ment this to be cheeky, but I had a dumb grin on my face during the drive home with this on. They do a great job of not over staying their welcome. Better than U2.
Nice change of pace
I see it's on the lowest album list, but I was able to listen to the entire album without skipping songs. I guess I find this to be tolerable noise. 3/5
It’s funny that +400 albums in It’s very tiring listening to endless 3* middle of the road ‘ok’ albums (that I’m probably now being much harsher and scoring lower as I’m bored of them, Van Morrison yesterday a particularly dreadful example). So something on the extremes is exactly the thing I’m craving, I actively want to listen to the lowest rated albums. Thing is, if you had ‘1001 Albums that pushed the boundaries’ you’d get similarly bored. Where’s the middle ground? Anyway, I’ve heard this before and it’s fun, largely terrible and gloriously short. The odd outbreak of a more traditional song structure like ‘siege of power’ and ‘war’ is nice to chuck in, and they are good. But given the original band all gave up pretty quick, you’re kind of left with the feeling this was just some kids who wondered what it was like to play as fast and loud as possible just for a laugh. Then accidentally created a genre. I think it deserves extra a star for that. Which kind of leads you back to 3* score! You can’t win.
Who doesn’t love a bit of grindcore on a December morning? In all seriousness though, cool how you can hear the change in band dynamic half way through with the change of members.
Was not my thing, but would listen to this again
Seems like a solid album choice for driving fast, power lifting, or stealing copper from abandoned buildings.
3.5
🗣
I like metal so this is not new to me but it is what I would call grimy- definitely not to everyone's taste and arguably not even to mine but I have to give flowers where they're due
2.6
Meh. Not bad. Not really my taste though. I do like short it was though
Seemed fine, it all sounds pretty much the same, which is shouty, fast loud chords, and drums.
Awww shit. It's Napalm Death time. First up, let's acknowledge the Dresden review. Easily one of the funniest reviews on this whole website. After getting that out of the way, it's time to admit that I actually liked this album a good deal. Look, it's not the greatest thing in the world, but there are things that I get out of this album that appeal to me. For one, I think the riffs are actually quite good. Songs like "Instinct of Survival," the title track, and "Siege of Power" are actually really cool. I also like this album's general anti-establishment attitude. Between the album cover, the unconventionality of the music itself, and the "lyrics," you can tell that these guys were pissed off at the establishment, and I can't blame them. However, there's a reason why "lyrics" is in quotes. I can't understand a damn word they're saying. It all kinda sounds like a mix of cookie monster and a rabid dog. It's funny. You know what else is funny? Just how short these songs are. Seriously. This album manages to fit 28 songs into just 33 minutes and it does that by having most songs hover around the 1-minute mark. I mean, at least none of the songs get old! This is taken to the absolute extreme in what is arguably this album's most infamous song, "You Suffer," which lasts for all of 1 second, making it the Guiness World Record holder for the shortest song. That's hilarious and I kinda love it. Good song. Uhh, I guess another interesting thing is that the 2 sides of this album have completely different lineups! That's neat. I strongly prefer the first half, which has all of the songs I've mentioned so far. The second half is okay, but it's the first half that really appeals to me. Well, I wouldn't say it appeals to me a ton, but I had some good fun with it. I certainly wouldn't call it the 5th worst album on this entire list. Come on guys, it's not that bad. Dare I say, Scum is actually a solid album, and a pioneering record in extreme metal. Light 3/5.
28 songs in 33 minutes that sound just as much like one 33 minute song. The music isn't my thing, but it isn't terrible. This also features what I assume is a human man vocalizing his displeasure with society, but it comes across as a rabid junkyard dog barking at rust. I genuinely enjoyed how truly hilarious it is. It sounds like Strong Mad from Homestarrunner and the Tasmanian Devil struggling through constipated toilet sessions. Honestly this is a 2, but the amount of actual enjoyment and laughter I got out of it get it a 3.
Solid. Not my style but glad I gave it a listen.
There are a lot of precious people on this site, handing out one star reviews of this beautiful package of gentle ditties. Sure I prefer my metal to be somewhat more melodic, but there's no doubting the ferocity and impact of this one, and where the vocals may be meme worthy these days, the riffs make up for it.
production is very raw and guitars are muddy, dont like how short some songs are (constant fading in and out was annoying, why was there 13 tracks under a minute and one 4 second track???), but pretty solid overall and i like it
hot on the heels of the drive like jehu album, we finally get the fabled napalm death album. it's definitely loud and aggressive, but there's a lot more depth to it than the other reviews would have you believe, all in a half-hour package. i definitely preferred the a side of hardcore punk and the political message is unmistakably clear throughout, despite the singer's unintelligible lyrics. the heavy metal b side really foreshadows upcoming developments in the world of metal subgenres i can't tell apart, but grindcore is pretty low on my list. still, a good addition to this list, even though i probably won't listen to it often (other than you suffer, a classic that really gives you time to savor each moment and let the song wash over you). also at one point my robot vacuum was loudly struggling to suck something up and i just assumed it was the vocal part being especially incomprehensible. favorites: instinct of survival, scum, you suffer, success?
Varmasti klassikko ja jonkinlainen genren uudistaja/aloittaja. Mutta ei enää nykypäivänä uusilla korvilla iske. 2,5/5.
Crazy that this is too short and too monotonous, I much the same way Dopesmoker is not too long or too monotonous. It's cool and awesome but after a few songs it just loses me. I like my metal with either some more craziness or more melody I think. I think in '86 I'd be a Reign in Blood guy. Highlight: M.A.D.
I like it, though it becomes a bit repetitive
Beautiful music for a wedding. OK obviously its not beautiful. It is hard to listen to and represents the edge of what is an acceptable expression of human emotion in the form of recorded music. Enduring an album like this can be enjoyable if you choose to find beauty in it.
It's about time we got some proper death metal. They call this "Grindcore" or "Crust Punk". Whatever you call it. It's good stuff. "You Suffer" has to be the best song I've heard in the last 15 years. Truly a masterpiece of writing and accompaniment. "You suffer, but why?", indeed. That song will be making the best of the 1001 albums playlist.
A single song just changed my life. "You Suffer" will take you on an epic journey you were not prepared for. It will tear out all your emotions and leave them bare on the floor for you to reconsider in their entirety. You won't know what hit you and you'll wonder if any of it was even real. A true classic for our times. You suffer... but why?
Like the message, the music, but the "singing" is just noise to me.
Not my style of music, I don't really enjoy heavy metal.
Furious frenetic grind excellence. Home of the shortest song ever, and a bunch of others that aren't much longer. Favorite track: You Suffer (kidding!). Real favorite track: Born on Your Knees
I would have loved to be in the pit watching this stuff live. A bunch of 1 and 2 stars from people who would never survive in the pit.
Super anarchist group, would never be able to tell you that from the lyrics.
I have no idea if this is good or bad. I have no frame of reference... Actually, after reading all the 1 star reviews on here, I kinda appreciate it more. Still, it's not as good as Madvillainy.
At the first song I thought that I'd not like it as its like a musical car crash -- but i listened to the whole album. The one thing that doesn't work for me is the vocals - but they meld with the whole and it may be that no other vocal style would work, just that i can't understand a single word (but maybe that's the point). On my -100 to + 100 scale if in a foreign country a mistress takes you to her dungeon and the same words for "more" and "yes" in her language are "no" and "stop" in yours - but at the end you kinda liked it - is a +50, Scum is a +30.
the second half is better
Hahaha
Hard to draw a conclusion
“Scum” by Napalm Death is THE benchmark for grindcore and the tipping point from crust punk to grindcore. So, if you're interested in extreme metal in any way, this is a must-have. However, as my interest has been rather sporadic so far, I didn't really know the album yet. It's obvious that this kind of music is difficult to assess using classic evaluation criteria, but I can at least say that “Scum” is surprisingly accessible. It's definitely worth listening to - if only out of interest in music history!
Rajuu tykittelyy. Levyllistä ei jaksa, jos ei oo tarve vetää puolen tunnin spinningii maksimisykkeellä. Bonusta pioneerityöstä.
First time for Napalm Death. Not much of a grindcore fan personally. Cool that this album was one of the first for the genre.
First time listening to a Napalm Death album. I am disappointed with the adoration this website's users have for boring classic rock (cough cough Led Zep) and the disdain for more extreme/experimental stuff so I'm bumping up my ranking of this album slightly. I usually listen to "calmer" metal but I still think this album is pretty cool 3/5
This was meant to be enjoyed caught in a mosh, in a cacaphony of flying hair, sweat and teeth - not on a dawnlit commute into work. I prefer my metal to have more hairspray and leather but game recognises game. This fuckin shreds.
I can see why people would like it but not my cup of tea.
i blasted this in my headphones till around 1:30am while I was working and my god what a way to experience this. Its loud and insane and also weirdly funny. The Kill is 23 seconds of everything the album represents, loud, unintelligible and rock as fuck. This sucks but I still enjoyed it, odd as it is to say.
To my great surprise (as I know I don't enjoy grindcore), I really liked the first half of the album. By itself, I would have given it 4 or maybe even 5 stars. It's actually interesting and well-done! Way better than all of the grindcore following in Napalm Death's footsteps at least, is what I thought. But it turns out, grindcore simply follows the mold of the second half of this album, which sounded like 1 or 2 stars at most. Oh well, it's an experience at least.
just not really in the mood for metal :(
Never thought I would listen to this album ever again since my teenage years, and although I never really liked it, apart from the noise and punk attitude of the songs, I took great pleasure in horrifying my parents ears, playing this as loud as possible over my first stereo equipment. Even so, giving it a relisten after 35 years or so, I can't say I really dislike it, but now my kids are coming into my man cave , asking if I please can play something else or at least, not that loud....
Some real trailblazers but sorta unlistenable
makes me want to go to Dresden for some reason
cool but i dont want demons to scream while im listening
I can understand from the get go that grindcore isn't for everyone. However, I will say that despite the influence, it certainly shows that it's very early, and is very rough around the edges. Will I say that it's truly awful? No, but I will say that there is indeed some room for improvement. I will say for the positives though that some of the instrumentation is great, real headbanging stuff even on a first listen. It's the rest of it that irks me. The fast sections just seem like a "let's see how fast we can go" with no room for melody or sense of timing. And thr vocals, despite having 2 different people, sound like a south park interpretation of death metal. If the record as a whole was a bit slower and more melodic, I would say it's a must listen regardless of genre. Other than that though, it's really only a recommendation for those that are brave enough to expand horizons, or for those who are already into the grindcore scene, and looking to see where it started.
Right now, this really fits my mood, so yeah, 5 stars... But one the other hand, it sounds like shit and most "songs" do not deserve that label ... Bass sounds like shit, drums sound like shit... But, when it grooves, it grooves... To rare, but those moments save it... Do I want to listen to it again? No.
Maybe I was having streaming problems, but the recording came off muddy and indistinct. That's not a stylistic criticism; this is in my wheelhouse. This may simply be a good example of how far the recording techniques around very heavy music have come in the past almost-forty years. The whole thing sounds like I'm listening to it from the end of a long, dark tunnel, possibly with my head shoved inside my winter coat. It's not cool, it makes it seem less present, less heavy. Also not a fan of the vocals. Now, this is pure transgression: the point is to put off the mainstream, casual listener but we've certainly reached a point where distorted vocals are moderately familiar to most casual music fans (he wrote from the middle of 2025) and I listen to my share of heavy music; these just aren't compelling, anymore. They sound like a parody. That's just a matter of age -- this is a good album to listen to for a peek at one of the early touchstones of that style. Riffs are good. Drums suit well. Both sound tinny and shit, certainly not the fault of the players. Bass is a little indistinct. Overall, the blend of hardcore punk, old-school metal and thrash is compelling. The songs are also insanely short ('You Suffer' is famously only four seconds long) -- there are 28 crammed into 33 minutes. You really probably should listen to this album. This will not be everyone's cup of tea but this type of heavy music persists to this day, whether in modern grindcore bands or throughout other genres (High On Fire sounds a heck of a lot like Napalm Death, for example).
Its a gimmick, but a fun one.
I believe this is a foundational album for the genre, for that I give it credit. However, this is not totally what I want to listen to most days - great thing is that these songs do not tire you because they are 30 secs long on average. Anyway, this definitely is an energizing experience.
It's a fairly nonstop assault, with pummeling drums and super heavy riffs grinding everything beneath it to dust. The bass is so distorted it's more feedback than notes at times. The vocals, demonic. But when we get riffs, this really works... It's easy to hear much of the future of extreme metal in these 33 minutes. They even coined the term blastbeats apparently. This won't be part of my regular rotation and I try not to give points for influence, but when they get going it's still surprisingly listenable* in 2025. Must've melted people's faces in 1987 (*if you're a metalhead, otherwise approach with caution!)
Aah, it's time to relax and you know what that means: A glass of wine, your favorite easy chair and of course, this album playing on your home stereo. So go on, and indulge yourself... that's right! Kick off your shoes, put your feet up! Lean back and just enjoy the melodies After all, music soothes even the savage beast
Honestly thought this would be a lot worse. Extremely intense drumming for short songs with often unintelligible lyrics drowned out by the drumming. It's intense, abrasive and surprisingly punk. Not necessarily what I would listen to myself, but I didn't hate it at all
Noise with only minor redeeming value
I enjoy death metal and grindcore as much of the next person. This album deserves respect for what it started. However, there's other better recorded, groovier, heavier stuff out there now.
I find this to be a bit of a grating listen. Not because I don't like grindcore or other types of hard music like this, but because the album hasn't aged all that well. The entire thing just feels kind like random slamming and screaming and drumming, there's no real theme and the recording sessions were even seperate. Still, it's nice to have music like this on the list and the influence it had and novelty of it bumps the enjoyment up a notch. There is nothing on here that is anything like these 33 minutes.
Nonstop grind. Cool but static.
weird and loud
Groupe apprécié et album connu. Un album fondateur ! Mais il est très (trop) chaotique à mon gout. Je lui préfère nettement les albums suivants, en particulier 'Diatribes' sorti en 1996. 'Scum' ne fait pas partie de ma collection, mais j'ai apprécié de l'écouter une nouvelle fois. =>3/5
they were still tuning in the sound. flashes of thrash and punk throughout
I'd rather hear this on a loop than have to listen to Oasis.
Not my cup of tea but I’ve heard a lot worse on here. Has the shortest recorded song in history.
Did I enjoy this? Not particularly. Do I understand why it’s on this list? Absolutely. As I’ve approached 500 albums listened to, I’ve really started to appreciate the unusual and different genres and albums more than I did at first. This is an underrepresented genre, and tbh I might enjoy more of this than a bunch of unnecessary new wave, post punk, and electronica. Also oddly enough it made me think there should probably be a Gwar album on this list. Anyway, I understand why this is ranked so low, but there’s much worse on the list. And this is never boring, and there’s a lot of boring on this list.
атмосферная музыка...
Not a huge fan of grindcore. Theres some good songs here. "Instinct of Survival", the title track and of course "You Suffer" is great but i feel like the gimmick here wears off quickly. 6/10 Faovurite: You Suffer Least Favourite: C.S.
Well, it was loud! Grooves were good, lyrics not so much
19 fucking eighty fucking seven. They were the first to do it. 28 songs in 33 minutes. As difficult as the vocals are to listen to the album was not. Actually really loved some of the riffs. Great seminal album.
Going into the album: the album art is scary, will I like this? First ten seconds: Hmm, interesting drum setup. Next ten seconds: What in Satan's name is this? He's chanting a curse isn't he? I'm legit scared, gonna hit that pause button and play some electropop instead. Ten hours later, I finally go through the album. I respect it and their deconstruction of what makes music music. I like the low, rumbling guitar work in some tracks, like "Scum", "Siege of Power", and "M.A.D", and especially the last few seconds of the entire album in "Dragnet". They're weirdly calming, like a massaging of the deep recesses of the brain. I'm still a little scared though.
When I saw this was 28 songs I thought OH GOD NO. And then I saw it was only 30ish minutes and thought "sweet". Then towards the end of the first song I thought, wait are they saying words or just grumbling syllables and was genuinely shocked to learn real English words were being uttered. Apparently this album falls under the subgenre "Stenchcore" which is a first for me. I actually liked Siege of Power, they almost tapped into a bit of glitch-pop imo and could've been produced by MC Ride. The vocals are consistently obnoxious to me however, at least I can understand MC Ride. And on Control, why do they rhyme "head" with "death" when they could just have used "you're dead" instead of "your death"? I guess that's the fascist in me talking... I also loved "You Suffer", it totally caught me off guard. Here's a blurb I found about it: "The song has earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records as the shortest recorded song ever. It is precisely 1.316 seconds long. The song’s writer, Justin Broadrick, said: 'You Suffer was largely a comedy thing, one-second song. Utterly retarded. It’s ridiculous, but it was hilarious. We played that song in front of 30 local kids, like, every weekend. We played that song 30 times. It was a laugh.' " I actually laughed at the mouth noises during Success lol Also, kudos to anyone who picked up that both the lead guitarist and lead vocalist changed half way through the album. Apparently the core contributors of the band changed during the recording of the album and they just split the album into two, the old at the front and the new at the back. Even though the vocals are grating at times, I can get down to some of these thrashes, again because they're glitch adjacent and cracked me up at times. 3.5/5 rounded down.
Shoutout to Alex for making me give this a second listen. I liked it quite a bit more. I don't know what value the lyrics are supposed to have when they're completely indecipherable from the vocals we're given. But also relistening gave me more appreciation for the instrumentation and drums here. Pretty good. Pre-second listen, 1.5 rounding up. But on a second listen, I've revised to 3.5 rounding down.
I enjoyed it more than I thought I would
Perfect compliment to a long drive out to the suburbs. I did feel like there was a Daffy Duck voice coming and going out of the back half which was really cracking me up. The music was varied and I liked some songs much more than others.
for being one of the worst rated albums on this project this was not NEARLY as bad as expected like i don't consider myself remotely into metal but maybe all the punk ass trans metal house shows i've been going to to see friends have worn off on me i'd take this over more neil young (derogatory) any day of the fcking week. 2.5
Not my favorite vocal styling and the drums got a bit repetitive. I'm going to be contentious and round up my 2.5
guitar riff starts drums kick in with a fast repetitively alternating beat "ORURORURORURORURAHHHHHH" the album moves on to the next song, repeating the cycle. the process occurs 28 times in total wikipedia says the album features political lyrics about capitalism and the environment and stuff, to which i like to imagine it took a group of researchers multiple years to analyze these recordings and decipher the words on this album (if i am to believe wikipedia's information that there are enough words on this album to warrant deciphering) i had fun
Pretty generic metal album. It’s impressive, but not anything special
Casi ruido blanco, mucha batería, acelerador. Álbum muy corto en sus canciones
I quite liked this Grindcore album, although I would be hard pushed to say what the diffrence between Grindcore and Thash Metal is. I wonder if the lead singer has seen a doctor about his sore throat?
Hail Satan!
What drum speed!
It has an odd chaotic charm.
Really conflicted over this album. The first half is honestly pretty good headbanging metal, with actual developed songs among the grindcore "songs." Second half is complete incoherent garbage. It's a shame that the recording for this album was split up, because this would be a really great album if the first half was carried all the way through. Top tracks: Instinct of Survival, Scum, Siege of Power
RRRERWGHHERREGHHEEREHGEWWWWEUUUUUUHHRRGRRERRGGGGERGGUUUURRRRRGGGHHHEERRRREEGERREEEEEEGHHHHHRREEERRRRRBWERRREEFGHERREE!
Grindcore is notoriously difficult to get into, so I get all the hate, vocals get tired, but some good riffs in this album,
Recognized this from the “lowest rated” list l, so was expecting it to be truly awful… but I actually think this deserves better. Sure it was super heavy and that’s not for everyone, but it wasn’t that bad and in places was pretty cool. Enjoyed the album length and would like to see some of these tracks defined and manipulated more.Title track ‘Scum’ was my favorite as others were just flashes in the pan, but not even close to 4th worst on the list.
I just read that these were the first to do/popularise the blast beat thing, which would probably have been super interesting to hear back then. I'm not sure I totally like/understand it, but maybe that will come with time?? It for sure does work in some places over others. (for example the one in siege of power works really well, as it kind of feels more controlled). From my limited metal experience I think this sounds a lot more like modern or even some later 90s metal than other stuff before it (like the doom metal stuff). I really like the thrashy downtuned guitars and the weird analogue fuzzy lo-fi distortion that the bass or some other guitar has. The lyrics and messaging are great. Overall though, I'm not too keen on the less than 1 minute idea songs. Also I'm convinced that Spotify is just making up lyrics, theres no way he's actually saying coherent sentences in some of this. Favourite songs: instinct of survival, scum, caught... in a dream, seige of powerm control, born on your knees, M.A.D. Overall around 6/10
I didn't understand a single word sung, so pretty good metal.
I was afraid to listen to this considering the reviews and scores. Turns out, not terrible at all. I’m a metal (80s thrash) fan, so this sounded on point. Nice, short compositions with aggressive drop-d rhythms and double-kick speed percussion. Not a fan of the growling vocals so I can see why others hate it and I also won’t be adding it to the heavy rotation album list.
Holy hell, what a barrage on the senses early on a Saturday morning, lol. Really got my blood pumping for the day. Grindcore is crazy. It's great that they put a parental advisory sticker on the album. The growling and shouting may be offensive to some...Funny since I have no idea what dude was saying. Lol, Napalm Death's song You Suffer is only 4 seconds long... Favorite songs: Siege of Power, Scum, Instinct of Power, Success? Least favorite songs: Multinational Corporations, Polluted Minds 3/5
Not much to say really. I don’t mind listening to stuff like this, just has to be the right time and place. It was neither of those for me when I listened. It’s not bad though.
Death metal or screamo. Not exactly sure. Didn’t hate it. Honestly, it made work go by a bit quicker. Glad it was a short album, though.
first listen badly recorded noise
I can understand the low rating, as this is an extreme genre, and very early in the genre’s birth at that. Having said that I don’t think it deserves the roasting it gets - I’m not going to listen again, but there were some interesting elements here that I enjoyed. However, a bit like Trout Mask Replica, or We’re Only In It For The Money it’s very different to a standard type of album.
I am down for some grind core. I have heard of them. Never would have thought to see them in a list like this. But really interested in this album and what it sounds like. Very cool stuff. Very in your face.
Heavy thrash/punk. Reminds me of Zeke and a very heavy Misfits.
The music is great - the growler ruins it. This album with an actual punk/metal singer would be A+.
It wasn’t that bad. I don’t enjoy the barking, but the riffs are pretty good and they stop before they get boring
1. As music, this sucks. The singer is screaming at me through a bowl of oatmeal and I don’t know a word he’s saying. Based off the song titles, I think he’s being political or something. But I didn’t understand a single grunt or scream, so I couldn’t tell you for sure. 2. This rides off of its vibes real hard. It is about being pissed off, not about being musical. It’s almost like they’re using the music as a bludgeon to whack you over the head with their anger. It’s an attitude, a line in the sand. I respect that. 3. The music sucks. I really want to emphasize that point. It’s getting a three because sometimes you want to listen to something that shuts off your brain and makes you want to punch a yak, and this fits that bill.
This is the beauty of doing this project: one day, you're singing along to "Good Day Sunshine" while you review The Beatles' Revolver, the next day, you're reviewing the infamous Scum by Napalm Death. Life truly is beautiful in strange ways. I don't think I've ever listened to grindcore music before, so I don't have any funny anecdotes about sexual misdeeds in Dresden bathrooms. However, I did have sex with a pregnant coworker in the back of my Honda Civic one time, but that was after seeing the Owen Wilson flick Drillbit Taylor, so it's not really the same thing (I was going through some shit, and this was not my brightest hour). Anyway, let's crank up the Scum! First of all, this album cover absolutely rules. In the year of our lord 2025, this needs to be everywhere. Throw a Meta and Tesla logo on there, and you're good to go. Also, the guy in the very center is clearly DJT. As far as listening to this album goes, this was certainly an adventure. I like the shorter songs that are prevalent in hardocre punk, and I thought that structure was used really well by Napalm Death on this album. I enjoyed the driving pulse of the songs on this album too, and I thought the heavy metal elements of this album were used really well. I liked the lyrics to these songs as well; they really embodied the direct and angry themes that are present in the lyrics to hardcore punk songs. My biggest beef with this album is that it was really repetitive, and I couldn't really distinguish that many dividing lines from song to song. To top that off, I thought these lyrics deserved to be more intelligible, because they were really great, and I was bummed that I had to look up the words to every song. I know this album is one of the more poorly received entries on this list, but I thought it was pretty decent, and it's definitely influential. I'd be down to give another Napalm Death album a listen, but I there's not a whole lot that would bring me back to Scum.
As a metal album with incomprehensible lyrics, it’s not bad. It’s angry and energetic, though it never really grants the catharsis that the best kinds of angry and energetic albums do. The tracks all blend together, and by the end, you’re pretty much glad to be done with it.
I feel genuinely bad for people who can’t find any fun in this, even when you only have to listen to it once for an album generator hobby. I was never big into Grindcore by any means, and only the real try hards at school would mention Napalm Death. Now I’m in my thirties and I’ve been presented with an opportunity to listen to an entire album and I gotta say, it’s very fun. It’s also a great to have something heavy come up on this generator once in awhile (Metallica doesn’t count for me)
I used to say I hate metal. But I'd much rather take this over a lot of modern stuff. I had fun okay?
Gravelly Death Metal. OK, but after a few songs I was hoping for more harmony.
I always forget the technique involved in the genre and always blown away by it
it was fun listening to the first 10 minutes of the album while digging up sand super fast in Minecraft. However it is way to screamy or whatever you call it, for my taste. A solid 3.
Early grindcore. I can admire it even if I don't like it. And you have to appreciate the vision of the band(s). [Different one on each side] Brutal.
They were one of the first to do this, and certainly the most influential, but they were not very good at it at this point. It's a mess. It's not even the same band on all songs. Two sessions with only the same drummer. Songs of the 2nd session are better, production of the 1st session is better. They got better later, when they became a metal band. This is more hardcore punk like Discharge, D.R.I. and Lärm, but there's definitely some Slayer in there as well. It was so influential, they even got to play national children's TV and all. Favorite song: common enemy.
Classic sound, vind de riff game nice, geniet eigenlijk van alles behalve de vocals, die werd ik echt wel moe van tegen het einde aan en is een kort fucking album Als we het over oude extreme metal hebben zou ik 99/100 keer Kreator of Venom opzetten ipv dit Ik wil het meer geven want eerste metal album in de lijst voor ons maar de vocals maken het een 3,5
Hugely influential for countless acts in an admittedly niche extreme genre. But borderline unlistenable today, even for the acts Napalm Death influenced? 3/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums 8/10 for more general purposes (5 + 3) Number of albums left to review: the 80-ish extra LPs listed on this app, included because different past editions of the book have mentioned albums that have since been dropped in subsequent editions. Number of albums I'll keep in my own list: half, approximately Number of albums I *might* keep: a small quarter, approximately (including this one) Number of albums I won't keep: a large quarter
this is fun I had fun. grind core is a very accurate genre title for this. I don't think this will be an album I return to but what an interesting listen! 3.5/5
I like the first part of the album that's more death metal like way more than the second half where they start to hone in on the grindcore.
I found it hilarious 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂😂
Un album où le fond et la forme ont la même fonction, soit rebuter et cracher sur tout ce qu'on tient pour acquis. La succession de pistes très courtes évoque autant d'explosion. Une réussite si on considère son but.
ê caraio o quarto pior album da lista. ah, nem é tão ruim. grindcore é doideira mesmo, fazer o que. meu humor não tava dos melhores então caiu até bem
Gear: Abyss DIANA MR Artwork: 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀 Production: 🎧😘🤌* Music: 🤘😡🤣 Rating: 🤡🤡🤡/5
A time and a place. Used to laugh at the length of these
I liked it, but I can’t objectively say it’s great music lol
I like a bit of chamber music... torture chamber music! (ba-dum tish) Not actually that awful. I was expecting something far worse. After he left the band the lead singer had quite a successful solo career in R&Bbq.
This album is just noise. It’s pretty good.
The screeching on track Success? is very relatable. I also want all drums to always sound like this.
The instrumentals were excellent—raw, but passionate and well executed. The vocals sounded like a drunk Sylvester Stallone recorded them from outside the booth, and tbh did a disservice to the thoughtful lyrics.
Uhm, difficult to rate, agree with the message, very hard to discern though
Very noisy
Fun metal album
I had a whole story about seeing Napalm Death play at CBGB’s but am gonna skip it after reading that top review. I didn’t hate listening to this as much as I expected. “Siege of Power” kinda rules.
I wish I was cool enough to like this more... but I'll probably do a 2/5. I appreciate that this was genre-defining... but I don't think it came into its own yet. I might bump it up for being groundbreaking. I know people that are in grindcore bands. Never was my favorite.
Scum is the debut studio album by Napalm Death, originally released in 1987. I'm so surprised to hear these guys are English. They seem to have been very influenced by the US hardcore punk scene. The lyrics to this record are actually pretty powerful/thought provoking, although they are indecipherable without a lyric sheet. Even then, the printed lyrics sound nothing like what you are hearing. The drums are another thing that stood out to me.. holy shit are they heavy. The playing is so chaotic, aggressive, and quite frankly impressive. Blast beats are very hard to do. I give this album major credit for being different than a lot of shit on this list and being very interesting to listen to.
I didn’t understand a single lyric. I can’t remember a melody that grabbed me. I’ll never voluntarily listen to this again. Yet, I get it in the context that it’s something really different from a lot of what’s on this list.
Erm. It was ok. Wouldnt listen to again tho.
Hressandi. Frumkvöðlaverk að vissu leyti.
I liked the first half of the album better than the second. Personal enjoyment: 3/5 Relevance to this list: 5/5
It wasn't pleasant, but I appreciate how upset this makes everyone. 3 stars
Metal AF
It was okay. I was told that with time your brain would get used to the usual stimulation and it would force you to seek out more and more perverted genres, but it never happened to me.
something different rather than the normal copy paste rock and roll albums on here
Unfamiliar tunes Now part of classroom study. You suffer, but why? Sonically a two for me personally, but curiosity bumps it to a three.
Yep, that’s metal. I can get what they’re doing, but more than 30 minutes of this gets my blood boiling.
All the songs sound the same. With that being said, I don't hate it
The vocals get really grating after a while. I'd like it better if they were less guttural and at least somewhat intelligible. Why even bother writing lyrics if no one's gonna understand shit? It's even more annoying because I looked up the lyrics and I actually liked them I don't know if I'll be returning to this album but I somewhat enjoyed listening to it (the music, not the damn vocals)
Yeah… not my thing… but I got what I expected
The singer sounds like he is barking
This is not what I usually listen to, but there's some interesting musicianship here. You Suffer is a great song! I like how they can pack so much into a 45-second song.
A master class in drumming! Palpable aggression and impressive energy.
Not one damn clue of a single word said during this entire album. GREAT for going on a run
2.5
Interesting, like a dog barking
I didn't know what grindcore was before this album, and I still don't, but this was pretty interesting overall. The weird setup for the album, with essentially different bands making the two sides of the album, is unique in my experience. Weirdly, I'm not sure that I heard a huge difference between the punk and metal halves of the album, but TBF I'm also a cretin 3/5
This was a tough listen but I do think it has some merits
3 1/2 Armotonta.
love how bad it is. just screaming. great
28 songs in 33 minutes and nary an intelligible work to be heard. Honestly - this wasn’t as terrible as I expected. It sort of became white noise after a bit and I didn’t hate it.
Okay, that was quite an adventure, but in the spirit of art and attitude, i'm not entirely without appreciation for this. The more it sounds like music, the easier it is to appreciate. Certainly Siege of Power is a pretty strong song.... part of Scum and M.A.D. also are enough tone and mood that are done with the instruments. Much of the rest is aggressive crazy energy. Just wild to have songs that are less than a minute, including one that is less than 2 seconds. The Side One band is my favorite... the little gremlin voice the dude uses (especially at the end of Divine Death) don't make the music better. I chuckled to myself quite a bit while listening. Quite fun.
I remember at the time thinking that this was the last stop on the punk rock train. Where do you go from there? Which was kind of the case. I’ve listed to this a few times and am maybe oddly attracted to it because it’s on the hairy edge of just completely terrible. It belongs on the list because it should be experienced.
Fast and loud. Not bad. Not my first choice for something fast and loud.
This is some real demonic depths of hell type shit. Not the vibes I anticipated jamming out to today but, when in Rome, I guess. The drums on this album are absolutely mind boggling. Guitar hits pretty hard too. I'm typically not a fan of screemo just because the vocals get tiresome. I prefer a mix of singing and screaming. Could do without the gurgling. But if you just focus all your attention on the drums and let the vocals fall to the background, this album gets a lot better. I will say, I did not enjoy the band switch up halfway through the album. I felt the first half was a lot stronger on the guitar and just had a more aesthetic, less goofy sound.
Honestly not as bad as I was expecting given the review. Much better if you imagine it's being performed by a small dog. Still better than Korn
Turn the hardcore dial up to 11 and keep going. Noisy brutal and short. Probably the only appropriate aesthetic response to the nightmare global political economy consolidating itself in the late 80s: the real grindcore was going on in SE Asian export processing zones. Some really good chugging riffs, some blasted to hell beats, some ghoulish screaming. Not your sunny Sunday morning coffee and toast music, but when your in the mood to rage, it's hard to think of anything going harder than this. Plus, I heard Ian Napalm and the rest of the fellas are big into orienteering.
It's iconic and seminal. And although it's hard to take it at face value, it's aged rather well.
Not my cup of tea, but I can understand how it was influential. The guitar and drums are the obvious focus, as moat of the lyrics devolve into primal raging. This album is a headbangers dream, but at a certain point it begins to feel like a wall lf noise to me. For metalheads I am sure this review would induce eye rolls, but I do want to enjoy the lyricism in concert with the instrumentals, and that is difficult to do here.
I actually really love the instrumentals, i think they sound great. The vocals are… another story. I perused some of the lyrics and they have some messages that resonate but without reading the lyrics id have no idea what was being said. The vocals do remind me of the anime Aggretsuko though, which might make some people roll their eyes but it was nice to have a point of reference/recognition!
Na 3 nummers al helemaal op, meine gute Snap wel dat de nummers zo kort zijn want dit houd je niet lang vol
Super cool and totally out of my wheelhouse. Feels pure
wow, this was amazing. I listened to grindcore all day. (With some dj jazzy jeff mixed in. a juxtaposition for the ages.)
I think my personal problem when it comes to music like this is that a lot of it is kind of, I don't know, boring? I can only hear so many blast beats and metal growls before it starts to sound the same. It isn't painful for me to listen to or anything, it's just too easy to tune out and not engage with. That being said, I actually enjoyed this a fair amount. The riffs on "Instinct of Survival" and "Scum" worked really well as hooks for me, and god knows there aren't a lot of vocal hooks to grab onto. All of these songs are well-below the three minute mark with the exception of one comparatively sprawling four-minuter. That brevity is for the best. I can't believe I'm listening to a grindcore album where I can sometimes actually hear the bass. 'Earache Records Ltd'--I can dig it. Highlights: Instinct of Survival, Scum, C.S., Pseudo Youth, M.A.D.
Grindcore. Not terrible but I don’t think I’ll be coming back to this. The vocals need work, but drumming is killer though. It’s ok.
The vocal delivery doesn’t do it for me. For me it prevents future listens. Similar to my feelings on Opeth. There’s a lot of good stuff going on lyrically and the drummer is a madman and has chops well beyond your typical hard core act. Suffer is the shortest song I’ve ever heard. Negative Approach was the namesake of the Detroit hard core band I believe.
Great for what it is but in hindsight doesn't sound nearly as scary and intense as it did 30 years ago. Probably more historically important than great on its own.
Ce n'est pas le meilleur album de grindcore que j'ai écouté, mais je dois rendre à César ce qui revient à César, beaucoup de groupes de ce genre n'existerait pas sans Scum. C'est quand même vraiment plus intéressant que ce que j'anticipais. Mes excuses à toutes les personnes fragiles ici qui sont trop sensibles pour entendre des styles plus agressifs (pas vraiment en fait). 7/10
not bad not great
Wild! Pretty cool in fact, but in smaller brites. Over the whole album, it gets on my nerves
First of all, I can completely understand why someone would hate this. But if you are someone that ever wants to kick the world's teeth in then I think you can vibe with this. It's not an every day listen type of thing but it definitely has its place in my life more than lots of higher ranked records on this list. Plus Siege of Power fucking rocks.
I listened to this twice and liked my second listen way better than my first (helped I was able to pay more attention the second time). It's impressive that you can still pick out the different instruments when the playing is this fast and scuzzy. I liked the songs when they were more melodic, but when the band goes into full grindcore mode I quickly got bored.
Dope instrumentals and breakdowns. I feel like I'm more used to this style of singing than the average person and can still find it grating over the course of 28 tracks.
Only noise!
Not a huge fan of thrash metal, but this was ok.
3.5
I wonder who had the crazy idea to bring a drum kit, guitar and mic to cavemen. Regardless, pretty cool.
Good album (by two different bands). Pretty groundbreaking in the extreme metal world. World record holder for shortest song.
quite cool, i like it! :D
Hyvät setit
This feels like a punk record. I can appreciate it and even the growling seems to make sense.