Nasum
Inhale/Exhale |
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©1998 Relapse 1. This Is... 2. The Masked Face 3. Digging In 4. Time To Act! 5. Disdain And Contempt 6. I See Lies 7. Inhale/exhale 8. Too Naked To Distort 9. There's No Escape 10. The Rest Is Over 11. Disappointed 12. Lagg Om! 13. You're Obsolete 14. Tested 15. Shapeshifter 16. Feed Them, Kill Them, Skin Them 17. When Science Fails 18. Closing In 19. The World That You Made 20. The System Has Failed Again 21. For What Cause? 22. Fullmatad 23. Screwed 24. Shaping The End 25. The New Firing Squad 26. No Sign Of Improvement 27. My Philosophy 28. I'm Not Silent 29. The Breathing Furnace 30. Information Is Free 31. Burning Inside 32. A Request For Guidance 33. Grey 34. Worldcraft 35. It's Never Too Late 36. Du Ar Bevakad 37. Blinded 38. Can De Lach |
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So ya just got cut off in traffic by a snob in a Caddy? Or maybe you were just dumped by your girlfriend in favor of a WWF wrestler. Have I got the solution for you! Rather than take out your aggressions the schoolyard way with a rifle, put on Nasum at top volume and just watch your hatred and angst scream away. Packed with thirty-eight (is that special?) grinding raging tracks of blast beats, heavy guitar lines and two men screaming and grunting, there is certainly something here to soothe your beast within. As with many grindcore releases, the multitude of excruciatingly short and similar tracks can be exhausting if you try to sit through the whole damn thing, but Nasum has a stronghold over other generic grindcore bands in that they occasionally allow a groovy, heavy riff (as in "There's No Escape" or "Fullmatad") to sneak in and remind you there is music involved. The lyrics are surprisingly well-written, almost in that Minutemen world of brevity. Not only that, the duo received some studio assistance from Dan Swanö, so the production is both clear and crushing. I may not be the biggest grindcore fan around, but this actually bears some merit and will appeal to fans of brutality and death. Review by John Chedsey Review date: 07/1998
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Human 2.0 |
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©2000 Relapse 1. Mass Hypnosis 2. A Welcome Breeze Of Stinking Air 3. Fatal Search 4. Shadows 5. Corrosion 6. Multinational Murderers Network 7. Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow 8. The Black Swarm 9. Sixteen 10. Alarm 11. Detonator 12. Gargoyles And Grotesques 13. När Dagarna 14. Resistance 15. The Idiot Parade 16. Den Svarta Fana 17. We're Nothing But Pawns 18. Defragmentation 19. Sick System 20. The Professional League 21. Old And Tired? 22. Words To Die For 23. Riot 24. The Meaningless Trial 25. Sometimes Dead Is Better |
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Yup. They're still pretty ticked off in Sweden, as Nasum's latest, Human 2.0, aptly demonstrates. With another twenty-five songs and a third member armed for detonation in their arsenal, Nasum comes out screaming, kicking and throwing bottles aimed straight at your noggin for the entirety of the album. Human 2.0 is not very far off from Inhale/Exhale in terms of musical approach, but it does come across as a slightly better hurled bottle at your noggin. The refreshing thing about Nasum is that they do not settle for typical grindcorisms and actually demonstrate more songwriting ability than any ten blast beat oriented, one guitar chord wonders. Their sound incorporates a lot of old school thrash, death metal and of course, grindcore elements, but they have the ability to write more than just basic riffs to keep up with the drummer. Tempos shift and change, riffs actually go somewhere and some songs are darned near epic in length (why, there are a few over two minutes on here and one that comes close to three!). Though exhausting if listened to in full, Human 2.0 is another solid release for this band that proves that grindcore is not completely banal and can be a great method of catharsis when done with some degree of skill. Obviously anyone who heard Inhale/Exhale and liked it should get a copy of the new one. And anyone who has a thing for painfully angry music should also check this out. Review by John Chedsey Review date: 09/2000
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