A Tribute To Nasum

Nasum Space
Release: 2009
Type: CD/2 LP
Label: Power-It-Up

Someone far smarter than I am put it better. Anders Jakobson was no slouch either. Simply put, Nasum is the gold standard when it comes to penning quality grind riffs. Grab a random CD and see for yourself - all of their material speaks directly to this greatness. And you only need to play the Imitation:Flattery game for about 20 seconds to see the band's lasting contribution to the genre. I am also of the belief that you cannot fuck up a Nasum song. Go ahead, call me a fan boy. I truly hold this belief. Fealt this way going into the Tribute and that opinion has held through repeated listens. Of course I am not saying Depeche Mode would do a nice cover of "Worldcraft" or that Nine Inch Nails could do "Shaping The End" justice. I'm talking about metal bands with a punk vibe.

I will, however, be the first to admit that I have not listened to all the bands represented here. I'd never even heard of a few before getting the CD. One of the things I enjoy most though is that the bands played these songs in their own style. I can only assume the bands I am unfamiliar with followed suit. For example, Rompeprop preserved their march/stomp groove and pitch-shifted (to the point of indecipherable) vomit vocals on "Disappointed." In a way, it's kind of ironic, since Disappointed is lyrically one of Nasum's better songs - a scathing rant about something we all share in common: flaky friends we just have to turn our back on.

The main point of satisfaction for me comes in how well Inhale/Exhale is represented, it being one of my top five grind albums - something I find odd, seeing that I prefer double bass, thrash riffs and crossover bass lines in my grind. It's your classic "exception proves the rule" example. But the play list is broken up well, so it's not an Inhale/Exhale tribute, nor a chronological history of Nasum. It's 53 tunes laid out with the sole purpose of getting you up off your ass for an hour. Seriously, how many grind bands have you heard who don't even have 53 songs, let alone 53 good ones?

In this light the whole CD passes my test. Given the degree of hype surrounding the release from it's inception I would argue that all the bands did a great job. The songs are as varied as the bands so I'm pretty sure everyone will have their own favorites. Some classics get the lo-fi treatment while others are over produced to the point of using static as an extra instrument (won't spoil the surprise by giving examples). I particularly liked Poostew's rendition of "Doombringer" and Dead Infection's "Think" in their Swedish meets Bolt Thrower tone. Never heard either band before this.

I can only think of two complaints. Neither one really bother me, nor would having knowledge of them prevent me from buying this in the first place. Number one: How is it, with such a vast discography to choose from, that two bands ended up covering Corrosion (The Arson Project and Sanity's Dawn)? Couldn't one of them do The System Has Failed Again or Burning Inside? The other is regarding the inlay card: It folds out like a 7" split. The inside is a map of the Earth, in red, with your standard black and white death and destruction artwork around the edges. The continents are littered with falling bombs with band names written on them. At first I thought it was all fancy, with each bomb falling on where the covering band is from. But no, it was just thrown together.

Those two points aside, did I mention the songs kick ass? Check it out here. Buy it here. Do it for Johnny. Wolverines! Whatever your mantra: go get it.

Playing the waiting game

Two years ago Power-It-Up announced a Nasum Tribute. I love tribute albums. One reason is that contributing bands tend to use their own sound and approach to the songs they cover. Another is that these compilations invariable contain a few bands I have either never heard or completely forgotten about. So tributes are a great way to rekindle interest in older bands while sparking interest in the new breed. And seriously, how can you fuck up a Nasum song? Seriously. Flash forward to last September, two years and five updates later, we get word that it's a double CD and the release date is November 2k9. Yet here we are, with seven days left in the month - and nothing is for sale. But the promos have been shipped out, and know what that means: it's out there, right now, in some lucky fuck's CD player. That also means you can download it. Sure enough, a quick search yields torrents and download links a plenty. But the point is that here we are, us Nasum fans yearning for a fix, playing the waiting game... Dear Power-It-Up, my credit card is standing by.

For the past six months, at least, on Inhume's Myspace page there is a message that makes every fan take notice: New Inhume Album in 2009 on War Anthem Records. Checking the War Anthem web page gives additional information: the new album is due in November 2k9. This is starting to sound familiar, isn't it? Well, here we are, with a week to go and there's only an cover and a few songs to drool over. I was not much for the early Inhume records. Brutal Death Featuring Blast Beats is not my style. But Chaos Dissection Order is the business. Here they not only incorporated proper grind but showed an understanding of the genre. Add to this that the split with Mumakil showed every indication that they are continuing down this path and you have my full attention. So where is it? Even an update along the lines of "be patient" makes the waiting game much easier than silence. Dear War Anthem records, my credit card is standing by.


In other news, Rotten Sound just signed with Relapse and will release an EP in March '10. This might be a good move for them. Already being established, they should be able to hit the studio and do things their way.

Nashgul - El Dia Despues Al Fin De La Humanidad

Nashgul MySpace
Release: 2009
Type: CD
Label: Power-It-Up

Nashgul has an old-school approach to writing grindcore. Their songs speak back to a time before death metal was a household name, to when grind was simply a fusion of crust and crossover featuring sporadic moments of unbridled madness. "Been there, done that," you say? That's as maybe. What sets the band apart is how they go about incorporating their thrash bits. One moment you're listening to quality grindcore - the kind of album you'd happily play in the background while doing whatever, video games, Texas Hold 'Em, driving at the speed of blast - and seemingly out of nowhere the band transitions into something catchy. It makes you pause to take notice. This is not to say Nashgul is reinventing thrash. These are not riffs to spark a new wave of retro thrash appreciation. What these riffs have however is a habit of showing up at the right time, elevating good grind to memorable grind. It creates definite "wait for it... go!" moments to look forward to each time you give the disc a spin - and there are plenty to be had on the album.

Book ended by your standard grindcore Intro-Outro, Nashgul proffer 17 songs in a shade over 24 minutes. Most of them are a minute and change, with only two breaking the two minute marker. More importantly the sound guy is an obvious bystander to the ongoing over-mastering wars. Each instrument has it's own space to work with. The bass is audible, even during the most frenetic of blasting bits. It sounds like the drums were sacrificed to make all of this happen (most notably toned down crashes and a hollow kick) but the end result has an organic feel. That and you can crank it up a few extra notches without increasing the risk of hearing damage.

There is a dynamic to the songwriting process on the album that is refreshing. They are not writing a straightforward song to be followed by a bulldozing grinder followed by a blastfest. Basically, just because a tune starts one way does not mean you can predict where it's heading. The only staples are thrash riffs and blast beats. "El Dia Del Los Muertos," "Disintegration in a Flashing Light" and "El Horror Oculto" surreptitiously begin in sludge fashion before unleashing the hounds. "Terrorist Warhead," the shortest tune, starts out in fast-forward before switching into a killer thrash riff over double bass. "La Plaga" plays verse-chorus-verse with two crust-influenced thrash riffs for the first minute a'la Disrupt before introducing blasts - and then devolves back into thrash and crust. And "Cremetorio," one of the better songs, is a one minute 17-second encapsulation of the album. More important than breaking ground, it's well written and executed. Most bands would use more double bass if they wrote these songs. And still others would tune down a step or two. While these would be cool changes all they would really do is ensure the album sounds like everyone else. Nashgul prefer to sound like thrash freaks who fell in love with blast beats. Their attention to old-school grind detail makes "El Dia Despues..." a top-notch album with great continuity and replay value.

It appears you can only buy the album directly from the label via PayPal/Mail Order right now. It's worth it, but they are set to release the Tribute To Nasum 2CD next month (which is a mandatory buy) so you may want to wait and save a little on shipping. In the meantime, check the album out here.