### Defecation: Purity dilution

#### 14/09/11 || Habakuk

One of the coolest things I’ve ever seen to come with a best-of album was the infamous “Napalm Death Family Tree” on “Noise for music’s sake”. Back in the day when I was a step further from the Metallica / Maiden / Blind Guardian stage, checking out the likes of Napalm Death and Slayer, this was a real eye-opener. It contains some of my early all-time faves like Bolt Thrower and Benediction, but also a lot of bands I did only get around listening to (and enjoying) years later – Extreme Noise Terror, Jesu, Righteous Pigs, Terrorizer – Carcass, too, but I’m not to big on ‘em – and Defecation. A rather obscure side project of two of my fave Napalm musicians, this was bound to be awesome. Mick Harris on drums is a surefire method to get me intrigued, and after playing on Harmony Corruption and elevating even the abysmal Righteous Pigs to being enjoyable, guitarist Mitch Harris, who joined Napalm Death after this here album, gained my respect just as much.

Personalities aside, where does this recording fit in the big picture of the Napalm Death family? Right where it belongs timewise, somewhere in between “FETO” and “Harmony Corruption”, so we pretty much have one of the earliest death/grind releases on our hands here. It’s a bit between the chairs, moving away from the almost complete disregard of song structure by young Napalm Death, but keeping just enough thrashy beats, rough feel and some anarchistic blasting to distance itself from bona fide death metal. Not to omit Mick Harris’ goofy “interludes” of giving shout outs to Barney or “Daaannny Boooyeee” which give a good impression of the still prevalent neglect for the do’s and don’ts on a “serious” recording.

What starts with a massive, pounding intro (profiting from Danny Lilker’s very bass-heavy production) turns into an enjoyable punk-meets-riff ride over the bumpy road laid down by Mick Harris’ inimitable drumming, and everyone into the albums he played on for his main band should definitely get something from this record. Also, the vocals shared by both Harris dudes are pretty cool in all their nasty shine, and if you’ve always wanted to hear the crazy beast that is Mick Harris roar, here’s your chance.

In general, the songs are blunt and relatively short, but given the simple ideas they’re based on and the about two weeks this album was written in, that’s probably for the better – as one must admit, it ain’t all perfect and does show some redundancies. The material does blend together even during the only 30 minutes total playing time, which is also why this is definitely not a candidate for Class6(66) in my book – especially considering that the year it was released, “World Downfall” saw the light of day.

Looking at it in that light, I’m not going to pretend the album as a whole is a must listen, but it still gets my recommendation. Fans of the bands mentioned prominently should definitely check this one out, if only as one more testimony to how much of an urge to write brutal music was inherent with the fathers of grind.

- Information
- Released: 1989
- Label: Nuclear Blast Records
- Website: Defecation MySpace
- Band
- Mitch Harris: guitars
- Mick Harris: drums, vocals

- Tracklist
- 01. Intro – Megaton
- 02. Vestige of Earthly Remains
- 03. Life on Planet Earth Is Fucken Cancerous
- 04. Contagion
- 05. Predominance
- 06. Recovery
- 07. Side Effects
- 08. Mutual Trust
- 09. Focus
- 10. Popular Belief
- 11. Scrutiny
- 12. Underestimation