### V/A: Grind madness at the BBC

#### 10/06/10 || Khlysty

First of all, I want to say that, wherever John Peel is now, I hope that he’s listening to great music and that he ignores the mess our beloved F.C. Liverpool’s in. Second of all, I want to say that if you have a band and you’re given the chance of doing a BBC session –go for it without a second thought. This session’s gonna probably be the best thing you’re gonna ever record and it will make you proud until the end of time. Third of all, for those unenlightened few –I hope and pray that they’re few…-, during its early days, grindcore found in John Peel and his late night show at BBC Radio 1 a great champion: Peel not only played, during his show, bands like Napalm Death, Carcass, Bolt Thrower, Sore Throat, Extreme Noise Terror etc, but he also invited them to do his famous sessions, which the bands recorded at the famous Maida Vale BBC studios and he played a few days later during his show.

Now, the Peel Sessions, as they became known, was one of the best things that ever happened to a young band: the BBC studios were extremely well equipped, the sound comes of as lively and in-your-ass as possible and the almost-live-in-the-studio recording process captures a band in clear Technicolor display. To make it simple, even if you suck, a BBC session will make you sound good. What does this mean for a fledgling grindcore band like, say, 1989-Napalm Death? It means that the production values of such a session give to your sound a heft and a presence that the small-beans production money that you have for your records cannot ever do. Again, to make it simple: Napalm Death’s Peel Sessions are the best things –aurally speaking- that the band recorded during its early days.

From 1987 to 1990 many a grindcore band passed the holy threshold of the Maida Vale studios for a Peel Session. And, while many of them bands never did anything significant during their –sometimes pretty brief careers, John Peel treated them all fairly, giving them a chance to become a known entity in the pop music world, through his show. Not because he could, mind you, but because he genuinely liked this kind of music (Peel also went to early grind shows, sometimes with his wife and kids, and from what I’ve read, he enjoyed them profoundly). And, now, almost twenty years later, the much-maligned Digby and his cohorts acquired the rights for many of these sessions, gathered them into a gnarly three-disk, 118-song package –and a pretty budget-friendly deal, I must add- and unleashed them to the unsuspecting public.

The three disks contain three Napalm Death sessions (from 1987, 1988 and 1990), three Extreme Noise Terror ones (1987, 1988, 1990), two Carcass sessions (1989, 1990), three Bolt Thrower sessions (two from 1988, one from 1990), one Godflesh session (1989), one Unseen Terror session (1988), three Heresy sessions (1987, 1988 and 1989) and one Intense Degree session from 1988. With the exception of Godflesh –whose sound is a tiny little bit muddy-, every other band here sounds as great as it’s humanly possible. Even lesser bands (lesser in that they didn’t achieve the longevity and success of, say, Carcass or Bolt Thrower) like Heresy or Unseen Terror enjoy the spa-like treatment of the BBC, coming out of the speakers with a fresh and deliciously vicious sound. As for the performances, I will say one thing and one thing only: if you haven’t heard this version of “Exhume to Consume”, you’re missing a real treat. And don’t even start me about “Like Rats”, okay?…

Also extremely interesting is how different the bands sound, although they’re supposedly coming from a similar musical environment (that is, a nuclear-strength, hypervelocity combination of speed metal, early thrash and different strains of punk –crust, d-beat anarcho-punk and hardcore). Carcass sound almost completely death metal, while Bolt Thrower are shown to slowly shed some thrash-isms and going for a loud-and-proud death sound. Godflesh sound even more vicious and out-there than on their proper records. Unseen Terror, Heresy and Intense Degree sound like hardcore anarcho-punk on steroids, while Napalm Death and Extreme Noise Terror seem to be the only bona fide grinders here. But, y’know what? This is shit-nitpicking. Everything here sounds fucking great and, besides being a great document on the evolution of grindcore, is immensely fun to listen to.

The packaging contains a booklet with a long and very interesting interview with Mick Harris (Napalm Death, Scorn, Lull, Painkiller), plus info about when every session was recorded and broadcasted by John Peel. Look, for the third time during this review, I’m gonna make it simple for you: you need this, regardless if you like grindcore, or, for that matter, Digby. If you like metal, you just need this, to cherish and adore. Earache made good this time. So, go buy and off me back already.

- Information
- Released: 2009
- Label: Earache
- Website: Grind Madness MySpace
- Bands
- Napalm Death
- Extreme Noise Terror
- Carcass
- Bolt Thrower
- Godflesh
- Unseen Terror
- Heresy
- Intense Degree

- Tracklist
- DISK 1
- Napalm Death:
- 01. The Kill
- 02. Prison Without Walls
- 03. Dead
- 04. Deceiver
- 05. Lucid Fairytale
- 06. In Extremis
- 07. Blind To The Truth
- 08. Negative Approach
- 09. Common Enemy
- 10. Obstinate Direction
- 11. Life?
- 12. You Suffer Pt.2
- 13. Multinational Corporations
- 14. Instinct Of Survival
- 15. Stigmatized
- 16. Parasites
- 17. Moral Crusade
- 18. Worlds Apart
- 19. MAD
- 20. Divine Death
- 21. CS
- 22. Control
- 23. Walls
- 24. Raging In Hell
- 25. Conform Or Die
- 26. Napalm Death – SOB
- 27. Unchallenged Hate
- 28. Mentally Murdered
- 29. From Enslavement To Obliteration
- 30. Suffer The Children
- 31. Retreat To Nowhere
- 32. Scum
- 33. Deceiver
- 34. Social Sterility
- Extreme Noise Terror:
- 35. False Profit
- 36. Another Nail In The Coffin
- 37. Use Your Mind
- 38. Carry On Screaming
- 39. Human Error
- 40. Conned Through Life
- 41. Only In It For The Music Pt. 2
- 42. Take The Strain
- 43. Murder
- 44. No Threat
- 45. Show Us You Care
- 46. Propaganda
- 47. System Enslavement
- 48. Only In It For The Music Part 3
- 49. Work For Never
- 50. Subliminal Music (Mind Control)
- 51. People, Not Profit
- 52. Punk Fact Or Faction
- 53. I Am A Bloody Fool
- 54. In It For Life
- 55. Deceived
- 56. Shock Treatment
- DISK 2
- Carcass:
- 57. Crepitating Bowel Erosion
- 58. Slash Dementia
- 59. Cadaveric Incubator Of Endo Parasites
- 60. Reek Of Putrefaction
- 61. Empathological Necroticism
- 62. Foeticide
- 63. Fermenting Innards
- 64. Exhume To Consume
- Bolt Thrower:
- 65. Forgotten Existence
- 66. Attack In The Aftermath
- 67. Psychological Warfare
- 68. In Battle There Is No Law
- 69. Drowned In Torment
- 70. Eternal War
- 71. Realm Of Chaos
- 72. Domination
- 73. Destructive Infinity
- 74. Warmaster
- 75. After Life
- 76. Lost Souls Domain
- DISK 3
- Godflesh:
- 77. Tiny Tears
- 78. Wound (Not Wound)
- 79. Pulp
- 80. Like Rats
- Unseen Terror:
- 81. Incompatible
- 82. Burned Beyond Recognition
- 83. Oblivion Descends
- 84. Divisions
- 85. Voice Your Opinion
- 86. Strong Enough To Change
- 87. Odie’s Revenge
- 88. It’s My Life
- Heresy:
- 89. Flowers (In Concrete)
- 90. Belief
- 91. Network Of Friends
- 92. Sick Of Stupidity
- 93. Too Slow To Judge
- 94. A Sense Of Freedom
- 95. Consume
- 96. Face Up To It
- 97. Into The Grey
- 98. When Unity Becomes Solidarity
- 99. The Street Enters The House
- 100. Cornered Rat
- 101. Open Up
- 102. Everyday Madness Everyday
- 103. Break The Connection
- 104. Ghettoised
- 105. Network Ends
- 106. Release
- 107. Genocide
- Intense Degree:
- 108. Hangin’ On
- 109. Vagrants
- 110. Skate-Bored
- 111. Intense Degree
- 112. All The Guys
- 113. Daydreams
- 114. Take No Chances
- 115. Future Shock
- 116. Politician
- 117. Allegiance
- 118. Bursting