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Nasum: Human 2.0

30/08/07 || The Duff

I’m not the biggest grind fan out there. In fact, there are only four grind bands I listen to: Nasum, Cephalic Carnage, Pig Destroyer and Rotten Sound. Two of these sound very much identical (even if this isn’t the case, my ignorance in the matter should at least get the message across that grind just isn’t my thing); something about twenty-odd tracks comprising old punk riffs and drums that drown out a great majority of the death metal riffs that I might actually enjoy often entails the necessity that I seriously invest my time when listening to a grind album, which means that I select the bands that practice the sub-genre with great care, as there’s only so much “relentless noise” I can take in one sitting.

Nasum are, as much as being a grind outfit, also probably one of the best metal bands of our time. Some do claim that they are a shit band, but I’ve often found that these people prefer all the aspects of grind that I despise; low-budget productions, grimy guitar tone, loadsa punk attitude and drums that render most of the guitar parts entirely impotent. What Nasum deliver is a lot of Napalm Death groove with a side-order of mayhem (courtesy of Jakobson, a damn fine drummer to say the least), along with little spatters of melody and a couple of bob-yer-head moments, giving rise to something that is very brutal indeed but not at the expense of a well written album. I would say well written tunes here, but most don’t surpass the two minute mark, so an album’s ability to flow through twenty-five tracks without sounding like endless blasts and repetitive riffs combined is the recipe for success here, and “Human 2.0” certainly exceeds all expectations on such a front.

On “Human 2.0”, you don’t quite get the band’s perfected sound as that experienced on “Helvete” or “Shift”, but you do get all of the charms and none of the setbacks off the debut album along with the killer songwriting that would be taken up but a couple of notches on later efforts, as well as a warm and fuzzy production with an absolutely monstrous bass sound (next to Tool’s “Lateralus”, definitely one of the best I’ve heard), all of which is unique to this Nasum album alone. This is still very much an essential purchase from these helveterish (dunno if I got this one right) of Swedes, even to the degree of its immediate successor.

This scores an eight to nine, but I’m going to make it a definite nine for the sublime album cover. A funny story about a fan’s reaction to the artwork can be found on the band’s official website, if you’re willing to hunt around the discography section for this album.

9 homoerotic covers out of 10.

Information
Released: 2000
Label: Relapse
Website: www.nasum.com
Band
Mieszko Talarczyk: vocals, guitars
Jesper Liveröd: bass
Anders Jakobson: vocals, drums

Tracklist
01. Mass Hypnosis
02. A Welcome Breeze Of Stinking Air
03. Fatal Search
04. Shadows
05. Corrosion
06. Multinational Murderers Network
07. Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow
08. The Black Swarm
09. Sixteen
10. Alarm
11. Detonator
12. Gargoyles And Grotesques
13. När Dagarna…
14. Resistance
15. The Idiot Parade
16. Den Svarta Fanan
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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