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Nasum: Helvete

10/02/12 || BamaHammer

Grindcore has never been my thing. I don’t get all fired up for a Napalm Death album. I know who Shane Embury is, but it’s just because of the way he looks (and he guests on this record). It’s just not a genre for which I, as a metal aficionado, have a taste. However, for some reason, Nasum was always one of those death-tastic grindcore bands that worked for me, and “Helvete” has always been an album I’ve immensely enjoyed.

This album is everything one would expect from Nasum. It’s loud, aggressive, relentless grind complete with sociopolitical lyrical content and more grooves than you would know what to do with. They find a way to make 22 tracks fit perfectly in the span of 35 minutes, and they always manage to bludgeon your ears and make you like it for every second.

First and foremost, the production is fantastic. The guitars are massive and so extremely gainy that it can even be hard to pick out exact riffs at times, but the sounds matches the overall fury of the album so well you can’t complain. The times where Mieszko turns up the precision, however, are the moments when the songwriting and riffing really shine.

Even though the majority of the songs on this album don’t come remotely close to topping two minutes in length, there are an incredible number of catchy and memorable moments. This is truly an album for the minimalist. Unlike countless other bands, Nasum doesn’t attempt to sneak in any fluff or filler here. They just hit you with blow after blow of elite grind riffing, and I absolutely dig the shit out of it.

They do happen to avoid many of the pitfalls of deliberate short songwriting as well, as tracks not just short for the sake of being short. Musically and lyrically, I feel like “Helvete” is one of the few albums that I own which legitimately strives to express something profound. The approach the songwriting takes, in the end, is simple and to-the-point. They say what they have to say and move on.

As fans of metal in general, we all know all too well that lyrics are not necessarily a typical metal band’s strong suit. Usually, lyrical content ranges from broken English nonsense to Norwegian nonsense to perfect English nonsense and everything in every language in between. Lyrics have always been charmingly stupid and devoid of any realism for the most part, and we will always be fine with that. The thing for which I always gave the utmost respect to Nasum was their intelligent hatred. Lyrically, Nasum could express their feelings toward social injustices and political downfalls better than any news outlet. They didn’t use flowery vocabulary or deep metaphors. They just called it like they saw it.

I miss Nasum. Just as I was getting into them, Mieszko Talarczyk was tragically taken away from us by that tsunami in 2004, but at least his legacy left behind by works like this will grant him and his band immortality. These guys were as elite as any band can ever be, and “Helvete” is one helvete of an album.

8,5

Information
Released: 2003
Label: Relapse
Website: www.nasum.com
Band
Mieszko Talarczyk: vocals, guitar
Jesper Liveröd: bass, vocals
Anders Jakobson: drums

Tracklist
01. Violation
02. Scoop
03. Living Next Door to Malice
04. Stormshield
05. Time to Discharge
06. Bullshit
07. Relics
08. We Curse You All
09. Doombringer
10. Just Another Hog
11. Drop Dead
12. I Hate People
13. Go!
14. The Final Sleep
15. Slaves to the Grind
16. Breach of Integrity
17. The Everlasting Shame
18. Your Words Alone
19. Preview of Hell
20. Illogic
21. Whip
22. Worst Case Scenario

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