IT'S DEFINITELY GRINDCORE // Nasum - Shift // Composer Reaction & Album Analysis

[@Rose-From-the-Dead]

This was the best album analysis I've ever seen. Its been awesome watching your journey of discovering new music. Im a total prog nerd too, but i love grindcore and punk too. In fact, i have a live album and a demo album from my old punk band from high school on my channel. It would be super cool if you reacted to one or both of them. The Stimulants... Love you, man! 😘

[@AA-ou2ye]

I did really enjoy this video and the unexpected shift in your opinion about the music. They have 30 seconds songs cause they are inspired by crust punk where 30 second songs are common. Also album is meant to be played from start to finish and the slower songs will make it some room to breathe. Extreme music is the reason I was attracted to the channel. There is a lot of extreme music out there so it's important to try to pick those that are important and innovative and pioneers in the style. Nasum did really try to perfect the art of grind/crust core they succeeded, there is really no other band that have perfect the art of grind as they have. The singer was killer in tsunami in 2004 and the world of grindcore was left in emptiness. I hope you will check out the band mirrorthrone do a full album of latest album please it's extreme metal with beo classical ideas both clean and growl vocals it's a one man project. There is alot of things to analyze in this album from your perspective for sure.

[@Rose-From-the-Dead]

One more comment... The symbolism of oppression and suffocation being a main theme and then the singer dying by literally being crushed and suffocated by a giant wave is fascinating

[@7heSlime]

One of my favorite bands of all time, I was lucky enough to see them live 4-5 times prior to Miezko's tragic death and thrice on their farewell tour in 2012.

[@-neurasthenie-]

The ''Groove-y'' moments in between the chaos is exactly what made me started to listen to grindcore, and specifically bands that are influenced by Nasum (that is to say, mostly Wormrot). The fact that they could put so many different directions into extremely fast and short songs became very attractive, to the point that the more subtleties I started to pick up, the more I started thinking that the songs were getting slower with each listen lol

[@codexnecro]

Oh man, I haven't heard this in almost 20 years. Also, a few months after the release of this album, their vocalist died in the 2004 tsunami. :\

[@Rose-From-the-Dead]

Same. I totally forgot about these guys

[@Rose-From-the-Dead]

You need to come at grindcore and punk with an ironic attitude.

[@Rose-From-the-Dead]

Oh yeah, and if you want the best gindcore album of all time? Prowler in the Yard by Pig Destroyer

[@satricon]

Glorious album! So fun that you're doing a reaction to it! It has so many layers! Absolute tragedy that the guitarist perished in the tsunami. I bet their next album would have been absolutely amazing! They were heading in the right direction! To add to your question in the end. It is a little bit of a challenge to catch everything thats going on... but thats what makes the album last longer for me. after a bunch of listens there's tons of melodies and details that makes it so good! Even the blastbeat parts can have interesting riffs even tho the almost sounds like only noise on the first listen!

[@ShadinCore]

2:32:31 since album is from 2004, i would assume that "fight terror with terror" is not a rallying cry, but about war on terror

[@CriticalReactions]

Someone else let me know that this album was very much about W. Bush so that makes sense. Though looking it up it seems that the "War on Terror" was first publicly used in 2006 so maybe not.

[@ShadinCore]

@@CriticalReactions wikipedia at least says "U.S. president George W. Bush first used the term "war on terrorism" on 16 September 2001, and then "war on terror" a few days later in a formal speech to Congress." 🤔

[@CriticalReactions]

@ Not sure what I was reading then 😂

[@satricon]

Honestly i'd recommend that you also listen to their previous album "helvete" from 2003. It also has a bunch of bangers among the grind and madness! Especially the song "Scoop"

[@Mirulkaire]

It's relatively common for grindcore albums to have very little breathing room between tracks, and it's also common for song transitions to feel super arbitrary. With how often the bands shift tempo, someone not looking at the tracklist might think a section has ended instead of an entire song. Part of myself wants to chalk it up to the intent you mentioned: transmitting suffocating dread onto the listener. Considering that the genre has its roots on crust punk, another genre who champions unfiltered addressing of societal injustices, I feel it's a stylistic choice to add to the unease expressed by the lyrics (which are... very hard to understand most of the time). All in all, grindcore is, as most if not all punk genres are, about intensity and the physicality of the music that is played. Purposefully aggressive and oftentimes ugly, but compelling in its unapologetic approach. It can be hard to get into, that's for sure, but there are few better places one can look into that offer greater catharsis through thrashing about.

[@iachtulhu1420]

I like Shift very much as any of their recordings, because I'm biased being their big fan for 25 years almost since I first heard them on 1998 LP Inhale/Exhale. To this day, I think this is their peak even though it's less developed then Human 2.0 or Shift, it's much more classical grindcore. As regards to grindcore, it's a hard sell, an acquired taste, always was. I'm well aware of that. This limitation is also it's biggest strength, I think. Grindcore purposefully stayed loyal to DIY approach, underground and less media exposure than other styles of punk and metal. Thus for the many of bands and styles within the genre you can hear less developed production, less musicality and less diversity but it's for the most part those little transitions that give extra energy and catchiness. Oh, it's necessary to say, grindcore isn't metal but it isn't pure punk either. It's a crossover genre created in 1986 when UK hardcore punks/crust punks listen to much of US fastcore aka Siege, Deep Wound, Negative FX and early extreme metal, proto-black/death like Venom and Hellhammer/Celtic Frost. Napalm Death's early sound morphed from anarcho punk in 1982 to crust punk in 1984-1985 to 1986 early demos that introduced the first blast beats in such kind of music, though invention of blast beats isn't a grindcore thing, but it was introduced to metal via grindcore and then death metal acquired a much speed soon after. Blast beats and harsh vocals, first sort of proto-growls and confrontational lyrics were mainly a hardcore punk thing by the early to mid 80s. Metalheads were still for the most part unaware of this extreme hardcore punk underground but when they had the exposure of such styles metal automatically became even faster even more concentrated on extreme vocals, iconography and more abrasive sound. Grindcore was born from early extreme hardcore punk and early proto-extreme metal but stayed mostly out of media and popular metal/punk spaces. Thus people are usually not accustomed to grindcore's barbaric intensity and aggressive no bullshit approach. People tend to have specific expectations when it comes to extreme metal, but grindcore is an anomaly because it doesn't adhere to any developed musical standards, musical theory and sometimes musicality at all. "Noise not music" tag was unironically applied to grindcore following it's dark rise from the hardcore punk/crust underground. The shortness and bluntness of songs and speed definitively comes from punk forefathers of the genre. Metallic influences are also present, but the degree of metallic and punk influences varies depending on scene, time and place and style of grindcore. Some bands almost come across as pure noisy hardcore punk with blast beats and growls/screams, and some bands almost sound like more primitive death metal with many punk power chords part and d-beat drumming. Also, Nasum are considered a pioneers of later waves of grindcore and fast acquired a legendary status. I was blown away, literally fell from chair at their first tones I heard from them being very close to speakers in early 2000. This is when my love for grindcore in general and Nasum in particular began. I craved relentless energy, obnoxiousness and direct approach. As for lyrics, grindcore tends to circle around socio-political, mostly anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist lyrics due to its origin in anarcho punk and hardcore/crust subcultures where these topics are more directly spoken about than in a lot of metal. Also there is cynical, nihilist humor to it, with existentialist, absurdist take on personal and societal life in general. It's almost always rooted in reality as opposed to metal's more epic, fantasy, occult oriented lyrics. Punk side definitively shines more I would say.

[@CriticalReactions]

Thanks for the extended context, particularly the kind of music it is and it's history with punk and metal. I also appreciate the lyrical context of the genre as a whole. That'll put me in the right mindset for my next venture into grindcore.

[@iachtulhu1420]

​@@CriticalReactions You're welcome. I thought it would be helpful to give context for grindcore, since it's culture is a little different from what, let's say, a standard metalhead expects. It's much more minimalist, more DIY, more rough around the edges, confrontational, prone to sloppiness, sounds unpolished, with nods to its two evolutionary trajectories: hardcore punk and extreme metal. For the whole time grindcore is here, it's a polarizing genre, not surprising given that it's considered among the most extreme guitar oriented genres if not the most extreme. It helps to situate it in right context so that expectations are at a appropriate "level", so to speak. I have buddies that don't mind dirty brutal death metal with gnarly inhuman vocals, low end bass, guitar distortion and overall massive production but have troubles with listening to grindcore, it's like their ears aren't accustomed to it, as if they expect for grindcore to be a really primitive version of what they already listen to. But in reality, some of grindcore acts have more in common with let's say extreme crust punk/crustcore or fastcore then metal of any kind. People lock into riffs and memorable catchy structures with buildups, but this is not so in grindcore where songs can end abruptly at any point in time (or to be fair in those minute or so at most :)). Grindcore albums are mostly meant to be listened as a whole. When I was a lot younger I noticed the superficial similarity between grindcore and brutal death metal. I didn't even understand the difference, I lacked the context and historical story behind it. Both genres feature growls, screams, blast beats, low tuned guitars, prominent bass guitar, very dark and negative lyrical themes and esthetics etc... but they are rather different, they have different feel, different intention and different history. Yet, both took from each other during their historical co-existence. It's not even that grindcore is necessarily more fast in BPM department, it's not even necessary for it to have more extreme vocals than those in brutal death metal, it's just for the most part its intensity, rage, uncompromising essence and short bursts of noise that makes it almost generally more extreme then brutal death metal. In that sense, I mean. Grindcore usually tends to never hide its punk basis. If we take Cattle Decapitation and exchange some of their more nuanced and developed death metal riffs and instead put more ignorant grindcore punky riffs, shorten the song lengths and build more on short bursts on anger of alternating blast beats with d-beats or skank beats over power chords then spending a lot of time on whole sections of interchange of blast beats and grooves, we would transform it into grindcore. Some bands began as a grindcore band and then morphed into more death metal approach or preserved grindcore elements, now being deathgrind. A notable example of this is transitional phase of Napalm Death in early 90s, Benighted, early Misery Index

[@ambassadortourettes753]

Nasum (pronounced 'nah-zumm') is a band I literally could not walk this earth without listening to everyday! I felt like it was my birthday seeing this listed lol... Grindcore is more commonly regarded as a hyper fast sonic onslaught of Hardcore/Punk-Rock despite having similar dynamics as Death Metal, Bands like Napalm Death represent, sport, and showcase such punk-rock/hardcore influences verses a band like Cannibal Corpse that has more roots in Metal/Thrash Metal for example but of course these technical differences would be lost on the common listener that cares little for extreme music. A band like Misery Index (regionally and geographically is based close to the NEW YORK Hardcore/Punk-Rock scene and equally why bands like Napalm Death from the U.K naturally have more Hardcore/Punk Rock influences) is a good example of a band highly influenced by Nasum and would be defined as Death-Grind lol an obvious mix of the two styles into what I think is pure heaven and is my favorite form of extreme music... Without Nasum's influence we would absolutely not have many likened bands in the scene.... This album is best experienced hearing all the tracks as just one long song so the momentum carries through... Otherwise it is like jogging then stopping and restarting at every cross street lol Of course we do not want you to have an aneurysm so the format of these breakdown reactions to give you a break probably saved your life. Made my day as always man! Killer you regarded and intuited the chainsaw waterfall known as Nasum ARE purposely NOT letting the listener breath a second if they can help it and all their albums are like this... I always instantly have sympathy pains for you when I see a title like this and we all salute your willingness to suffer through something relentless (mind you I love this band but I rarely make it through an entire album myself lol) like this that some people like myself NEED to get through the moments of life without shooting up a Walmart... Lastly I just paused it after WRATH lol They made a official video for it and upon seeing it before hearing the album I loved it and naturally was curious if there was going to be more songs that breath like this??? I literally turned to my friend and was like?? They GOT to be Trolling us lol... I bet you THIS is THE ONLY song like this on the album lol and the marketing of that specific track was pretty genius to attract more listeners that would buy the album and then be like??? WTF??? lol There is no song remotely that tempo on the rest of it and I was actually stoked because I thought they might abandon some of their Grind styles and as I suspected they did NOT.... I paused it before you went into it lol Knowing this song would pull wool over your eyes for a second and I couldn't stop laughing knowing that the rest of the album would INSTANTLY go back to pervious formats and it is nice to know you at least enjoyed their one off lol... I cant wait to hear whatever hope you had upon hearing this quickly fade into a chasm of noise.... I am about to see what I predict as I press play again just knowing how short lived the groove and coherency of the longest song they might have lasts BEFORE you realize it was all just a tease lol I have seen them live and they do play their set with very few breaks and they merge the songs in order by the way they appear on the albums for these songs are more pieces of music than songs and often meant to be experienced together in groups and it is not uncommon for Grindcore bands to string together their songs for better cohesion live... Who wants to stop between 30 second to 2 minute songs to introduce a song that takes longer to say than the actual track lol Also as far as the bass? Grindcore tends to have intention buzzing distortion on the tone that tend to blend very close to the guitar tones... I can hear the bass clear as day on this album and once one picks up on it? One knows that it basically is half of the guitar tones and distortion you are hearing.... We also appreciate you catching and backing out of the swimming metaphor for obvious reasons and I do believe he not only died in the tsunami, but he died trying to save his girl friend and I do believe she survived (I could be wrong about all of these specifics) However its the closest we might ever come to romanticizing a GrindCore legend such as Mieszko Talarczyk R.I.P It is beyond me what in the world lead you to doing an entire album by Nasum lol as much as I enjoyed it and even I think your time could have been better spent... Regardless it elevates your regards to be open to very one dimensional music like this and we respect the hell out of that... With that being said I would say Nasum absolutely does have some gold if panned for and Grindcore is generally a sheer protest to the ears and Nasum packs not only punch but a very sincere emotional plight of expression best represented by the senses of woebegone and laments one can hear in their moments of oppressive melodic might... I watched the whole thing until the end so you did not suffer alone.... I mean it could have been worse right?? You could have done a Portal album lol

[@CriticalReactions]

I'm glad you enjoyed this and I appreciate the extra context this puts on the album, particularly regarding their intentions with this album as well as the track WRATH. I'll have to give another song or two a listen and try to hear that bass. As for a live show I think something like this would have me totally defeated by the end of a show, especially if they play with as little stops as possible 😅 -- but I suppose that's also the point.

[@benwebb4424]

Since you mentioned liking the drummer I will recommend you check out his current band Axis Of Despair. They're also a grindcore band, just as groovy as Nasum though.

[@zagumaar]

My favorite nasum album ❤

[@ShadinCore]

this reaction went pretty much as i assumed it would go: worn down by the constant sound meatgrinder while sometimes appreciating few groovy and atmospheric moments i guess i didn't thought you would appreciate some tracks as much as you did, but on the other hand i didn't think you would question lyrics as much as you did, as usually you look up who artist is somewhere in the middle (and also maybe checked out how to pronounce "nasum"🤣), so i thought you would get where they stood politically, but you kinda figured it out as you went so it's all good

[@nicolashunter4131]

One of the best grindcore bands ever, Nasum was one of those bands that pushed the limits of the genre, this album has so many swedish death metal influences, also it´s more melodic it´s predecessors