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Nasum - Human 2.0
Nasum - Human 2.0
Relapse Records - 2000
By Philip Whitehouse
This'll show 'em. A legion of nu-metal fans, growing up on a staple diet of Limp Bizkit, Korn and Linkin Park, sit blissfully unaware of the head-crushing racket that should by rights be steam-rolling their way. This, ladies and gentleman, is Nasum .
Human 2.0 may well be only their second album, but their previous experience with various split disks, label samplers and genre compilations have served them well. They are a three-piece from Sweden who specialise in skull-shattering, eardrum-bursting grindcore noise. Imagine Napalm Death supercharged and even more pissed-off and you have Nasum.
To the uninitiated, Nasum may just sound like hyperactive drumming layered over frantic screaming and random guitar thrashing, but listen to it with a more careful ear and you'll notice that there's a frenetically mechanical nature to the drumming that causes your head to bang of its own accord, and that there are some extremely technical, fast-paced and overall catchy riffs happening beneath the percussive storm.
Nasum's best moments, however, are undoubtedly when they slow down for a second and let some structure show through the songs. The brutal denouement of second track "A Welcome Breeze Of Stinking Air" proves that the band can shatter your ribcage just as effectively with a morbidly sinister, pounding drumbeat as they can with machine gun riffage and anarchic skin-bashing.
Sheer genius.
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