Scum | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1 July 1987 | |||
Recorded | August 1986 (side A) May 1987 (side B) | |||
Studio | Rich Bitch Studios, Birmingham | |||
Genre | Grindcore[1] | |||
Length | 33:04 | |||
Label | Earache | |||
Producer | ||||
Napalm Death chronology | ||||
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Singles from Scum | ||||
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Scum is the debut studio album by English grindcore band Napalm Death, released on 1 July 1987 by Earache Records. The two sides of the record were recorded by two different lineups in sessions separated by about a year; the only musician in both incarnations was drummer Mick Harris. The two sides are very different, and the two taken together serve to bridge stylistic elements of heavy metal and punk rock. While the songs on the A-side are influenced heavily by hardcore punk and anarcho-punk, the vocals and lower-tuned electric guitars on the B-side anticipate subsequent developments in extreme metal. Loudwire put it in the list of the best 10 metal albums of 1987.
Scum sold over 10,000 copies in its first year of release, reaching number four[2] on the UK Indie chart. Since then, it has become known as a formative release in the grindcore genre. In 2005, Scum was voted the 50th best British album of all time by Kerrang! readers, and in 2009, it was ranked number five in Terrorizer's list of essential European grindcore albums;[3] it is also listed in Robert Dimery's book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[4]