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Rating:
With the release of this live album, which has been awaited for many, perhaps too many years, the recording adventure of Nasum definitively concludes. This is the band that probably best interpreted and breathed new life into a genre often rigid and not very inclined to innovation, like grindcore: a career that began back in 1992, went through the release of four great albums and the colossal compilation "Grind Finale," in which the two CDs gather numerous EPs and splits, contributions to compilations, and a substantial number of unreleased tracks recorded during the 12 years of existence by the Swedish band, which disbanded following the tragic death of singer and guitarist Mieszko Talarczyk, who perished in the tsunami of December 26, 2004.
Recorded in January 2004 in Osaka with the final 4-member lineup also present in Shift, the last studio album by Nasum (in addition to Mieszko Talarczyk, we find Urban Skytt on guitar, Jon Lindqvist on bass, and Anders Jakobson on drums), "Doombringer" retraces the band's history through its sixteen tracks, from the first album "Inhale/Exhale" to the third, "Helvete" ("Shift" would be released in the second half of 2004). The production, simple and clean as well as incisive, like the tracks on the album, conveys all the live energy of the band, which offers the listener a truly convincing and engaging performance.
In the album, practically an EP given the very short length (just 23 minutes, plus the "Scoop" video as a bonus), direct, fast, and aggressive tracks follow one another without interruption, in a crescendo of intensity as well as quality. After a somewhat subdued start with "Corrosion" (in this case, the original version is undoubtedly better), the trio of "Doombringer" "Just Another Hog" and "Inhale/Exhale" reveals all the potential of the four Swedes: throughout the live, the older, simple, and direct tracks (the captivating "Inhale/Exhale", "Löpandebandsprincipen") alternate smoothly with others belonging to the last phase of the band, decidedly more elaborate in composition (excellent versions of "Scoop", the aforementioned "Just Another Hog", and especially "Relics", which in its constant tension is perhaps the best episode of the bunch).
There are few criticisms I feel I can make of "Doombringer": first of all, the length, which I have already mentioned previously: the album is definitely too short, especially considering the quality of the tracks present (essentially, I would have appreciated a greater number of tracks). Additionally, a bit sparse is the packaging, limited to a simple digipak with decidedly Spartan graphics, with only a brief contribution from drummer Anders Jakobson describing the circumstances in which the live was recorded (in any case, nothing fundamental).
For the rest, although not all of what I consider the band's best compositions appear, the setlist is of excellent level, as is the execution: faithful to the studio versions for the tracks from Helvete, although characterized by a greater urgency linked to the live rendition; even better, in many cases, for the older pieces that, reinterpreted through the fuller sound of the later Nasum period, sound even more powerful and rich in insights compared to the originals (see in this regard "This is..." or "The Masked Face" and the very fast "Den Svarta Fanan", which closes the album excellently).
Of course, it's not an essential album, for that there are the previous masterpieces of the Örebro band: but although aware that I am facing a product aimed more at those who want to have everything from the group, I cannot refrain, given the quality of the content, from giving it a more than positive rating.
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Corrosion (02:09)
Corrosion
Corrosion
Corrosion
Like water corroding metal
Your world is withering
All you had you have lost
Never to return again
Your life, will rust
Particles that used to be you
Falling down like dead skin
What once shone is now matt
It can never be saved
Rusting from the inside out
Dead and dry you fall apart
You're nothing but corrosive waste
So what's the point of trying?
Corrosion... no devotion
So tied up with no devotion
Your life is falling apart
You've lost your sense of color
Everything is in shades of red and brown
04 Inhale/Exhale (01:35)
Inhale/exhale
You breathe to live
You breathe - you die
Inhale/exhale
05 Scoop (02:20)
A new beginning, a fresh clean path
Yet slightly curved and striving to come back
The one you thought you were is gone
A loss of faith, all bridges burned
A strong commitment to return
and find the place where it all began to... burn!
A failure, a disgrace
You'll get yourself erased
An old replacement will not do
Only fresh young meat will satisfy you
The purist in you tells you to stay clean
Your conscience now removed with haste
The stench of death reveals the taste
So precisely portrayed within frames - then replaced...
...the stench of death reveals the taste...
...an empty shell is all that remains...
...slow death...
06 Bullshit (00:44)
(Music & lyrics: Mieszko A. Talarczyk)
You claim you're being civilized
A barbarian tribe forcing it's views
upon a world you hardly recognize
Securing your wealth with brutal force
You call it "defence"
When will you wake up and realize
There will come a time when enough is enough
The ones you shit on, on your way up
Will surely shit on you on your way down
Defence?
Bullshit!
Defence?
Bullshit!
09 I Hate People (01:27)
[Music & lyrics: Mieszko A. Talarczyk]
When you try too hard
to find meaning in what you see
You forget the origin of the landscape
so carefully laid out at your feet
Is it hard for you to understand?
Does it bother you that I don't fucking care?
I'm not here for you to read me
like an open book, so don't fucking ask
I'm just thinking, thinking loud
bringing words to tongue and moving fast
All this shit you take for granted
leads to nothing, makes no sense
Instead of waiting for being told
maybe you should tell yourself?
You're a slow learner, you'll never last
In a world so cold you're supposed to make it fast!
Disappointed - yes, but this is hardly news
You're disadvantaged from the start
There's no denying it and you are through...
I hate people telling me what to do - fuck you!
11 A Welcome Breeze of Stinking Air (01:35)
Now the balance is set
We're changing foot from left to right
Eager and with false hope
We gave them our trust
Speech on speech
Lies on top of lies
Empty Promises
The guys are having such a blast...
But nothing's changed
It is just a different set of lies
Nothing's changed
It is just a different set of lies...
Attempting to win
It's a race without a finish line
They're all relay-runners
And you're left behind
Thank you, come again
It has been nice shitting you
Improvement's around the corner
Your vote made a difference...
But nothing will change
It is just a different set of lies
Nothing will change
It is just a different set of lies...
12 Fatal Search (00:36)
Millions of human lives to sacrifice
They were born to die now they're dead at last
Millions of human lives to sacrifice
Born to die...
Wished for death all their lives
Searching for truth on the other side
Darkened souls to purify
Dead and buried...
Millions of human lives to sacrifice
They were born to die now they're dead at last
Millions of human lives to sacrifice
Born to die...
15 The Idiot Parade (01:22)
Thought you were deaf
Yeah, I thought you were blind
When you just stood there
While the idiots walked in line
In the idiot parade
You are taking their side
You are holding their hands
You stupid motherfucker
This must come to an end
Come to an end!
Your senseless thoughts of racial pride
Have infested your weak mind
Will you ever realise?
It's not you or them - it's us!
Protected by laws
Made by your own kind
It's the system in progress
It's the death of the free mind...
It's the idiot parade!
Deaf, dumb and blind
May be your only excuse
Not how much you have suffered
Not the years of abuse
The truth is foolproof!
Your senseless thoughts of racial pride
Have infested your weak mind
Will you ever realise?
It's not you or them - it's us!
Face me
Convince me
And show me
How I am wrong, what I have started
Blame me
Seduce me
Convict me
Decide my fate and end my struggle.
Nothing went wrong
There is no one to blame
Yet no one is safe
When the idiots are on parade!
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