Nasum
Human 2.0

THE REVIEW

Nasum. A name that probably means nothing to many, but those well-versed in extreme underground know they were one of the most ferocious and ground-shattering bands in the history of grindcore.

Formed in Sweden in the distant 1992 by Mieszko Talarczyk (screaming vocals, guitar), Anders Jakobsson (drums), Jon Lindqvist (bass, growl), and Urban Skytt (second guitarist), the band began its glorious journey through a series of splits and EPs, including "Industrislaven" and "Blind World", which already highlighted the band's distinctive features: a powerful grindcore influenced by Swedish death metal and hardcore, learnings from the masters Napalm Death, but without becoming a mere carbon copy, personalized by the corrosive guitar sound, the singer's piercing screams, and the obsessive and super-fast rhythms.

In 1997, they got a contract with Relapse, which allowed the band to record the 4 albums they released over 6 years, before the leader tragically died in the Tsunami at the end of 2004: this "Human 2.0" is the second album by Nasum, released in 2001, three years after the first "Inhale/Exhale".

25 tracks in 38 minutes, short, super-fast, crushing, corrosive, inhuman, which in few cases reach 2 minutes long, while resembling more sound shards than real songs, manage to be intricate and less assimilable than one might think. Within a single song, there are several tempo changes: blastbeats, crust-hardcore rhythms, melodic death metal parts perfectly amalgamate to create a rigorous, cold, perfect and twisted sound, as well as furious and tending to chaos. Scattered throughout the album, we find true little masterpieces like "Shadows", "Multinational Murderers Network", the slowed (so to speak) "The Professional League" and the concluding "Sometimes Dead Is Better" (the longest on the album, 2:58 minutes) which confirm what has just been said.

The shortest tracks ("Fatal Search", "Sick System" and a few others under a minute) are also the less valuable, but they disappear compared to tracks like "A Welcome Breeze Of Stinking Air" (which starts with a purely grind-death section only to transition into a devastating mid-tempo at the end), "The Idiot Parade" and "Nar Dagarna", which all maintain a decidedly high quality level.

In essence, "Human 2.0" is a grand album of a now-historic grind band, which rewrote the rules of a genre that was on the verge of being forgotten and brought it to enviable levels of evolution and perfection. Mieszko will always remain in the hearts of those who loved the band, their songs, and their political commitment, and we like to remember them as such: ferocious, aggressive, full of rage and energy to spare. An obligatory album for the group's fans, highly recommended for lovers of the genre.