Trying to get into grindcore: Part 2 – 75%
Valfars Ghost, March 10th, 2018
Human 2.0 doesn’t show any mercy. Nasum’s second album is so aggressive that it’s undeserved by the description “vicious as hell.” This assault on the senses is single-minded in its ambition to pound the shit out of your ears. With hyperspeed grinding, rabid shouts, and recklessly brutal drumming, this album is surely a grindcore enthusiast’s dream. For others, the tone and aggression may be tough to muscle past but if you manage it, there’s a good deal of worthwhile stuff being offered here.
Once a 20-second stretch of creeping ambiance is out of the way, the album slams at you with the fury of a thousand son-strangling Homer Simpsons. A few of the shorter songs here (lookin’ at you, ‘Nar Dagarna’ and ‘Sick System’) sound like they’re just trying to overwhelm you with their speed and intensity without making any real considerations for rhythm or melody. For the most part, though, the album is made up of songs with a ferocity that’s paired with a commitment to delivering worthwhile and sometimes memorable sections. Even most of the briefest songs like ‘Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow’ tend to be made of multiple rhythms that charge straight at you like one of those infected motherfuckers from 28 Days Later. Memorable vocal lines follow strong riffs and groove patterns through most of the release, with the band’s songwriting capabilities only obscured by the Human 2.0’s intensity in rare circumstances.
The sound quality is surprisingly rich and full. The guitars and the drums attack you without subtlety. This is both an asset and a detriment. In the moments that just sound like Mieszko Talarczyk shouting over a messy canvas of superfast grinding, the robust production makes it feel like the album is trying to shove as much extra-loud content into your ears as possible. At other times, it works to the album’s advantage, with the clear mixing lending the album a propulsive force carried on the backs of a jagged guitar tone and punishingly crisp drums. When they arise, which is quite frequently, the production highlights the well-constructed and sometimes memorable rhythms found throughout.
Listening to Human 2.0 isn’t easy. As good as a lot of its parts may be, it’s still incredibly coarse and its speed, aggression, and loudness can be overwhelming. Grindcore is one of the last genres anyone wanting to craft songs with nuance and memorable passages should try to break into but these Swedes managed to build their wall of eardrum-abusing noise around some good, engaging rhythms. Despite this, there’s no compromise on intensity. Exposure to this album would still reduce your parents to piles of smoldering ash.
rafazardly 