The onset of their most distinct form – 72%
Zodijackyl, July 1st, 2013
At this point in Nasum’s career, their style is close to being fully developed into the style that would make up the classic Inhale/Exhale. There are some great hooks that really get into their groove, grind with a bit of a feel of groove in it, and great vocal hooks. Even within the blur of their blasting and grinding, Nasum have a very distinct sound, it has their signature. There is a certain inflection to the vocal, a bounce to the guitars rather than a complete blur, and the way they rip into and out of the grinding sections and intersperse them with slight breaks is what really differentiates them from bands who grind without the same feeling that they manage to give it.
Nasum have this brutal duality in their music, where they manage aggressive grinding – blast beats and a blur of guitars – while the vocals and guitars still weave traces of hooks into it, but they aren’t as pronounced as the prominent riffs that they lead with. It’s a sort of hybrid that Napalm Death seemed to spend the 90s searching for, but failing to create in half a dozen albums until getting it together around 2005. It is quite fitting that Napalm Death noted Nasum as a band they heard around then that gave new life to the band, because with all respect to the band, their great works, and even their listenable groovegrind albums, Nasum took the groovegrind style that Napalm Death tried to pioneer and took the helm to make it kick a lot of fucking ass, and that really started to take shape here.
While it isn’t the beast that is Inhale/Exhale, that style is developing here and it’s damn good in its own right, and a milestone in this band’s development. Give it a listen, it’s not long.
Abstain play some sort of primitive, hollow, old school death metal blended with grind and driven full force ahead with a hardcore punk edge. It’s sort of a mix of late 80s Napalm Death, early Nasum, and a bit of amateur death metal with scooped production. Perhaps they’re a poor man’s Terrorizer (or a smart man’s Resistant Culture?) – they’re somewhat, though not entirely, reminiscent of them. Good enough grind to get by, but Nasum’s material is much more attractive and enjoyable. Tough spot to be playing decent music on the other side of a split with a band that does what you do twice as well.
rafazardly 