From Enslavement to Obliteration

From Enslavement to Obliteration
Studio album by Napalm Death
Released 16 September 1988
Recorded July 1988 at Birdsong, Worcester
Genre Grindcore
Length 29:20
Label Earache
Producer Napalm Death
Dig
Napalm Death chronology
Scum
(1987)		 From Enslavement to Obliteration
(1988)		 Mentally Murdered
(1989)

From Enslavement to Obliteration is the second studio album by grindcore band Napalm Death, released in 1988. It is the final studio album with vocalist Lee Dorrian and guitarist Bill Steer, and the first to feature bassist Shane Embury, the band's longest-tenured member. A remastered version was released on 2 April 2012.

Background

The album's lyrical themes cover a variety of social and political topics, including misogyny/sexism ("It's a M.A.N.S World" and "Inconceivable?"), animal rights ("Display to Me…"), racism ("Unchallenged Hate" and "From Enslavement to Obliteration"), materialism ("Private Death"), and anti-capitalism ("Make Way!"). The album calls for social change, as seen in the song "Uncertainty Blurs the Vision," quoting Rudimentary Peni at the song's conclusion.

Shane Embury retrospectively commented on the band's progression up until From Enslavement to Obliteration in Kerrang! magazine:

It was a good experience but it was a brief one. Back in those days albums were recorded very quickly – we recorded the album in about six days and I think it cost about £800. In the early days in the very beginning before I joined, it was more of a crust punk band really but it was a natural progression, I think, to get faster and faster. Scum created a buzz and by the time we did FETO, we just wanted to push it as far as we could and as fast as possible. We weren't really consciously trying to break any rules but we weren't paying any attention to them either. If we wanted to do a song that was going to be 20 seconds long then we'd do it – we didn't think there was any reason not to. The vocals for us went hand-in-hand with the distorted bass guitar, distorted guitars and hyper-fast drumming".[1]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[2]

In 2009 From Enslavement to Obliteration was ranked number 1 in Terrorizer's list of essential European grindcore albums.[3] Writer Jonathan Horsley described it as marking "the genre's perilous rite of passage through Britain's post-industrial urban landscape."[3]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Evolved as One"3:13
2."It's a M.A.N.S World!"0:54
3."Lucid Fairytale"1:02
4."Private Death"0:35
5."Impressions"0:35
6."Unchallenged Hate"2:07
7."Uncertainty Blurs the Vision"0:40
8."Cock-Rock Alienation"1:20
9."Retreat to Nowhere"0:30
10."Think for a Minute"1:42
11."Display to Me…"2:43
12."From Enslavement to Obliteration"1:35
13."Blind to the Truth"0:21
14."Social Sterility"1:03
15."Emotional Suffocation"1:06
16."Practice What You Preach"1:23
17."Inconceivable?"1:06
18."Worlds Apart"1:24
19."Obstinate Direction"1:01
20."Mentally Murdered"2:13
21."Sometimes"1:06
22."Make Way!"1:36

The Curse

The Curse
EP by Napalm Death
Released September 1988
Genre Grindcore
Length 5:04
Label Earache (7MOSH 8)

The Curse is a free 7-inch extended play by the grindcore band Napalm Death, included in the initial copies of the From Enslavement to Obliteration LP, which was released through Earache Records in September 1988.[4]

The cover uses the famous photograph of Phan Thi Kim Phuc fleeing a napalm attack, taken by Nick Ut.

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."The Curse"3:17
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Musclehead"0:51
2."Your Achievement?"0:06
3."Dead"0:04
4."Morbid Deceiver"0:45
  • The song "Morbid Deceiver" is a re-recording of the song "Deceiver", originally on the album Scum.

Personnel

Trivia

Some LPs had a sticker with the following line printed on it: "We wanted to be the biggest rock band in the world and you don't do that sounding like Napalm Death" Joe Elliot (Def Leppard)[5]

Grindcore band Sore Throat included a track called "From Off License to Obliteration" on their 101-track 1988 album Disgrace to the Corpse of Sid, also released on Earache Records.

Charts

Chart (1988) Peak
position
UK Indie Chart[6] 1

References

  1. ↑ Travers, Paul. Kerrang! #1310, May 01 2010. Albums. Treasure Chest. Shane Embury. p. 54.
  2. ↑ Allmusic review
  3. 1 2 Horsley, Jonathan (2009). "Essential Albums|Europe", Terrorizer Magazine 180, p. 54.
  4. ↑ "Napalm Death, From Enslavement to Obliteration". Earache Records. Archived from the original on 20 September 2008. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
  5. ↑ http://www.discogs.com/Napalm-Death-From-Enslavement-To-Obliteration/release/367357
  6. ↑ Lazell, Barry (1997). Indie Hits 1980-1989. Cherry Red Books. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
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