Napalm Death: Thrash to Death
| Napalm Death: Thrash to Death | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Documentary |
| Directed by | Hellen Gallacher |
| Starring |
Bill Steer Mick Harris Lee Dorian Shane Embury |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) |
Hellen Gallacher Janice Clift |
| Production location(s) |
Birmingham, UK Kilburn, London, UK |
| Camera setup |
John Adderley Rob Pascal Colin Waldeck Mike Shelton Ian Stone |
| Running time | approx. 13 min. |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC |
| Picture format | 4:3 (original broadcast) |
| Original release | 1989 |
Napalm Death: Thrash to Death is a short heavy metal music documentary aired on British channel BBC. Thrash to Death centers around grindcore pioneers Napalm Death. An interview with its four members is conducted at their hometown (Birmingham, UK), interspersed with footage from their live show at the Kilburn National, also featured on Arena's "Heavy Metal" documentary.
The setlist of Napalm Death's Kilburn Club performance is focused on songs of their Scum (1987) and From Enslavement to Obliteration (1988) albums. Half of the songs have a slightly shorter length than their original studio counterparts. Also, they pay an impromptu homage to one of their early influences, Flint, Michigan band Repulsion, playing the first bars of "The Stench of Burning Death" as an intro to one of their songs, "Deceiver".
Plot summary
Guitarist Bill Steer then explains the musical characteristics of death metal:
| “ | It always follows minor scales rather than major scales. It is just a traditional rock thing to go from E to A to D and all of these happy-sounding chord progressions; Slayer and early bands like Sabbath and Venom, they tried to avoid them. | ” |
Track listing
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Scum" (Justin Broadrick, Nicholas Bullen) | 2:17 |
| 2. | "Cock-Rock Alienation" (Napalm Death) | 1:16 |
| 3. | "The Kill" (Broadrick, Bullen) | 0:23 |
| 4. | "Obstinate Direction" (Napalm Death) | 0:54 |
| 5. | "The Stench of Burning Death (Repulsion) / Deceiver" (Napalm Death) | 0:39 |
| 6. | "Control" (Broadrick, Bullen) | 1:26 |
Tracks #1, #3, the second half of #5 ("Deceiver") & #6 are taken from Napalm Death's debut, Scum. Tracks #2 & #4 are taken from the album From Enslavement to Obliteration. The first half of track #5 ("The Stench of Burning Death") is taken from Repulsion's 1986 demo tape, Horrified.