Purity Dilution

Mitch and Mick Harris definitely have a pretty good record when it comes to grindcore. Both of them coming from Napalm Death, it doesn’t surprise me that this album is really good grindcore. Why I think this album is different from Napalm is because they mix more death metal influences into the music. Where Napalm is pretty much straight grind in their first two albums, this album incorporates some death metal.

The songs themselves have a lot of the standard stuff you would expect from a grindcore band. Lots of blast beats, lots of punk influenced riffs, and guttural-ish vocals. Now I think this album does incorporate some death metal, but not enough to call it straight death metal. It is mostly still grindcore, but some of the riffs are very heavy and are reminiscent of bands like Gorguts or Cannibal Corpse (“Recovery”). The vocals are a pretty far step from grind bands such as Carcass and Napalm Death but are more like deeper Repulsion vocals. Now I’m not sure who does the lead vocals but whoever does is a great grind singer.

Production on this album is pretty good. The guitars are clear and heavy. The drums are loud and powerful. Mick Harris definitely has his own style of drumming and it shows heavily on this album, it’s completely grind and works perfectly for this album. Mitch Harris also seems to have his own way of writing riffs and they are all pretty awesome. The bass is my only problem with the production. It’s almost non-existent. You can hear it every now and then if you listen real closely.

Overall a very good grindcore album. If you like Napalm Death’s early work you should like this.

Best tracks – “Recovery”, “Popular Belief”, and “Life on Planet Earth is Fucken Cancerous”

I totally don't grasp what the purpose of this band is. It was started by a couple Napalm Death members while the band was still gearing up and it released its debut album in 1989. It sounds... a lot like Napalm Death. Actually, Napalm Death a bit down the road, when they incorporated more death metal, plus a little Terrorizer, but all in all, the Napalm Death influence is the biggest and most obvious point of reference. So, as you can see, there's very little point to this band being around at all; the only thing even moderately interesting about it is that it is a bit ahead of its time as far as a fusion of death and grind goes, and it is a bit heavier and more brutal than a lot of stuff around at the time. Heaviness and brutality alone, though, typically don't carry albums, and certainly not in this circumstance. The fact that it's somewhat ahead of it's time does nothing to diminish the fact that this release is entirely unnecessary and is probably not of interest to anyone but the most die-hard death/grind collectors.

Defecation uses the most obvious lexicon of death/grind: tremolo riffs, blast beats, growls, and, in a very mild departure from the standard, a fairly significant crust influence. The music is moderately well written, with an array of simple, catchy crust/grind riffs and workhorse song structures. The production is quite good, clear and full with a nicely nasty guitar tone. Vocals alternate between a solid growl and a pretty poorly done pseudo-crust punk shout that ends up sounding weak and bland most of the time; fortunately it's not as common as the growls. This is all well and good except for the fact that, at this point in time, NAPALM DEATH ALREADY EXISTED. Defecation is located in a particularly weird place in that in some regards it's ahead of its time in heaviness and brutality, but structurally it's one step behind everyone else. What were these guys thinking? Could they really not have used these tracks in a Napalm Death release?

It's not bad music, but it's only moderately above average, especially for a period in time where everyone and their brother was cranking out a classic death or grind album. Defecation has a weird sort of cult fanbase behind it of people who rabidly screech about how amazing their two albums were in the light of the metal scene as a whole, but I sort of file them into the same category of people who are ridiculous fans of Broken Hope; just an arbitrary choice of obsession when there's nothing in particular to make them more notable than anything else. It's not bad music and if you find it cheap I'd say you can pick it up and be happy with your purchase, but there's simply not a lot going on here.

This CD is brutal, even for '89. It's heavy, well-produced, and it was well-played. There is a serious lack in the solos department, however, which makes it get boring at times. The vocals are typical old-school death metal growls, which alternates between Mitch and Mick, but I have a hard time telling the two apart.

Overall, the lyrics are about the world going down the drains and is a very environmentally conscious album, especially for its time. But, instead of taking much action, they resort to apathy: "So many things can fuck me up that I don't give a shit/I'll live my life the way I want and nothing's gonna make me quit" (from "Life on Planet Earth is Fucken Cancerous"). Also, the lyrics are basically built up rage about various aspects of humanity and a lack of trust of nearly everyone from farmers ("Mutual Trust") to religion ("Popular Belief").

Although sometimes boring, this is an album I have never grown tired of when I'm in the right mood. If I want some trashy old-school death/grind, this is the best of them in my opinion. Pick it up if you ever see it, definitely.

Well, this is one of the very first grind albums and it’s back in 1989. In the same year, Napalm Death released their second one, while Terrorizer finally put out their true masterpiece “World Downfall”; an unmatchable album. Defecation are not a so famous band but, in its way and skills, this album contributed in spreading this sick kind music.

Musically they are closer to Napalm Death sound in that period than Terrorizer or Brujeria one (more complex and structured). So expect a raw, minimal sound with buzz guitars and screamed/growled vocals. The intro is quite slow while the “Vestige of Earthly Remains” is on up tempo. Mitch Harris has also a visible passion for death metal, so check out the heavy riffage on “Contagion” for example.

Anyway the grind influences are always predominant and massive. The few mid tempos are always alternated with violent, raw blast beats (“Predominance” or “Recovery”). Sometimes the vocals are very hilarious in the distortion and check out the intro on “Focus” song: pure grind madness. Fortunately Mitch always tries some more mature solutions, less minimal in the sound, finding also a more mature approach with various tempos changes.

“Popular Belief” and “Scrutiny” tracks feature good riffs with pure mosh up tempo and quite catchy parts. It’s hard to mark stand out songs here, because it’s simply grind and surely you must take it all together, in its violence. Anyway this is far better than Scum in my opinion but far less than World Downfall, nothing to say.