It was recently brought to my attention that I’d neglected to write a review for Nasum’s double disc Grind Finale compilation featuring 152 tracks spread out over just over 2 hours. Grind Finale was a compilation in the works prior to vocalist/guitarist/producer Mieszko Talarcyzk’s unfortunate passing in 2005’s Tsunami disaster in Asia. The release, which was intended to be a compilation of Nasum’s early discography and unreleased tracks became a tribute to the life, and music, of Mieszko after his passing.

Before I discuss the music, I need to say that the packaging for this album is fucking awesome. It’s a double disc digipak. The digipak opens up like a book with a disc contained within each cover with a thick booklet in between which contains stories about the band’s 15 recording sessions, stories about Mieszko, lots of pictures and lyrics for all 152 songs! The artwork of Orion Landau and book design of Jonathan Canady are fucking excellent. Grind Finale contains the best packaging of any album I own, by far. The booklet alone is a fascinating read.

The first disc of Grind Finale contains material from Nasum’s pre-full length discography and includes two previously unreleased tracks, 6 tracks from their split with Agathocles, 9 tracks from the Really Fast Vol. 9 compilation, 8 tracks from their split with Psycho, 8 tracks from the Grindwork 4-way split with Vivisection, Clotted Symmetric Sexual Organ and Retaliation, 14 tracks from the Domedagen demo, 19 tracks from the Industrislaven mCD, 16 tracks from the World In Turmoil 7” and, finally, 8 tracks from their split with Abstain.

Most Nasum fans aren’t even aware of the band’s material prior to their Relapse Records full length debut, Inhale/Exhale. Considering every one of the 90 tracks on the first disc was recorded before Inhale/Exhale was released, it’s safe to say you probably haven’t heard most of this material before. The material on the first disc contains a lot of tracks from Nasum’s earliest material, back when they were an old school crust/hardcore/punk act. The band’s early work has a strong Scum-era Napalm Death feel to it. Eventually this leads to the band’s high paced hate-fueled grindcore stage, beginning with Industrislaven, which, again, has a strong, but slightly more modern Napalm Death feel to the material. I’m a huge fan of Industrislaven and have been ever since I downloaded a shitty mp3 rip of it nearly a decade ago, so to finally have it on CD is great! There’s just so much killer material crammed onto this single disc that it’s un-fucking real!

The second disc contains a mere 62 tracks, however, it contains material from more than a dozen different releases. It contains 16 tracks from the Regressive Hostility compilation, a Discharge cover, the four tracks that came with the untitled bonus EP that came with the Inhale/Exhale LP, 4 tracks from the split with Warhate, 4 unreleased tracks from that era, a track from The Bloodbath Is Coming compilation, 4 unreleased tracks from the Human 2.0 recording session, a Carcass cover, 5 tracks from the split with Asterisk*, 5 tracks from the split with Skitsystem, 3 tracks from the Polar Grinder compilation, Japanese bonus tracks from Helvete and Shift, 7 unreleased outtakes from the Helvete recording session and 4 unreleased outtakes from the Shift recording session.

The material on this second disc contains the Nasum sound most fans are familiar with and the unreleased and hard to find stuff is fucking AWESOME! There isn’t a recording on this second disc that doesn’t contain quality songs. I can’t recommend the material on this second disc enough! Simply incredible!

Relapse Records really did this release justice. Grind Finale contains so much material it’s difficult to absorb all at once. Even the most die hard Nasum fan will have trouble sitting through two hours of non-stop grinding, but if you break it down into bite-sized portions and listen to 20 minute segments over a period of 6 listening sessions you’ll be able to appreciate it a lot better than cranking all the way through each disc beginning to end. Regardless, Nasum are one of my all-time favorite bands and Grind Finale is a perfect tribute to the life, and music, of Mieszko Talarcyzk. Highly recommended to all fans of grindcore, and mandatory for all Nasum fans. Even if you own every EP, LP and split they’ve ever done, you still NEED this album! Awesome!

Review byTeufel