Nasum

Nasum
Origin	Örebro, Sweden
Genres	Grindcore Death metal
Years active	1992–2005, 2012
Labels	Burning Heart, Relapse
Associated acts	Burst, Coldworker
Website	www.nasum.com
Past members
Mieszko Talarczyk Anders Jakobson Urban Skytt Jon Lindqvist Rickard Alriksson Jesper Liveröd

Nasum (pronunciation [na:sum]) was a political Swedish band that played a mixture of grindcore and death metal. The band's name, meaning 'nose', was taken from the horror film Flesh for Frankenstein.^[1]

Biography

Nasum was formed in 1992 by Anders Jakobson (guitar) and Rickard Alriksson (drums/vocals), two former members of the goregrind band Necrony. Two weeks before their first recording they added Mieszko Talarczyk (also with Genocide Superstars) as a guitarist. The tracks they recorded at this time were later released on the split 7" with Agathocles. Early on, they were featured on a four-way split MCD with Retaliation, Clotted Symmetric Sexual Organ, and Vivisection called Grindwork after the imprint it was issued under, in 1994. Poserslaughter records released Nasum's next offering, a 15-track vinyl 12" (expanded to 18 tracks for the MCD version) called Industrislaven. Later, Blurred issued World in Turmoil (another EP-length 12" vinyl) and Nasum also contributed to Smile When Your Dead and The Black Illusions, split releases with Psycho and Abstain, respectively, before being signed to Relapse Records in 1997.

They released their first full-length album, Inhale/Exhale, as a two-member band, since Alriksson had left the band and Jakobson took over on drums. They later added a third member, Jesper Liverod, so that they could tour with both a bassist and a guitarist, and released the album Human 2.0 (Human 2.01 in Japan) in 2000. Shortly after the release of their next album, 2003's Helvete ("hell" in Swedish), Urban Skytt, also a member of the grindcore/goregrind band Regurgitate, was added as a second guitarist, and Liverod departed to focus on his other band, Burst, being replaced by Jon Lindqvist, who also plays with hardcore punks Victims and the grindcore band Sayyadina. Both Helvete and Human 2.0 showed a change in direction away from the more traditional-grindcore-oriented sound that Nasum had on Inhale/Exhale, and towards a cleaner, more technically complex sound, which expanded to include doomy guitarsounds and occasional slow breakdowns.^{[citation needed]}

All of Nasum's studio albums were recorded at Soundlab in Örebro, and by the time touring for Helvete had been completed, these albums had earned the studio (and thus Talarczyk) a reputation for excellence which led other grindcore and hardcore troupes (notably Finland's Rotten Sound) to its doors.^{[citation needed][2]} 2004's Shift was released by the Swedish punk label Burning Heart, and in the run-up to its recording Nasum toured extensively with their new line-up. The touring continued, including a European leg to support the release of Shift in the Autumn.

In late December 2004, lead singer/guitarist Mieszko Talarczyk was reported missing as a result of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, according to a statement by Jakobson through Nasum.com, the day after the disaster.^[3] On 17 February 2005 it was confirmed that his body was identified,^[4] and that he died as a result of the tsunami on 26 December.^{[citation needed]} The band decided to break up.^{[citation needed]}

The other members returned to the bands they had been playing in besides Nasum (Skytt continued work with Regurgitate). Anders Jakobson (the only remaining founding member), while in the process of founding death metal band Coldworker, worked on the 2CD compilation Grind Finale. This had been a work long in-progress: there was talk of Relapse issuing a compilation of Nasum's 'Swedish' 1995-1997 material as early as 2000.^[5] In the wake of the acclaim Nasum achieved via Helvete,^[6] the compilation again came up: it had a title (one which ultimately became unsuitable in the wake of Talarczyk's death), had been expanded to two CDs, and had been being sparingly worked on in-between tours and Talarcyzk's then hectic schedule at Soundlab. The album was finally released in 2006. In March 2008, Relapse Records released a live-album of one of Nasum's live shows in Osaka, Japan, called Doombringer.

In October 2011, it was announced that the original line-up of Nasum would be reuniting in 2012 for a special one-off tour to celebrate the band's 20th anniversary. Filling-in for late singer Mieszko Talarczyk would be Rotten Sound frontman Keijo Niinimaa.^[7] The band has stated that they do not plan to record a new album or to extend the reunion to being full-time, but to simply celebrate the band's 20th anniversary and to say final goodbye to their fans, by playing a short series of shows and festival gigs around the world.

Band members

Final line-up

• Keijo Niinimaa - lead vocals (2012)
• Jon Lindqvist - guitars, low vocals (2012), bass, backing vocals (2003–2005)
• Urban Skytt - guitars (2003–2005, 2012)
• Jesper Liveröd - bass, low vocals (1998–2003, 2012)
• Anders Jakobson - drums, percussion, backing vocals (1997–2005, 2012), guitar (1995–1997)

Previous members

• Mieszko Talarczyk - lead vocals (1997–2004), guitar (1995–2004)
• Rickard Alriksson - drums, lead vocals (1995–1997)

Discography

LPs/CDs

• Inhale/Exhale, 1998
• Human 2.0, 2000
• Helvete, 2003
• Shift, 2004
• Grind Finale, 2006
• Doombringer, 2008

12-inch MLPs/MCDs

• Grindwork — split w/ Retaliation, Clotted Symmetric Sexual Organ and Vivisection (3-inch MCD), 1994
• Industrislaven, 1995

7-inch EPs

• Blind World — split w/ Agathocles, 1993
• Smile When You're Dead — split w/ Psycho, 1994
• The Black Illusions — split w/ Abstain, 1996
• World in Turmoil, 1997
• Untitled bonus 7" EP that came with the Inhale/Exhale LP, 1998
• The Nasum/Warhate Campaign — split w/ Warhate, 1999
• Split w/ Asterisk, 2000
• Split w/ Skitsystem, 2002

Demos

• Domedagen, 1994

Compilation appearances

• Really Fast Vol. 9, 1993
• Regressive Hostility, 1997
• In Defence of Our Future — A Tribute to Discharge (song "Visions of War"), 1997
• The Bloodbath Is Coming 2x7-inch (song "The Bloodbath Is Coming"), 1999
• Requiems of Revulsion: A Tribute to Carcass (song "Tools of the Trade"), 2000
• Polar Grinder, 2001
• Grind Your Mind - A History Of Grindcore, 2008

External links

• Official website

References

1. ^ * Jakobson, A. Grind Finale liner notes, p.7.
2. ^ Shane Embury and Barney Greenaway of Napalm Death both cite hearing Nasum, and Inhale/Exhale in particular, as a definite turning point which helped them to rediscover grindcore and thus led to the recording of 2000's acclaimed Enemy of the Music Business.(Terrorizer #140, Spring 2005)
3. ^ Nasum vocalist Mieszko Talarczyk missing in Thailand. Nasum statement.
4. ^ Mieszko Talarczyk identified. Nasum statement.
5. ^ Terrorizer #95, Winter 2000
6. ^ Terrorizer #125, Summer 2003
7. ^ http://nasum.com/2012/index.php