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
Language(s)	English
Production
Producer(s)	Hellen Gallacher Janice Clift
Location(s)	Birmingham, UK Kilburn, London, UK
Camera setup	John Adderley Rob Pascal Colin Waldeck Mike Shelton Ian Stone
Running time	approx. 13 min.
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC
Picture format	4:3 (original broadcast)
Original airing	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".

Background

Coming soon...

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.

”

Tracklisting

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.

External links

• BBC - Homepage
• The official Napalm Death website

See also

• BBC Television
• Napalm Death
• Grindcore