From Enslavement to Obliteration

Recorded during a volatile period when Napalm Death's personnel seemed to shift on a weekly basis, 1988's FROM ENSLAVEMENT TO OBLITERATION is a grindcore classic--not surprising, since the U.K. band essentially invented the metal subgenre on its previous outing, SCUM. A record that featured two almost entirely different lineups on its dual sides, SCUM built the foundation for the future Napalm sound on its latter half, with vocalist Lee Dorrian and guitarist Bill Steer leading the group on a series of punishing tracks, many of which clock in at well under a minute.
The same is true of ENSLAVEMENT, which marks the first--and only--full album of the short-lived Dorrian/Steer era, and finds the singer alternating between low growl and scathing shriek, while Steer unleashes barbed guitar lines and the rhythm section pounds away (see "Unchallenged Hate"). Before a legion of bands began to emulate this extreme aesthetic, Dorrian departed to form the doom ensemble Cathedral, and Steer returned to his gory day job in Carcass, making this a true metal landmark.