This was the point where Napalm Death left the template of their legendary blast beat and punk fuelled grind and injected a smidgen of metal into the equation. It would be another year until they fully embraced metal but Mentally Murdered was the turning point for the band. They were testing the waters so to speak and for an experiment I have to admit it was a rather successful accomplishment. Rather than a full length album the band delivered this in the form of a six song EP (although I consider it a mini-LP). Gone were the 20 second speedy crust workouts and in their place were massive riffs. Check out the guitar work on opener Rise Above for further evidence of this. Yet it only takes a minute for the band to return to their old ways. As soon as vocalist Lee Dorrain lets out a guttural belch it’s back to work as normal then just when you’d expect the song to end along comes a half time break down. For Napalm Death to have this much going on in a track was at the time something of a revelation.
Cause And Effect could have been taken straight from debut album Scum, although half the speed of that albums glut of noise it’s the most standard Napalm Death fare. It’s Walls Of Confinement that has to be my favourite track though. It has every element I love about the band. At around one minute and twenty seconds there is a huge breakdown part which is followed by (heaven forbid) a guitar solo which is beyond great. It’s such a simple thing and nowadays a grind fan would not blink an eye but back in 1989 the band were re-writing the rule book.
Before I bought the mini-LP I had read a few reviews so I sort of knew what to expect but I didn’t expect to like it as much as I did. A lot of the original fans of the band left them at this point and it’s easy to see why. There was very little clue what would come next after the band released their sophomore record From Enslavement To Obliteration for the band to embrace heavy metal as much as they did here must have come as quite the shock. A year later Harmony Corruption was released and the band had embraced metal fully. The grindcore tag still follows the band today but there is no mistaking that Mentally Murdered was the point where the band grew tired of being tied to the sound.
lostinrock 