UMUR
"Mentally Murdered" is an EP release by UK grindcore act Napalm Death. The EP was released in August 1989 by Earache Records. Before recording the tracks for the EP, the band added a second guitarist to the lineup in Jesse Pintado, making Napalm Death a five-piece. The EP was originally released both on vinyl and CD. If you´re interested in the tracks on the EP it should be noted that they are more readily available on both the "Death by Manipulation (1991)" and the "Noise For Musics Sake (2003)" compilations. In addition to that most CD versions of the band´s 3rd full-length studio album "Harmony Corruption (1990)" contain the full "Mentally Murdered" EP as bonus tracks.
The music on the 6 track, 15:37 minute long EP is no surprise if you are familiar with the early releases by Napalm Death. There are a couple of hints towards the band´s death metal future in the track "No Mental Effort", but other than that the music on the EP is filthy grindcore. Mostly blasting and noisy but also containing a few more mid-paced heavy groove based riffs. The production is raw and it sounds like the tracks were recorded in a few days ( which they probably were). The playing sounds kind of sloppy at times but I guess it suits the filthy and noisy grindcore tracks pretty well.
For the purist fans of the early Napalm Death releases, "Mentally Murdered" is probably the last worthwhile release before the band started playing death metal/ grindcore instead of a more pure grindcore style. I was never much of a fan of the early releases by Napalm Death, and I feel a bit indifferent towards "Mentally Murdered" too, so a 2.5 star rating is warranted. As far as raw and noisy hardcore punked grindcore goes this isn´t bad, but I´ve heard much better.