THE NASUM VAULT - 1992-1997: THE PRE-ALBUM YEARS
Liner notes to "Shift" (from the LP reissue 2014)
“Shift”, Nasum’s final album, came as a surprise for almost everyone. We had decided to switch labels in Europe in an attempt to get some more focus in the European market. We talked with Burning Heart Records, who had their offices just one floor above Mieszko’s studio and were good friends of ours, and decided to do a mini-album as the first release. Leaving that meeting I said to Mieszko that we should do a full-length instead, as a mini-album by Nasum would have as many songs as a normal album by a non-grind band and thus be sold at full price. We already had a lot of songs written and it was just a matter of writing a couple more and we would have enough.
Due to bad communication, our label switch wasn't really appreciated by Relapse and we had to figure out a deal that would satisfy all parts. Our wish the entire time was that they would handle the American market but everything could have been solved in a smoother manner. This also forced Relapse to release a new Nasum album much quicker than expected as just a short time had passed since ”Helvete” was released. We had lost a planned tour for that album and we had a new line-up and wanted to do something fast. "Shift" was written and recorded without anyone knowing anything, and contrary to our previous open dialogue with our fans with news and studio diaries, we broke the news when then album was finished and the new record deal was signed.
Most of the album was written before we entered the studio but some parts were made on the spot. “Circle of Defeat” was virtually written during a bathroom break and two songs were re-recordings. “No Paradise for the Damned” had been recorded and released a few years earlier on a split-7” EP, but was badly performed and simply recorded, and we wanted to revisit it. “Fury” was a song left out of “Helvete” that was partly re-written and sped up. Although it was only one and a half old songs on the album, a few of the reviews of “Shift” focused on that fact, which felt slightly unfair. Listening to the album today I feel that it’s packed with strong songs where we had room for some experimentation (“Wrath”, “Fight Terror with Terror”) but still managed to keep the grind quota to its maximum. It’s a really aggressive album!
Our new members Urban Skytt (guitar) and Jon Lindqvist (bass) helped to expand the Nasum sound with a few songs with their own influences, and their entrance into the band inspired the album title. I wanted the album to be called “Transition”, but Mieszko suggested “Shift”. Both suggestions were based upon the idea that the band had gone through some changes and were ready for the next level, whatever that would be.
Today it’s hard for me to see if we gained something or not by primarily being on a European label. We did our first headlining tour, which was more or less a success, but we were never really able to experience what the shift for Nasum really led to, as you all know what happened shortly after that tour.
It’s impossible to think about what Nasum had been today if “Shift” had been just the forth album and not the final album, but in some way I’m quite pleased that this re-issue puts it back under Relapse’s wings. I really like that.
- Anders Jakobson, September 2014
HELP ME FUND THE VAULT AND THE RARE NASUM
I have a lot of Nasum "vaults". There are the digital vaults, harddrives, CD-R's and whatever that contains some stuff. And then there are the analog vaults. Boxes filled with documents and notes and boxes filled with tapes containing rehearsals and rare stuff. I'd be more than happy to share this with the fans, but I need some funds to take time of from work to really do all that boring excavating that's needed to find and document everything.
I have put together a GoFundMe page for this: gofundme.com/the-rare-nasum and any donation is appreciated. You can also support this cause by buying The Rare Nasum stuff at Bandcamp. Or you can make a donation without going through GoFundMe or Bandcamp - just contact me at nasum@nasum.com. Everything that comes in via these channels are ear marked for a future massive excavation.
I really hope you can help me to preserve The Nasum Vault for the world. Thanks!
- Anders Jakobson.
ABOUT THE VAULT
THE NASUM VAULT is the "umbrella" for a number of projects collecting information and items from the Nasum history.
• The Vault Blog shares "interesting, semi-interesting or uninteresting things" from the Nasum Vault.
• The Rare Nasum publishes audio goodies on Bandcamp.
• The Official Nasum YouTube Channel is the home for video oddities.
• The Nasum Vault Homepage is the portal for the whole project.
SHIFT VAULT EXCAVATION
Selected Shift goodies from the Nasum archives.
• Shift: Drums & Scratch with comments• Liner notes from the 2014 LP reissue
• Discography page
• Track by track commentariers
• Lyrics
© NASUM. Design and programming by Anders Jakobson based on Halcyonic from 
