First Exposure: Richard Johnson (ex-Enemy Soil, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Drugs Of Faith)

I'm not sure what the first grindcore record I ever heard was. I'm thinking ... "Harmony Corruption" by Napalm Death comes to mind. I loved it. Well, having said that, my least-favorite song on that record is "Unfit Earth." I got into death metal before grindcore, so that might have helped at the time because of the influences on that album.

Their reputation preceded them for me. I remember going over to the import section at Tower Records in Northern Virginia and finding a copy of "From Enslavement to Obliteration" on vinyl, with that classic sticker that said something like, "'I want to be in the biggest band in the world, and you don't do that sounding like Napalm Death.' - Joe Elliot." I flipped the record over and looked at the photos on the back and thought, "Wow. These guys look really extreme." And I put the record back. I only knew about them at the time I think from seeing Dan Lilker wearing their shirts in Nuclear Assault band photos.

The record still holds up, yes. Besides the obligatory "Suffer the Children" I'd love to hear "If The Truth Be Known" in a set today. They brought back "Vision Conquest" I noticed several tours ago, which I thought was a nice touch to a set, so to speak.
I don't know that the album inspired me musically in a specific way other than them being Napalm Death and doing that for me. The record that really had an impact on my playing and how I write was "Utopia Banished." A huge impact, I would say.

~@AlexCha666 (follow him)

First Exposure: Jason Pekar (Corrupt Bastards)

Insect Warfare "At War With Grindcore", 2005, I grew up in a really small country town in south Texas so getting music out there was almost impossible, one sunday night me and a friend were scanning through the radio and came across 91.7 which was a local station that played grindcore/death metal from about 11pm-2am I believe, every sunday night we would tune in and listen to insect warfare, plf, hatred surge, hypo christians and all the other good local and non local grind bands.

My initial reaction was blown away, all through middle school and high school me and about 3 other people were the only ones that skated and were into music and at the time we were only into what our older friends listened to which was more texas hardcore stuff like eyeagainst, will to live, pride kills so once we started listening to grindcore we went to see insect warfare play a show and they basically played all there songs straight through with minimal breaks and at the end of the show we were scraping our faces off the floor.

The record still deffinatly holds up to the test of time, even though they broke up a few years ago I guarentee everyone still spins their record almost once a week.

It really inspired me to make a band and play fast, and every since then after all these 

years i'm still trying to play fast!

~ VII

First Exposure: Jason Netherton (Misery Index)

The first "pure" grindcore record for me had to be Assuck's "Anticapital." It was vicious. Songs like "State to State" and "Socialized Crucifixion" are timeless. It was released in 1991 at the height of the death metal underground's explosion, but you knew right away when you heard it something was a bit different...the songs were short, and the lyrics were politicized (like Napalm Death, who were also grind, but by that time had morphed into the death-grind that they have become famous for in subsequent years). 

Anyway, "Anticapital" had this 'vibe'... it was just bleak, and perhaps they were among the first bands to go with the 3-piece set up sans bass player, creating whirlwind attacks in 40 second bursts of songs that bled one into the next in anarchic fury. Another thing about it that won me (and a lot of other death metal heads) over was the crushing production. It was done at Morrisound, like dozens of other death metal bands, so it had the reliably crushing guitar tone and drum sounds that brought out this animalistic ferocity, and that is why it still stands up today. It is obviously grindcore in retrospect, but then we didn't really know the difference, and the low vocals made it easily accessible for death metal fans, as much as the short songs, blast beats and gritty real-world lyrics attracted the crust punks to it. It was sincere, nasty, and genre-defining, and 

it easily stands as one of the top grind albums of all time, in my opinion.

~ Alex Cha

First Exposure: Zach Ohler (Strong Intention) & Vincent Matthews (Criminal Element, ex-Dying Fetus)

Zach Ohler: Napalm Death - "Scum" 

I was blown away, it was like nothing else I had heard up to that point. 

It still holds up as a classic. It help pave the way for everything that was to come after, and you could still put that record up against anything that is out today. 

I was so much into hardcore/punk and thrash metal at the time, it definitely inspired me in as much as it showed that things can be even more extreme and yet just as killer as everything I heard up until that point.

Vincent Matthews: Napalm Death - "From Enslavement to Obliteration"

When I first heard it I was hooked. The year was 1989. I loved the sound but not too much on the political lyrics but then again politics are the core of punk and grind. My thoughts today on this record still remains the same they took grindcore and put it on the map and no one has yet to outdo this record and so it remains that. This album has inspired me to always think outside the box when it comes to musical taste. This record has spawned a lot a copy cat bands over the years and I truly believe that after the release of enslavement Napalm Death had to change the core of their writing style because at that time the band Terrorizer had released their USA version of grindcore and that as well took me by storm. Both acts inspired me to pick up a mic and scream my ass off.

~Alex Cha

First Exposure - Topon Das (Fuck the Facts, Merdarahta)

A while back, before I was even a writer for OG, Andrew asked me to talk about the albums got me into grindcore (read here). I had a lot of fun writing it, going back in my head and remembering the genesis of my love for fast and extreme music. Stories like that always intrigued me, so I thought I would serve my own interest and ask members of the world wide grindcore scene to talk about the first grindcore album that they heard. Kicking off this new series, called "First Exposure", is my pal, Topon Das, founding member of the excellent Fuck The Facts and Merdarahta. Big thanks to him for being a part of it and delivering a super impressive essay-like answer. 

I'm gonna say the first grindcore album I ever heard (or at least that I can remember hearing first) was Napalm Death's "Utopia Banished". It's either that or Gorgut's "Erosion Of Sanity", but that's probably not considered grindcore. Either way; both albums just sounded like straight up noise to me. This was when both albums had just come out and I was still all about bands like Metallica, Anthrax and a bit of Slayer.