Scorn

One of Birmingham, England native <a href="spotify:artist:3LQ6aBKxUDVOsSjrzaNVde">Mick Harris</a>' most productive, influential projects, Scorn's blend of dub basslines, sparse yet heavy beats, and post-industrial dread helped pave the way for illbient, dubstep, and other styles of dark, bass-driven music. Scorn was initially formed by <a href="spotify:artist:3LQ6aBKxUDVOsSjrzaNVde">Harris</a> and vocalist/bassist <a href="spotify:artist:4MbNcVk3fY5xYyjgEqH816">Nicholas Bullen</a>, both alumni of grindcore pioneers <a href="spotify:artist:3UqRgrDIQ208yNGiWKRMNt">Napalm Death</a>, as an industrial metal band in 1991; they made their debut with Vae Solis in 1992. The project quickly moved away from its metal roots, incorporating dub, hip-hop, and dark ambient influences on subsequent releases like the 1994 breakthrough Evanescence. After <a href="spotify:artist:4MbNcVk3fY5xYyjgEqH816">Bullen</a> left Scorn in 1995, it continued as a <a href="spotify:artist:3LQ6aBKxUDVOsSjrzaNVde">Harris</a> solo project, while the musician simultaneously juggled numerous other pursuits, including the isolationist ambient moniker <a href="spotify:artist:2Y1CHFqNoKSAQCosygOeiI">Lull</a> and drum'n'bass alias <a href="spotify:artist:7g9JXJJy7HsVroKPN0Ex27">Quoit</a>. With 2007's Stealth, Scorn embraced the dubstep genre it helped spawn. <a href="spotify:artist:3LQ6aBKxUDVOsSjrzaNVde">Harris</a> went on hiatus in 2011, and after reactivating his techno alias <a href="spotify:artist:4MZnqcyrwP70XrCQqW2jxP">Fret</a> in 2017, he released 2019's Café Mor, followed by 2021's The Only Place.

<a href="spotify:artist:3LQ6aBKxUDVOsSjrzaNVde">Mick Harris</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:4MbNcVk3fY5xYyjgEqH816">Nicholas Bullen</a> formed Scorn in 1991; <a href="spotify:artist:3LQ6aBKxUDVOsSjrzaNVde">Harris</a> had just left <a href="spotify:artist:3UqRgrDIQ208yNGiWKRMNt">Napalm Death</a>, while founding member <a href="spotify:artist:4MbNcVk3fY5xYyjgEqH816">Bullen</a> departed much earlier, in 1986. Both were disinterested in the more death metal-influenced direction their former band was going in, and wanted to pursue something more experimental. Scorn signed to <a href="spotify:artist:3UqRgrDIQ208yNGiWKRMNt">Napalm Death</a>'s longtime home <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Earache%22">Earache</a> and released Vae Solis in 1992. <a href="spotify:artist:3jxpqvEsYc7vrbihTd2F5A">Justin Broadrick</a>, another former <a href="spotify:artist:3UqRgrDIQ208yNGiWKRMNt">Napalm</a> bandmate who had begun exploring similar electronic terrain as part of the duo <a href="spotify:artist:0wnipczytUzHtDCCoCWV6L">Techno Animal</a>, played guitar on the record, while Pat McCahan temporarily became the group's live guitarist. The much more abstract Deliverance EP soon followed, emphasizing the group's dub influences, and 1993's Colossus included dark ambient tracks. The 1994 full-length Evanescence, featuring guitar and guitar synth by <a href="spotify:artist:1CusK9ZzpFOpHeBdMP25pM">James Plotkin</a> (who also performed live with the band), was a critical success and helped establish Scorn's reputation as more than just a side project of a well-known metal band, but a genre unto itself. 1995 remix album Ellipsis included contributions from <a href="spotify:artist:7FEmduuEjfoagq6Qrgviji">Scanner</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3AO9jmM1JTooPNcu9tTyZx">Meat Beat Manifesto</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:6WH1V41LwGDGmlPUhSZLHO">Autechre</a>, gaining Scorn additional credibility among fans of experimental techno. Gyral, the group's first album without <a href="spotify:artist:4MbNcVk3fY5xYyjgEqH816">Bullen</a>, also appeared in 1995.

By 1996, Scorn's sound was minimalist and dubby, resembling the then-emerging illbient genre rather than industrial or metal, and the project parted ways with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Earache%22">Earache</a> following 1996's Logghi Barogghi. Zander and Whine both appeared on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22KK+Records%22">KK Records</a> in 1997, but <a href="spotify:artist:3LQ6aBKxUDVOsSjrzaNVde">Harris</a> decided to end the project in order to part ways with the label. Under his own name, he released collaborations with musicians like <a href="spotify:artist:7uXzqanGH5YKBVLs3cXHk5">Eraldo Bernocchi</a> and Nigel Ayers. He also released an album for illbient label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22WordSound%22">WordSound</a>, What Do You Know About It, under the pseudonym <a href="spotify:artist:5FTTbSYMvCY4KDSwJkxnUr">the Weakener</a> in 1998, and stayed active with ongoing projects such as <a href="spotify:artist:7g9JXJJy7HsVroKPN0Ex27">Quoit</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:2Y1CHFqNoKSAQCosygOeiI">Lull</a>. Additionally, a Scorn rarities compilation titled Anamnesis was issued by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Invisible%22">Invisible</a> in 1999. Scorn made its proper return in 2000, signing to German label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Hymen+Records%22">Hymen Records</a> and releasing the Imaginaria Award EP and Greetings from Birmingham full-length. <a href="spotify:artist:3LQ6aBKxUDVOsSjrzaNVde">Harris</a> left the label following 2002's Plan B album and Governor EP. List of Takers, a live jam recorded for broadcast by Breaks FM, was released as a limited CD by Polish label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Vivo%22">Vivo</a> in 2004.

By 2007, dubstep had taken over the most forward-thinking underground clubs in the U.K., and Scorn's sound, already consisting of slow, minimalist beats and heavy bass, easily adapted to the nascent style. Full-length Stealth was released by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ad+Noiseam%22">Ad Noiseam</a>, and singles appeared on additional labels like <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Combat+Recordings%22">Combat Recordings</a> and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Record+Label+Records%22">Record Label Records</a>. Scorn signed to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ohm+Resistance%22">Ohm Resistance</a> for 2010's Refuse; Start Fires, which featured drummer Yan Treasey, but after 2011 EP Yozza, <a href="spotify:artist:3LQ6aBKxUDVOsSjrzaNVde">Harris</a> decided to discontinue Scorn and take a break from music.

He returned in 2017, when Over Depth, the debut from his long-dormant techno project <a href="spotify:artist:4MZnqcyrwP70XrCQqW2jxP">Fret</a>, was released by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Karlrecords%22">Karlrecords</a>. Following a few more <a href="spotify:artist:4MZnqcyrwP70XrCQqW2jxP">Fret</a> releases, including two EPs on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22L.I.E.S.%22">L.I.E.S.</a>, Scorn returned in 2019, re-signing with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ohm+Resistance%22">Ohm Resistance</a> and releasing the Feather EP in anticipation of Café Mor, the project's first full-length in nine years. The Only Place followed in 2021, featuring the single "Distortion," a collaboration with <a href="spotify:artist:3zFaWPA8Jobgf5egh38KD2">Kool Keith</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:0yOGXtrLlW6tq1k42HoJZe">Submerged</a>. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi