Before I start this review I feel a confession is in order, I have never in my life listened to a
Napalm Death album. Sure, I'm aware of their history as one of the most important and influential British metal bands since the NWOBHM days but Grindcore in general never really interested me.
I always liked my punk with a more melody driven attitude and structured songwriting. So I shyed away from the idea for combining a hardcore punk approach with a Death Metal manner. Plus the thought of an album where the majority of "songs" clock in at well under a minute seemed rather redundant. Sure it's vicious but also repetitive and boring as hell after a while.
I had however heard that their most recent albums had moved in a more Death Metal style so when I received
Time Waits For No Slave through my letterbox I figured "What the hell, lets give them a chance"
From the very first note of opener
Strong-Arm its apparent that despite moving away from the traditional short sharp blast of the Grindcore days of yore, this is still as brutal and violent a record as you are likely to hear. The great thing is that rather than being chock full of 30 seconds tracks and a running time of half an hour, there are songs that sometimes stretch to over four minutes, memorable riffs and even melodic passages a plenty.
Much like the rest of the bands later output the focus is on a more mature, channelled brand of hatred over the chaotic lash-out-at-everything early days. The lyrics still scream of social injustice and howl in fury at the way this world is being run into the ground by those in positions of power.
For even if the music is more Death orientated than it used to be, lines like
"Honoured cattle-class turning fattened heads" and "
But will we die for any flag? I don't think so" indicate that this is no mindless splatter-fest. This bands politics run too deep for that.
The production is perfectly pitched as the flawlessly executed blast beats and fills never overpower the crunching guitar tone and thick bass grooves. This modern production is much more in keeping with bands like
Anaal Nathrakh (who are themselves heavily indebted to the ND guys in terms of their bleak sound and outlook) rather than the primitive, raw approach of many fellow Grind bands.
The songs themselves are full of aggression and on first listen the 50 minute running time fly's by in a torrent of blast-beats and gruff vocals. Further listening unveils a very dark, chilling atmosphere which permeates all the songs. There are points in tracks like
Life And Limb where there seems to be several different styles of metal thrown together. Corrosive, thrashing riffs mix it with gut wrenching down tuned bass and the occasional unsettling industrial backing tracks. Somehow it all pulls together and gels into a thrilling experience.
Barney Greenways vocals in particular help to join the albums disparate threads together with an impassioned and utterly unquestionable performance. He employs a wide range of techniques from dog like bark, guttural, unsettling groans and larynx-shattering screams. There are moments on the album were it the vocals alone reach out of the speakers to throw you backwards and pin you up against the wall.
The sheer array of oral approaches makes this one of the most impressive feats you are likely to hear all year. Just listen to the superb sing-along (or should that be scream-along?) chorus in
On The Brink Of Extinction if your looking for proof.
There are quite a few standout numbers to pick from on this release.
Downbeat Clique'
Slayer like riffs will have you in the palm of its hand from the off and the following track
Fallacy Dominion shows how to use clean backing vocals without sounding like a Screamo band. Are you paying attention at the back Cryptopsy?
The title track is also something a little special; it contains some quite frankly bizarre hymn like vocals in the chorus and brilliant mid tempo breakdown towards the end of the track with Barney grunting away like a particularly mental bastard.
With this release,
Napalm Death have created a riveting musical excursion into the murky regions of today's world. Once this thing grabs you, it won't be letting go for a while. In a period where I have had some great albums come my way I don't hesitate to award this with album of the month.
I think it's now time I checked out some of their slightly older releases, don't you?
Written by
Stuart Saturday, March 21, 2009
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