What can I say? Yet again have Napalm Death from Birmingham,
England proved that they can kick the proverbial arses of just about all the
younger bands out there. With an anger level which fits a 19-year-old youth and
a musical daring mixed with decades of experience, the UK/US troupé de brutalité
show no mercy in the verbal flogging of the powers political who
run this mortal world asunder.
There are many wrongs in this world and clearly a lot to be angry about. Barney
of course grunts at the world with his usual panache, and surprisingly Mitch is
allowed more radio time this time and does more than just backing on Orders of
Magnitude as well as the for Napalm Death rather unusual The Wolf I Feed - it's
got clean vocals too! Is that really Barney? Can't believe it. Imagine a song
that sounds like a blend of Napalm, Ministry and Fear Factory...NOT bad at all!
In many ways, this is one of the more experimental Napalm Death albums in the
band's career. Sinister, brutal, crushing, yes, but also playful with the
inclusion of a manically desperate saxophone (Errors in Signals), synths in the
sinister intro piece (Circumspect), choral pieces mixed with blast beats
(Fall on their Swords) and a hundred other details. But worry not! The grind is
there, and customary Celtic Frost moment comes in A Gag Reflect.
Time flies when listening to this album. It doesn't feel like 45 minutes at all
- and that is just one of its marks of quality, I think. It's diverse, powerful
and has something new waiting around every corner without ever betraying the
core of brutality and heaviness that is engrained in Napalm Death's music.
Napalm Death tear shit up, quite simply.
