Why?

Extreme Napalm Terror's debut solidified them as a terribly unoriginal ripoff of Extreme Noise Terror and Napalm Death's works through around 1989 when it was released. I compared it to Bolt Thrower's debut minus the guitar riffs and song structures, and the influence, or mimicry if you prefer, of BT and ND became more apparent - as those bands evolved into a death metal sound, Extreme Napalm Terror tried to follow. They didn't find much success, as the shift towards death metal meant the band would have to rely more heavily on their guitarists, and they didn't have guitarists. The session players on this album, credited this time, did the band no favors.

While their debut highlighted their strengths a bit more, this album demonstrates the complete lack of cohesion in the band. While the drums used to be a leading instrument, they feel much more like a timekeeper here, and the production is less refined, letting them be more of a blur. The drums also yield in the mix to the guitars, which are buzzy and noisy, this time hardly even stealing a riff, just droning and grinding the whole time. There are quite a few guitar solos though, with squeals and fast, sloppy runs aplenty, they are really horrendous. The guitarist seemingly had no idea what was going on and only a cursory understanding of the music they were making, but the producer saw fit to try to make the guitar tone take a bigger part in creating an atmosphere for the album, which is an unpleasant mix of the high range of cymbals, guitar buzz, and reverb on the vocals. The vocals on the debut seemed years ahead of this - while those were full-fledged growls that were pretty strong, the vocals here learn more towards throaty yells and rasps that were more common in extreme thrash in the late 80s. The vocals are high in the mix, but they fail to lead the music other than the out-of-place Motorhead cover in the middle of the album. That retained the original rhythmic hooks, but the rest of the album they are weaker on delivery and timing, a regression from two years earlier.

Despite leaning towards death metal more, there's tons of grinding, mostly because there are no guitar riffs whatsoever, and the only thing close are a few melodic notes in solos and leads that happen far too often. While their first album reveled in being terrible and highlighted the drumming and vocals, everything seems to have regressed on this album and it shows off the bands weaknesses. This is the terrible album that I expected from the laughably bad background of the band.