Punishment in Capitals

I for one always enjoy live DVDs, as they give you a chance to see what you can’t always see firsthand. While never a perfect substitute for the real thing, a recording of a good show can be immense fun to watch (or just listen to). That’s why I enjoyed what was on show here.
After a lengthy behind the scenes intro that you’ll watch maybe once, the mayhem begins. From the first riff of the classic “Lucid Fairytale”, Napalm Death put on a crushing performance. Excellently executed riffs, check. Distorted bass played by a fuzzy-haired fat guy, check. Exemplary percussion, check. Growls and screams, check. Well it seems that all ingredients are present, and indeed they are.
Taking place in a small venue with a small stage, absolutely packed, “Punishment In Capitols” shows Napalm Death at their best. On the visual side of things, this release gets a top score. Constant movement added to the clearly brutal rapport between fans and band, this show is nothing short of chaotic. People interact with the band on the already packed stage (from singing along, to requesting songs), mosh like gorillas, stage-divers pump into the band while they’re playing, ‘Barney’ Greenway moves back and forth the whole time, it’s fucking amazing to watch. All this action isn’t hindered in the least by the camera work. Steady where it needs to be and a decent shot-changing rate that doesn’t tire but only adds to the overall experience. There’s even icing on the cake with some little incidents, including Greenway accidentally getting kicked in the balls and shortly losing his singing voice. The extra footage from others concerts admittedly isn’t as good, but it’s still satisfactory. Visually this DVD is as good as anyone could wish for. And that brings me to the meat and fat, the music.
I’ll start off stating that there are some downfalls musically. For one the track-listing, although good (it contains mostly tracks from “Enemy of the Music Business”) could have really done with some older material, but then again, the material they did play was wisely chosen in it’s own right, with a good amount of classics and new stuff, including a flawless playing of the at the time yet-to-be-released, “Narcoleptic”. Another slight downfall is Greenway’s vocals. While he is a great vocalist, his voice isn’t what it used to be. That’s not to say that he doesn’t perform well, as he does. Both his growls and his screams are excellent, but his voice is slightly lacking at moments. Also, he seems to skip a lot of words in the lyrics to keep up with music, which is understandable as he spilling his guts screaming, a feat that’s definitely not easy. My one major grudge with him has more to do with me being a Napalm Death fan than his vocals; for once I’d like to hear “Unchallenged Hate” with the original screams instead of growls. Anyway, moving on.
The rest of the band all bring the pain. Pintado and Mitch Harris both keep the riffs crunchy and blasting, despite both being pushed and shoved by crazed fans, Mitch further pleases with his awesome long, high pitched screams, Embury plays his bass perfectly, even treating the crowd to mini solos between songs and Herrera blasts out endless beats of perfection, too bad his drums were louder in the mix.
Musically, this DVD is of the highest quality, with such crushing tracks as The Dead Kennedy’s “Nazi Punks Fuck Off”, the classic “Scum”, the obliterating “Suffer the Children” and “The World Keeps Turning”, the catchy “Constitutional Hell” and the infamous “You Suffer” (what’s a Napalm Death show with “You Suffer”?). If you’re a Napalm Death fan, than this should be a worthy purchase. A cure for the common complaint? If that complaint is godly grind, then yes.