Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism

Modern Napalm Death has been a stainless grinding powerhouse since 2000's "Enemy of the Music Business", an album that backpedaled to the "Utopia Banished" sound while not forgetting some of the noisier, more experimental elements of the band's 90's era. The difference between modern Napalm Death and other "experimental" grind acts of today (see: Wormrot's last two albums) is that Napalm Death is still in touch with those same musical roots that gave them their noisy/experimental edge since the beginning (those being, post-punk bands like Killing Joke and noise/industrial acts such as Swans and Throbbing Gristle) - therefore, they've always been far from sounding too emo or too hipster-ish in any way compared to newer bands in the genre, and have always opted for implementing their non-metal influences in the most confrontational, abrasive way possible. The apex of this modern formula was 2012's "Utilitarian", a masterpiece of blasting, intense, overwhelming grind benefitting from its external influences to the highest degree possible: without a doubt, one of my favorite Napalm Death albums ever, to the point of going head-to-head with their early classics. After this peak was reached, 2015's "Apex Predator - Easy Meat" kept offering more of the same stuff, albeit not quite as intense and memorable. And then, a few years later, Napalm Death promised a "more experimental" new record, less concerned with just blasting and grinding all the way through. And, as a matter of fact, their "Logic Ravaged by Brute Force" single, released in early 2020, was highly promising in that regard, sounding just like a Killing Joke tune soaked in an immersive, dystopian vibe. And then, later that year, Napalm Death's highly anticipated new record "Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism" was finally released.

I still don't understand what all the fuss over this album was about, back when it came out. It seemed like people had realized, all of a sudden, that Napalm Death are indeed influenced by industrial, noise and post-punk, and made a big deal out of the fact that "they had turned into Swans and Killing Joke". Honestly, if you never caught these influences before in the band's sound, I think you never got what Napalm Death is and has always been about in the first place, even going through all their countless lineup changes since their earlier incarnations. The only difference between this record and previous Napalm Death records from their 2000-and-beyond era lays in the degree and the way these influences are integrated in the music, and that's the most interesting part to discuss for me: some people complained about this album being "all over the place" stylistically, decrying its supposed "lack of cohesion" compared to previous works. Well, guess what: that's a plus for me. I never had any big complaints with metal as a genre (of course), but one thing I never quite understood is the way the audience and reviewers alike seem to dread heterogeneity, eclecticism and stylistic jumpiness within a record. The unwritten rule that all songs on a metal album have to be pretty much in the exact same musical style, with only minor variations allowed, has always been a load of crap to me: I've always loved records that take bold risks, alternating different ingredients between each track so that you never know what to expect next; bands like Annihilator, Hypocrisy, Edge of Sanity, Uncanny and Brutal Truth are masters of this rather divisive formula, and "Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism" falls into that same category.

Opening track "Fuck the Factoid" is a perfect summary of the album's essence: it starts like a standard modern Napalm Death tune, blasting viciously with their typically eloquent, long-winded grind riffage and Barney screaming his head off, only to abruptly switch to a dissonant interlude with warped vocals that sounds way too alienating and jarring even when measured against the standards set by recent albums such as "Utilitarian". The feeling of weirdness is only enhanced by the following track, lead single "Backlash Just Because", torn between uneven grooves and unsettling arpeggios/tremolos that will remain stuck in your head long after listening, conjuring the freakiest dystopian visions in your thoughts just like the "Logic Ravaged by Brute Force" single did. These are both very intense openers and, in spite of their immediately apparent uncanniness, are enough to reassure you that Napalm Death's trademark sound has not disappeared for good: the album is still filled with tons of standard punky deathgrind numbers such as "The Curse of Being in Thrall", "Zero Gravitas Chamber" and the title-track. The amount of warped dissonance and experimentalism with riff texture on these songs is not any more pronounced than it was on "Apex Predator" or "Utilitarian", even though the dissonant blasting of "Acting in Gouged Faith", the memorably warped chorus of "Contagion" or the infectious cyber-grooves of "Fluxing of the Muscle" might already sound a little bit out there to some people. But, if that was all, this would just be "another" Napalm Death record and my review would already be over. And yet, you're in for quite a few shocks.

These relatively normal tunes are interspersed with a handful of tracks that would be a euphemism to deem unusual. The Killing Joke comparisons do easily come up on the slow, martial, uneasy number "Invigorating Clutch" and, most notably, on the spastic rocklike lead single "Amoral" that made everyone freak out back when it was first released; if it wasn't for Barney's vaguely recognizable timbre, these songs would bear no resemblance whatsoever to Napalm Death - not even to the "Diatribes"/"Inside the Torn Apart" era, whose Godflesh-inspired grooves don't have much in common with the bare 80's post-punk elements that constitute the bulk of these newer tracks. However, as I stated earlier in this review, Napalm Death remains an extreme band, one that aims to attack us listeners by weaponizing noise, chaos and dissonance and doesn't resort to emo/indie bittersweet sappiness like a lot of "experimental" grind does nowadays - so you can rest assured that even these out-of-the-box experiments maintain a harsh, abrasive edge that is entirely in character with the band's spirit, even when there are no blast-beats to be found. These guys still carry the legacy that inspired their predecessors to write an album like "Scum", and that same mentality informed by the likes of Throbbing Gristle and Swans is way more apparent on this album than it ever was on any of their other modern-era records. It's no coincidence that my absolute favorite track on here is none other than the noisy, absurdist, spastic experimental number "Joie de ne pas vivre": no guitar riffs, no grindcore blasting - just steady hardcore d-beats with random distorted noises/echoes and some absolutely wretched vocal lines following no recognizable metrics whatsoever. I'm gonna say it out loud: while not being a proper grind piece, this sweet little tune is more in line with "Scum"'s radical, naive, genuinely anti-musical spirit than this incarnation of Napalm Death has ever been. I could keep praising this track for other three entire paragraphs, but let's just move on.

Perhaps the only experiment on "Throes" that leaves me a bit perplexed is the album's closing track "A Bellyful of Salt and Spleen": it starts with some clanging, harsh-as-fuck slow beats accompanied by an equally clanging bass line (basically following the early Swans paradigm that's always been so dear to the band), and Barney's vocals going all-out as it is the norm with Napalm Death's typically slow outros such as "Morale" or "Atheist Runt", but then... some other weird sounds I can't quite identify are added to the mix. And well, I don't think they really fit in: they feel way too blissful and "happy" compared to the rest of this bleak, unabashedly industrial soundscape, which is basically as heavy-sounding as albums such as "Filth", "Cop" or even "Streetcleaner". The whole thing comes off indeed as rather pretentious and hipster-ish in nature - which, as said earlier, is something modern Napalm Death manages to generally avoid when doubling down on their non-metal inspirations. I hope this remains an isolated case, but it still doesn't detract too much from what I consider to be an excellent record I would gladly take over the more recent works of Wormrot and other bands that are generally considered to be the boundary-pushing geniuses of modern grind. I love how, after decades of albums featuring the most disparate sonic experiments (both inside and outside the band, with the countless side-projects each member is/was involved in), Napalm Death still finds more ways to catch us by surprise and divide the audience by making bold stylistic choices that are however still mostly coherent with their original spirit. Listen to this album with an open mind and no preconceptions, especially if you have a soft spot for old school noise/industrial/post-punk anti-musical terrorism: the gods of grind might still have a few surprises in store for you.

This release is charged with hatred amazing they pulled it off. I didn't like this in the beginning because it's so different from their older material. By older I mean when Barney first joined the band via 'Harmony Corruption'. I just need to again get used to all the screaming because there's no burly vocals like in the past even on 'Utopia Banished' and 'Fear Emptiness Despair'. Those were the good days (to me). It's a matter of getting used to the 21st century Napalm. This one is charged with blisteringly fast guitar work though they change it up some songs are just slow and seem out of place.

I think the energy here is great! I don't mind this album, it's a more modern Napalm with all the screaming and aggression. Mitch (I believe) does some vocals on here as well. The whole band does a good job on here, it's just not what I expected. But it's a good follow-up from 'Apex Predator - Easy Meat'. That's another really loud one with insane vocals and noise terror. Both this one and their last has this great energy to them. Just take out the useless songs. Some tracks however sound like 'From Enslavement To Obliteration' but the screaming is higher pitched and the guitars are more tranquil.

The music on here is quite unique the guitar sounds great. Just the vocals take some getting used to. I liked all the tracks that weren't slow and like I said out of place for this release. That's my only beef with the album. Other than that, the axe is amazing. Mitch does a great job with the compositions. Him and Shane are fantastic. I think this newer voice of Barney needs adjustment. I haven't heard him sound like his old self since his early days with the band (as I mentioned). He needs to go back to his roots with Benediction and early Napalm while they were just getting established. And say on the live album 'Live Corruption'.

I thought that the production quality was top notch. Everything you could hear rather well. I wouldn't change anything in that respect. This new generation of the band with no original members left except Shane (way early on) is sort of reinventing their sound. It's mainly death/grind with all screaming. It isn't as much of grind since Danny cannot play nearly as good as Mick Harris was with the blast beating. Mick pretty much founded the grindcore drumming. Danny has never been really strong in terms of blasts, I also admired Mick's creativity. It's too bad he didn't stick with the band I think he's in Scorn now.

The songs with main guitars were phenomenal. The energy on here is amazing. I ordered this album, but I first heard it on Spotify. You can check it out there or on YouTube (I believe). It's worth getting the album, what a release! I loved the guitars the most and a hell of a lot of screaming between Barney and Mitch! The intensity! It only gets better as the album progresses. If you're a Napalm fan, especially the newer Napalm, you'll like this. And even though I'm a longtime fan throughout their discography, this one definitely needs to be checked out! Get it on CD and show support to the music industry!

It might be the longest gap between records in their career, but Napalm Death give off the vibe of unstoppability now more than ever before. Previous album, 2015's Apex Predator - Easy Meat, was almost the same amount of 'fucking awesome' as this new one, and definitely confirmed ND's indomitable attitude, but the shitstorm that is 2020 has no doubt had a part in creating what must be the Brits' most experimental offering yet. Experimental, yes, but still surprisingly consistent. The singles released before the album launch would've been incredibly brave choices for any other band, but Napalm seem to have garnered so much respect over the last 30 years that they're pretty much immune to such mortal quandaries. The experimental moments on the new LP, Throes Of Joy In The Jaws Of Defeatism, are merely the quartet letting their influences shine through.

Initial opinions would be that this is more of the same. The first single, "Backlash Just Because", annihilating all in its path with an equal blend of upbeat punkish grindcore and mid-tempo death metal groove which has become ND's modus operandi over the last decade. Not that this would be a complaint; Embury and co. smash this kind of shit out with such professionalism and controlled chaos, and it's gold every time. Just check out the huge riff that slams down at the 2:04 mark. Combined with Barney's beautiful 'UuuuuaaaEEEGH!!', it's indicative of the power of which this band is capable. The first four tracks are classic, brutal, 21st century Napalm Death showing only hints of musical exploration; mainly through the 5/4 rhythms of "Contagion" or the batshit rhythm in the chorus of "Fuck The Factoid".

It's on track 5, "Joie De Ne Pas Vivre", where the listener's brows perk up and their eyes widen. This eerie, industrial clanger - with its haunting atmosphere, absence of melody and Barney's terrifically sneery performance - bears a striking resemblance to Killing Joke's "Hosannas From The Basements Of Hell". Speaking of Killing Joke, it's no secret that Barney is a fan - thus we end up with a track like "Amoral", which might as well have been penned by Jaz Coleman himself. "Invigorating Clutch", too, exhibits mid-paced, industrial traits - albeit with a more hammering approach. However, those songs pale in comparison to the direction taken on the album closer "A Bellyful Of Salt And Spleen". Following on in mood from the title-track of Apex Predator - Easy Meat, I can only describe it as a nigh-on-guitar-less, terrifyingly noisy doom-monger which is simultaneously haunting and shocking, with a video to match. These tracks all stray from the Napalm Death formula, and yet suit them down to the ground. This is remarkable stuff which, once again, pushes the envelope of grindcore.

Barney is utterly on fire throughout TOJITJOD (my new favourite album acronym). His normal brutish bark is sounding more full than ever, but he's taking more risks and achieving more timbres than on any previous release. I hope I sound this commanding when I'm 51 years old. The production quality is superb, with Danny's drums sounding so much more precise on the blasts than on the previous few LPs, and Mitch's guitar retaining that enormously thick tone. The lyrics are more of Greenway's vague political skewerings, shrouded in metaphor and extensive vocabulary, yet bluntly obvious as to which side of the fence they sit. It may have only been over a month, but I probably won't have any issue declaring this as ND's best album ever. Let's face it, these guys could give synthwave a good go and we'd all lap it up, because it would undoubtedly be amazing. No longer simply a phenomenal band, Napalm Death are a national treasure, and Throes Of Joy In The Jaws Of Defeatism is the pinnacle of their achievements. So far.

Five years have passed since the release of the last Napalm Death album. They've never had this long of a gap between albums, but considering this is their 16th album, it's not like fans don't have an excess of material to keep them occupied in the meantime. Between "Apex Predator - Easy Meat" and now, a lot has happened in the Napalm Death world, and this can be felt on their newest record. "Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism" pushes in the same direction as their 2015 effort, but with more influence from post-punk and noise rock.

The increased usage of these post-punk and noise rock influences can be directly attributed to the absence of Mitch Harris' songwriting for this album. He only co-wrote one song, with everything else written by Shane Embury. Pretty much every Napalm Death album has been a sum of two or three main songwriters, with the Embury/Harris duo having a fairly even spread. Harris' death metal tremolo riffs and thrashy down-picked riffs are no where to be found. However, this doesn't translate into an album feeling like it's missing something. It feels like Embury purposely filled those gaps in by not trying to imitate Harris, but by expanding more on the dark, dirge-driven sounds that have always been present on their albums. Songs like "Joie De Ne Pas Vivre," "Invigorating Clutch," and especially "A Belly Full of Salt and Spleen" (the one Harris co-wrote) focus more on brooding atmospheres that you'd expect out of a no-wave record. Then you have songs like "Amoral" which seems to borrow a little more on the noise rock side, and it's really catchy.

The no-wave influences were to be expected, quite honestly, especially after the band put out a 7" earlier this year with a Sonic Youth cover on it (which is also a bonus track on some editions of this). Of course, this album still has plenty of speed and intensity that you'd expect from Napalm Death. That's evident from the get go with the first handful of tracks. Embury's punkier songs are there, as are his grindier songs with some death metal influence. Overall, it makes for a very balanced album that is remarkably diverse but complementary to itself. With Embury writing the bulk of this record, and for it being as dynamic as it is, it only makes sense that it took them more time to write this. They very well could've just banged out a bunch of songs, but I think that really shows the amount of care that went into it.

The production is great. Russ Russell once again was responsible for engineering it, so there are no surprises in terms of sound compared to their last handful of records. He does a great job making the fast songs sound heavy and clear, as well as ensuring all the dark tones are preserved in all the left-field influences. The vocals at the beginning of the title track sound so perfect, and I couldn't imagine anyone else putting these records together for Napalm Death. Fans who only prefer their early grind years will probably scoff at how this record sounds, but that's their loss.

I've seen a lot of people compare this record to "Diatribes," which I think is a very poor comparison. The mid-90's Napalm Death focused more on groove, while this is obviously influenced by a lot of the strange music coming out in the 80's that the Napalm guys have always had an affinity for (especially since a lot of it was UK based), and there's still a fair amount of grind. With all this in mind, they've managed to put out yet another excellent record, showing that they can still sound fresh after almost 40 years of existence. Hopefully Mitch Harris is able to return to the band, as he's been an integral part of their songwriting for so many albums. Embury really pushed himself to make up for it, and even played half of the guitar tracks, making this a unique album in the vast Napalm Death discography.

Napalm Death need no introduction, they are undeniable legen... just kidding, it won't be another one of these articles. Almost every extreme metal and hardcore fan knows that Napalm Death is the band responsible for the names such as "grindcore" and "blastbeats", Guinness Record Holders, favorites of Jim Carrey and an outfit with no founding members for more than 30 years. But what more people need to know is that these men's modern creations are way more than grindcore and death metal, even way more than metal and punk in general. These British gentlemen have been releasing music interesting, important and intense for many, many years. But none of their other modern records is as important and ambitious as Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism is.

Everything about Napalm Death's sixteenth full-length album is very interesting and intriguing, including the title and the cover, elements that everyone sees first. In one interview Barney said that their new art should relate to current events, so the people could hook up to it. So in the title he used a clever oxymoron referring to the discrimination of minorities in the world, among others. The cover is portraying this idea very well and is one of the best album covers that I've seen this year so far. It kind of continues the path that Napalm took on Apex Predator - Easy Meat, but musically that album was more straightforward and more focused on grind.

The term that I always have in mind while listening to Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism is "grindcold". The music styles on the album are very diverse and the whole is really eclectic, but what is common to most of the songs are the cold guitar melodies here and there that remind of... yes, black metal! But most of these melancholic parts isn't black metal-inspired, but post punk-inspired and that reaches its climax in Amoral, an enormously catchy and magic song. The songs that the term "grindcold" fits the best are the first two: Fuck the Factoid and Backlash Just Because. Despite having a style pretty typical to Napalm Death, they stand out with this cold atmosphere and are very fresh and memorable. Fuck the Factoid is a perfect Napalm album opener. You expect the album to start in similar way it does, but still are surprised later.

During the full spin the listener hears a catalog of the band's inspirations, for example: the main one, 80's hardcore punk (That Curse of Being in Thrall, Contagion), mentioned above post punk (Amoral and parts of many other songs) or industrial (Joie De Ne Pas Vivre, A Bellyful of Salt and Spleen), but the classic Napalm deathgrind style is still present, especially in the very energetic and straightforward title and opening tracks. Talking about catalogs, how impressive is Barney's vocal performance here! He especially surprised me in Joie De Ne Pas Vivre. Sometimes I couldn't believe it's him, but as far as I know he wasn't joined by Mitch this time. By the way, who recorded the guitars here? I know that because of private issues Mitch no longer plays live with Napalm, but was supposed to record on the albums and even though Shane wrote almost every song alone, he is credited for doing so. But it's not certain for me, as he isn't on any of the promo photos and in every interview with Barney that I have watched, he didn't tell anything about Mitch. Also, Mitch is at the moment promoting his new band with Dirk Verbeuren. But whoever is responsible for the guitars here, he delivered a strong performance.

Worth noting is that despite being very eclectic, the record manages to remain consistent, but it may not be certain after first spins or at least that's how it was for me. It's actually very impressive that a mostly grindcore/death metal band put post punk and industrial into their music and it came out being very good. It only shows how good of a songwriter Shane Embury is. But I still miss Mitch's songwriting a bit. Fun fact is that (as far as I know) the only song that he co-wrote is A Bellyful of Salt and Spleen, a song... without guitar. But at least it's a very intriguing song. For me, it doesn't work as a single, but it's perfect as the song that ends the album. The lyrics are worth a praise too. Barney has always been a visionary that loves to play with the language and here he showed it again. Whether it's very straightforward and brutal or more deep lyrics, it works well here.

But I don't understand one decision that was made here. In the extended version, there are two songs between the title and the ending track and in the standard version there's only one. And what I kind of don't understand is the fact that the bonus song is way better than the one that made it to the standard version, which is the weakest part of the record. Feral Carve-up in turn impresses with its punk structure with some hidden melodies. In general, despite many mixed styles, the "grindcold" is always here and I love it. All of it makes Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism transcend musical boundaries and despite not being perfect, being one of the most intriguing extreme metal albums this year so far. This in turn makes Napalm Death still stand out after all these years, but in a bit different way than before.

I'm trying hard not to be one of these "They did it again! Another masterpiece!" guys and I'm actually not. Napalm's discography (like discographies of most of the other great bands) has its worse and better parts, but on the last two albums they are definitely at their best. Without any idealization that often happens to the fans of this band, I can confidently say Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism is a must-listen for any extreme music fan.

Originally written for Tony Blackthrasher on Instagram and Facebook and The Metal Observer.

Napalm Death is one of those bands that needs no introduction since they are undoubtedly one of the greatest ambassadors of extreme music for the past three decades. Grindcore pioneers, the band not only built the foundations of the genre with seminal releases like Scum and From Enslavement to Obliteration, but were also crucial in its worldwide dissemination due to the high impact these two albums had on the underground circuit in the late eighties. Directly or indirectly, all contemporary grindcore-oriented bands have a piece of Napalm Death impregnated in their DNA. It is a stylistic inevitability.

The band's original grind signature, which derived from their hardcore/punk roots, gradually evolved into a more metal-oriented formula. The Mentally Murdered EP signals the transition point which will culminate in 1990's Harmony Corruption, clearly more death metal-ish, influenced by the Florida scene that was emerging by this time. This transitional period also marks the moment when I truly began to enjoy the band's sound, enthusiastically embracing their more metal-oriented approach.

Social and political issues have always been present in the band's lyrics and, as expected, Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism is no exception. The dove, symbol of hope, being violently crushed by a sterile hand is a metaphor for a dehumanized society and its discrimination against "others", be they migrants or whether they have a different type of sexuality, for example. However, despite such oppression, we can still see a symbol of equality in the center of the dove, meaning that even after such cruelty we can still glimpse something positive in the end, as expressed by the oxymoron in the album's title - "the celebration of humanity even in the mangling jaws of negativity". This celebration of diversity also migrates to songs like 'Joie de ne pas vivre' and 'Invigorating Clutch' that explore more experimental textures, or the post-punk 'Amoral' and Godflesh-esque 'A Bellyful of Salt and Spleen', that closes the album with an unusual tone. These songs bring some irreverence and unpredictability to the album, which rejects any kind of conformity. Nevertheless, despite these stylistic deviations, Napalm Death remains faithful to its grind roots, as proven by the overwhelming first four tracks that are among the best the band has recorded in recent years. It's impossible not to headbang to songs such as 'Backlash Just Because' or 'That Curse of Being in Thrall', the latter featuring a vibrant On The Brink Of Extinction-esque tempo. This approach is again present in 'Acting in Gouged Faith', which momentarily takes us into Harmony Corruption era. The album flows through contrasts and musical diversity, with unexpected freshness and experimentalism. The symbiosis between the lads is remarkable, revealing a tremendous artistic complicity that has taken decades to shape. Barney's vocals, although no longer showing the deep gutturals of his early days, remain quite unique, with the rest of the team playing their part with exemplary professionalism. Songs such as 'Zero Gravitas Chamber' or 'Fluxing of the Muscle' also deserve to be highlighted, with the former being one of my favorite tracks on the album.

Over thirty years after Scum, Napalm Death keeps displaying an overwhelming irreverence, without losing either its ambition or its creativity. As the metaphor on its cover or the subliminal message in its title, Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism is an ode to diversity. It is a product of contrasts. And given the social and political conflicts emerging throughout the world, it seems wise to give it due attention.

Originally written for www.sputnikmusic.com

It seems that wherein any brand of extreme metal is concerned; all roads seem to lead towards the hardcore scene of the early 80s. Few understand this better than one of the earliest proponents of the grindcore subgenre, namely Birmingham’s own Napalm Death. Though they originally cut their teeth as a member of the hardcore scene going all the way back to their 1982 demo Halloween, hailing from the same city that gave the world Black Sabbath and Judas Priest all but predestined them to move towards a more metallic sound, which arguably came to full fruition when guitarists Mitch Harris and Jesse Pintado joined the fold in 1989. The following year would see one of the most consequential albums under the death metal umbrella in this outfit’s 3rd studio LP Harmony Corruption, joining Bolt Thrower, Carcass and a few others in putting the U.K. on the map as one of the rival scenes to the then exploding Florida one.

Despite Pintado, who was a major part of shaping Napalm Death’s earlier primitive hardcore sound into their current death/grind hybrid style, departed the band in 2004 and later this earth in 2006, the basic sound template of their aforementioned 1990 breakthrough has continued to shape their output. It can be best described as a more simplified, yet also less orthodox approach to conjuring up the extreme fringes of the metal style, placing a heavy degree on raw noise and aggression that is, nevertheless, organized into a set of coherent songs that are generally of a moderately short length. Now without a single member of their fold under the age of 50, they’ve returned after a five year break since their 2015 LP Apex Predator – Easy Meat (barring a couple of shorter releases) to showcase that they can still grind with the same fervor as they did 30 years ago on their 16th full length offering Throes Of Joy In The Jaws Of Defeatism.

The more than a mouthful of an album name notwithstanding, this is the sort of no nonsense, going straight for the jugular mode of aggression at break-neck speed that any follower of the grind scene has come to expect. Such pummeling anthems of discontent as “Backlash Just Because” and the title song blur the lines between being pure eardrum-piercing noise and having something resembling a melodic catharsis, though translated through a lens of distorted and dissonant rage. Between the jostling transitions between high octane death thrash mayhem and chaotic blast beats, there is a dense and cold character to the noise elements that occasionally sound industrial in nature, in fact, the second half of opening crusher “Fuck The Factoid” almost totally crosses into a sort of blackened industrial aesthetic, all but flipping the script on what would otherwise be more of a barebones hybrid of metallic brutality and grinding noise.

Naturally a band with such deep roots in the original hardcore scene is not going to spend all of its time attempting to break the speed of sound, and there are plenty of fist-pumping moments to go with the frenzied ones. The first half of “Acting In Gouged Faith” alongside the lion’s share of “Fluxing Of The Muscle” has a bit more of a thrashing character to the riff work, and while still winding up in blast territory and painted over with a loud and glassy bass sound, are a bit more restrained. On the subject of massive bass presence, the sub-3 minute exercise in pure auditory ugliness that is “Joie De Ne Pas Vivre” has it in spades, relegating the guitar to more of an atmospheric accompaniment and featuring vocalist Mark Greenway delivering up a truly vile snarl that barely registers as human. Nevertheless, the brightest spot in this collection is the more hardcore infused speeder “Zero Gravitas Chamber”, which is the most memorable and accessible of the bunch and could almost be a Discharge homage if it were a bit less brutal and saturated in distortion.

While the odds of Napalm Death ever topping the utter brilliance that was on display during their early 90s material, this album is yet another in a fairly consistent succession of good albums that they’ve put out following the exit of Jesse Pintado. Remaining true to their punk roots, this is a collection of skull-shattering anthems that leaves its mark largely by aggression alone, eschewing most of the technical trappings of their adopted death metal aesthetic, save the insane drum work of Danny Herrera, who is somehow able to blast away in his 50s with the same degree of intensity he did back in the days of Utopia Banished and Fear, Emptiness, Despair. Nearly 40 years to the day that they first set out to promote peace through auditory violence and socially aware lyrics, they’re still flying the flags of angst and discontent, and while their brand proves an acquired taste, it’s also one that really sticks to one’s ribs.

Originally written for Sonic Perspectives (www.sonicperspectives.com)