NAPALM DEATH
Three years since their fifteenth full-length, 'Utilitarian', and archetypal extreme metal mongers Napalm Death are back with studio album number sixteen, 'Apex Predator - Easy Meat'. I'm sure many people are astounded that these legendary West Midlands metal merchants are still in existence after 3+ decades, although what's more astounding is that they're still capable of producing music with as much parameter pushing punch as that on 'Apex Predator...'. Weathering the ephemera of sub-genre trends to just do their thing, and continuing to progress within their own extreme dynamic (on their own terms, of course), it's sheer philanthropic intent and an extant passion for untamed metal intensities that seems to drive this bunch. Yep, the philanthropy is still present - Mark "Barney" Greenway's lyrics remain a scathingly effective antidote to global fucked-up-ness, offering provocative critiques against all manner of contemporary injustice.
Music-wise, I previously declared 'Utilitarian' as Napalm Death "at their heaviest, most energetic and sonically compelling", but they've somehow excelled themselves here. Perhaps it's because songs are flavoured with a greater post-punk, hardcore twang this time around. The grind/death foundations are still intact although there's an added raw aggression that propels tracks to greater extreme heights. And punctuating all the hard-hitting, relentless barrage of grind/death/hardcore extremities are some heavy, fast and mid-paced grooves, proving that Napalm still have that refined sense of finesse within their sonic vocabulary. As such, it's never extremity for extremity's sake; they know exactly when to reel it in for a few bars, which actually serves to make the extremer passages of music both more emphatic and efficacious. And then there's the sonically unsettling, industrial-edged title track, the album's opener, which serves as a great in to the extremities that ensue, even if one of the disquieting voices does sound ever so slightly like a demented Dalek. Overall, Napalm's latest is stupefyingly great and they're once again set to reassert their relevance in 2015.
Music-wise, I previously declared 'Utilitarian' as Napalm Death "at their heaviest, most energetic and sonically compelling", but they've somehow excelled themselves here. Perhaps it's because songs are flavoured with a greater post-punk, hardcore twang this time around. The grind/death foundations are still intact although there's an added raw aggression that propels tracks to greater extreme heights. And punctuating all the hard-hitting, relentless barrage of grind/death/hardcore extremities are some heavy, fast and mid-paced grooves, proving that Napalm still have that refined sense of finesse within their sonic vocabulary. As such, it's never extremity for extremity's sake; they know exactly when to reel it in for a few bars, which actually serves to make the extremer passages of music both more emphatic and efficacious. And then there's the sonically unsettling, industrial-edged title track, the album's opener, which serves as a great in to the extremities that ensue, even if one of the disquieting voices does sound ever so slightly like a demented Dalek. Overall, Napalm's latest is stupefyingly great and they're once again set to reassert their relevance in 2015.
LABEL:
FORMAT:
Century Media
Album
APEX PREDATOR - EASY MEAT
Review by Mark Holmes
RUNNING TIME:
40:04
RELEASE DATE:
26th Jan 2015
TRACK LISTING
1) Apex Predator - Easy Meat
2) Smash a Single Digit
3) Metaphorically Screw You
4) How the Years Condemn
5) Stubborn Stains
6) Timeless Flogging
7) Dear Slum Landlord...
8) Cesspits; 9) Bloodless Coup
10) Beyond the Pale; 11) Stunt Your Growth
12) Hierarchies; 13) One-Eyed
14) Adversarial/Copulating Snakes
2) Smash a Single Digit
3) Metaphorically Screw You
4) How the Years Condemn
5) Stubborn Stains
6) Timeless Flogging
7) Dear Slum Landlord...
8) Cesspits; 9) Bloodless Coup
10) Beyond the Pale; 11) Stunt Your Growth
12) Hierarchies; 13) One-Eyed
14) Adversarial/Copulating Snakes
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
UK
"I'm sure many people are astounded that these legendary West Midlands metal merchants are still in existence after 3+ decades, although what's more astounding is that they're still capable of producing music with as much parameter pushing punch as that on 'Apex Predator...'"
