 
The Birmingham based four piece grindcore band
Napalm Death are back with their fifteenth studio
album ‘Apex Predator – Easy Meat’
which is due for release on the 27th January on
Century Media Records and before you even hear
a second of music and check out the insane artwork
which features a picture of packaged meat which
is not packaged with the unusual meat you find
down the super market but instead filled with
brains and other crazy human looking meat you
just know that the album is going to be insane.
In their massive 30 year career Napalm Death have
released some outstandingly heavy albums which
seem to follow a routine of a new album every
two years, the band have also relentlessly toured
across the world and it seems that venue staff
these days can still not get it right as when
I saw Napalm Death support Children Of Bodom back
in 2013 it was one of the most insane live sets
I have ever seen with extreme strobe lighting
and frontman Mark Greenway running around like
a lunatic unleashing his raw vocals but half way
through the set he stopped to tell the venue staff
to lay off the smoke machine as they are not a
smoke machine band.
‘Apex Predator – Easy Meat’
opens up with some crazy chanting and quite soft
soundscapes, sounding a bit like people marching
for war and coming across quite experimental sounding
and then as soon as the song finishes mayhem happens
as Napalm Death storm straight into ‘Smash
A Single Digit’ which is a proper head pounding,
ear bashing offering which hardcore Napalm Death
fans are going to fall in love with in seconds
as it is truly bonkers and so true to the sound
of Napalm Death.
Most of the songs on the album run between 2 and
3 minutes and are well written and recorded in
the way that the guitars, drums, bass and vocals
are all so heavy yet so enjoyable at the same
time, songs like ‘Metaphorically Screw You’,
‘How The Years Condemn’, ‘Stubborn
Stains’, ‘Cesspits’ and ‘Beyond
The Pale’ are easily some of the best tracks
on the album.
For the majority the album is extremely heavy
but things tone down a bit for ‘Dear Slum
Landlord’ where the same riffs run through
the song and the vocals are more spoken word with
a bit of distortion. ‘Hierarchies’
is also quite toned down from the majority of
the album and features more traditional metal
riffs and solos and dare I say it near melodic
vocals at points.
Overall ‘Apex Predator – Easy Meat’
is exactly what you would expect from Napalm Death
where Shane Embury, Mitch Harris, Danny Herrera
and Mark Greenway are at the top of their game
but then again there is no excuse for them not
to be as they have been causing chaos to your
eyes, head and ear drums for so long now as they
are excellent musicians.
4/5
Review by Trigger
|
