NAPALM DEATH: Throes Of Joy In The Jaws Of Defeatism (DEATH METAL): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Napalm Death has been offering since the 1980s an uncompromising music, between death metal, grindcore, hardcore and thrash. The group has marked the memories by its intransigence and its will to push a style in its entrenchments with the cult, "Scum". It then gave its letters of nobility to death metal ("Harmony Corruption" and "Utopia Banished"), divided sometimes ("Fear, Emptiness, Despair"), evolved ("Diatribes") and knew how to keep a straight course ("Apex Predator - Easy Meat"), because even if the recipe worked perfectly, it sometimes had difficulty to go off the beaten track.

Energy and violence permeate the first moments of this record ('Fuck The Factoid'). The voice is aggressive, the riffs direct, the rhythms fast, the bass snoring and the composition is in a proven grindcore style. The spirit of urgency also lives in 'Backlash Just Because', 'Joie De Ne Pas Vivre' or 'Zero Gravitas Chamber' with angry vocals and fast riffs. The band adds to its base a power coming from metal with thrash - death riffs, fast drums ('That Curse of Being in Thrall' or 'Fluxing The Muscle') and heavy riffs ('Contagion' or 'Acting In Gouged Faith'). The musicians also use Doom tricks on the introduction of 'Invigorating Clutch' where slow riffs and screaming vocals are combined with voices worthy of Cathedral. The album takes sometimes more hardcore and punk ways on 'Backlash Just Because', 'Joie De Ne Pas Vivre' or 'Amoral' with its very dancing riff. Finally some modern notes attract attention in the style of Godflesh ('A Bellyful of Salt And Spleen'), a heavy rhythm and a song worthy of Rammstein.

The band adds groove in its compositions and that's also why it seduces. He dresses his music with variations: 'That Curse of Being in Thrall' which makes you want to move, 'Acting In Gouged Faith' with its groovy and efficient riff that goes round and round. It is with these multiple faces that the band convinces, with its frightening atmospheres ('Invigorating Clutch') or its disembodied synthetic voices ('Backlash Just Because'). The English sometimes dissonant melodies ('Amoral'), almost black harmonies playing with the devil's newt ('Fuck The Factoid'), hypnotic ambiences ('Contagion'), disturbing arpeggios and almost religious choruses ('Invigorating Clutch').

With "Throes Of Joy In The Jaws Of Defeatism", Napalm Death continue its work with application. This well-produced record will please by its violent and uncompromising aspect and by its variations, while remaining relatively classic and expected. Always anchored in its time, the group is still an intense and violent whistleblower who stirs up the guts while questioning consciences. - Official website

NAPALM DEATH

THROES OF JOY IN THE JAWS OF DEFEATISM

CENTURY MEDIA RECORDS

DEATH METAL