Napalm Death
Leaders Not Followers

This morning as I woke up, still half-dazed, I opened the official Napalm Death page and had to hold back a sort of liberating scream for what I read. The band is indeed planning a new spring tour in Europe, although no dates are currently scheduled in our peninsula, and especially in March, they will be releasing a new double compilation (for those interested, I recommend viewing the "succulent" cover image) with 31 tracks of unreleased songs and rarities composed between 2004 and 2016. I believe a new album release is imminent, it's been three years since "Apex Predator - Easy Meat". I would say the year couldn't have started better in the extreme scene.

Because someone wrote on these pages: "The inventors of Grindcore....and after thirty years of career they are still NUMBER ONE.....Siege of Power....." (I quoted myself).

To kill the wait and to celebrate, I dive into listening (with the necessary headphones given the early hour) to one of their old EPs from 1999 that contains six covers of Hardcore Old School-Punk-Death bands. Equally seminal bands that were also a solid source of inspiration for the English band.

A lineup that still included the late and never forgotten Jesse Pintado on guitar; with the historic Mark, Shane, Mitch, and Danny more united than ever to prove, once again, that a handful of minutes is enough to leave a void behind them.

A void never filled by the competition.

It's the 104 seconds of "Politicians" by our Raw Power that immediately throw the listening into disarray. A disarming demonstration of strength and authority; after a restrained start, here comes the explosion and the clear shift towards that primordial Hardcore sound which is a concoction of instinct and rage. Mark screams like a mad demon, not caring about the "damage" to his vocal cords. The others follow him, painfully.

They catch their breath for a moment in the second track by Slaughter and then they're back on the march; a relentless march that won't give any respite until the end.

And then here are the apocalyptic bursts of "Maggots in Your Coffin" (!!) by Repulsion where Danny's deadly drumming, so fast, comes into the spotlight. They save the best for the concluding sequence of the last two tracks: they pay tribute to Death and Dead Kennedys in their own way. If you don't know these two musical authorities, I ask you to stop here. Disappearing from circulation...DAZZ...

The deadly fuse is ignited in the first seconds of "Back from the Dead" written by Chuck Schuldiner way back in 1985 at the dawn of the Death Metal scene. The five horsemen of evil honor the track and the author with a simply epic sound and vocal performance. It's just a shame to have to listen to the whole thing with headphones to not wake the family and neighbors. But they push even further with just over a minute of the terminal "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" by the Dead Kennedys. What can I tell you about this monument: live, Napalm always play it and under the stage, it's total pandemonium. A primordial fight breaks out among the audience: body and brain in mush...TOTAL DEVASTATION...

"Punk ain't no religious cult, Punk means thinking for yourself.
You ain't hardcore 'cause you spike your hair, When a jock still lives inside your head.

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