Napalm Death continues the story of Throes Of Joy In The Jaws Of Defeatism with daring mini-album Resentment is Always Seismic.
English extreme metal legends Napalm Death have been around in some capacity since 1981. Though they haven’t retained any founding member since 1986, their current lineup headed by Barney Greenway has remained relatively stable from the early 90s. The band enjoyed a bit of a renaissance since 2000’s Enemy of the Music Business and arguably have been releasing their best material since. Notable albums from this era worth checking out include Smear Campaign, Utilitarian, and Apex Predator – Easy Meat.
Throes Of Joy In The Jaws Of Defeatism, released in 2020, showed a more experimental side and received widespread critical acclaim. It showed the band digging even deeper into new sounds, which warrants consideration given Napalm Death has spent the entirety of the 21st century toying with fresh ideas on top of their long-running grindcore and death metal base. Resentment is Always Seismic stems from those same sessions, acting as “an extension of the last album,” according to Greenway. It explores a very similar aesthetic, but these tracks sound more grandiose.
Golden boy, golden boy,
Never let, never let, never let it be said,
He’s jerking like a decoy.
Lead single “Narcissus” probably sounds the most like classic Napalm Death. It bears remembering that these guys are in their fifties, yet still come out of the gate swinging. High energy and pummeling, it provides a solid in to acclimate oneself before diving deeper. “Resentment Always Simmers” proves an early standout, demonstrating a more melodic side while compromising none of the intensity. The album’s press release compared this track to Swans, which demonstrates how far left-field it stands at points.
One of the stranger cuts on the album comes in the form of a cover of industrial band Slab!‘s “People Pie”:
Pungent dungeons larceny beds,
Heads are carved and throats are bled,
Dante shanty tinroof homestead,
Rent gets paid before the baby gets fed.
Napalm Death industrial and alt rock leanings certainly grew in the past decade, culminating in “Amoral” from their previous release. The performance proves utterly convincing, and they sound completely in their element. The same proves true on the cover of Bad Brains‘s “Don’t Need It”, which shows the band putting up a great punk front. “Resentment is Always Seismic (Dark Sky Burial Dirge)” stands as the album’s most impressive; an atmospheric showcase of droning guitars and hypnotic drums underneath Greenway‘s low moans.
Though the wholesale experimentation sometimes comes at the cost of cohesion, with the album sounding more like a compilation than a composition at points, it still contains some of the most interesting material to come out of Napalm Death. Resentment is Always Seismic reminds us that this band still sounds fresh after forty years and capable of whatever they want to do. They may have slowed their output with the years, but they haven’t let up on quality.
8/10
Napalm Death – Resentment is Always Seismic – a final throw of Throes comes out this Friday, February 11 on Century Media Records. You can pre-order it here.