Lamb of God and Napalm Death in Omaha: August 17

Honestly, I am not much of a Lamb of God fan.  There is only one reason I went to this show, and that was to see Napalm Death.  I missed a couple of chances to see them recently and determined that I was going to see them the next time.  I would have preferred to have seen them as the headliner, but this was fine.  Lamb of God was the headliner this time and the show was at Sokol Auditorium in Omaha.  My wife declined to go to this one with me again.  So I went alone.

Narcotic Self was the opening band, a fact I was unaware of prior to arrival.  The band is a local one and this is the second time I have seen them.  They are one of the better Omaha-based bands, with a sound rooted in a more modern thrash metal sound.  They also put on a terrific show.  They were excellent as they were when I saw them opening for Exodus last year.  Unfortunately I was a little late to their performance because I honestly had no idea there was a band on stage before 8.  Websites need to get a better handle on this.

Napalm Death was next on the stage and they were the only reason I went.  I was curious as to what their setlist would consist of as the band has had a number of sound changes over the years.  It turns out that most of the setlist was fairly recent, with a few songs from their early grindcore years sprinkled throughout.  The band members were fairly entertaining in their performances, Barney Greenway moves around the stage like a five-year old throwing a tantrum, and the other members look like guys you would see passed out at the end of the bar at last call.  The highlights of the performance were "Suffer the Children", one of the band's best songs, and of course, "You Suffer", the one-second song that had the band listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.  They actually played the song twice, to the delight of the people in the crowd who understood what was happening.  They ended with the fantastic cover song "Nazi Punks Fuck Off".  As promised by Greenway early in the performance, Napalm Death was unapologetically noisy as fuck.

I stuck around for Lamb of God though I am not the biggest fan of the band.  I enjoy Ashes of the Wake quite a bit, but most everything else I have heard from the band was mediocre.  They have some great songs, and played most of them: "Omerta", "Walk with Me in Hell", and "Now You've Got Something to Die For", in particular.  They were definitely an energetic live band and put on a decent performance, but they did not really play anything that made me want to check out more of their music. 

It was definitely worthwhile to see Napalm Death.  Had ticket prices been a little lower, I may have skipped on Lamb of God.  I'm glad I did not, but the band did not really change my opinion of them that much.

Top 40 Metal Albums of 2012: 30-21

30.  WINTERSUN: TIME I
It has been a very long time coming for this release.  The band released its first album way back in 2004 and there have long been promises of a new one coming soon.  I myself have known about this for about four or five years now and anxiously awaiting it.  Of course it did not quite live up to the hype, but it is still an extremely impressive release all the same.  An incredible blend of a variety of metal styles into a surprisingly beautiful final product.

29.  CRADLE OF FILTH: THE MANTICORE AND OTHER HORRORS
Everyone's favorite gothic metal nutballs, Cradle of Filth have once again released an album in October of this year.  Just like clockwork.  The sound is a little different this time around with more of an emphasis on aggressive riffwork than on albums past.  Cradle of Filth has also focused on decreasing their song lengths making this a much tighter and punchier release than some of their more long-winded efforts to date.  It is easily one of the band's best albums in years.

28.  ENSLAVED: RIITIIR
Enslaved has received a surprising amount of criticism on this release.  I do not personally buy into all that much as this album has once again strongly impressed me.  It is not as dynamic as some of their other more recent releases, which is why it is in this position instead of closer to the top, but it is impressive in its own way.  Enslaved is a band that continually puts out terrific album after terrific album, and this one is no different.

27.  NAPALM DEATH: UTILITARIAN
Napalm Death has built one hell of a long career out of simply making eardrums bleed.  Their politically charged lyrics are sometimes lost in the cacophony of noise that they make but their anger is plain and obvious.  I have not always been the biggest fan of Napalm Death, but over the last couple of years they have become one of my favorite groups.  This release certainly shows why it is that the band has been able to last as long as they have.

26.  ABORTED: GLOBAL FLATLINE
Simply put, this is the best album that Aborted has put out, likely ever.  The Belgian bashers have long been attempting to add some measure of experimentation and more mainstream-influenced sounds into their brutal style.  On this release, Aborted abandon all of that and simply play to their strengths.  This is brutal and unrelenting grinding death metal the way that it should be.

25.  SATAN'S WRATH: GALLOPING BLASPHEMY
Departed Electric Wizard bassist Tas Donazoglou wasted no time in putting together his next musical project.  Fans of his former band will likely not find a whole lot to compare it to as this is a band looking towards other metal influences to guide his style.  Satan's Wrath is built upon the legacy of early Slayer, Bathory, Hellhammer, Possessed and other band at the forefront of extreme metal.  This is a tribute album with original material and it is one of the most impressive debuts of the year.

24.  NACHTMYSTIUM: SILENCING MACHINE
Nachtmystium lost me for a little while.  Their last album was far too progressive without enough of their prior black metal style for my tastes.  This album saw a return to their original black metal sound while also working to mix in the progressiveness that the band had been experimenting with.  What resulted was one of the band's best albums in their discography.  This album even saw a return of the band's black metal logo.

23.  ARKHAM WITCH: LEGIONS OF THE DEEP
This will not be the only traditional metal release that will be seen on this Top 40 release.  There were a number of terrific albums released this year dedicated to the early heavy metal masters.  Arkham Witch utilize a variety of styles on this album from doom metal to thrash metal to hard rock.  One thing stays the same throughout though, their ability to write damn catchy songs.

22.  SINISTER: THE CARNAGE ENDING
Sinister was once one of the most brutal death metal bands going.  They emerged from the Netherlands in the late 1980's and put out a couple of terrific and powerful death metal classics early on.  They faded a bit over the years but apparently never really lost their edge.  This is the best album Sinister has released in a number of years.  The brutality and power that once coursed through the band's veins is back with a vengeance.

21.  CHAOS INCEPTION: THE ABROGATION
There have been a lot of great death metal albums released this year from unexpected bands.  Chaos Inception is a recent project of Quinta Essentia guitarist Matt Barnes.  Just like his other band, Chaos Inception's biggest strength is the highly original and impressive riffwork.  It is a masterful death metal release that proves that there is still a lot of life left in the genre that many have believed has grown stale.

Initial Impressions: Napalm Death: Utilitarian

I have been on a big Napalm Death kick lately.  So when I saw their newest release marked down recently, I had to get it.  Napalm Death has been consistently great for three decades now so I did not have any reservations about picking this one up.  It certainly helped that I loved their last release and of course, Napalm Death know who they are and are not likely to change drastically any time soon.

So what do we have here?  Unsurprisingly it's a Napalm Death album.  Seventeen tracks of grinding brutality.  Napalm Death pull no punches and just blast away for seventeen songs.  We do not expect anything more or less from them.

Of course it would not be a Napalm Death album without some form of experimentation or other.  While the core sound remains unequivocally Napalm Death, they do throw in some unusual moments.  We have a bit of a doomy opening, some almost chanted vocals, and an atonal saxophone thrown in at various points.  None of those moments overwhelm the rest of the music, they get put in almost as an aside.

Beyond the odd moments, this is a typical release from the band.  Barney Greenway still does his full-throated roar, and Shane Embury, Danny Herrera and Mitch Harris still blast away on their instruments.  The  band has lost none of its ferocity over the years and remains as uncompromisingly brutal as ever.  

2011 in Review: Best Reissue

This one was pretty easy. It's not so much because the reissue is itself so good, but the circumstances. My wife bought me this for Valentine's Day. Nothing like Napalm Death for Valentine's Day. Of course this boxed set collects three mid-era Napalm Death albums together, when they were experimenting more with death metal. It's my favorite era the venerable band went through and here it is collected in one place.

HONORABLE MENTION: Bitter End

My 100 Favorite Metal Bands Pt. 72: Napalm Death

I have always liked Napalm Death, but when my wife bought me one of their 3 CD sets is when I really got into them. Napalm Death is widely viewed as a pioneering band in the grindcore genre. This is a well-deserved reputation. Napalm Death was also one of the first groups to experiment by adding in death metal elements to their grindcore sound. They have released albums with varying degrees of death metal and grindcore for nearly thirty years now and they still sound more aggressive and powerful than most of their imitators.

FAVORITE ALBUM: FEAR, EMPTINESS, DESPAIR

Year in Metal: 2009

Link to larger post.

My Top 10 as shown in that post:
10. Thanatos: Justified Genocide
9. Heaven & Hell: The Devil You Know
8. Amorphis: Skyforger
7. Dawn of Azazel: Relentless
6. Seance: Awakening of the Gods
5. Cauldron: Chained to the Nite
4. Goatwhore: Carving Out the Eyes of God
3. God Dethroned: Passiondale
2. Razor of Occam: Homage to Martyrs
1. Destroyer 666: Defiance

Again, the Top 10 has not changed, but I want to look at some different albums from 2009.

BARONESS: BLUE RECORD
I originally avoided Baroness. I had heard that Baroness was basically Mastodon, and I have not been nearly as impressed with Mastodon's material since Blood Mountain. However I heard some decent songs off the Baroness album, coupled with the fact that it was Decibel's Album of the Year, and eventually decided it was time to pick it up. I am glad that I did. This is a very good album. Though I am not the biggest fan of the recent surge in sludge/doom metal acts, much preferring the original sludge artists such as Eyehategod and Acid Bath, I do admit the songs on this thing are damn catchy. I am not yet sure whether I will continue to check out Baroness, but they got my attention.

COBALT: GIN
Cobalt was the subject of an awful lot of hype leading up to this album. The American black metal band had switched up their sound a little bit for this release, going with a more all-encompassing sound on this release. This is not a simple black metal album. It has elements of punk, rock, and sludge metal. Then there is the fact that vocalist/guitarist Phil McSorley was stationed in Iraq as a U.S. Army scout which adds an intriguing element to the band's music. This is an incredible album that is not like any other black metal album from the U.S. or anywhere else for that matter.

MEGADETH: ENDGAME
Well, since I covered Metallica's sort-of-return-to-form for 2008, I figured I should cover Megadeth's here. Of the two, Megadeth's was far closer to their early glory days. This actually sounds like thrash metal and all of the characteristics that made Megadeth stand out are present. Fast riffs, check. Amazing guitar solos, check. Snarling vocals, check. Angry, political lyrics, check. Love him or hate him, you have to admit that Dave Mustaine is one hell of a guitarist and that shows here. Ultimately, I prefer this album to Metallica's most recent.

NAPALM DEATH: TIME WAITS FOR NO SLAVE
Napalm Death keeps doing what Napalm Death does. And that is put out album after album of furious death/grind every 18 months or so. I have always been a fan of vocalist Barney Greenway, and although I prefer his work with Benediction, his ferocious roar sounds great with the crushing and grinding riffs of Napalm Death. I have in the last few months become a much bigger fan of this band and admit that this is one of their best albums I have heard.

SUFFOCATION: BLOOD OATH
Suffocation had a hand in the creation of several subgenres of death metal from slam to brutal death to deathcore. Their own music exists on a bit more of the brutal death side of things although there have been many bands that are clearly more brutal now. However, Suffocation still puts out great albums and though brutal still remain listenable. Suffocation has never had to change their musical formula and still remain as powerful now as they did on their debut.

Initial Impressions: Napalm Death: Legacy was Yesterday Flexi

Yep, it's a Napalm Death song.

Initial Impressions: Napalm Death 3 CD Set

As mentioned before on this blog, my fiancee gave me the recent 3 CD set from Napalm Death for Valentine's Day. Quite the romantic gesture. The CDs come from the middle period of the band's existence when they had added a lot of death metal influences to their grindcore foundation and had already been fronted by former Benediction growler Barney Greenway for a few albums. I will not spend a ton of space going over the minutiae of each album. If you have heard Napalm Death, you have a reasonable expectation for what these albums sound like.

INSIDE THE TORN APART
The first album in the set is the band's 1997 album. The album featured the return of Greenway after a messy split for a very short amount of time and was a comeback album of sorts after the much-maligned Diatribes. This however, is a fucking monster of an album, featuring some great riffs, and some of the best songs Napalm Death has ever come up with, such as the title track, "Breed to Breathe", and "Lowpoint". This album is a bit slower than some of the other band's albums, grooving along at a medium pace, but that does not make it any less brutal.

WORDS FROM THE EXIT WOUND
Napalm Death released this the very next year and it does feel like an extension of the previous album, moreso than an individual release. The major difference between the two releases is that whereas the prior album was a mid-paced groovefest, this is blindingly fast and grinding. This is an even more potent album than the previous one and is one of their best albums during the death/hardcore/grindcore phase the band went through. The album also features three classic songs from a live performance as a bonus.

BREED TO BREATHE
A short EP released after Inside the Torn Apart, this release has the title cut in common with the full-length album. Otherwise, it is full of outtakes from those sessions. It does feature one surprise: a cover of the ND classic "Suffer the Children" performed by underground U.S. death metal band Fatality who apparently won some contest to be featured here.

This was a very impressive and enjoyable release featuring three largely forgotten Napalm Death releases. It also serves as a great introduction to the band.

Flashback Video: Napalm Death: "Greed Killing"

Just because I have been on a big Napalm Death kick lately.

Valentine's Day

Last night was pretty good for my fiancee and I for Valentine's Day. I got her the standard dozen roses and chocolates and took her to eat at a new Italian restaurant and then to the movie True Grit, which was about the only decent option around here.

She bought me this:What a great fiancee.

Dusting Off a Cassette Pt. 8: Napalm Death: Fear, Emptiness, Despair

I'm not overly familiar with grindcore. I know that it got an initial push in England in the mid 1980's when Napalm Death, Carcass, and Bolt Thrower all developed. It is a form of extreme hardcore music and is not based in metal. However, many grindcore bands started to incorporate death metal influences. Each of the pioneers listed above added death metal riffs to their sound and gradually each one became more of a death metal band than a grindcore band. Only Napalm Death went back a little bit and became death/grind.

Napalm Death itself is an odd band since none of the original members are still with the band. Original singer Lee Dorrian decided he didn't want to play hardcore so he left and formed the doom metal band Cathedral. The current singer Barney Greenway used to be in UK death metal band Benediction. Original guitarist Justin Broadrick left to form Godflesh and then Jesu. The other original members all formed other hardcore acts or in one sad case, died.

Anyway onto the album. Since I don't know much about grindcore, I cannot speculate whether this is a good example or not. To me it sounds more death metal influenced than grindcore, and I am okay with that. I like this album although it is not well-respected among Napalm Death fans. The album opens strongly with "Twist the Knife (Slowly)" and we are off to the races from there. The band never lets up in the entire album. It is grinding riff after grinding riff after grinding riff.

This is the only Napalm Death album I own, and I might be willing to check out some other stuff based on it.