Napalm Death - Leaders Not Followers Part II
Century Media
Punkish Grindcore
19 songs (43:09)
Release year: 2004
Napalm Death, Century Media
Reviewed by Aaron
Major event

Napalm Death is not a band, they are an institution. From their confines, so many other wondrous and groundbreaking bands have appeared. Jason Broadrick left to form the indescribably good Godflesh (eventually, there will be a Classic review of Streetcleaner), Bill Steer left to create Carcass, the goregrind band that everyone loves, Lee Dorrian departed after From Enslavement to Obliteration to be a pioneer of the modern doom scene with Cathedral… amazing, isn’t it? Even more amazing is how long they’ve been around without ever even coming close to selling out. Never has Napalm Death compromised themselves or their music. Surprising as well is the number of bands that count Napalm Death among their influences, which is insanely high. Napalm Death was also instrumental in the signing of several modern neo-grind bands, among which are the incomparable Pig Destroyer and the politically conscious Nasum. On and on, Napalm Death have done more for the extreme metal scene then almost anyone else has, and ever will. What do they get for this?

Practically nothing.

For some reason, Napalm Death’s record labels just really stop promoting the band after a little while. They’ve been around for more then twenty years (22 to be exact, 1982 being the year of their first demo, Punk is a Rotting Corpse) They left Earache after the reasonably good Words from the Exit Wound and went to Dreamcatcher, which soon, you guessed it, stopped promoting the band. After their unfairly scored (on this website) 2002 album Order of the Leech, an overlooked return to form, they up and quit Dreamcatcher. Eventually, they inked a deal with Century Media, and if you ask me, it’s about damn time that Napalm Death get a record label that respects them. Century Media is one of the best record labels for metal nowadays, sporting an excellent lineup of modern metalcore bands, death metal bands, and now some grind bands. Hurrah to Century Media for signing Napalm Death!

On to the actual album. Napalm Death released the lauded Leaders Not Followers EP in 1999, and it was very well received, including a brilliant cover of Nazi Punks Fuck Off and several other great hardcore punk and metal covers. It was so well received that they decided to release a full album of the stuff, and it’s pretty hefty, containing about nineteen songs and clocking in at just under 44 minutes. It contains every genre from hardcore punk (Agnostic Front) to early death metal (Hellhammer, Sepultura) to thrash/punk (Cryptic Slaughter) and so forth. Now, you may be wary about purchasing this album because of the metric tons of punk on it. Let me ask you this: Do you like Napalm Death? Yes? Then you WILL like these tracks. They’re really made to be more metal then punk on this release, and thank goodness for that. The whole release could really be a regular Napalm Death album if they had recorded the tracks first. Everything has the signature Napalm Death grind sound, and touches of the death metalish style they developed way back on Harmony Corruption and left in the dust eventually.

Every one of the tracks has a singular identity, and there isn’t really a shitty one among them. Hearing this makes me anticipate the new full-length (appearance from Jamey Jasta notwithstanding) all the more.

If you like Napalm Death, run your ass over to the local Tower Records or FYE or whatever and pick this up.

Killing Songs :
Blind Justice, Clangor of War, Conform, Fire Death Fate, Fright Night, Game of Arseholes, I'm Tired, Lowlife, Messiah, Riot of Violence, Troops of Doom, Victims of a Bomb Raid, War's no Fairytale
Aaron quoted 85 / 100
Other albums by Napalm Death that we have reviewed:
Napalm Death - Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism reviewed by Goat and quoted 85 / 100
Napalm Death - Apex Predator - Easy Meat reviewed by Goat and quoted 83 / 100
Napalm Death - Utilitarian reviewed by Charles and quoted 95 / 100
Napalm Death - Inside the Torn Apart reviewed by Adam and quoted 71 / 100
Napalm Death - Diatribes reviewed by Goat and quoted 58 / 100
To see all 18 reviews click here
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