Order Of The Leech

I never thought I would someday review an album from the kings of grind, Napalm Death. Don’t worry though, I know about the band since I own six of their releases, Harmony Corruption, Utopia Banished, Fear Emptiness Despair, Diatribes, Inside The Torn Apart and Words From The Exit Wound, but it’s a long time since I have listened to the band. I even saw the band three of four times on stage in the years 1991, 1992 and 1993. All this to tell you that I know what I am writing about in case some people complain about my review.

I have not listened to their last release Enemy Of The Music Business and if I hadn’t gotten a promo of this new album Order Of The Leach, I wouldn’t even have cared about it either. But, “fortunately” for me, since none of the other reviewers at Metal Reviews wanted to review this one, I got it for myself.

So how is Napalm Death sounding in 2002 ? Well, they sound more or less like they sounded 10 years ago when they released Harmony Corruption and Utopia Banished, at least musically speaking, because the production is a lot better than what was done 10 years ago. They even got their old logo back. I know as a reviewer I should listen to their previous stuff to do some better comparisons, but I really don’t feel like I want to, because those two aforementioned albums were interesting and innovative, bringing something fresh and new to the scene at the time. After that, the musical direction of the band became less enthusiastic and too predictable.

This new album reminds me a lot of their old material. Barney Greenway belching like a maniac, Jesse Pintado and Mitch Harris bringing great guitar work and Shane Embury following the frantic drumming work of Danny Herrera. Despite all that, I still find it hard to get back into their stuff, sorry folks. Fans of the band will certainly enjoy this.