Napalm Death are one of the most important British bands ever formed.
Yet despite collaborating with ceramic artist Keith Harrison by playing though a tiled PA in order to completely destroy it via sound alone, working with avant saxophonist John Zorn on 2012’s Utilitarian and playing sets of slow dirge at Roadburn, it’s often wrongly assumed that the long-since departed original three members were the band’s most experimentally inclined.
Sure, Napalm have made a career out of ‘good old dependable speed’, but you don’t last as long they have without being open to new ideas and continuing to challenge your listeners, and to that end Apex Predator – Easy Meat, an album conceived as an exposé of modern, worldwide slavery, is perhaps the most experimental LP the band have produced in the 22 years since the current lineup was solidified. So, whilst Cesspits and Stunt Your Growth blast and grunt away in typical fashion, the droning, industrial noise of the title track or the jarring, discordant sway of Dear Slum Landlord contain some of the most leftfield moments the group have ever committed to tape. And that’s not even mentioning the piano intro to G Anx!
Via Century Media
