Napalm Death
Napalm Death are an English grindcore band formed in Meriden, West Midlands, in 1981. None of the band's original members have been in the group since 1986, but since Utopia Banished (1992), the lineup of bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mitch Harris, drummer Danny Herrera and lead vocalist Mark "Barney" Greenway has remained consistent through most of the band's career. From 1989 to 2004, Napalm Death were a five-piece band after they added Jesse Pintado and Mitch Harris as replacements for guitarist Bill Steer. Following Pintado's departure, the band reverted to a four-piece.
The band is credited as pioneers of the grindcore genre by incorporating elements of crust punk and death metal, using a noise-filled sound that uses distorted, down-tuned guitars, grinding overdrive bass, high-speed tempo, blast beats, vocals that consist of incomprehensible growls or high-pitched shrieks, extremely short songs, and sociopolitical lyrics. The band's debut album Scum, released in 1987 by Earache Records, proved substantially influential throughout the global metal community. According to the Guinness World Records, their song "You Suffer" is the shortest song ever recorded, at 1.316 seconds long. By their third album Harmony Corruption (1990), the band shifted to death metal and began writing longer songs.
Quotes
[edit]- I think we’ve gone as far as we can with the ‘gods of speed’ thing. We’re starting to get into slower stuff, going for longer songs, as opposed to the blast aspect. Also, the noisy, industrial stuff is coming more to the forefront. [...] We’re getting into real painful noise; I just want to annoy people at the moment.
- Shane Embury of Napalm Death, as quoted by Steven Blush of Spin (November 24, 2019) (Originally published June 1991) [1]
Quotes about Napalm Death
[edit]- Napalm Death not only helped establish the grindcore sub-genre, but they’re one of the most influential and iconic band’s in extreme music. Their 1987 debut Scum (album) is still hailed as one of the most important metal albums for having an unprecedented and frantically chaotic approach to metal songwriting, while embracing song structures often heard in hardcore and punk music.
