NAPALM DEATH’S UTILITARIAN: A CASE FOR CONSISTENCY
Tuesday, February 21st, 2012 at 3:00pm by Sammy O'HagarThere’s a moment pretty early in Napalm Death’s latest, Utilitarian, where I knew I’d love it. After “Circumspect,” an oddly effective mood-building track, “Errors in the Signals” kicks in with a fierce stop-start tech-grind riff. Then at the ten second mark, it becomes Napalm Death. You know what it sounds like: Danny Herrera brutalizing the drum kit just a notch faster than everyone else, Shane Embury and Mick Harris summoning a dervish of grind chaos while Harris and Barney Greenway try to out-shout one another, with Greenway sounding, as always, like his teeth have been gritted for so long that he has permanent lockjaw. It’s that “SHIT YEAH” moment that’s made Napalm Death stand out as long as they have (they’ve been a band in some form or another longer than I’ve been alive), even despite a laughably inconsistent lineup until relatively recently. And that’s the best thing about Napalm Death now: spazzy grindcore kids may worship the barely-reined chaos of Scum while deathgrind bands get hard for Harmony Corruption, but late period Napalm Death belongs to, well, Napalm Death. And around ten seconds in to “Errors in the Signals,” even though there’s still 45+ minutes left in Utilitarian, you know what’s coming. You could argue it’s predictable. You could also argue that it’s a testament to the fact that it’s pretty impossible to get sick of Napalm Death. Most bands with their track record may sound winded; the guys who made Utilitarian sound as vital as they ever have.

























