Yes, The Metal Suckfest is over, and yes, we survived! We had a great time. And while I can’t speak for Vince, I can say that I, personally, am still recovering. ‘Cause holy shit did we party hard, and holy shit am I ever exhausted.

We’ll have pics and reports and all that good stuff soon, but for now, let’s just concentrate on catching up with some news we missed. Like the fact that Napalm Death have a new album coming out next year. Wait wait wait, let me repeat that in a more fitting tone: HOLY SHIT YOU GUYS NAPALM DEATH HAVE A NEW ALBUM COMING OUT NEXT YEAR!!! If that doesn’t make you excited, I don’t wanna know you.

The album is called Utilitarian, and it comes out February 28 on Century. There’s no new music for us to hear yet, but there is the album art (by Frode Sylthe, above), and this statement by vocalist Barney Greenway:

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The answer should be “everyone.” Each and every one of you should want an update on the new Napalm Death album. Why? Because they’re Napalm fucking Death, that’s why.

So you should head over to The Deciblog, where they have a brand new interview with bassist/awesome hair style Shane Embury, getting lots and lots of info on the latest offering from one of the greatest grind bands in history. The album is apparently “pretty much done,” which is great, but the really fascinating parts of the interviews are about the band’s working process. For example, here’s Embury on lyrics and vocals:

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American readers may have recently become aware of a new MTV series called Skins, which has been the subject of no small amount of controversy due to the fact that, as I understand it at least (I’ve yet to actually force myself to watch an episode), the show is basically kiddie porn. What these readers may or may not realize is that Skins is actually based on a British series of the same name, and that said British series features a character who is metal head.

And when I say “metal head,” I mean all the worst stereotypes that people hold about metal heads — he’s rude, obnoxious, socially retarded, and, oh yeah, a poseur. (He wrinkles his shirts before putting them on! That’s the exact opposite of what most people do! Weird!!!) He also has ecclectic taste — he seems to enjoy Slayer and Drowning Pool in equal measures. And here I thought he was a Brit, not a redneck.

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Last year I asked Napalm Death’s Barney Greenway if there were any young bands he was really into, and here’s what he told me:

“I’ve got to be honest: I was getting really bored with metal music.  I was saying I was bored with the metronomic albums, all the ProTools stuff.  I was waiting for someone to come along to really excite me.  Trap Them, I heard them for the first time not so long ago, they put me on my ass when I saw them last year at the [Los Angeles] Murder Fest.  And to a point, I hate sounding pretentious or melodramatic, but they kind of restored my faith in the metal side of things.  They just blew me away.”

That’s pretty much the highest praise any band could ask for, isn’t it? Barney fucking Greenway from Napalm fucking Death says your band restored his faith in metal. Holy shit.

I mention this because out pal Sean “Spleen_Latifa” Gresens from Metal Injection captured the below footage of Trap Them doing a new song, “Degenerate Binds.” I’m actually one of those idiots who didn’t quite understand the appeal of Trap Them – they seem like another pretender to Converge’s throne if you ask me – but I’m willing to give ‘em another shot given Mr. Greenway’s ringing endorsement…

-AR

It’s not that I think that the members of Napalm Death and Dream Theater have a limited musical palette. Quite the contrary; I’d imagine the musicians that make up these particular bands probably have very diverse tastes.

Still. If I found out that Alex Webster listened to a lot of Roni Spektor, I wouldn’t expect a collaboration between the Russian chanteuse and the death metal legend, y’know?

So. Tom Fassnidge sent us this video of Napalm Death’s Barney Greenway teaming up with some of the dudes from Dream Theater to cover Metallica’s “Damage Inc.” It’s an old video – lookit Barney’s hair!!! – but neither Vince nor myself had ever seen it before. And it’s pretty awesome – look at how much fun Petrucci and Portnoy are having! And, yes, I know that DT have covered entire Metallica albums live in concert before. But it’s the “WHAT THE FUCK IS A MEMBER OF NAPALM DEATH DOING UP THERE?” of it all that makes this video truly worthwhile, in my opinion at least.

Extra bonus: for those of us who find James LaBrie to be a big gaping vagina, we now get to see what DT might be like with singer who isn’t a eunuch.

-AR

On April 11, I interviewed Napalm Death front man Barney Greenway when the grind god rolled through NYC on the second date of their tour with Kataklysm, Toxic Holocaust, Trap Them and Coliseum; on April 13, I interviewed Nile’s Karl Sanders. If that wasn’t fucking life affirming, I don’t know what is.

So: Barney Greenway and Napalm Death. Napalm practically invented grindcore (in fact, their former drummer Mick Harris literally coined the term) twenty-two years ago with their seminal debut, Scum; Greenway joined the band two years later and, save for a bried hiatus in the 90s, has been there ever since. The man is a fucking legend, and necessarily so: on stage, he’s just as ferocious as he ever was, and with the release of Napalm’s latest, the mind-fucking great Times Waits for No Slave (read my review here), the band has laid to rest any doubts that they’ll be slowing down any time soon. The fact that he turned out to be an incredibly nice, soft-spoken British chap only just barely calmed my nerves enough to actually remember all of my questions.

After the jump, get all of Greenway’s thoughts on why Napalm Death continues to be a relevant force in metal, the ins and outs of the band’s live show, the state of modern grindcore, and more.

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If you’re not following us on Twitter, you’re missing out on Vince’s life blow-by-blow of this weekend’s New England Metal and Hardcore Fest. I think he’s currently watching Trap Them   (a group no less a source a than Napalm Death’s Barney Greenway told me last weekend restored his faith in heavy music) and trying to figure out what the big deal is.

Here’s a band we don’t need to figure out the appeal of: Weekend Nachos. Melty cheesy grindy goodness… yum. If this doesn’t get you ready to fuck shit up this weekend, nothing will.

-AR

Two Napalm Death stories in as many days! Yowza!

So the Gods of Grind have been experiencing something of a renaissance with their excellent last two albums, The Code is Red… Long Live the Code and Smear Campaign; now the extreme metal pioneers are back in the studio working on an album about love, beauty, and helping your fellow man.

Wait… what?!?

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