Napalm Death
Apex Predator - Easy Meat

February 2015
Released: 2015, Century Media Records
Rating: 5.0/5
Reviewer: Metal-Rules.com UK Team

NAPALM DEATH. A band that can sit alongside the likes of AC/DC and IRON MAIDEN for consistently releasing quality albums. Quite simply, you know what you're going to get and it is always quality. A nasty, snarling, frenetic quality.



With that being said, this isn't to suggest that “Apex Predator – Easy Meat” - the band's fifteenth album – is exactly the same sort of thing as its predecessors. Sure, there's all the hallmarks of NAPALM DEATH from down the years: break-neck speed, buzz-saw guitars and maniacal, guttural vocals, but there are subtle hints of more. Riffs and structures seem to focus more on the overall sound and it is uncomfortable. The opening grind of “Smash A Single Digit” is nigh-on the musical equivalent of nails on a chalkboard, but the sheer ferocity and insistent nature it carries ensures you'll be hitting repeat soon enough.



More obvious is the demented “Dear Slum Landlord...”: a slower, droning, hypnotic and crazed affair that more than hints at Barney's penchant for prog. Yet it is the atmosphere contained in this that seems to permeate and infect each track – there is a constant feel of malevolence about “Apex Predator – Easy Meat” that it may be advised to listen with friends. Of course, there are still the classic blasts of grind-fury in the form of “Stunt Your Growth” and “One-Eyed” that do not require friend supervision, though the storm they kick up would even start a mosh pit amongst two people, let alone an entire venue-full.



NAPALM DEATH's consistency when it comes to producing records is such that reviews for their latest release slowly become more and more redundant – are you really going to pay attention to this commentary and use it as a basis to decide whether to get this album? Probably not. You're clearly a NAPALM DEATH fan for reading this, so you know it'll be a crushing addition to their lengthy catalogue – you don't need this to tell you to do that. And for those who're potential newbies to the British grindcore legends, then the following should help: listen to this album.



Review by: Lee Carter