NAPALM DEATH Vinyl & CDs

Review: Following on from their critically acclaimed 1988 sophomore effort From Enslavement To Obliteration, which marked their final full-length with original vocalist Lee Dorrian and guitarist Bill Steer, Birmingham grindcore legends Napalm Death would redefine and re-establish themselves on 1990's Harmony Corruption. With the addition of current frontman Mark "Barney" Greenway, the group would trek to the iconic Morrisound Recording in Tampa, Florida (studio home to many a classic death metal record from the likes of Cannibal Corpse and Death), to craft a work far more sonically inspired by their outlying peers within the genre. Working from their refined grindcore blueprint, yet imbuing the trudging chaos with especially heavy riffage and even low guttural growls, this newly tempered form of deathgrind would not only re-chart the band's course for the ensuing decades, but cause a connective riff between the two subcultures of metallic extremity still felt to this day. Vocalists from the two legendary Floridian death metal acts Deicide (Glen Benton) and Obituary (John Tardy) also both make appearances on the vile 'Unfit Earth', making for one of the only posse-like grindcore cuts you're likely to ever have invade your ear canals.