Noise Road

Popular opinion in the underground metal scene states that a band based on aggression, speed and enthusiasm will peak in their first handful of albums.  With all members in their forties, Napalm Death say bullish!t to that theory every night they board a stage.

Whilst Napalm Death have honed their technical abilities and musical craftsmanship since unleashing the crusty beast Scum on the world in 1987, energy is still the key to a Napalm set.  Vocalist Barney Greenway is unable to control his body spasms as his infamous roar is launched into the Glasgow night.

In his softest Birmingham accent, Barney announced tonight’s set as a “special f_cking Chrsitmas f_cking box”.  And while a local punter did request jingle bells, instead we received a best of Napalm’s laster quarter decade… from the crusty, almost sludgey, riffing of Scum to the debut of a new song Quarantined off Utilitarian to be released in February.

Adding to the usual Dead Kennedy’s cover, Napalm also indulged in covers of Cryptic Slaughter and especially enjoyable punky cover of a Siege track.

For a band based in aggression and rage at the system, Napalm Death is a band that leaves you feeling positive about the next day.  Underneath the Mitch Harris shrieks and Barney baritone blasts lays a family friendly chorus that could fit into any pop song “When all is said and done/heaven lies in my heart/This life is a gift/To be lived and loved“.  Sure it forms part of When All is Said and Done’s anti-religion rant, but its a nice ethos just the same.

As always rants form a part of a Napalm set.  While I don’t appreciate being preached out, its hard to not get onboard with Napalm’s themes – torture by anyone is wrong, organised religion is bullish!t and nazi punks, well they might as well go ahead and fuck off.

As Suffer the Children signalled a close to the night, stage divers rained from the Ivory Blacks stage.  Some big units bombed into the crowd with little regard for their’s or others’ bodies.  One particularly disastrous effort even brought a laugh for the overworked bouncer solely manning front of stage.

Smiles is all I saw as we entered the cold Glasgow night.

This entry was posted on December 17, 2011 at 11:11 pm and is filed under Gigs with tags Glasgow, Napalm Death, UK. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.