ASSOCIATE EDITOR KORY GROW: NAPALM DEATH CONCERT REVIEW

Recently, I saw Napalm Death play New York City. They were opening for DevilDriver, so the audience wasn’t exactly full of fans of the long-running British death-metal/grindcore group. In fact, much of the crowd was downright hostile to Napalm Death, booing, chanting DevilDriver’s name, and talking loudly throughout their set. (Mind you, I have nothing against DevilDriver and their mix of groove- and death-metal, though to be honest I didn’t stay for their set—I had an invite to a party a friend was throwing for Jameson that night that was going to feature sword swallowers, and I’m sorry to say it, but sword swallowers win out over DevilDriver pretty much any night of the week.)

Anyway, Napalm Death played a great set. I was able to block out most of the audience hostility—and even the haters seemed to rally for the Brits’ closing cover of Dead Kennedys’ “Nazi Punks Fuck Off.” Frontman Barney Greenway, dressed in shorts as always, was his usual loquacious self. As I watched him shaking his head like a wet dog, he made me think of how Frank Mullen from Suffocation performs, and it’s impressive to me that both of these singers have been able to keep their growls intact after all these years. Bassist Shane Embury was also looking his usual self, if a little balder than before, and still seemed to serve as the band’s musical center of gravity.

Although their recent albums, Smear Campaign and The Code Is Red…Long Live the Code are both excellent (and believe me, Greenway bantered onstage at length about how each album is a representation of his hatred for conformity and organized religion), the real highlight of the set was a closing montage of songs off the band’s 1987 breakthrough grindcore album, Scum. It was an interesting choice, considering none of the musicians onstage actually played on that album. (Embury, the longest-serving current member, joined the band for their subsequent release.) Despite this, the songs sounded surprisingly good; they were a little slower and grindier than the originals (plus it was fascinating to hear blast beats, as played by Danny Herrera, come from a double-bass drum, since they were recorded with only one.) When Napalm Death played their infamously abrupt number “You Suffer”—maybe even shorter than the 1.316-second, Guinness World Record–earning Scum version—Greenway looked out at the audience and waved his finger as they stopped their chatter in stunned bemusement. He said something to the effect of, “You’ll have to pay more attention than that to keep up with us.” In truth, it caught me off guard, too. Napalm Death still have an element of excitement, and of community (members of old school NYHC crew Sheer Terror came out to support them), that younger death-metal and grindcore bands are still working toward. Frankly, it was such a good show that when they were done, I didn’t feel bad about leaving early. I’d seen my headliner.