Napalm Death - Smear Campaign

*=Staff's pick	Weltschmerz (intro) Sink Fast, Let Go Fatalist Puritanical Punishment Beating When All Is Said And Done* Freedom Is The Wage Of Sin In Deference* Short-Lived Identity Crisis* Shattered Existence* Eyes Right Out Warped Beyond Logic Rabid Wolves (For Christ) Deaf And Dumbstruck (Intelligent Design)* Persona Non Grata Smear Campaign

Genre	Grindcore	Mark Greenway	Vocals
Tracks	16	Mitch Harris	Guitar
Runningtime	45 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	Century Media	Shane Embury	Bass
Release	18 Sept. 2006	Danny Herrera	Drums
Country	England	-	Keyboards
Similar artists	Sepultura, Carcass, Cannibal Corpse

Napalm Death, looked upon by many as the genre definers of grindcore, and after twenty years in the service of kicking ass they must surely be considered as veterans. These guys from Birmingham, England have delivered their hatred, anger and fury since the debut with Scum in 1986, although the current setting in Napalm Death has existed since Utopia Banished, released in 1992.

I have never quite fully grasped this band, and was not impressed when I saw them at Sweden Rock Festival last summer either. Too much of feeding on aggression and not enough feeling and sense for melodies for my taste. Although I have the outmost respect for these guys as the inventors and genre definers and as acting as role models for an endless number of bands. However, I am no expert on Napalm Death or even the genre in such, but to me it feels like they keep doing what they always have done, grinding you down with no compromise in sight.

The album Smear Campaign contains sixteen more or less brutal attacks. Sink Fast, Let Go sets the tone directly and if you didn't knew what to expect coming out of the speakers you could be in for a heart attack. With an album like this you need to listen to it a couple of times to clear the aggression out from the melodies, even if it is safe to say that melodies do not come in the first room for Napalm Death. The guys deliver some intense and furious riffing, additional blast beats all wrapped up with a great deal of hate and aggression, and to me this sounds as it has done with the past albums, still vital, still hungry. Even though the attacks are short and brutal, Napalm Death manage to vary themselves. In a couple of tracks Mark Greenway eases up his aggressive voice and in the slower title track Napalm Death feel more like doom metal rather then grind after that the other fifteen tracks have run you down.

Anneke Von Giersbergen of The Gathering appears, apart from the intro, in the song In Deference, a collaboration that might feel odd, but it is more of speaking than singing she provides in an otherwise rather calm attack measured with the Napalm Death standard. Of what I can understand this album will not disappoint fans of the later works from Napalm Death, even if I can't say that it made any bigger impression on me. This is not what I would normally listen to, but when I need to vent some serious aggression out my veins, it is not impossible that I will give this another spin. But my general opinion on Napalm Death stands; too much of feeding on aggression and not enough feeling and sense for melodies for my taste.

Production	Vocals	Compositions
7	5	6

Summary
5 chalices of 10 - Thomas