Napalm Death – Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism

Napalm Death

‘Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism’

Century Media Records

Death Metal

FFO: Carcass, Terrorizer, Brutal Truth, Benediction, Pig Destroyer, Bolt Thrower

Napalm Death are one of Britain’s finest grindcore and death metal exports. Yet, who would have thought that it has been nearly five years since the Birmingham band released the ‘Apex Predator – Easy Meat’ album? Thankfully, Napalm Death are back with a new album aptly titled ‘Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism’ to look 2020 in the face and laugh.

                As a band, Napalm Death are like a fine wine or aged cheese; they’ve matured gracefully with time, blossomed into something very tasty and that is what the listener gets with ‘Throes…’. This isn’t an album of old metalheads and crusties going through the motions desperately trying to stay relevant or even clinging onto the past; hell, Napalm Death wrote part of the damned book they can do what they want! Therefore, there is an explosion of chemistry here, tracks such as ‘Backlash Just Because’, ‘Amoral’ and ‘Contagion’ are dominating displays of death metal from a band still on top of their game after nearly 40 years in the business. However, there is nothing actually here that Napalm Death haven’t done before, but when it comes to this band, do you actually want that? No. What we want is Napalm Death to present consistently good death metal and that is what ‘Throes…’ delivers, no games, no gimmicks and no frills.

                When it boils down to it, ‘Throes…’ is one of the best Napalm Death albums that the band have delivered in a decade and fans of ‘The Code is Red’ or ‘Smear Campaign’ will adore this superb piece of death metal and it will be no surprise that come December, ‘Throes…’ will undoubtably riding high.

Album   8             

Art          7

Production          9

Adam McCann