Napalm Death - "Enemy Of The Music Business Plus Leaders Not Followers" CD

Fine return to form from grind legends...

Combining the band's 2000 album and attendant EP of classic covers, this 57-minute disc opens with the corrosive "Taste The Poison", which signaled a welcome return to form from the Birmingham-based grindcore legends. 

The tracks to follow prove equally worthy, being extreme clots of aggressive post-metal noise & grindcore. "Vermin" captures the unbridled spirit of Napalm's punk/metal roots, being an ultra-speed-fueled ride, complete with clearly-mixed instruments and Barney Greenway's primal, gutteral vocals. "Volume Of Neglect" features a seriously amazing blur of bass-heavy drums and guitar that rivals the band's earliest work. I could go on, and sure, each song is pretty similar, but that's the beauty of Napalm Death. Discount their shaky death metal period, and the countless lineup changes, and you have one of the most stalwart of their crossover breed. "Enemy of The Music Business" is a solid and exemplary work from the band, and offers crunchy clots of abundantly aggressive metal/punk/grindcore noise that just doesn't relent. 

"Leaders Not Followers" is an EP of covers, including works by Napalm influences like Raw Power, Repulsion, Death, and Dead Kennedys. It's refreshing to hear the band making pretty reverential and faithful covers of their heroes -- yet still maintaining that inimitable Napalm blend of blur and bluster. I wasn't familiar much with most of these underground classics, but the cover of the DK's "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" is just classic. 

Secret Records

Napalm Death site

Meshuggah - "Koloss" album

Sweden's best-known and most influential metal band returns with their long-awaited 7th studio album, and it's a crushing masterpiece. "I Am Colossus" is a refined assault of surgical metal guitar riffs and complex arrangements. The riffing is immaculate and technical, while lead throat Jens Kidman is positively corrosive. "The Demon's Name Is Surveillance" is speed metal redefined -- absolutely inhuman in its ferocity and speed. "Behind The Sun" is a steamroller of metal madness, while "The Hurt That Finds You First" is a juggernaut of massive math-metal-jazz with a hint of psychedelic ambience. With the impeccable "Koloss", Meshuggah redefine "heavy", shackling machine metal with massive arrangements that lay waste to 90% of modern rock. Damn, this is immense. (Nuclear Blast) Meshuggah official site

The Secret - "Solve et Coagula" CD

This band blew me away instantly with an absolutely punishing sonic maelstrom. Hailing from Italy, The Secret's devastatingly powerful grindcore/black/doom/noise metal muscles it's way through 12 tracks in under 35 uncompromising minutes. With a surplus of big, seething, and dynamic riffs, tectonic drumming, and throat-scarring, lung-searing vocals, The Secret all but annihilate on this, their 3rd LP (and first for new label Southern Lord). The aggressive nihilism never relents, from the initial "Cross Builder" all the way through to the final track, "1968". It's a nonstop ride of blistering torment, wicked grind/metal noise, and feral abandon. Production by Kurt Ballou (Converge) is clear and up-front, pushing the group's intense sound even further into the red. In fact, I'd say his production is a key ingredient here. I've heard few bands this year who are this intense. Wow. This one's all killer, and no filler, indeed. (Southern Lord)

Secretspace

Nekrasov / Aderlating - "Split" LP

This is an ultra-limited (300 copies) split vinyl album from a couple of little-known artists who are working well outside the lines of the mainstream. Australia's Nekrasov take one side, and their "Qualities Of Being Futile And Valueless" is an epic 24-minute ambient doom-ride, and certainly coming from the darkest recesses. Drones, disembodied voices, and effected electronics make this one an unsettling listen, like a trip through a horrific fun house. They refer to themselves as 'black metal/ambient/experimental', and that seems relatively appropriate based on the material here. Not bad, and certainly not for the easily-spooked. Aderlating is a project of Mories from Dutch extreme metal/noise group Gnaw Their Tongues, and it's outlook is much the same. Blackened ambient drone with atmospheres that evoke an oppressive mood of claustrophobia and tension. Flashes of noise and feedback litter the opener, "Chalic Of Abalam", and though there are 3 tracks listed (including the charmingly-titled "Dog Semen"), Aderlating's music flows into one. It seems a little more static and less subtle (and thus less interesting) than Nekrasov's side, but the mood and texture fits. For fans of classic noise-based ambient industrial, this LP will prove to be a fulfilling journey to a hellish sound-world. (Chrome Leaf)

Chromeleafspace

Nekrasovspace

Aderlatingspace

Free download of Aderlating's new "Dying Of The Light" EP

Khanate - "Clean Hands Go Foul" CD

This powerhouse project includes the participation of several out-there music veterans, and the resultant sounds are at once oppressive, visceral, and excruciatingly (and deliberately) slow. Formed by avante guitarist James Plotkin, demonic-voiced madman Alan Dubin (OLD), Stephen O'Malley (Sunn O))), Burning Witch), and drummer Tim Wyskida, Khanate is an experiment in extremes. It's the sound of the charnels -- bleak, churning noise and agonized wailings, all set to a bowel-emptying slow-burn tempo. This is not rock, nor is it truly noise, but something more insidious, more dangerous, and, dare I say, more invigorating. This could be a more proper soundtrack to all those 'Saw' movies, if the film producers would dispense with the crappy industrial rock/nu-metal for a moment. "Clean My Heart" is the Melvins if they were being fried on a giant skillet, and the 33-minute closer, "Every God Damn Thing" is oddly minimalist, almost like a sparse ambient free jazz, if not for Dubin's hairsplitting shouts and Cookie-Monster bleats. Maximum discomfort, and some rather alarming music. This one's tailor-made for those of you who don't like, umm, traditionalism in your music! Hah! (Hydra Head)

Meshuggah - "obZen" CD

Continuing their evolution into one of hardcore metal's smartest and most imitated bands, Sweden's innovative Meshuggah here takes a sort of sidestep, yet still remain light years ahead of their contemporaries. Their last effort, 2005's amazing 'Catch Thirty Three', was a massive-scale, multi-movement prog-metal assault, with complex changes, wicked tunings, and throat-shredding vocals by Jens Kidman. 'Obzen' sort of keeps it close, eschewing the long-form pieces for more 'song-oriented' waters, but sounding much the same. Their almost mechanical crush-grind is tempered by stop-on-a-dime transitions and riffs that slice like a Ginsu. 'Bleed' is a personal favorite, with furious breakneck speed thrash that would make (2008 tour mates) Ministry proud. 'Obzen' eats other supposed 'hardcore' or death metal acts for breakfast. I am in awe of these guys. Highest praise indeed. (Nuclear Blast America)