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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A forgotten classic, July 30, 2006
It seems that several of Napalm Death's mid-`90's albums - including _Diatribes_, this album, _Fear, Emptiness, Despair_, and _Words from the Exit Wound_ - are highly overlooked in this band's long and varied career. Except for the occasional immature sell-out accusation, rarely anything actually *bad* is ever said about these albums. Napalm Death's earlier albums such as _Scum_ and _From Enslavement to Obliteration_ are classic, genre-defining grind, and later albums such as _Enemy of the Music Business, Pt. 2_ and _The Code is Red...Long Live the Code_ get somewhat mixed but still fairly high appraise.
So what's wrong with an album such as _Inside the Torn Apart_? In a word, nothing. So they don't write 1.316-second songs anymore. So they use melodies a lot more now. If anything, they've learned how to play their music BETTER. This album has all the trimmings of a classic Napalm Death record: bone-crushing riffs, pummeling drums, and harsh vocals). Haven't they always been all about this formula? At least they know how to switch things up and keep it sounding fresh.
The band is in top form: the Jesse Pintado/Mitch Harris guitar team continues to work perfectly, making some excellent harmonies and riff-fests; Danny Herrera's drums are plentiful, with some memorable fills, and a keen sense of technical, almost jazz-like, timing. Shane Embury, the longest-lasting member (and yet not from the original lineup!) continues to make good bass lines even if they're barely audible. And then of course, Mark "Barney" Greenway is still one of the best voices in the metal genre, belting out fearsome throaty howls and shouts (and unlike most death/grind vocalists, he actually puts a bit of variation into his delivery - and is fairly easy to understand without reading the lyrics sheet!).
_Inside_ sports twelve original and flowing songs over about 40 minutes, completely devoid of filler. The title track is particularly noteworthy for its multiple time changes: shifting from a mid-tempo, almost ambient wall of guitar riffs to a sludgy crunch that segues perfectly into a chugging chorus with catchy, brutal vocals. Songs such as "Birth in Regress" and "Section" have some excellent melodic breakdowns that really beef up the heavier parts. There are some great chug-and-crush riffs on "Purist Realist," and a flurry of blast beats used in "Lowpoint." The closer, "The Lifeless Alarm," is one of Napalm Death's unusual slow songs; eerie guitar harmonies are played over a lurching, doomy tempo, with shouted vocals pushed way into the background, adding a creepy underlying vibe.
It doesn't seem to make sense why an album such as this doesn't get more attention; this is as good as anything else Napalm Death has put out, and if you give it a listen, you might shake your head in wonder as to why it's been sitting on your shelf and collecting dust all this time. You'll be grateful to have it; even if it didn't do anything for you the first time around, it will make for some seriously great listening later on.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
METAL BLODDY METAL, August 17, 1999
By A Customer
This album is metal to the core. It has excellent vocals, the best gutairs and brutal drums. It is good to see a metal band still playing the metal that is good. A band that doesn't need to go rappy to impress
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
speed has, unfortunately, become their basis of review, September 4, 2006
Napalm Death's innovation has obviously put them in a trap that yields a no-win situation as they progress. By starting out with songs like "Dead" and "Lucid Fairytale," they set a standard of speed and intensity that many listeners and critics were going to hold onto for dear life, and anything slower than the 'good old days' would be met with derision and contempt. I myself fell into that camp for a while, thinking that Napalm Death has lamed-out with the loss of Mick Harris and had "slowed down" into a "mere" death metal band.
It took me a while to come around, especially after hearing lame copycats at a Napalm Death show (I can comfortably say that I've seen Napalm at two different stages of their life). What Napalm still brings to the table is a raw intensity that rarely gets overproduced. The amount of energy and lack of pretension brought me around to picking up their later albums again, and this is one that I think gets bashed for its slower stuff. I'll agree that I didn't really get my hooks into this disc until track 4, "Reflect on Conflict," but when I went back again from the start, I could find that great Napalm edge throughout. This is a band that has been around from the advent of grindcore--don't you think they get a little chance to play around with their own creation some? I think I would only bash them now if their sound became more imitative than innovative, but _Inside the Torn Apart_ is not one of those efforts--rock on, guys.
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