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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Grinding Minds for over 20 Years!!!, September 19, 2006
Napalm Death has been an active band since 1981. Originally formed as a Crass-style punk band, they eventually took the British hardcore sound (ala Discharge and others) and created one of the fastest, most extreme sounds ever. What they created was called grindcore, and 25 years later the band is still on the cutting edge of extreme music.
There have been a lot of line up changes in the quarter of a century that Napalm Death has existed. There wasn't an original member in the band by the time their first LP, Scum, came out in 1987. The current lineup has been fairly solid since the early 90's, and the only recent change was the departure of Jesse Pintado a few years ago (RIP). After the lineup change, they opted to remain a four piece.
Smear Campaign marks the second studio album the band has done as a four piece and the second album the band has put out for Century Media. It is the best grindcore album they have done since Utopia Banished. Napalm Death did invent grindcore, but a lot of the albums that they put out in the mid 90's were basically death metal. Since Enemy of the Music Business was released, the albums have been more and more grind-infused. Smear Campaign is the epitome of grindcore - tons of blast beats, scathing vocals, and a pace and feel that draws more from punk and british hardcore than it does from metal.
The sound on Smear Campaign spans the entire career of Napalm Death. There are tracks that would be at home on Utopia Banished or From Enslavement to Obliteration, yet they do not sound dated or really even retro. The sound is timeless. While they are faster and their songwriting abilities have increased tenfold since the old days, they have never lost that dirty crust element that has been a hallmark of not only Napalm Death, but of the grindcore scene in general.
For years Napalm Death opened each new album with an intro, and Smear Campaign follows that tradition. The previous ones were generally a nice way to get things going and build up the listener to the level of intensity that he or she needed to be at before all hell broke loose and the first song started. "Weltschmerz" is no different, with a minute and twenty seven seconds of an ominous guitar line and assorted other sounds that come to a head with Anneke Van Giersbergen adding an eerie female vocal sound to the background. The band immediately goes for the throat as "Sink Fast, Lets Go" explodes into machine gun blast beats and furious guitars. The vocals are as extreme as ever, with liberal use of high screams mixed in with the trademark Greenway guttoral assault. The album continues on at a breakneck pace with the occasional fast paced breakdown and hooks that Napalm death is known for thrown in. "When All is Said and Done" slows down just a hair and is one of the catchier songs on the album, with less in the way of blastbeats and mind-numbing speed but brutal nonetheless. From there the onslaught continues at a furious pace.
There are only a few more places where the band changes things up. One is on "In Deference" where Anneke Van Giersbergen makes another appearance with a vocal delivery that while melodic and almost haunting, mixes very well with Barney's growls and screams. The other is on the album-closer "Smear Campaign" which incorporates a slow-paced, almost doomy sound with some clean vocals. The remaining tracks, however, rarely slow down.
5 stars is a strong score, but one that Smear Campaign deserves. The album is a culmination of a quarter of a century worth of development and innovation. Fans of any era of Napalm Death will be able to identify with this album and the political message is as strong and in your face as ever. How can a band not get 5 stars for an album that is the very definition of grindcore? It captures the intensity of their furious live shows while combining the best elements of their discography. Someone go dust off the crown, because the fathers of grindcore are ready to take their place on the throne for all time. Long live the kings of grind!
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Coming Back HARD, Most Inspired Effort Since Fear, Emptiness, Despair, October 9, 2006
Smear Campaign is Napalm Death's best record in a decade. I'm not saying that their records since 1996 have been subpar, far from it. But, Smear Campaign is their most focused arsenal of grindcore in a long time. Barney is in top form and sounds as if he's going to jump through your speakers and throttle you. You can tell that this is the subject matter (religion) that Greenway has wanted to tackle in-depth for a long time. Puritanical Punishment Beating may be the best song that Napalm Death has ever recorded. That's a bold statement but everything clicks on this showcase track from a nasty array of riffs to signiture time changes and raging vox. As usual, Shane Embury holds the madness together with his stellar bass work and Danny Herrera continues to amaze with his super human blast beats. Mitch Harris seems to work better alone because since the departure and untimely death of Jesse Pintado, Harris seems to have stepped up his playing and carried Napalm on his shoulders. Anyway, this is a must have for ND fans and grindcore fans in general...an inspired effort.
Tracks Ranked 1-10:
1. Weltschmerz (5/10) but just an intro...
2. Sink Fast, Let Go (8.5/10)
3. Fatalist (9/10)
4. Puritanical Punishment Beating (11/10)
5. When All Is Said and Done (9/10)
6. Freedom Is the Wage of Sin (9/10)
7. In Deference (10/10)
8. Short-Lived (9/10)
9. Identity Crisis (8.5/10)
10. Shattered Existence (9.5/10)
11. Eyes Right Out (9/10)
12. Warped Beyond Logic (8.5/10)
13. Rabid Wolves (For Christ)(10/10)
14. Deaf and Dumbstruck (Intelligent Design)(10/10)
15. Persona Non Grata (9/10)
16. Smear Campaign (9.5/10)
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A punch to the face of the religious "right", October 1, 2006
Let me start by saying that I'm so glad Napalm Death decided to write an album about religion really being the main reason our world is so screwed up today. They didn't just do it in one song, they did it throughout the course of a whole album. One might wonder if things would become redundant throughout the course of the album, but I'm here to tell you they don't. Each song works as a cohesive unit in the context of the album's concept. This album has 16 destructive songs that make the listener think while their ears are being constantly shredded to pieces by this grind machine. These songs speak on many levels:
There is the intellectual level of Barney and Shane's lyrics working within each song. There is also the level of raw power of a finely-sharpened machine destroying everything in its path. Mitch and Shane have really written some of their best-sounding riffs on this album. No disrespect to Jesse Pintado (RIP), but Napalm Death always should have been a 4-piece. Their sound is so much more agitated and more stripped-down with 1 guitar, which is why I loved the 'Mentally Murdered' EP so much (the best thing this band has ever done).
Finally, there is the expert level of their craft, the one that speaks the loudest on this album. These guys have been doing this for over 20 years and they know what does and doesn't work. Not that any of them probably care or much less think about that when they produce their songs, but this album is just a closed-fist, brass knuckled punch to the face of the religious "right" and just when we needed organized religion to get a proper slobberknocker.
I've been a fan of theirs for many years and get excited whenever I hear about a new album or about them coming around on tour. As listeners, we want music to not just make sound, but make sound for us or to speak to us, and Napalm Death always achieves that with every album they make.
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