review by: Roberto Martinelli

Since the departure from their longtime label the release of their last album, Enemy of the Music Business, Napalm Death seems to have gotten a large second wind. It was looking as though this seminal grindcore band had been stagnating more and more as they departed farther and farther from their roots, but maybe all that was needed was a little change of scenery.

Ok, Napalm Death really hasn't been grindcore for at least 10 years now, but they've rediscovered the blast beat, and that's a good thing. It was getting pretty pointless for a while on totally uninteresting albums like Diatribes and Inside the Torn Apart, where the music was mostly chunky and mid-paced.

Order of the Leech - whose cover art by Anaal Nathrakh's Michael Kenney (Irrumator) is reminiscent of the landmark Scum album - is expectedly a lot like the album that precedes it, but maybe a bit chunkier and heavier. And like Enemy of the Music Business, Order of the Leech is less of a 40-minute album of 12 individual songs as it is a 40-minute slab of blasting fury that is separated into 12 nearly identical slices. As viewed as such, Napalm Death deliver satisfaction.

Barney Greenway continues to be one of the finest death growlers in the genre; you can pick him out immediately and he just sounds so good. The riffs stick to what the band has been doing of late: sort of thrashy, sort of grindy, sort of punky. Danny Herrera's drumming seems to be getting bigger and bigger with each album.

Order of the Leech is constructed a lot like Enemy of the Music Business, but it fools around much less with anything possibly resembling playful riffs and goes for a more straightforward approach. The production reflects that: heavier, chunkier guitars and drums to complement the more aggressive nature. Subjectively, I'll always favor Harmony Corruption for its song separation and overall character, but this new one's got the power of technology on its side. Also look for one of the funniest hidden tracks maybe ever, a bit with some Czech metal freak talking about how he can see the mountains of Norway when he listens to Immortal. Good disk.