I keep waiting for Napalm Death to put out a bad album, or maybe just lose their edge. It happens to almost all of the older bands, at least for an album or two. Napalm Death seems to have been granted immunity to this curse; even their experimental albums from the mid 90’s are solid and respectably heavy. It seems that these guys are just cut from a different cloth. Whatever the case, the run of consecutive albums that started with Enemy of The Music Business in 2000 has to be seen as nothing less than a remarkable achievement. Utilitarian doesn’t just fall in line with those albums, it ups the ante. This thing is a vicious, cutting edge masterwork of madness. 

On Utilitarian, Napalm Death have taken some bits and pieces from their experimental period and perfectly blended them with the punishing death/grind that they are known for.  There have been a few little nods to the band’s more experimental side on the past couple of albums, but never to this degree. Not to worry, though; the engine that drives this album is fueled by the dissonant riffing and breakneck blasting that Napalm Death built their name on. The songs tend to be short and to the point, with several under three minutes and the longest just reaching the four minute mark. Every track included here has an identity of its own, and each of them is memorable in some way. “Everyday Pox” is the most notable, as it features a guest spot from John Zorn on sax. The saxophone is used in a sort of abstract way, adding a second layer of chaos just below the surface of the song.  I was shocked by how well this song worked out, and I would like to hear more of this collaboration. 

The vocals on this album are more varied than they have been in years. Barney retains his classic leather lunged bellow and wields his usual array of vocal wipeouts, death grunts and growls. If anything, he sounds a touch more guttural than he has in recent years, recalling his vocal performances on Utopia Banished and Fear, Emptiness, Despair.  Embry and Harris are both credited with backing vocals, and there are a lot of higher shrieks woven into the songs. These vocals are featured prominently on “The Wolf I Feed,” and “Orders of Magnitude.” What really stands out is the frequent use of clean vocals. This is never overdone, but they show up in multiple songs and add a welcome contrast to the grunts, shrieks and growls that dominate the album. “Fall on Their Swords” and “Blank Look About Face” provide good examples of this as well.

Utilitarian is an album without a dull moment; it is intense, forward thinking and utterly relentless.  Napalm Death pushes the boundaries of their sound further here than they have since 1998’s Words From The Exit Wound. The difference between the albums is like night and day, though; it seemed like the band sacrificed some of their fire and aggression when they played around with their sound in the mid 90’s. This time around they have lost nothing, instead adding interesting new elements to their already high octane death/grind.  I have been following Napalm Death too long to be completely objective when thinking about Utilitarian’s rank within their catalogue. I will probably always like Harmony Corruption the best, and nothing that any band does will ever be as important as Scum was to the early development of extreme metal. Taken purely on its own merit, however, Utilitarian is nothing short of brilliant. Anybody who has ever enjoyed a Napalm Death album needs immediately to get their hands on a copy.

TRACK LISTING

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*Comments:

1. Circumspect
2. Errors In The Signals
3. Everyday Pox
4. Protection Racket
5. The Wolf I Feed
6. Quarantined
7. Fall On Their Swords
8. Collision Course
9. Orders Of Magnitude
10. Think Tank Trials
11. Blank Look About Face
12. Leper Colony
13. Nom De Guerre
14. Analysis Paralysis
15. Opposite Repellent
16. A Gag Reflex

Total playing time: 46:11

Release Date: February 22, 2012
Label: Century Media Music

Napalm Death - Utilitarian

Reviewer: Garett

April 14, 2012