September 25, 2000 - Enemy Of The Music Business

A year since their cover EP and two years since "Words From The Exit Wound", Napalm Death released their ninth album "Enemy Of The Music Business" on September 25, 2000". Napalm Death have finally moved away from their experimental 90s period and return to more of their traditional grindcore sound. Sounds good to me, let's check it out!

The albul kicks off with the short "Taste The Poison" and they jump right into a not grindcore, but pretty fast-paced main riff and Barney Greenway sounds pretty great alternating low and high screams. It doesn't take long for them to switch to an even faster riff though and it's nice to hear Napalm Death firing on all cylinders once again! Shane Embury's bass sounds distorted and solid in the background and this is a fitting way to kick off their return to their roots! Up next is "Next On The List" and Danny Herrera is playing a pretty cool drumbeat that is slightly offbeat but still super fast behind a similar stop-and-start main riff with lots of low-to-high guitars. The chorus isn't grindcore speeds at all, but just having the production change away from the muted, experimental style makes everything sound heavier and better! My head was still banging plenty and this shows that even if they wanna play non-grindcore speeds things don't have to sound so basic and toned down, a solid tune! Track 3 is "Constitutional Hell" and they jump right into another furious grindcore main riff and it's hard for the old toes to keep up, especially with some more fantastic speedy drumming by Herrera. After a couple furious rounds they shift to a slightly slower but also slightly groovy new riff and this sounds like a great mix of their two styles! It makes for a pretty sweet little song! The next track is "Vermin" and the grindcore riffs keep coming with another super fast and solid main riff. After melting your face off with this they switch to a really cool new riff with one guitarist leading the way with some really great stuff! They finish it off with some more typical Insanity but this was another great mix of grindcore with some pretty cool other metal stuff too! Track 5 is "Volume Of Neglect" and it's driven by a decent main riff that is more akin to their experimental style, but once again the improved production makes things sound much better even though it's not blindingly fast. The chorus is much faster and interestingly enough the first chorus is instrumental. Greenway does yell a raspy chorus every other time, but since actually like it better without the vocals! This falls into their new template pretty nicely, but I like this template of mixing some grindcore with some slower stuff way better than what they did for the past several years. Up next is "Thanks For Nothing" and once again I'm unsure whether it's Jesse Pintado or Mitch Harris but whoever is playing lead guitar is kicking some serious ass with a phenomenal main riff that would easily be considered a solo by most bands! For Napalm Death it's the main riff of the song and it's of course backed by a furious rhythm section for some more super hard-hitting stuff! They stay pretty damn fast for this whole song and I don't mind one bit, everybody sounds great! Track 7 is "Can't Play, Won't Play" and words start to fall short when I say it's another grindcore main riff: the guitars are so fast, the bass is also super fast and Herrera's drums are off the charts, it's amazing that he can keep up these insane speeds over multiple songs! After a couple pretty good, insane rounds they shift to their slower, groovier style and this riff is pretty sweet as well! All in all another pretty cool tune! The next track is "Blunt Against The Cutting Edge" and as they dive right into another furious main riff, I think for the latter half of this album I will only mention when they deviate from the template, because words just aren't doing proper justice to all these cool grindcore riffs. They stick to the main drag on this one, but it's a pretty solid main drag, no complaints here! Track 9 is "Cure For The Common Complaint" and it's driven by another fast-paced and cool main riff (as you'd expect). Greenway hits some high screams in the chorus that sound pretty wild and I was on the edge of my seat for the whole song, even though it was another typical(ly cool) tune.  Up next is "Necessary Evil" and it's a fairly simple song compared to some of the other ones with no grindcore parts at all! Things still sound good, but after so much of this new (better) template, it's hard to go back to their experimental style, even if the production is way better, and that's what I feel like this one was. Track 11 is "C.S. (Conservative Shithead) Part 2" and a long 13 years after the original "C.S." on their debut album "Scum", we finally learn what C.S. stands for (and it's pretty funny). As you would expect, they follow the "Scum" vibes with some blindingly fast grindcore, but also mix in a bit of groove to make this a pretty sweet main riff! I love the Line "the Anti-Christ shifts to the right" and I of course love the throwback to their debut! It's about twice as long as the original (a whole 2:18!) and they keep you on your toes the whole way through, one of the better songs on the album for me! The next track is "Mechanics Of Deceit" and it fits the template pretty perfectly and doesn't really deviate from the established main riff. Sounds a little boring in those words; I can assure you it is the exact opposite! There is so much fast and cool guitar packed into a more standard 3:21 length and although they stick to the main drag, your head is furiously trying to keep up the whole time, and I love it! Track 13 is "(The Public Gets) What The Public Doesn't Want" and it takes no time to jump into yet another super fast-paced main riff and accompanying yelling verse; how they come up with so many uniquely blistering riffs is quite something. As usual, you're just being relentlessly attacked with guitars and drums and Greenway sounds pretty solid overtop as well, another cool tune for sure! The final song on the album is "Fracture In The Equation" and it's listed at almost twelve minutes long (though just like their previous EP, a lot of it is silence). They alternate low and high guitars very nicely on this main riff and after a couple rounds they play a decent, slow half-breakdown that leads to a pretty cool finale! The song actually ends at 3:48, then after around 7 minutes of silence we hear a bonus bit that is also similar to their previous EP! Only this time instead of a Welsh fan speaking English and then their native language, we get a Yugoslavian fan speaking and laughing in an epic voice overtop some pretty epic keyboards! I have no idea who's playing the keyboards and they are the last thing you'd expect from Napalm Death, but it sounds pretty epic honestly! What a weird and wonderful little bit!

That is the end of "Enemy Of The Music Business" and I thought it was a pretty solid album! I love that Napalm Death has returned to their grindcore ways, but I think they did a decent job of incorporating some groove and other bits of their experimental era. I think it EASILY surpasses their last four albums and I like ot better than "Harmony Corruption" as well. It's really, really close with "Utopia Banished", but I think this album falls just short, but 4th is still pretty good! I can't wait to see where they go from here!