Tour line-ups in extreme metal don’t get much better than this, as UK grind legends Napalm Death ventured out onto the road supported by Brujeria, Lock Up and Power Trip. Headliners Napalm Death are currently touring around the world in support of their latest full-length studio album release,2015’s ‘Apex Predator Easy Meat’, and stopped off in their hometown of Birmingham to perform. Napalm Death bassist Shane Embury particularly had his work cut out for him, as he played three sets throughout the night.
A great night out for fans of extreme metal began with the opening band Lock Up, a grindcore project containing members of, over the years, influential groups such as At the Gates, Napalm Death, Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir and others. For an opening set, their slabs of vicious sounding death metal were welcomed by those who had gathered in attendance early to see all of the bands, although at times it felt like more of that praise was going towards Shane for obvious reasons as supposed to the actual music itself. But in general, Lock Up was a decent way to kick start the night.
Texas thrashers Power Trip followed, and as someone who views thrash as my favourite style of metal I was looking forward to their set with much anticipation. One common theme that will run throughout this review is that the crowd activity appeared to increase as the night went on, and perhaps one of the best examples of this is with Power Trip’s performance. It is such a relief to see that a style of heavy music like thrash can still be going strong decades after its initial inception with bands like Power Trip who manage to easily exemplify why thrash is incapable of dying, unlike other genres of music.
The main support slot was provided by Brujeria, featuring you guessed it! Shane Embury again on bass. To be perfectly honest, I knew next to nothing about this band, so I was both surprised and curious to see how dual vocalists in death metal can work, and work so well to the extent that it did in the case of Brujeria. To close off their set the band performed an impromptu cover of Los Del Rio’s “Macarena” as many of those in attendance prepared themselves for the headline act of the night.
Some bands that are decades into a career can obviously decrease in terms of quality of live performance over time, but not in the case of Napalm Death. The undeniable giants of the style of music that they play and have played since the 1980s, a good two dozen or so of the band’s best songs being played with such unbelievably violent ferocity thanks to the roar of frontman Barney Greenway: “Scum”, “Smash a Single Digit”, “How the Years Condemn”, “Dear Slum Landlord…”, “Suffer the Children” and special homages to Hirax, Offenders and Dead Kennedys in the form of covers of their respective songs “Face Down in the Dirt”, “Hate, Fear and Power” and “Nazi Punks Fuck Off” meant that this Napalm Death show was a special one to remember.
The fact that Napalm Death remain such a crushing live force is a true testament to them as one of the most underappreciated but at the same time legendary bands to ever come of the United Kingdom. To see them in their hometown with the reception that they so deservedly received was so brilliant. They’re just one of those bands that you can’t not enjoy when you go to see them live. I came out of that building physically battered and bruised but it was one of the best shows I’ve seen so far this year.