Henry David Thoreau wrote “When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest.” While Thoreau is an a*shat, he gets it about the power of music. When listening to Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism by Napalm Death, you’ll feel the power of this music. Each pulverizing note brings catharsis. To stave off the suffocation of the times we find ourselves in, you’ll want to listen to this album again and again and again.
Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism is the latest offering of extreme music from the godfathers of grind; Napalm Death. The new album will be the band’s sixteenth studio album and will be available on September 18th via Century Media. The recording includes our heroes Shane Embury (bass, backing barks), Danny Herrera (drums), and Mark “Barney” Greenway (barks, screams, and other vocalizations). Guitars were recorded by Mitch Harris, yet the band doesn’t list him as a member.
It has been 5 years since the last Napalm Death album (Apex Predator in 2015). Is Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism worth the wait? Oh hell yes it is. Launching out of the gate is “F*ck the Factoid” in a blazing torrent of blasting riffs married with this marvelous octave riff. The richness of textures in this song foreshadows the variety of dimensions within this album.
There is the thrashing metal storm of “That Curse of Being in Thrall” with its earworm qualities feverishly digging into your brain. “Contagion” starts out as a thrashy groove that dovetails into a sweet VoiVod-ish break with the vocals taking on a throat singing groan. Next thing you know we’re grinding in blissful ecstasy like a shark in frenzy.
Dipping into a menacingly mechanical theme is “Joie De Ne Pas Vivre” (Joy of Not Living). Imagine the sounds within the bowels of a cadaverous industrial space swallowing up the black. This is followed up by the writhing dark and cold embrace of “Invigorating Clutch”. Barney’s vomiting vocals suggest a consumption that smothers all life. The incessant throb of bass and drums compels movement yet is oddly sedating.
With so many awesome songs, it is tough to pick a highlight. But, let’s pick a few standouts for sh*ts and giggles. First off is “Backlash Just Because”. The brawny bulldog riffs gnash and tear. What standouts is the Child Bite / Voivod chorus with its sweet maniacal dissonance. The song climaxes with mosh monster riffs that suggest it may be time to dance.
The other stellar standout on Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism is “Amoral”. Napalm Death tap the Killing Joke vein with wild abandon. The marching beat belies the message of poisonous fear we gladly share. This remarkable song makes our final end as worm food seem rewarding.
Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism by Napalm Death blissfully drills into the marrow of our base animal instinct to attack the other. The title of the album is as scintillating as the music within. Using the extreme power and dynamics of their music, Napalm Death examine the cancers of our society without smothering us in a violent deluge of cynicism. Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism provides exultation through the sharing of blasting breakers of raw emotional music. Napalm Death gives us a reason to live through their brilliantly brutal music.
