NAPALM DEATH - Utilitarian CD

Napalm Death are an institution. In three decades of existence, they have remained at the forefront of extreme music, constantly evolving and refining their sound while at the same time staying true to the band’s roots in early grindcore and punk. Despite the fact that there are no original members left in the lineup, they have never faltered in quality or watered down their singular vision in order to get ahead; their integrity and dedication has become something of a gold standard by which all other grindcore bands are judged. Utilitarian is Napalm Death’s fourteenth album, and it finds the band sounding as potent and relevant as ever.

Considering the state our world is currently in, we need art to act as a voice of dissent now more than ever. With Utilitarian, Napalm Death are that voice personified for the extreme metal underground, as they have been for the past thirty-one years and will no doubt continue to be until Embury, Harris, Greenway and Herrera are in the ground. Then again, who’s to say that other musicians won’t replace them to take up the mantle, just as they did when the original band members began to drop off? Maybe Napalm Death is eternal.