Grindcore and Musical Carnage, Just Because:  Napalm Death’s Insane Performance at the Sold-Out Transplants Brewing Company

April 15th, 2022

            Politically-raged lyrics against corrupt establishments, frenetic energy from frontmen running amok on-stage, the backbone of Thrash but with an even faster drum beat, all whirled and blended into a profound thumping guitar tone.  Enter Grindcore, a chaotic blend of all the above, created arguably by Napalm Death in 1981.  Starting as a Hardcore Punk band, the UK legends themselves have demonstrated their prolific Grindcore sound, and attempting new thwarts of Death Metal albums, and Noisecore as well, displaying what they perform as today.  On a massive tour supporting Behemoth and Arch Enemy, Napalm Death would be performing a few headlining shows, with this event at the Transplants Brewing Company in Palmdale.  A sold-out show, nonetheless.

            Animals make the world go ‘round, as you can see Patches here at the venue.  A cat that the staff takes care of, it was a joy to see countless Metalheads in awe of Patches, while petting him, and providing lots of attention.  My day is better with animals in it, regardless of my mood.

            Much like Napalm Death’s mix of genres, the supporting bands tonight ranged just the same, Punk, Old-School Death Metal, and etc.  Triste was the first to get the ball rolling tonight, a Hardcore band from Lancaster.  As the crowd were slowly filling up the venue, a few circle pits were already commencing, rocking out to Triste’s slower musical build-ups, following with a dashing flurry.  It was difficult finding the band info online, as their Bandcamp seems to be the only media out there, without their names listed.  Although Punk isn’t one of my most cherished genres, I appreciated their lead singer providing these interesting harsh-spoken passages while the songs slowed down slightly, as well as the guitarist’s more yelling/soft growling back-up vocals.  It created this duality that I don’t hear too often in modern Punk music, and the lead singer’s emotional vocal delivery especially felt noticeable during the softer tempo moments.  While the riffs themselves, for me personally, didn’t stand out too much when the scat drumming lead the charge, the emotional material often caught my attention further.  Triste’s 20-minute set finished to a rabid bunch in the crowd, a fine start to this brutal event.

            If the era of Leprosy were in the crowd, for the next band, the amount of moshing and headbanging would have felt no bounds.  Deth Bed’s old-school approach to Death Metal, fit in nicely with this supporting cast and fans.  From the 4-bar tremolo riffs, whammy-bar based solos, to that signature snare/hi-hat down-beat during the verses, Deth Bed Classic Death Metal ways was a type of refresher, remembering how Death Metal sounded to the majority of us growing up.  Frank Salatino’s gritty solo work showed off his self-taught abilities, all while demonstrating his frontman talents joking with the crowd in-between songs, and seemed more than comfortable leading Deth Bed’s set.  “Curse of the Witch” however, showed the difference from the older Death Metal side:  intense blasting from Jesse Kerr.  I always wondered why some of the veteran bands like Death, Kreator, Slayer even, chose not to blastbeat back then, but hearing Deth Bed do just that, I felt it would have fit with much of the tremolo-based riffs.  Salatino’s raspy vocal work, not to mention singing quite often to the drum beat, worked well with the riff structures they used.  While Gerardo Miguel’s bass lines matched the guitar work close to note-for-note, it was present in the mix and sounded well with the higher notes.  Deth Bed’s classic-era sounding Death Metal, worked well with this near full room, and I heard they’ll be performing at one of the Jungle Rot/Internal Bleeding shows in June.  They’ll fit in mighty fine on that slot.

            By this point in the show, the sign outside the door showed tonight’s event officially sold-out, with the last supporting act, Final Conflict, coming up next.  Next to Napalm Death, the mosh pit went ballistic, reacting well to one of the first Hardcore Punk bands from California.  From the sliding power chords, aggressive down-beat, to the yells from Tim Sawyer, it’s easy to hear the Punk influence and how quick they were to show how it was done.  I thought it was apropos to have Final Conflict be main support for Napalm Death, taking Hardcore Punk from the United States, and the Hardcore Punk eventual Grindcore/Death Metal from the UK, back-to-back!  The anti-political aspects of early Punk, were quite relevant in Final Conflict’s approach and lyrics, with Tim telling the audience how awful the world still is today (he’s correct), and to continue to be good to each other.  His energy lifted their set, vocally, in-between songs, and it translated into a blitzing, furious bunch reacting to each counterpoint and solo-riffing set-up.  For me personally, nothing individually instruments wise stood out too much, but most Punk-based music isn’t designed for that, nor do they want that in their goals either.  But watching the crowd go insane and react so positively, made Final Conflict’s set a quality watch.              

            For the next 70 minutes, Napalm Death brought Transplants Brewing Company to a whirlwind tornado of aggression, legendary blast-beats, and an eclectic amount of Punk, Death Metal, Noisecore, and Grind.  “Silence is Deafening” was a magical opening to their set, a blistering opening from their 2005 classic, The Code is Red…Long Live the Code!  You could argue this was the album that defined their latest era, with the emphasis on Death Metal in the music.  “Contagion” opening with this fantastic riff sequence, building up to another stellar, slightly melodic riff (at least for Napalm Death).  One of the stronger aspects I felt the band tinkered and detailed, the slower transitions show in their later material.  As powerfully chaotic as the music can be, hearing those details and continuing to still evolve within their sound, that’s a difficult ask for the veteran bands, notwithstanding the level Napalm Death has reached in their field.  “Invigorating Clutch” another example, with this mid-tempo Noise intro, Barney Greenway belting a subtle, but menacing harsh-spoken word, added grand texture to the Anti-Facism and social issues found within their lyrics.  The emotional colours of the words, felt inspiring with this newer vocal format.

            Don’t let the Grindcore genre fool you, the musicianship found in Napalm Death, should not be underestimated.  Danny Herrera’s blastbeat technique holding his drum sticks, what looked to be a German Grip, felt organized, immense and completely loud in the mix.  Quality musicians playing a stripped-down genre at times, allows the music to be furiously quick, yet sloppy scarcely, if none at all.  I’m sure most Napalm Death fans will turn to the late 80s and throughout the 90s, for the eras they prefer, but hearing “Smash a Single Digit” off the 2015 record, Apex Predator – Easy Meat, the bombastic inverted chords and dissonance found throughout the intro, it completely turns the music on its face, and seeing guitarist John Cooke right up front, performing the material with a carnage-filled care, it’s taken the fury within their older material, but with a non-overproduced element in the modern material.  I get everything out of the band, and them some, with the late 2000s albums and beyond. 

            Despite a pleasant emphasis on their latest material, seeing the bombarding crowd go balls-out for the early era tracks, paid tribute to itself for the evening, and the supporting line-up.  Barney Greenway’s humble, witty, and self-decrepitating humour in-between songs, especially showed during their epic from Scum, “You Suffer.”  After the song ended, by far the lengthiest track of their set, and possibly career, Barney told the audience, “Pay the fuck attention!”  This live audience, drenched in sweat, possible blood, and exhaustion, laughed and enjoyed the banter.  The song ending breakdown, one of mighty proportions, “Suffer the Children” got the crowd’s especially undivided attention, going back to their first overall Death Metal record, Harmony Corruption.  Shane Embury’s thumping bass playing and pounding tone, created for a monster rager in their classic rendition of “Nazi Punks (Fuck Off)”, courtesy of the Dead Kennedys.  The added breakdowns, crunchy guitar tone in this one, a cover done so brightly, I’ve heard bands claim that was Napalm Death’s song.  Goes to show you a properly done, quality cover, can go a long way.  It had been several years since I saw Napalm Death headline, and tonight, their 25-song set went on for close to 70-minutes.  With the ravage tempo and diverse songs from their illustrious discography, their set still went by in a jiffy.  Barney met with some of the fans, drenched in sweat, smiling and taking pictures from these joyous fans.

            Combining Hardcore Punk with Thrash, and eventually Death Metal?  This was seen as comically absurd by the elitists and newer music seekers back in the 80s, but Napalm Death’s vision of helping create, and being one of the very founders of Grindcore, took the world by force, enlisting legendary bands such as Carcass, Cattle Decapitation, and Aborted, to adopt their similar traits either in their early days, or still in their modern era.  An outstanding performance from Napalm Death, and their set won’t be quite as long supporting Behemoth and Arch Enemy, so pay attention.          

1.  Silence is Deafening

2.  Fuck the Factoid

3.  Backlash Just Because

4.  Taste the Poison

5.  Contagion

6.  Lucid Fairytale

7.  Everyday Pox

8.  Invigorating Clutch

9.  Cesspits

10.  Scum

11.  I Abstain

12.  Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism

13.  Continuing War on Stupidity

14.  The Kill

15.  Narcissus

16.  Suffer the Children

17.  When All Is Said and Done

18.  Don’t Need It (Bad Brains cover)

19.  Greed Killing

20.  Unchallenged Hate

21.  You Suffer

22.  Smash a Single Digit

23. Dead

24.  Nazi Punks Fuck Off (Dead Kennedys cover)

25.  Siege of Power