Napalm Death is a grindcore band that formed in Birmingham, England in 1981 by Miles Ratlegde and Nic Bullen, originally under the name of Civil Defence. They are credited by many with having invented the genre. The band have no original members left - indeed, by the first side of Scum, their debut album, the vocalist and bass player, Nic Bullen, was the only original member remaining.
The band earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records for recording the shortest song ever, You Suffer which is precisely 1.316 seconds long and consists of the lyrics "You suffer - but why?".
Members of Napalm Death have moved on to form bands such as Carcass, Godflesh, Cathedral, and Scorn.
Statistics
Biography
Early history 1982-1986
Originally, Napalm Death were called "Civil Defence". They started in Birmingham, in the United Kingdom, in 1982, as a Punk rock band founded by high school student Nik Bullen, Miles Ratledge and some friends they met at school. In the begining Napalm Death were more inspired by early punk bands, anarcho-punk and other underground acts such as Amebix and Crass. The band made a few demos and contributed their first studio recording to the Bullshit Detector Volume 3 compilation released by Crass Records.
Meanwhile, young guitarrist Justin Broadrick was playing by himself in a project called "Final". Nick Bullen met Justin Broadrick in a record shop in which both used to hang out, in Birmingham. They had similar interests (Punk Rock, Metal, Throbbing Gristle) and soon enough Justin was admitted into Nick Bullen's band. This was around May 1985 , and with him came the very first metal sounds. They then recorded a demo, Hatred Surge on which they had some funny pseudonyms. The line-up described on the demo is: Nik - Vox, Just - Guitar, Nuts - Bass, Rat - Drums.
After recording the demo, Miles got out and Mick Harris, a local fan was admitted into the band. The band then became a three piece with Nik Bullen taking over bass duties besides singing and having Justin only on guitar and newcomer Mick on drums. "It became more metal influenced as the three of us played more" says Mick.
After getting in touch with Digby Pearson , the owner of the small label "Earache Records", through mutual friends, Napalm Death signed a deal and recorded half of what was to be their debut album Scum in 1986. The album was yet unreleased.
Although Napalm Death was the first band who actually coined the word "Grindcore" to classify and define the type of music that they played, others had previously played very similar music. Acts such as Siege, Repulsion , Macabre, S.O.B. , Larm , Heresy , Cryptic Slaughter , Nausea , were all known for playing ultra fast and brutal songs. They did not actually "invent" grindcore, but more like helped it evolve and go forward. Napalm Death was the first to actually pigeonhole those bands within a style, and to establish themselves as kings of the genre.
At this time Nik Bullen was both playing the bass and singing but that was soon to change. As with everything in Napalm Death. In order to make things easier to Nik, a new bassist, Jim Whitley, was called, and Nik concentrated in singing.
During one of the concerts, the band played with fellow noisiers Head of David (which was also a brutal band, but industrial like) and Justin, which was absolutely mad about the guys, was offered to play with them, provided that he left Napalm Death. He did not think twice before leaving Napalm Death for good, and joining Head of David on drums. Napalm Death did not have a guitarist anymore.
1987-1989
Shortly after Justin left, Nik Bullen left as well. So they had to look for new members. Guitarist Bill Steer played in a local grind band called Carcass and given the affinity between the bands, he soon left Napalm Death. Also, a new singer had been added: Lee Dorrian . With this line-up they recorded what was to become the B side of Scum, and the result was finally released trough Earache. It caused an impact in extreme music that is felt till today, influencing bands from all around the world. This classic attempt against logical musical structure and good taste features seminal Grindcore classics such as "Dragnet", "Mind Control", and the yet to be surpassed "You Suffer", an exquisite piece of composition which lasts for precisely 1.316 seconds
Shortly thereafter, the band went on tour. Napalm Death lost another of its members. Jim left just before the tour for Scum. Enter Shane Embury, the guy with the ugliest hair in the history of Grindcore. After this small line-up change, they took part in two compilations (North atlantic noise attack and the Pathological), recorded two Peel sessions and a Split 7" with japanese grinders S.O.B.. On top of that, they went to Rich Bitch studio once more and recorded their second insult to moralistc society, the controversial classic From Enslavement To Obliteration.
Very much in the same vein of Scum, From Enslavement To Obliteration differs as far as production goes, but that is about it. Following the release, Napalm Death had a participation on BBC's Arena Heavy Metal Special, which proved how successful the band could be. The band went on touring around the world for a while, but as soon as they came back home from Japan, in July 1989 , Bill and Lee decided to quit. Soon enough the remaining members contacted Jesse Pintado (ex-Terrorizer). A new singer, Mark "Barney" Greenway, who sung in the Death Metal act Benediction was also called, and immediately joined.
After recruiting new members for the Napalm front, the band took part of the Grindcrusher tour , with fellow labelmates Carcass, Bolt Thrower and Morbid Angel. After the touring, they called in a second guitarrist, Mitch Harris (ex Righteous Pigs ), and soon started writing new songs with this line-up.
They went to the American Death Metal producer Scott Burns who lives and works in Florida. Burns records most of his stuff on Morrisound studio .
1990-1994
The band went to Morrisound and started working on their new album: Harmony Corruption. While writing Harmony Corruption they definitely changed their style a little, from Grindcore, to a mix of good old sonic blastbeats and some slower, more rhythmic parts. It was much more death metal influenced than the previous albums, and it was a good progression as far as the compositions went. After releasing the new record, they went on touring around the world and from the material filmed at those concerts they released a home-video, Live Corruption.
Then, Mick Harris wanted to change the band, to which the band opposed. And so Mick was forced to quit Napalm. An unknown American drummer was brought in to replace him, called Danny Herrera. Napalm Death released a new record, Utopia Banished. Now working with producer Colin Richardson . This release was a kind of "return to the roots" - grindcore.
After recording The World Keeps Turning EP, the band toured Europe with Dismember and Obituary on the "Campaign for Musical Destruction" tour. The tour continued in the US, with Napalm Death playing with Cathedral, Carcass and Brutal Truth.
Thereafter they went to the studio and recorded Fear, Emptiness, Despair. Now this was a major change. In spite of keeping all the heaviness and aggression, the new record sounded really different to the avarage Napalmphile. It was clear that they were trying to make their sound more modern. More rythmic riffs and a industrial like structure, mixed with some good old grindcore blasts were the main ingredients of the album. Live concerts with Entombed, Obituary and Machine Head showed the audience how violent and aggressive the new Napalm Death sound could be.
1994 onwards
The Greed killing EP was the next release from the band, through Earache. After the preview with the EP, Diatribes, a full-length record was released. Although things seemed to be going smoothly from outside, they were going through problems. Misunderstanding between the members and lead singer Mark Greenway led to the latter being expelled from the band in late/mid 96. Barney went to record with Extreme Noise Terror (the ENT release Damage 381 features Barney on lead vocals) and ENT's main screaming man Phil Vane went to fill Barney's hole on Napalm Death. Things did not go as well as they were supposed to, and Vane was kicked out of the band just before they got into the studio to record the new album. And so Barney returned to Napalm Death.
The next album Inside The Torn Apart took Napalm Death forward into the future of Grindcore.
Enemy Of The Music Business was the return to the brutal grindcore, along the lines of Utopia Banished, displaying their anger with the music industry.
Order Of The Leech continued where their previous album ended.
In 2004, they recorded a covers album called Leaders Not Followers: Part2, the sequel to their earlier covers EP. It contains covers of old hardcore punk and heavy metal bands, including Cryptic Slaughter , Massacre , Sepultura, and Discharge.
And now in April 2005, the new album The Code is Red... Long Live the Code will be released.
Members
Current Lineup
Past Members
- Nicholas (Nic) 'Scab' Bullen - vocals, bass (1982-1987)
- P-nut - bass (1985?)
- Robo - bass, guitar (1983?)
- Finbar Quinn - bass (1984?)
- Daryl 'Sid' Fideski - guitar
- Miles 'The Rat' Ratledge - drums (1982-1985)
- Justin Broadrick - guitar (1985-1987)
- Mick Harris - drums (1985-1991)
- James (Jim) Whitley - bass (1986-1987)
- Lee Dorrian - vocals (1987-1989)
- Bill Steer - guitar (1987-1989)
- Frank Healey - guitar (1987)
- Phil Vane - vocals (1996-1997)
- Jesse Pintado guitars (1989-2004)
Discography
- Punk Is A Rotting Corpse (1982, demo)
- Like Sheep We All Have Gone Astray (1983, demo)
- Hatred Surge (1985, demo)
- Scum (1987)
- From Enslavement To Obliteration (1988)
- The Curse (7", included in initial copies of From Enslavement To Obliteration) (1988)
- Live In Europe (7", 1989)
- Split w/ SOB (split 7", 1989)
- Mentally Murdered (1989)
- The Peel Sessions (1989)
- Suffer The Children (1990)
- Harmony Corruption (CD includes the tracks from Mentally Murdered) (1990)
- Harmony Corruption bonus live EP (EP, 1990)
- Mass Appeal Madness (EP, 1991)
- Death By Manipulation (includes the tracks from Mentally Murdered) (1992)
- Utopia Banished (1992)
- Utopia Banished Bonus CD (EP, 1992)
- The World Keeps Turning (EP) (1992)
- Nazi Punks Fuck Off (EP) (1993)
- Live Corruption (live) (1992)
- Fear, Emptiness, Despair (1994)
- Hung (EP, 1994)
- Plague Rages (Promo, 1994)
- Greed Killing (EP) (1996)
- Diatribes (1996)
- Cursed To Tour (split with At The Gates, 1996)
- In Tongues We Speak (split-cd with Coalesce ) (1997)
- Inside The Torn Apart (1997)
- Breed To Breath (EP, 1997)
- Bootlegged In Japan (live) (1998)
- Words From The Exit Wound (1998)
- Leaders Not Followers (EP) (1999)
- The Complete Radio One Sessions (2000)
- Enemy Of The Music Business (2001)
- Order Of The Leech (2002)
- Noise For Music's Sake (the best of and the rare of 2CD) (2003)
- Punishment In Capitals (2004) (CD and DVD)
- (2004)
- The Code Is Red...Long Live The Code (2005)
Compilations
- Bullshit Detector #3 : Crucifixion Of Possessions (1984)
- North Atlantic Noise Attack : title ? (excerpt from Scum/FETO) 1989
- Hardcore Holocaust : title ? (excerpt from Scum/FETO) 1989
- Grind Crusher : The Missing Link 1989
- Grind Crusher - free 7" : You Suffer 1989
- Hardcore Holocaust II : title ? (excerpt from Scum/FETO) 1990
- Pathological Compilation : Internal Animosity - unreleased song 1990
- Grind Crusher - The Ultimate Earache : The World Keeps Turning 1992
- Masters Of Brutality I : Suffer The Children 1992
- Masters Of Brutality II : The World Keeps Turning 1992
- Virus 100 : Nazi Punks Fuck Off - unreleased song 1992
- Earplugged I : Plague Rages and State Of Mind 1994
- Rareache : Living In Denial and Internal Animosity - unreleased songs 1995
- Better Read Than Dead: ?? (1996)
- Mortal Kombat (soundtrack motion picture) : Twist The Knife (slowly) 1996
- Metallurgy I : Greed Killing demo version - unreleased song 1996
- Earplugged II : Breed To Breathe 1997
- Hellspawn : Breed To Breathe remixed by DELTA 9 - unreleased song 1998
- Anti Racist Action : Unchallenged Hate live - unreleased song (only in America) 1998
External links