With the release of their debut Dream Catcher album, the six song cover EP, Leaders Not Followers, Napalm Death showed they have a newfound passion the music that had originally influenced them and had grown apart from over the years. After hearing the EP I was filled with skeptical hope that the next full length the group would release would be something special, something that would help regain the support of their waning fan base and hopefully re-energize their careers. Upon picking up the CD a huge grin spread across my face as I looked down to see something I had not seen since the release of Utopia Banished; the original Napalm Death logo, in all of it’s glory, on the cover of the new CD, Enemy Of The Music Business. The title originated from the band’s overall feeling about the music industry, they were fed up with the politics, the bullshit, the backstabbing and the lying and they were not going to take it anymore. The album starts out like a punch to the face as Barney screams "ABSTINENCE!" and doesn’t let up one bit until the very end. The opening track "Taste The Poison" is an all out adrenalin pumping display of anger that hasn’t been found in Napalm Death’s music since Death By Manipulation. This is quickly followed by a song nearly opposite to the opener, a track with the tone and feel of a song from Diatribes, which just happens to be one of my all-time favorite death metal albums. "Constitutional Hell" and "Vermin" are a barrage of utter hatred and violence that will make your head snap off of your shoulders in utter disregard for your safety as the music takes over, making Scum and From Enslavement To Obliteration almost seem tame in comparison. "Volume Of Neglect" displays a typical Mitch Harris oddness and originality, that helps separate his writing style apart from everyone else in the industry, and creates one of the most oddly aggressively infectious tunes I have heard in years. "Thanks For Nothing" and "Can’t Play, Won’t Pay" once again goes back to the band’s chaotic beginnings in sound and delivery. "Blunt Against The Cutting Edge" almost sounds like some strange cover song and is unlike anything the band has ever recorded to date, yet another Harris creation. "Cure For The Common Complaint" brings to mind classic Napalm Death tunes, whereas "Necessary Evil" has an infectiously bizarre rhythm that will keep your head bobbing in a manner you’d swear you were being rocked back and forth violently in some horrific experiment. "Conservative Shithead Part 2", what needs to be said about this? "Conservative Shithead" was a classic, and this is simply a continuation of a song originally recorded by Lee Dorian, Bill Steer, Jim Whitley and Mick Harris 13 years ago, a song that would definitely make all four of the chaps proud. "Mechanics Of Deceit" is a slower-paced song with enough punch to it that will still keep your head bobbing well into the Jesse Pintado written tracks "(The Public Get) What the Public Doesn’t Want" which displays Slayer-ish riffs throughout that will make a true metal head go apeshit, and "Fracture In The Equation" that is a strong finish to an album long overdue by one of the all-time grind/death metal greats. To say Enemy Of The Music Business is a great album is an understatement, in my humble opinion it is the best Napalm Death album released in 9 years, far surpassing even Utopia Banished, leaving it amongst the original, and elite, recordings that made the band famous and infamous. If I could give the album twenty I would, but unfortunately our ranking scale only goes up to ten, and after years of struggling and dealing with the constant bullshit presented to them, no one deserves it more than the rightful kings of grind; Napalm Death.

Written By: Teufel