After hearing the band’s past two full length releases, Inside The Torn Apart and Words From The Exit Wound, my enthusiasm for one of my all-time favorite bands was quickly fading as their music, in my eyes, became more and more stagnant and lifeless as time went past. In my eyes, and the eyes of many loyal fans, it seemed as though Napalm Death had had their run of success and that their time had passed. In 1999, after over 10 years with Earache, they left the label and set out on their own, soon signing to England’s little-known Dream Catcher Records. Their first release for the new label was an EP entitled Leaders Not Followers, was a six-track album consisting entirely of cover songs, including a re-recording of their infamous and popular cover of the Dead Kennedys‘ "Nazi Punks Fuck Off". I openly admit to being completely skeptical of the new release, as I had heard many bands record very weak and boring tributes to their musical inspirations. As I pressed play on the stereo I expected to hear covers by the Napalm Death of the late 90s. I was completely surprised to hear what was blaring into my eardrums. This sounded so much like Napalm Death of old I had to check the CD booklet a dozen times to make sure it was indeed recorded in 1999 and not 1989 and after hearing a dozen high pitched screams had to make sure that it was indeed Barney screeching and not Lee Dorian making a special backing vocal appearance on the release. Of all of the songs on the release, only Raw Power’s "Politicians" was a song I was unfamiliar with. Based upon the sound and feel of the songs, they were recorded in a style that makes them sound like a pure cover, not just playing another band’s song and adding their own twist to it, as many bands of today are prone to, these were pure tributes to the bands of the 80s who had influenced them; Raw Power, Slaughter, Pentagram, Repulsion, Death and Dead Kennedys. The cover of Slaughter’s "Incinerator" was a bit of a let down, considering, even in their prime, I was never a fan of my fellow Canucks’ style, although the cover is intense and helps make it sound far better than the band had ever been. Upon hearing the cover of Pentagram’s "Demonic Possessions", I couldn’t help but feel nostalgic for the music I had grown up listening to, and without thought my hair immediately began to fly in a display of all-out aggression displayed, both by the band being covered, but by Napalm Death themselves. The all-out blasting assault of Repulsion’s "Maggots In Your Coffin" did nothing but make my neck nearly snap in all-out thrashing I haven’t done since witnessing the band’s 1990 live video Live Corruption. The cover of Death’s Back From The Dead is surprising and sounds rather strange without the familiar howls of Chuck Schuldiner, replaced with the booming snarl of Barney Greenway, and while I personally don’t feel any band could make any original Death material sound any better than Chuck and Co., Napalm Death do give it one hell of a good shot and churn out an exciting and aggressive cover of a little-heard demo song. The final song is the much-loved cover of Dead Kennedys‘ "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" which the band decided to re-record for the release and sounds just as, if not more, angry and aggressive than Napalm Death ever sounded when first recording a cover of the song in ‘93. From start to finish Leaders Not Followers is like a breath of fresh air for the group, after dropping the shackles of their corporate label and returning to a smaller scale, the band seems to have regained their love for the music and the intensity they seemed to have lost years ago. As far as cover albums go, this is one of the best, and hopefully a sign of things to come. In the words of Barney Greenway "THRASH!"

Written By: Teufel