Holy Fuck, I feel like Rip Van Winkle waking up after 20 years.

It’s not one of my proudest admissions, but other than Scum, my familiarity with Napalm Death is pretty much nonexistent.   Aside from spending my money on numerous death and black metal albums, beer and the occasional cheap hooker or two, Napalm Death kind of fell off my radar screen.

Most likely then, readers will know more about Napalm Death then I do.   Aside from Scum I can’t claim to have listened to them very much.   After receiving a copy of Time Waits For No Slave, that’s going to fucking change quickly.

Not having a deep familiarity with Napalm Death does have its advantages, as I can avoid the temptation to compare  Time Waits For No Slave to their previous work.   I do know that like many bands who have been around for a long time, their style has evolved somewhat.   Regardless, they sound pretty fucking good to me.

As soon as you hit ‘play,’ this stuff will rip your face off.   “Strongarm” starts the album off with an intensity that never lets up.   The songs are all fast-paced but have their own uniqueness, which to me is vital because I tend to get bored quickly.   Each song is up-tempo but has a different structure from the others to keep things interesting.   For example, “Work To Rule” starts as pure grind but adds some thrash elements, “Time Waits For No Slave” has an almost melodic chorus (NO, NOT THAT!!!!), and “Passive Tense” just thrashes.

Like I said, unless you know even less about Napalm Death than I do you don’t need me to tell you to get this album.   I now have to get busy getting caught up on the rest of Napalm’s catalog, which makes me feel like a 13 year-old boy coming downstairs on Christmas morning with a big boner that he can’t control in his Transformer PJs.   It’s a little bit confusing, but it’s pretty goddamn exciting at the same time.   My only regret is having to divert some money out of Baby Pile Driver’s college fund to get myself caught up with these guys.   Fortunately, I’ve only done that a couple of times as far as you know.

This is easily a contender for my 2009 top-10 list, and may very well be a finalist for album of the year.

Review byPile Driver