Napalm Death - Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism (2020)^{Release ID: 23150}

It’s time to have the discussion on grindcore. For the longest time, grindcore was a genre that I was vehemently opposed to, as my limited exposure to the genre was more than enough to turn me away. Pig Destroyer, Cattle Decapitation, Dying Fetus, and a sprinkling of early Napalm Death was all I needed to hear; drawing on the worst elements of technical death metal, noise rock and metalcore that was not only unpleasant to listen to, but left with very little that was memorable beyond being loud and obnoxious.

But I told myself at the start of 2020 to listen to more types of metal, and to give older genres another chance. So here is Napalm Death’s newest album and...well this certainly is not the Napalm Death that I remember. They seem to be using a little more connectivity in their songwriting (they are thinking outside the mosh pit) and are incorporating hints of melodic phrasing in the music, which compliments the environment well.

That being said, they are still sprinkles on a grindcore doughnut. And this amalgamation of trans-fats are still ruthless in aggression. Songs like “Fuck The Factoid” and the title track are straight up mosh fests with blistering tempos, riffage and blast beats. Thankfully, the instruments actually sound pretty decent on this one. The production on this album is splendid and requires the music itself to create the uncomfortable atmosphere presented, instead of using blown out, messy presentation.

The vocals are good. Barney’s timbre is in the death metal vein (low guttural growls) and plays to the instrumentals very well. However, there are a handful of clean singing parts that just resort to monochromatic chanting on “Contagion” and “Invigorating Clutch”. I guess they are okay for what they are trying to do, but they feel really cheap and most people who listen to this will hate them anyway!

Overall, I didn’t hate this. Throes Of Joy In The Jaws Of Defeatism is handily the best grindcore album I’ve heard in quite some time (for whatever that’s worth). But it still doesn’t sell me on the genre as a whole. I mean, for a genre called “grindcore”, melodic development was never going to be a selling point. This is music for the mosh pits and for what it’s worth, this is good moshing music. I cannot deny fans that joy.