NAPALM DEATH is being billed as “an extension” of the band’s superb full-length Throes of Joy In The Jaws of Defeatism, which was issued in September 2020. Whether that means Resentment is Always Seismic – A Final Throw of Throes was recorded during the sessions for the album or in the down time that followed thanks to COVID, or some combination of both, not quite sure. And it probably doesn’t matter a whole hell of a lot anyway.
What does matter is Resentment either shows just what a wealth of great material NAPALM had going into Throes – with a handful of bonus tracks already having been released, and none repeated here - or that the band has lost little of the fire that made the album so potent in the 18 months since. Because Resentment is anything but a collection of throwaways or experimental curiosities being tossed out willy-nilly merely as an attention-getter or, worse, a crass cash grab.
Indeed, as advertised, Resentment picks up the torch from Throes quite nicely, with its eight tracks delivering the sort of flame-throwing racket one might expect, while throwing a curveball or two along the way. Among the eight tracks are six originals and two wildly divergent covers – or in the sonic math, five grinders and three less frantic, more off-kilter offerings.
“Narcissus” is a perfect opener, with Shane Embury’s quaking bass getting things started – and signals things to come as the bottom end figures prominently here – before frontman Mark “Barney” Greenway barks “Go!” and it’s off to the races with typical NAPALM vigor. “By Proxy”, “Man Bites Dogged”, “Slaver Through a Repeat Performance” and a barnstorming cover of BAD BRAINS’ “Don't Need It” follow suit, powered by Danny Herrera’s drum salvos and the tumultuous riffs of Mitch Harris and/or John Cooke.
While Harris has not toured with the band since 2014, he played on Throes and is featured here as well. Cooke, who plays with Embury and Herrera in VENOMOUS CONCEPT, has been filling in on the live front in Harris’ absence, but is contributing some in the studio too. And while the shrieking vocals that counter/accent Greenway’s signature holler on the furious “By Proxy” and “Man Bites Dogged” certainly bear the hallmark of Harris from albums past, apparently they either come courtesy of Embury or the frontman himself this time around.
Regardless, whatever gaps that might have been created by the diminished presence of Harris have been ably filled and NAPALM has not missed a stride as a result. As was the case with Throes, the urgent, hard-as-nails delivery of Resentment’s faster material echoes the Enemy of the Music Business era, when band emerged from an experimental phase and returned to grinding away in earnest. They are assaultive, to say the least.
There are experimental moments here as well to provide contrast and color, with the clangorous drone of the closing number “Resentment is Always Seismic (Dark Sky Burial Dirge)” and a spirited send up of SLAB!’s “People Pie”, both anchored by Embury’s hulking bass. “Resentment"’s gloomy, GODFLESH-like thrum is something the band has toyed with on previous occasions – notably the Throes closer “A Bellyful of Salt and Spleen”. But “People Pie” is a wild mix of industrial skronk, hip-hop and rollicking funk that is almost completely out of character. Which makes it all the better.
With Embury slapping away at his bass lines a la Billy Gould from FAITH NO MORE and Greenway’s largely rapped vocals flavored by Catherine Sharples’ Motown-like backups, “People Pie” is actually one of the catchier songs NAPALM has ever done, even with its grim lyrics - “The animals are all eating people pie / Wave bye bye baby sing baby goodbye” - providing a something of a contemporary twist to Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”. It is certainly one of the band’s most daring covers, which is saying something.
Somewhere in the middle is the doomy “Resentment Always Simmers” with its pile-driving bass-and-drum verses, industrial hues and thunderous bridges/choruses where the guitars cascade in punishing waves. Similar to “Joie De Ne Pas Vivre” or “Invigorating Clutch” from Throes, it just as heavy as the faster songs here, but at about one-third the velocity.
Resentment sounds just as vibrant and resonant as Throes, which found NAPALM at the top of its game after 40 years of “noise for music’s sake,” to borrow the title of the band’s career-spanning compilation - from 20 years ago! So even if Resentment is made up of leftovers, they are certainly anything but gristly scraps better left for a dog’s breakfast.
4.0 Out Of 5.0
