LIVE REVIEW: Napalm Death @ The Underworld, London
It’s on a rowdy night in Camden (although, when is it not) that we find ourselves making our way to legendary venue The Underworld, for a sold-out show from NAPALM DEATH, that’s also being beamed into the retinas of people around the world, featuring more local supports opening up for a headliner that truly needs no introduction.
Opening with jarring horror samples of screaming, 10 PLAGUES certainly make an impression when they take to the stage. Unfortunately for them, it’s not a particularly good impression; they’ve no bass player, and their sound is oddly weighted towards the drums, which are too loud, and vocals which are both too loud and underwhelming. It’s a simplistic death metal bordering on deathcore with basic guitar parts that occasionally veer into some basic atmospherics while the vocals have only two pitches. It would be all too easy to write them off, but as they admit, it’s not only their first ever show but they’re two members down. As it stands though, it’s a hamstrung performance from a band that need to work on both their stage presence and their songwriting.
Rating: 4/10
They might carry on the theme of opening with samples – this time spoken word – but that’s virtually all DAMIM have in common with their predecessors. For starters they’re at full strength, a full band and what’s more, they’re simply far better. Musically they’re incredibly tight and while there’s very little room on stage for them to move, they still exude presence. Playing a strain of death metal that draws from the classics and injecting some melodicism to the vocals – albeit briefly – is a winning formula and they manage to incite the first proper pits of the night. Veering between blasting fury and slower, grinding attrition, it’s a compelling take on death metal that doesn’t really break new ground, but is still engaging and frankly, really, really good.
Rating: 7/10
It’s almost a shame that anyone has to play before NAPALM DEATH. Not much needs saying about the legendary outfit; having pioneered a sub-genre, they promptly left it and all their imitators in the dust as they continued to experiment and deliver consistently great music. Tonight, at a sold out Underworld that’s also being livestreamed around the world, they turn a crowd already fraught with anticipation into a swirling, sweaty maelstrom of limbs and spilled drinks. Where prior to the show, frontman Barney Greenway was affable, milling around the merch stand and all too happy to chat to fans, onstage he’s fury incarnate, barking out their furious screeds.
The pit is sheer carnage; stage divers aren’t a rare sight and there’s constant movement and flying limbs. The band tear through the opening salvo of Silence Is Deafening, Fuck The Factoid and Backlash Just Because with barely a pause for breath, matching the savage energy of the crowd with ease. When they do finally take a moment to draw breath, it’s to make a very simple point. Barney declares bluntly “refugees. There’s a loaded word for ya. But let me say this loud and clear – especially because we’re on fucking camera tonight – no person is ever illegal”, before they deliver an incendiary rendition of Contagion. It may be reading too much into it, but they deliver the vehemently anti-war Continuing War On Stupidity to yellow and blue lights – the colour of the Ukrainian flag – as Barney points out they’ve always stood against wars and senseless killing. Over their hour-plus set, old material sits comfortably alongside new, as does the ever-present and all-too-relevant cover of Nazi Punks Fuck Off, and they show exactly why they’re one of the most revered bands in extreme music.
Rating: 10/10
Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in London from Anne Palzgraf here:
