Over the years,
Napalm Death
went through more than their share of personnel changes and infighting. The late '90s saw
Napalm
fire lead singer
Lee "Barney" Greenway
(who had joined in 1989) and hire
Phil Vane
as a replacement -- only to end up parting company with
Vane
and asking
Greenway
to come back. You would think that so much infighting would have had a negative impact on the band creatively, but in fact,
sound fairly inspired on
Words From the Exit Wound
. With a lineup that includes
on vocals,
Mitch Harris
and
Jesse Pintado
on guitar,
Shane Embury
on bass, and
Danny Herrera
on drums, the
grindcore
/
death metal
band is certainly focused on brutally heavy, blistering offerings like
"Devouring Depraved,"
"Clutching at Barbs,"
"Cleanse Impure."
This CD isn't a radical departure from 1997's
Inside the Torn Apart
or 1998's
Breed to Breathe
, although it would be wrong to think of
as stagnant. In the '90s,
evolved gradually, incorporating touches of
industrial
music and
alternative rock
.
Words
doesn't quite fall under the heading of "essential," but longtime
followers will be glad to hear how good the band continued to sound after 15 years. ~ Alex Henderson