• Newsletter Sign up
• Subscribe
• Back Issues
• Sample Issue
• Contact Us

Napalm Death ‘Punishment In Capitals’ (Snapper Music) If it’s not bad enough that trendy Hoxton types are wearing Def Leppard ‘Hysteria’ T-shirts as an ironic fashion statement, then consider this: at any given moment during a rock festival there’s a kid trudging through a muddy field who, under his System Of A Down hoodie, is wearing a Napalm Death T-shirt as an emblem of his retro cool and deeper knowledge of his genre.

From page 75 of Classic Rock Magazine January 2004

Cover of January 2004 issue.

It’s terrifying when a band you remember the first time round is suddenly rediscovered by the generation after you. But this rediscovery is deserved. The Ipswich thrashsters were the daddies of grindcore, and modern metal masters such as SOAD, Queens Of The Stone Age and The Deftones laud them for it.

Recorded live at ULU London in 2003, ‘Punishment In Capitals’ is a faithful snapshot of the band in their live element. The sound is raw and coarse, but their much-maligned compositional skill also shines through. Depending on the listener, they can still inspire anything from unrestrained laughter to appreciative headbanging, but this is the sound of history repeating itself.

★★★ ★★ Grant Moon

HIGH CONCEPT Iconic grindcore veterans continue to rip gleefully at the thrash envelope.