NAPALM DEATH — Diatribes (review)

Album · 1996 · Death Metal

3/5 · 2016-09-27
UMUR

"Diatribes" is the 6th full-length studio album by UK death metal/grindcore act Napalm Death. The album was released through Earache Records in January 1996. The album was preceded by the the November 1995 "Greed Killing" EP, which featured 6 tracks from the same sessions that spawned the tracks on this album. The only tracks which are featured on both the "Greed Killing (1995)" EP and on "Diatribes" is the title track from the EP and "My Own Worst Enemy". Some limited editions of "Diatribes" come with the tracks from the "Greed Killing (1995)" EP as a bonus feature. Like the last couple of albums, "Diatribes" is produced by Colin Richardson but maybe more surprisingly, bearing in mind the unstable lineups of the past, the album features the same lineup as on the last two albums. Stability all over the line.

At least from the outside, because later in the year lead vocalist Mark "Barney" Greenway was fired from Napalm Death and replaced by Phil Vane from Extreme Noise Terror (who Greenway himself replaced in Extreme Noise Terror). It was a temporary lineup change though, as the two singers returned to their respective bands again in time for Greenway to perform vocals on Napalm Death´s 7th full-length studio album "Inside the Torn Apart (1997)".

The music on "Diatribes" has changed quite drastically from the music on "Fear, Emptiness, Despair (1994)", and despite holding the producing credits on both "Fear, Emptiness, Despair (1994)" and "Diatribes", Colin Richardson has crafted a very different sound for this release compared to the sound production on the predecessor. The sound on "Diatribes" is clear, professional, and completely bereft of the grit and rawness of "Fear, Emptiness, Despair". Napalm Death suddenly, and for the first time, actually sound house-broken and well...a bit tame. The music style has also changed quite a bit as the band now embrace large doses of groove metal riffing and rhythms almost to a point where I would call artists like Machine Head and contemporary Sepultura an influence on the music. One other thing that has almost always been defining for Napalm Death´s sound is also almost missing from "Diatribes". There are very few blast beats on the album!!! When the band speed up the mostly mid-paced groove oriented death metal, they don´t play nearly fast enough to call it blast beats (save for a very few times). At least not really fast-paced blasts as they are usually known for.

The quality of the material on the 12 track, 44:09 minutes long album, is decent enough, but not many tracks stand out. The opening track "Greed Killing" is one of the few highlights featured on the album. So upon conclusion "Diatribes" is a Napalm Death album, which divides the waters. I don´t think many listeners will contest that it´s a quality product when it comes to the performances (although Greenway does sound a bit tired/uninspired and his vocals often lack bite and aggression) or that the album doesn´t feature a professional sounding production, but the lack of memorable tracks and the new groove oriented death metal style and lack of grindcore elements will probably be an issue to some. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.