NAPALM DEATH — Fear, Emptiness, Despair (review)

NAPALM DEATH — Fear, Emptiness, Despair album cover

Album · 1994 · Death Metal

4/5 · 2011-12-03
J-Man

Fear, Emptiness, Despair is often regarded as one of the stranger albums in Napalm Death's discography, largely due to its groove-based riffing, dense soundscapes, and experimental song structures. While still keeping a firm foundation in their established deathgrind sound, these UK extreme metal legends updated their style with this effort to keep up with the ever-changing death metal scene - the result is an album that's both rather unique and still mind-numbingly brutal. Fear, Emptiness, Despair is a really difficult album to dive into, and I wouldn't recommend it for the Napalm Death newbie, but it's still a great purchase for fans of the band and forward-thinking extreme metal in general.

Musically, you'll find lots of challenging and dense extreme metal on Fear, Emptiness, Despair. The root sound is a mix of brutal death metal and grindcore, but some groove metal has also snuck into the mix. The riffs have an odd, almost avant-garde, tinge to them, and the end result is a pretty unique death metal album that still never strays away too far from the genre's root sound. Behind all of the dense and impenetrable madness, you'll find hints of dark and twisted melodies that subconsciously manage to make each of the tracks memorable. You'll find lots of killer tunes on Fear, Emptiness, Despair, particularly in the form of “Hung”, “Plague Rages”, “State of Mind” and “More Than Meets the Eye” - to be fair, though, the whole album is so blisteringly brutal and captivating that it can be a challenge to pick out highlights. At just under 40 minutes, this album is a prime example of an 'all killer, no filler' extreme metal release.

The musicianship is absolutely stunning throughout all of Fear, Emptiness, Despair. Mark 'Barney' Greenway's trademark growls are as powerful as ever, Danny Herrera's drumming is absolutely monstrous, and the rest of the band is as tight as ever. The technically demanding compositions have no room for sloppiness, and the sheer precision of the band can make this album a blast to listen to. As muddy and raw as the production is, I happen to think that this sound helps emphasize the dense soundscapes that Napalm Death creates here. An acquired taste no doubt, but it's one that I've definitely acquired.

Fear, Emptiness, Despair has been a tough nut to crack for me, and I remember first listening to the album around two years ago to a rather lukewarm reaction. For some reason or another, it just didn't click with me, and I put the CD back on the shelf without ever really listening to it again. Times have changed, though, and this has since grown to become one of my favorite mid-nineties' death metal releases. The dense and twisted nature of the music can make this a difficult record to appreciate for Napalm Death newbies (this was the first Napalm Death release I'd ever heard), but it's an essential purchase for any fan of the band. This is a great (and somewhat classic) album in my opinion, and as such deserves 4 stars. Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys brutal death metal and grindcore!

more than 2 years ago
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Wilytank wrote:

more than 2 years ago

The only mid-era ND album I have is 'Inside the Torn Apart'. It has it's awesome moments as well.

J-Man wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Thanks for the tip Jonas! :-) I'll have to look into getting a few more of their recent CD's.

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I´m familiar with all their studio albums if you´d like to know which you should avoid :-) Ah well just stay clear of the three albums after this one and you´re pretty much home safe. Those three albums are allright but stray a bit too far from the Napalm Death sound IMO. The first two are of course also an aquired taste but you already know that. You can safely purchase any of the last five albums. They are all great.

J-Man wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Thanks Jonas! I haven't heard Napalm Death's full discography yet, but this is pretty different from all of the albums I've listened to. Great record this one. I'm looking forward to reviewing the rest of their catalog soon!

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Great review Jeff. This one took me quite a few years to warm up to too. Today it´s one of my favorite Napalm Death albums and also one of the most unique albums in their discography IMO.