Artist: NAPALM DEATH
Album: LEADERS NOT FOLLOWERS: PART 2 (CD)

Release date: 2004
Media type: CD

We will spare you details of the full biography from the fathers of grindcore, NAPALM DEATH - especially since this is the second time they have decided to step back from the sonic assault of their own compositions, instead paying tribute to bands that heavily influenced them. Quite an unusual move for an influential band whose work is a synonym for extreme music and who achieved no less than inventing a style and term of their own, naming it grindcore. Throat Mark "Barney" Greenway explains their reasons for the selection of songs featured on their Century Media Records debut, Leaders Not Followers: Part 2: "These tracks are really special to us, because they are from some of the core bands who have remained massive influences on Napalm to this day. I can imagine doing covers for some bands being just something else to do. But we still hold a lot of these bands really close to our hearts. Everything from Siege to Master to Kreator are like great memories from the past, and I think we all feel that some of these bands are yet to be bettered by any other extreme bands since." To come up with ideas for covers was not a problem at all: "I would say that we went back through our dusty old tape boxes and vinyl." The larger problem was to finally make a decision which songs would end up on the tribute to their heroes. For the recording of Leaders Not Followers: Part 2 they entered Robannas Studios in Birmingham with Russ Russell (Defecation, The Exploited, The Wildhearts) co-producing and Simon Efemey (Amorphis, Paradise Lost, Pitchshifter, The Wildhearts) engineering during the scorching hot months of June and July 2003. "The studio pretty much went back to demo days also because the desk kept going into shutdown in the heat!", recalls Greenway. Another thing that people might find striking about this album is the fact that it did not try to give the old classics and obscure gems a modern touch by polishing and overproducing the sound. "When recording them, we were especially keen to recreate them faithfully which is why the Master track has the exact vocal harmoniser setting, the Hellhammer track the exact vocal reverb and so on and so forth", illustrates Greenway about the way they worked. The artwork is a co-operation of images created by legendary MID who did numerous classic NAPALM DEATH artworks and the fresh talent of Mick Kenney who had visual input on Order Of The Leech already.
NAPALM DEATH have surely caused an impact on the world of music that is felt until today. Nevertheless it's time again to lend an ear to who has been and still is important to them.

Tracklisting:
1) Cryptic Slaughter "Lowlife" (2:22)
2) The Offenders "Face Down In The Dirt" (1:27)
3) Devastation "Devastation" (2:51)
4) Hellhammer "Messiah" (3:29)
5) Anti-Cimex "Victims Of A Bomb Raid" (2:30)
6) Wehrmacht "Fright Night" (4:03)
7) Discharge "War's No Fairytale" (1:17)
8) Siege "Conform" (1:58)
9) Master "Master" (2:23)
10) Insanity "Fire Death Fate" (3:18)
11) Kreator "Riot Of Violence" (4:40)
12) Anti Cimex "Game Of The Arseholes" (1:23)
13) Massacre "Clangor Of War" (2:23)
14) Attitude Adjustment "Dope Fiend" (1:36)
15) Die Kreuzen "I'm Tired" (0:52)
16) Sepultura "Troops Of Doom" (2:29)
17) The Dayglo Abortions "Bedtime Story" (2:24)
18) Agnostic Front "Blind Justice" (1:06)
19) Hirax "Hate, Fear And Power" (0:28)


Line-Up:
Mark "Barney" Greenway - vocals
Shane Embury - bass
Mitch Harris - guitar
Jesse Pintado - guitar
Danny Herrera - drums

Website: www.enemyofthemusicbusiness.com