NAPALM DEATH By: Metal Nick From Volume #2, ISSUE# 1/February '96
"I got my guitar when I was fourteen, and it took me a year to figureout how to tune the thing." This comment is not surprising when MitchHarris, guitarist of grindcore geniuses Napalm Death is identified as thespeaker. Originating out of Birmingham, Great Britain, Napalm Death providesmetal fans everywhere with a new definition of extremity. Even the formermembers of the band have spread their disease of extremity in acts likeGodflesh, Cathedral, Carcass, and Scorn.
For the past few years, Mitch Harris has been (and still is) a prominentmember of Napalm Death. He also has an extensive musical reach both beforeand beyond Napalm Death, and to ignore this would be an error subject toSatan's eternal disapproval.
Mitch began his career in musical extremity at the age of sixteen, whenhe and a friend formed Righteous Pigs. Righteous Pigs were an early speedmetal/grind act from the pit of sin known as Las Vegas. Influenced by thelikes of early C.O.C., D.R.I., Exodus, and Venom, it was here where Mitchpioneered his unique style. The release of two records, "Live and Learn"and "Stress Related" on Nuclear Blast Records won them littlerecognition, and the band did not move past this stage.
Mitch explained to me that the Righteous Pigs were offered a chance to tourEurope with Napalm Death; but Napalm chose to take Japanese hardcore legendsS.O.B instead. Mitch still enjoys reminding them about it. For Mitch, RighteousPigs turned out to be less than he expected, and when Bill Steer(ex-Carcass)and Lee Dorrian (Cathedral) left Napalm Death, he was offered a chance tojoin the band. Even though that now Mitch is a member of possibly the world'sgreatest grind/death act, he still looks back on his days in the Pigs "withpride".
Even after joining Napalm Death, Mitch still was creative in his spare time.Defecation was a project with Mick Harris, the former drummer of NapalmDeath. After contractual obligations prevented a second Defecation record,they called it a day. Mitch tells me that he was "heartbroken",because he "used that (Defecation) as a lyrical output, to say whateverI thought".
His desire of having an output mutated into the pseudo-industrial deathmetal act Meathook Seed, a project including Napalm Death bassist ShaneEmbury, and Obituary members Donald Tardy and Trevor Peres. The full length"Embedded" was released in 1993 on Earache, and it shows Mitch'sidea to "bring machine like sounds" into what he was doing. Discordant,insane riffs run rampant through this release; blasting speed is the lastpriority. A new record is in the works, but it has been put on hiatus becauseMitch has decided to "focus on Napalm Death". "Somewherealong the way, the two bands started to sound too close together, and Iwanted to see where Napalm was heading, and take Meathook Seed in the oppositedirection."
To add to the comment Mitch makes, it does seem that Napalm Death's 1994release "Fear, Emptiness, Despair" has a rather significant amountof influence from Meathook Seed. Not only are two members of Napalm Deathin Meathook Seed, but riffs on "Fear..." bear a similar styleto that of the Meathook Seed record. Mitch agreed with me, and pointed outthat his guitar style "was similar", and as a result caused thesound to change. Because of this, Mitch wanted to "make sure that therewas a big gap (in recordings) to veer away from what Napalm is doing. Accordingto Mitch, Napalm should be "it's own unit".
The gap in recordings ended with the release of the "Greed-Killing"EP in late 1995, and the forthcoming full length "Diatribes",to be released on January 30th, 1996. The EP "Greed-Killing" cameabout in a strange way. Earache Records "freaked because we (NapalmDeath) did eighteen songs", and the label "didn't know how we'dfit this onto a record". Mitch continues, "The label wanted toput out a single to hype up the album, and with our suggestions, seven songswere placed on the EP, to give listeners a taste of the album and valuefor money". Five album tracks, a non-album cut, and a live versionof "Plague Rages" appear on the EP.
After hearing the EP, it becomes clear that now speed is not the bands firstpriority, and Napalm Death has chosen to slow down their sound. Althoughfast breaks still appear in tracks like "Antibody", Mitch tellsme that Napalm Death "are not out to prove that they are the fastestband in the world". Instead, they want to "develop the band intoa different scene". Metal, in Mitch's opinion, is "still cool",but he claims that Napalm are "always associated with the same stuff,and (Napalm Death) needs to veer off one of these days." He continuesby saying that "the whole point of developing our style is so we canplay with other bands".
The previous statements made by Mitch make a fan wonder if Barney(vocalist)liking Richard Marx and Journey has had a severe effect on the band as awhole. But seriously, how can band that not only set the standards for butstill plays death metal expect to be lumped into a different scene? Alright,individuality is a fairly appreciated desire for a band to have, but thisis absurd. It gets even weirder when Mitch told me about their tour plans.Napalm Death intends to tour North America, starting in the third week ofJanuary, for four weeks, hoping to hit everywhere from Florida to Toronto,to California. Two of the bands considered for opening acts are Earache'sAt The Gates, and another Swedish band, Nuclear Blast's Meshuggah. Aftertelling me about the bands, Mitch said that although the two bands are indeedamazing, it "would be cool to bring out something totally differentout with us".
Maybe the almighty Napalm Death have an incredible change in store for theirfans. It is interesting to see the group wanting to move to a differentsound. All that metalheads across the universe can do is wait. Patienceis, unfortunately, a disgusting virtue that prolongs our miserable existence.
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