's highly anticipated new album , Throes Of Joy In The Jaws Of Defeatism , is almost here. The album, their first since 2015's Apex Predator – Easy Meat , arrives this Friday, the 18th, and we've gathered everything we know about the band's release here.
Regarding the album's concept, vocalist Mark “Barney” Greenway shared, “The phrase that came to mind when I started thinking about the lyrical direction of this album was 'the other,'” Barney states. “You could recognize at the time that there was a rapidly growing fear and paranoia about everyone, from migrating people to people with fluid sexuality, and this was beginning to manifest in very antagonistic reactions that you felt were almost approaching violence. Not everyone reacts like that, of course, but even basic misunderstanding can become toxic over time. I'm not saying this is an entirely new phenomenon, but it has been fueled in recent history by some particularly 'attacked minds' on political aspects, and as always, I felt the natural antidote would be to endorse basic humanity and solidarity with everyone.”
The vocalist also commented on the striking cover of the new album, featuring a dove being clearly crushed. “The cover art specifically uses a white dove as its centerpiece, which, of course, is a common symbol of peace and cooperation. The dove has been violently attacked by a sterilizing hand and in death appears particularly broken and bloodied. However, through the violence, you can see a symbol of equality in the blood on the dove's chest, which perhaps demonstrates, at least visually, that equality ultimately prevails. A positive among many negatives, like the album title itself, an oxymoron – a celebration of humanity, even in the mutilating jaws of negativity.”
The band's first single, "Backlash Just Because," has an imposing tone and kicks off Napalm Death's new era with a bang, as Barney explains. "This song, in particular, really spurred me on while I was writing for this album in general," says the vocalist about the single, which already comes with a lyric video that can be seen below. "It's loud and traditional, but also strange and discordant and very catchy, all within the context of a furious sound."
“Lyrically, it was geared towards the 'malicious' art of creating easy targets and fostering paranoia and revulsion, which is something I think has become a trend more recently. I really let loose with the sporadic vocals at the end of the song – it's a real 'barkfest' at that point. Lovely,” says the singer.
The second single, “Amoral,” was released with a music video. Speaking about the idea behind the song and the video directed by Michael Panduro , Barney explains that the images of the children show them playing while also exploring the systematic obedience that bassist Shane Embury refers to in the lyrics. “It shows our lack of power within the hierarchy,” he adds.
On the 4th, “A Bellyful of Salt And Spleen”, which, according to the vocalist, is about rising and falling in the same discordant breath, arrived accompanied by a terrifying music video as the final preview of the album.
“The act of lifting comes in the sense of many layers of a vibrant industrial environment, all marching to the beat of a homemade drum kit, consisting of trash cans, oil drums, and industrial threaded parts and other bits that Shane [Embury] could find scattered around the studio grounds,” the vocalist explains about the track. “The range and gravity and density demanded only a vocal that was as baritone and anguished as I could wring out of myself.”
Napalm Death –
Throes Of Joy In The Jaws Of Defeatism 01. Fuck The Factoid
02. Backlash Just Because
03. That Curse Of Being In Thrall
04. Contagion
05. Joie De Ne Pas Vivre
06. Invigorating Clutch
07. Zero Gravitas Chamber
08. Fluxing Of The Muscle
09. Amoral
10. Throes Of Joy In The Jaws Of Defeatism
11. Acting In Gouged Faith
12. A Bellyful Of Salt And Spleen
ALSO WATCH: Mark “Barney” Greenway, vocalist of Napalm Death, is the 42nd guest on 'The Wikimetal Happy Hour'
