Back in April, Napalm Death checked in and said they were working on their new record, or more specifically that they were laying down the drum tracks for a new record. Seven months later and we're still without some new Napalm Death to grind to! Well, aside from the new song "Dear Slum Landlord" they played at Roadburn 2014. The band recently made the following lengthy statement to update us fans on the progress of the record:
"When we say that we've been working on the album recording for nearly a year, people might be thinking that this all sounds a bit too extravagant for grindcore-type behaviour. The full story is though that we've been recording it in segments to try and achieve varying types of sonic assault. There is a belief in certain quarters that you can only do so much with our particularly noisy strain of music. We think otherwise, so as well as a few stylistic quirks on the album (that are sometimes happy accidents), generally it's rawer, perhaps a little looser and of course always dense, nasty and, hopefully, invigorating too. Certainly not more polished – yuk!
Russ Russell helped us to give lots of people headaches down the years. He doesn't mind us adopting certain, erm, techniques with studio equipment that most producer-engineers would find somewhat distasteful. So back we went again with Russ to Parlour Studios in the comparatively serene surroundings of Northamptonshire to do damage. There's possibly some of the fastest and spazziest stuff we've ever done and, on the other end of the scale, some of the weirdest, most oppressive and adventurous no-wave-type stuff too.
Some song titles for you to chew on: 'Copulating Snakes,' 'Dear Slum Landlord' (aired at Roadburn 2014), 'What is Past Is Prologue,' 'Stunt Your Growth.' We're nearly finished – we promise!"
I'm curious to hear what they're defining as "the fastest and spazziest" and what techniques they're using in the studio that are being considered distasteful! No word on exactly when the band is planning to drop the new record, but I've heard early 2015 is entirely possible.