Napalm Death will return to destroy your speakers and ears on September 18 with a brand new album titled Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism. A single from the album is expected out on July 24. Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism will not feature Napalm Death's most recent single, "Logic Ravaged by Brute Force."
"The phrase sticking in my mind when I started thinking about the lyrical direction for this album was 'the other,'" said vocalist Mark "Barney" Greenway. "You could recognise at the time that there was a rapidly growing fear and paranoia being generated about everybody, from migrating people to people with fluid sexuality and this was starting to manifest itself in very antagonistic reactions that you felt were almost verging on violence. Not everybody resorts to such reactions of course, but even the basic lack of understanding can become toxic over time. I’m not saying that this is an entirely new phenomenon, but it has been stoked in recent history by some particularly attack-minded people in more political circles and, as ever, I felt that it would be the natural antidote to endorse basic humanity and solidarity with all.
"The artwork specifically uses a white dove as a centrepiece, which of course is a commonly recognised symbol of peace and cooperation. The dove has been mauled very violently by a sterilising hand and in death appears particularly broken and bloodied. However, through the violence you can see an equality symbol in blood on the chest of the dove, which perhaps demonstrates – visually at least – that equality cuts through in the end. A positive amidst many negatives then, much like the album title itself being a bit of an oxymoron – the celebration of humanity even in the mangling jaws of negativity."
This is all very exciting, but one aspect that isn't addressed right now is that promo picture. Specifically the absence of guitarist Mitch Harris. Harris hasn't played live with the band since 2014, but has still appeared on all their studio albums and as far as I know is still in Napalm Death.
