Description

Napalm Death has always been an interesting anomaly in the metal underground: generally considered to be the inventors of grindcore, the band eventually became a ragged patchwork of punk, death metal, and hardcore that was simultaneously sloppy, technical, unwavering ugly, and downright vicious. And political — proof being this live dvd, shot in 2002 at a London animal rights benefit gig. Hence the anomaly; while slaughter, fantasy, and war are thematic crutches for much of the metal underground, Napalm is intent on righting the injustices of the world. Punishment in Capitals does a decent job of capturing the group’s focus and intensity on-stage, the band rampaging through 28 songs in 90 minutes, from haphazardly arranged early donkey punches “Scum” and “Lucid Fairytale” to latter-day pneumatic drillers “Can’t Play Won’t Pay” and “Breed to Breathe.” Visually, the live show is more than adequate, with enough camera angles to keep die-hards relatively interested throughout, even if sonically the live mix is a bit gutted (strangely, the between-song chatter of singer Mark “Barney” Greenway is mixed much louder than his actual during-song vocalizations). Strictly for droolingly devoted Napalm drinkers is a jittery, D.I.Y., 45-minute documentary tacked on as a bonus feature, with mostly Barney-centric interviews covering relatively interesting territory (the band’s political views) and the transcendentally mundane (what the band members eat before a show). Also added to the fray are two grainy cuts camcordered in Tokyo in 1996, and a half-dozen more culled from a particularly frenzied gig in Santiago, Chile, in 1997. Long-in-the-tooth Napalm punters will find plenty of meat and potatoes to consume in Punishment in Capitals, and the general no-bones-about-it approach nicely conveys the compelling grit of the hard-working and rightfully well-respected band at its center.

Track list:
1. Lucid Fairytale
2. Take The Poison
3. Next On The List
4. Constitutional Hell
5. Suffer The Children
6. Cleanse Impure
7. Politicians
8. Breed To Breathe
9. Vermin
10. The World Keeps Turning
11. Can’t Play Won’t Play
12. Unchallenged Hate
13. Volume Of Neglect
14. Narcoleptic
15. Hung
16. From Enslavement To Obliteration
17. Scum
18. Life
19. The Kill
20. Deciever
21. You Suffer
22. Cure For A Common Complaint
23. Mass Appeal Madness
24. Greed Killing
25. Instinct Of Survival
26. Nazi Punks Fuck Off
27. Back From The Dead
28. Siege Of Power
29. My Own Worst Enemy-live Tokyo Japan 1996
30. More Than Meets The Eye-live Tokyo Japan 1996
31. Discordance-live Santiago Chile 1997
32. I Abstain-live Santiago Chile 1997
33. Unchallenged Hate-live Santiago Chile 1997
34. Greed Killing-live Santiago Chile 1997
35. Suffer The Children-live Santiago Chile 1997
36. Mass Appeal Madness-live Santiago Chile 1997
37. Interview/Documentary
38. If The Truth Be Known-promo video
39. Video Of The London ULU Show