For Napalm Death, ‘Harmony Corruption’ was an act of both
reconfiguration and redefinition.
Line-up changes beckoned as the eighties became the nineties, with
Mark ‘Barney’ Greenway installed as vocalist, and Jesse Pintado and
Mitch Harris as guitarists. With their new personnel, they forged a
lacerating transfiguration of their sound. Having already written their
names in metal’s history books as pioneers of grindcore, their third
album saw them bridge the gap between that and death metal, still
bristling with a febrile sense of fury, but with greater maturity and
control.
Despite a divisive initial reaction, it remains a bold new frontier in their
catalogue – and the album that gave metal the powder keg of a track
that is ‘Suffer The Children’.
Three and a half decades on, its game-changing ferocity is being
honoured with a Record Store Day reissue, pressed on Blue and Red
Merge vinyl complete with a stunning new alt artwork.