NAPALM DEATH: The Code is Red... Long Live the Code

Produced by Russ Russell

Released: 2005

With the sad demise of Nasum, this was without doubt the political grind album of 2005. As the world seemed to turn more to the Right every day and as the spectre of an Orwellian nightmare loomed over the West like never before, it probably wasn’t that surprising that Napalm Death would unleash one of the angriest volumes they had recorded in a very long time.

Stripped down to a four piece following the departure of (the now sadly late) Jesse Pintado, the originators of grindcore make a partial return to the nihilistic sound of their earlier days here, and it’s a devastating, unrelenting assault on conservatism and Right Wing hypocrisy and falsehood, an unbridled and unyielding attack on the powerbrokers in Washington and their fabricated war on freedoms masquerading as a battle to save them. If there is one single current album that encapsulated the common resentment of conflicts based on lies and the restrictions of liberties for the benefit of security, The Code is Red… is it. This is socio-political grind at its best: “So called champions of the poor/Tax us against the wall” Barney Greenway roars in “Pay for the Privilege of Breathing”, “Full frontal assault on your choice/to spurn the flag/Waves of retribution awaiting those who dissent” he continues in their condemnation of the Patriot Act, “Climate Controllers”.

Hatebreed’s Jamey Jasta, Jeff Walker from Carcass and California’s favourite dissident Jello Biafra all add their weight to this raging slab, arguably Napalm Death’s finest moment in a decade.

1. Silence is Deafening
2. Right You Are
3. Diplomatic Immunity
4. The Code is Red... Long Live the Code
5. Climate Controllers
6. Instruments of Persuasion
7. The Great and the Good
8. Sold Short
9. All Hail the Grey Dawn
10. Vegetative State
11. Pay for the Privilege of Breathing
12. Pledge Yourself to You
13. Striding Purposefully Backwards
14. Morale
15. Our Pain is Their Power

Rating: 90%