After hearing many good things about napalm death, i decided to get their first album "where it all started".
It's quite different to anything else I've ever heard. The first proper riff heard on the album on the 2nd track is fantastic, while simple. It explodes into a storm of crushing vocals and hard, fast blastbeat drumming and doesn't let up until the very end of the song. Napalm death's music is a mix of punk and death/heavy metal, more often than not played at 200 miles an hour.
I most enjoy this album when listening to it beginning to end, as it's quite short, and the songs are so fast and brutal that they rarely clock in at over 60 seconds (the longest song being 4 mins and the shortest 1 second). I personally do find the short songs a bit odd and pointless, but when listened to all together, one after the other, they really began to grow on me. It's certainly not the kind of album where you only like one or two songs.
The original album came as a double sided LP, the A side having one line up of napalm death which was recorded for 50 quid and lasts 20 minutes, the B side with a completely different line up (bar the drummer), which is quite different in song structure to the first. The first 12 songs have only one vocal style doing loud, growly vocals, while the others have 2 vocal styles, one loud and growly like the first (but slightly more aggressive) and a high pitched shrieky vocal (sort of like Arch Enemy's vocalist, but more angry and faster). I'm not sure if there's 2 vocalists or not but they often both sing at the same time giving a "dual vocal attack" style of singing. If you've never heard grindcore or anything like it before, it's seems quite odd at first. The guitars and bass are more or less equal in quality, as is the drumming.
The production quality is quite poor but it doesn't really bother me, it makes it sound slightly heavier.
My favourite tracks are "Instinct of survival" (A side, 2:27) and "Life?" (B side, 0:44). These are my favourite because they are the first tracks you hear and it's quite amazing the first time.
All in all, it's fast, brutal and hilarious at times (due to incredible OTTness).
I'm not sure if it should, but it really makes me smile when i listen to it.
:)