The Complete Radio One Sessions

This one’s gonna be short. What did you expect? Seriously, how could anyone wax lyrical about finer aspects of Napalm Death without exposing himself as a pompous prick?

So, in a nutshell, what we’ve got here is a collection of the four sessions that Napalm Death did for BBC Radio One between September 1987 and March 1996. The last one of these is not a “proper” Peel Session” as the four tracks were recorded for Friday Rock Show. Incidently, they are the worst sounding ones and I choose to see them as lame bonus tracks I only listen to if, for some reason, I can’t be bothered to get up and switch off the CD player. Not that it happens too often.

Other than that, the CD is a must for any discerning grindcore fan ( a contradiction in terms? Yeah, whatever…). If you consider “Scum” and “From Enslavement…” classics of the genre and don’t know the first two Peel Sessions, it’s….erm….just not on, man! Actually, all three are just perfect. You’ll find they sound superbly and the band really delivers here – it feels as if they just weren’t trying to prove anything and were actually enjoying punching you in the gob and kicking in the bollocks with each killer track. I may be thirty-four and generally jaded about many things but on a good day I will mosh erratically to this in my living room and get so psyched-up that I could kill any hapless soul that would interrupt my private Peel session.

I love very much every aspect of the sound and instrumentation (cough…) but if I were to single out anything it would have to be Mick Harris’s drumming. He is a god, here tighter and more convincingly miked up and mixed than elsewhere with Napalm Death. Don’t expect any virtuoso rubbish, just honest old-school grinding slaughter and you won’t be disappointed.

Well, that’s all you need to know about the release. Now go get it. Turn your amp up to eleven and start banging your head. No, I’m not being funny. That’s what you do.