Napalm Death & Voivod Bring Space And Grind To Hollywood

Napalm Death
February 22, 2014
House of Blues- Los Angeles, CA

     Grindcore legends Napalm Death set out on the “Through Space and Grind tour” and brought with them an arsenal of metal bands that included Voivod, Exhumed, Iron Reagan, and Black Crown Initiate. The House of Blues in Hollywood, California was pumped for a night of pure metal.
    Voivod is a Canadian heavy metal band that released their newest album Target Earth in 2013. They are known for their unique sound of progressive and thrash metal riffs that is pleasing to both old and newer fans. When Voivod came on stage, they were met by a huge response from the crowd as they prepared to lay down some of their signature tracks from their career. The first track from their setlist was Ripping Headaches off the 1986 Rrröööaaarrr album and because of the heaviness and thrashiness of the sound, the crowd immediately began to rage and mosh against each other almost being too crowded for anyone to move but that didn’t stop them from trying. Their highlight song was clearly their self-titled song Voivod as the crowd got the craziest for that song. They ended their show by ndsc-19playing their Pink Floyd cover of Astronomy Domine and they also paid their respects to their fallen band member Denis “Piggy” D’Amour whom passed away in 2005.
The British grindcore legends Napalm Death are one of the most influential metal bands as they paved the way for hardcore punk and death metal bands. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, their song You Suffer is the shortest song in the world, as its length is only at 1.316 seconds long. On January 23, 2015, they released their fifteenth studio album titled Apex Predator – Easy Meat. Napalm Death came on stage to a huge roar from fans that had been waiting all night. They opened with Vision Conquest which started things nicely to get the fans going. Frontman Barney Greenway was at the top of his game. His voice is legendary among metal vocalists. From deep guttural vocals to ear-piercing shrieks, he sang every song with precision to how they sound on the album. He had an arm sling due to an unknown arm injury of some kind, but that didn’t stop him from performing his signature stage presence of running around, flailing his arms everywhere, and shaking his head. The only stage presence missing was that of guitarist Mitch Harris that had to sit out this tour due to a family emergency and so guitarist Erik Burke filled in and he, himself, did a great job taking part. Napalm Death‘s setlist was was a good mix of old and new material. From the classic like Scum, Suffer the Children, Unchallenged Hate, and the Dead Kennedys cover Nazi Punks Fuck Off to some of the new songs from the new album and the previous Utilitarian album. Scum and Suffer the Children were the strongest songs from their set as they created the craziest mosh pits of the night. You could feel the intensity just by watching. Napalm Death ended their show by playing the last 2 songs from the new album and bid farewell to the Hollywood crowd that clearly wanted more.
Review by: Misael Ruiz

Napalm Death


Voivod