UMUR "Order of the Leech" is the 10th full-length studio album by UK death metal/grindcore act Napalm Death. The album was released through Spitfire Records in October 2002. Although guitarist Jesse Pintado is credited as part of the lineup, he actually didn´t perform and all guitars are therefore played by Mitch Harris.

"Order of the Leech" more or less continues the death metal/grindcore style of "Enemy of the Music Business (2000)", although it leans slightly more to the death metal side of the band´s sound than the case was on the predecessor. Napalm Death still play a lot of hardcore punk oriented riffs and rhythms and grindcore blasts though, and maybe the death metal influence is actually a result of the sound production, which is a bit more suited for death metal than it is for grindcore. Especially the bass drums feature a tone that I associate more with death metal than with grindcore. It´s overall a well produced release, but personally I enjoyed the sound on the predecessor a great deal more.

The material on the 12 track, 44:42 is relatively well written, but it´s not as instantly catchy as much of the material on the predecessor. I have a hard time mentioning standout tracks other the album opener "Continuing War on Stupidity", but that doesn´t mean the other tracks aren´t well composed. Napalm Death never swore to regular vers/chorus structures and as a consequence of that their material can at times be quite inaccessible. repeated listens always help, but "Order of the Leech" is still not one of their most memorable albums.

We´re thankfully not back to the mid-90s failed experimentation issues, and "Order of the Leech" is enjoyable enough while it plays. The musicianship is as usual on a high level, and Mark "Barney" Greenway delivers his barking raw vocals with bite and conviction, so all is well in those departments. Some tracks could just have been a bit more memorable and the album overall a bit more varied. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is still deserved (and I´m probably being a bit too harsh here).

Kingcrimsonprog Napalm Death’s tenth full length studio album Order Of The Leech, from 2002, is certainly a strong album and a great example of Napalm Death’s post millennial sound.

Napalm Death have always been are a funny lot stylistically, they are difficult to pigeon hole and have evolved constantly throughout their career. For example; their first three albums were a very noisy hardcore influenced affair which helped spawned the grindcore genre. The albums were very poorly recorded (some fans say this was done on purpose however) and featured pretty much non-stop blast beats. They then recorded three excellent albums of almost conventional, straight-forward death metal with less grind in the overall sound. Four more melodic, experimental and listenable albums followed which some listeners and reviewers would inevitably call ‘sellout.’

Around the turn of the century, the band released the trio of their three best ever albums; Enemy Of The Music Business, The Code Is Red’ and of course this album, Order Of The Leech. The sound was a brand new, revolutionary strain of metal that mixed together elements of traditional Death Metal, their so called ‘sellout’ style, and their original blast centric, raw ferocity.

This combination of their different styles resulted in a fantastic set of songs; full of intense drumming, distorted bass and Barney’s harsh as death metal but intelligible vocal style as well as his usual brilliant lyrics. In terms of guitar style there are mixture of balls out thrash metal riffs, hardcore sounding riffs, grooves and of course insane hyper speed grinding.

Highlights include ‘Continuing The War On Stupidity’ ‘Blows To The Body’ and ‘Per Capita.’

The realm only complaint that I have with this particular record is that while blast beats are used to great effect often, they are overused and sometimes can become tedious and spoil the otherwise strong music. However in summary; Although the weakest of thee three aforementioned Napalm Death albums, I still recomend that people give Order Of The Leech a try, especially in combination with their career highlight Enemy Of The Music Business or The Code Is Red… Long Live The Code.