NATIONAL NAPALM SYNDICATE — National Napalm Syndicate (review)

NATIONAL NAPALM SYNDICATE — National Napalm Syndicate album cover Album · 1989 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"National Napalm Syndicate" is the eponymously titled debut full-length studio album by Finnish thrash metal act National Napalm Syndicate. The album was released through Parlophone Records in September 1989. National Napalm Syndicate formed in 1986, originally using the National Napalm Storm monicker but changed to the current one that same year.

"National Napalm Syndicate" started out playing a raw and savage type of thrash metal influenced by the German trio of Sodom, Destruction, and Kreator, but also by Bathory and Hellhammer. They slowly started incorporating some crossover influences and also a strong Bay Area thrash metal influence over the course of their four demo tapes, and therefore the music style on "National Napalm Syndicate" is a combination of more than one thrash/crossover metal style. Some tracks are raw and savage sounding thrash metal while others feature more hardcore influences and while they are still pretty raw thrash metal tracks, the mood is slightly less dark on those tracks. The material are generally pretty fast-paced (although heavier mid-paced sections are also common) and aggressive though (featuring some nicely energetic drumming). The vocals vary between an aggressive snarling vocal style (which is the vocal style used on their early releases) and a more typical shouting/talking crossover thrash metal vocal style. The lead guitar work deserves a mention too. Not that it´s particularly dominant, but when leads occur, they are very well played and bring dynamics and texture to the music.

Quite a few of the tracks on the album are re-recordings of demo tracks from the band´s demo days. Every track from the January 1988 "At the Time of the Fullmoon" demo are included in re-recorded versions. The album features an organic, raw, and sharp sounding production job, which suits the material well. The intensity of the music is brought out and showed to the world through the production choices made, and it´s a perfect sound for the material featured on the album. It may not be the most unique sounding thrash metal release, but the savage energy and the high level musical performances make it a damn entertaining one. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.
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