With the Earache release of Napalm Death's Words From the Exit Wound, American metalheads can finally hear what their European counterparts have been enjoying for a while. This previously-unavailable-in-the-U.S. album shows the extreme music legends in as incendiary a light as ever. Ferocious guitar riffs collide with thunderous rhythms, making the perfect complement to vocalist Barney Greenway's diabolic roar. Songs like "The Infiltrator", "Repression Out of Uniform" and "Devouring Depraved" hit you like a truck and then back up for a second pass! I can't imagine a metal fan who wouldn't get a kick out of Words From the Exit Wound. Some gurus have claimed that Napalm Death has lost their touch in recent years. I'm not familiar enough with their early efforts to make an educated counter argument except to say that Words is pretty convincing stuff. ND departs from tradition here in a few ways, like letting Greenway sing sans growl from time to time. There's also a certain accessibility to the songs that perhaps was not there on previous albums -- not in a "sellout" kind of way so much as a "returning-to-basics" variety. Ultimately, Words From the Exit Wound is sheer, unfiltered rock mayhem...and that's all any of us really want anyway, right?