As a last minute addition to my gig schedule, I went to Alkmaar on this sunny Sunday to see Napalm Death once more. I think this was a gig that was added on short notice as I hadn’t seen it announced until a few days before the gig. And since I missed them on the tour a couple of months ago, this was a good opportunity to catch up. The venue wasn’t sold out by far, so I probably wasn’t the only one that noticed it late.

The opening band was Mouflon. A Dutch death metal band I had seen before. Nothing ground breaking here, quite run-off-the mill death metal. Solid riffs, okay drums and vocals. But it has all been done before and better. The guitar solos sounded a bit off at times. The barely got any response from the audience. Even though it wasn’t bad, it hardly impressed me.

After a quick switch-over Napalm Death casually walked onto the stage. Shane Embury wasn’t with them though. A guy called Adam had to fill his shoes. He wasn’t bad tho, The started with a couple of newer songs, off their latest album and EP. Everyday Pox, which featured John Zorn got played with the saxophone parts played off tape. Barney was in good shape, running around the stage the entire gig. His preachings are sometimes a bit too long, but I guess that is also a bit of resting time for the band as they are not getting any younger. Anyway, songs like Scum, Suffer the Children and I Abstain are still as powerful and lyrically relevant as ever. Nazi Punks fuck Off was of course part of the set. And the brought back Siege of Power as a set closer. The only song they played with a guitar solo. Maybe not their best gig ever or best set list – but with a big discography there will always be some great songs missing. Quite a good gig from these veterans though.