### Extreme Noise Terror: Damage 381

#### 31/10/11 || Habakuk

Ask anyone on the street, and they’ll tell you Extreme Noise Terror is a band with two singers playing hardcore punk and can be crammed in a corner with early Napalm Death (more or less rightfully so, but in no way justified in terms of musical influence). Yeah, that’s the true voice of the people, right there. However, at some point in time, these crusties decided to get heavier. Like, death metal heavy. Off they went and refurbished some of their old material with “Retro-Bution” in 1995 – an album that made those songs indeed sound about 10 times better, if you ask me. Sounds like a greater achievement than it actually is though, considering the production trainwreck that early ENT presented itself as.

Enhancing their sound with a thick, more metal production was not enough for them, though, so they went one step further. All of a sudden, they were a 100% death metal band, putting “Damage 381” on the record store shelves. And gone were the d-beats. Almost. At any rate, they took a step back behind “Harmony Corruption” worship unheard before from ENT’s direction.

And back we are at Napalm Death! It’s quite the easy journalist story, simply explaining their transformation to Birmingham’s finest. After all, ENT hired Napalm’s very own Barney Greenway for doing the lead vocals on this album. Simple as this connection may appear though, it’s really striking how these guys adapted the scraping guitar tone, double bass meets just a bit of blasting approach, and, well, vocals. Still, while clear similarities can be found, mere copy cats ENT were not, so this will appeal to fans of early nineties Napalm Death without invoking a total “been there/done that” feeling. It seems “Harmony Corruption” simply was such a big reference point in a sound change from punk/crust/grind into the direction of full-on death metal with limited to no punk influence (as can be heard on the predecessor, “Being and nothing”), it was hard to not sound like it, given Extreme Noise Terror’s background.

A problem that emerged however (as a consequence of their development even more so on “Being and nothing”), was that by beefing up their death metal side, the band became a little stale apart from the standout tracks. Thus, “Damage 381” could use a little kick in the butt from time to time. It’s all adequately written material with some neat grooves to be found, but it sounds a bit too planned out. Never do they just let it rip, so what’s basically a really structured approach that works for a few songs gets bogged down come four, five songs in a row.

In hindsight, one can only applaud the band for later rediscovering their punk side and merging with it with their new-found death metal sound, for example on their awesome split with Driller Killer. This really shows what they do best. “Damage 381” was their sophomore step in the exact opposite direction and came a few years too late to leave any major impact, but that does not mean it can’t be enjoyed by those who know and like what they’re in for – and you at least know now.

- Information
- Released: 1997
- Label: Earache
- Website: Extreme Noise Terror MySpace
- Band
- Dean Jones: vocals
- Mark “Barney” Greenway: vocals
- Phil Vane: vocals
- Ali Firouzbahkt : guitars
- Lee Barrett: bass
- Was: drums

- Tracklist
- 1. Utopia burns
- 2. Punishment solitude
- 3. Icon of guilt
- 4. Jesus on my side
- 5. Cold world
- 6. Damage 381
- 7. Shallow existence
- 8. Chaos perverse
- 9. Crawl
- 10. Downside