NAPALM DEATH: New Album Title, Cover Artwork Unveiled

British/American grindcore pioneers NAPALM DEATH are putting the finishing touches on their 14th studio album (excluding the cover album "Leaders Not Followers"). This new piece of brutality is entitled "Utilitarian", and it will hit stores on February 27 in Europe and February 28 in North America via the band's longtime partner, Century Media Records. The cover artwork (see below) perfectly fits the album's theme and was created by the Danish artist Frode Sylthe, who is also responsible for THE HAUNTED's "rEVOLVEr" artwork.

Singer Mark "Barney" Greenway explains the album title and concept: "After some deliberation, we have decided on 'Utilitarian' as the album title. We generally try to avoid generic titles, and this seemed to have a lot of scope to it. I won't explain the full meaning of utilitarianism here because it's an ethical theory, and as ethical theories go, the depth and debate around it is quite heavy at times. It has a certain 'morality' aspect to it and that isn't something that drives me, so I also certainly have issues with it."

"So, rather than just nail that straight to the mast, of course we wanted to put our own spin on it by suggesting that those (i.e. the utilitarian in us, perhaps) who try to challenge everything, or fight against conventions, well, we go through periods of real self-doubt where we wonder if we're really making a difference. I suppose the conclusion is that, for the sake of all our freedoms, you should never stop, as even the feeling of resistance is at least a signal to those who would like to entirely control and dominate us meaning everything from our instinctive behavior to our human entitlement to walk the earth unprovoked.

"Regarding the album overall, the final creases should be ironed out fairly soon, and immediately after that, we thought it would be good to top it off with a few U.K. dates. We've been playing one new song ('Quarantined'; see performance footage below) out on a tour of Canada and it's been well received, so we hope to perhaps throw in another one for now. Either way, we'll be bouncing off the walls again near you very soon."

Fan-filmed video footage of NAPALM DEATH performing a new song, "Quarantined", on October 17, 2011 at The Zoo in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada can be seen below.

NAPALM DEATH earlier in the year contributed a brand new track called "Legacy Was Yesterday" to Decibel magazine's monthly flexi disc series. The song the band's first new material since 2009's "Time Waits for No Slave" LP was recorded at Rapture Audio with James Walford and mastered by Russ Russell.

"Time Waits For No Slave" entered the German Media Control chart at position No. 95. The CD, which was released in the U.S. in February 2009 via Century Media Records, was recorded with producer Russ Russell. Drums were tracked at Parlour Studios in Kettering and guitars, bass and vocals were done at Foel Studios in Wales. The band then returned to Parlour for the mixing sessions.