Mark Barney Greenway

Barney Greenway — Mark Greenway, born in England in 1969 — has been Napalm Death's singer since 1989 and is responsible for the political dimension that defines the band. He joined in time for Harmony Corruption (1990) and has fronted the group ever since, with a brief interruption in the 1990s. His voice combines guttural roar and high screams, alternating registers within the same track — a device that gives variation to music which, by construction, rejects melody. But what distinguishes Napalm Death from its contemporaries is the lyrics, and they are his. Greenway writes about labour exploitation, racism, animal rights, the arms industry and the concentration of economic power, in a direct register without metaphor. The band comes from the British anarcho-punk scene of the 1980s and has held that position for decades, refusing to treat extreme metal as apolitical entertainment. That combination — maximum sonic aggression in the service of explicit argument — is what makes Napalm Death a band that has aged well: the questions it raises remain current, and the music never had to soften to keep up with them.