17 years after the release of their now legendary debut record, Scum, British extreme metal legends NAPALM DEATH deliver another covers collection that pays homage to hardcore, death and thrash metal's progenitors. Leaders Not Followers Part 2 continues where 1999's 5-track Leaders Not Followers EP left off, serving up 19 full-bodied tracks. Opening with Cryptic Slaughter's "Lowlife" the stakes rise and the band tears through Devastation's "Devastation," and whips into Hellhammer's "Messiah," a version that possibly outshines the original. In a ferocious fit the band plows through classic songs from Wehrmacht, Discharge, Master, Kreator, Die Kruezen, Sepultura and Hirax. As a bonus to long-time fans, and at the urging of long-time friend Shane Embury, the band's first bass player, Jim Whiteley, performs here on Discharge's "War's No Fairytale" and Anti Cimex's "Game Of The Arseholes."
NAPALM DEATH have been at the forefront of the death metal movement since they were established in Birmingham, England circa 1982. By incorporating hardcore and thrash into metal riffs they created what is now considered grindcore and to this day have remained a sonically defiant task force. With distribution help from then start-up label Earache, and a countrywide introduction from BBC Radio DJ John Peel their dissident music was heard, available, and embraced by a nation and eventually the world. Touring worldwide, from Japan to South Africa, the U.S. to the former Soviet Union NAPALM DEATH have remained a constant influence in heavy metal's musical direction by releasing belligerent and aggressive albums and tirelessly bringing its music to their fans.