Napalm Death's Shane Embury says band's next album likely won't surface before late 2027

Embury sets the release window for Napalm Death's seventeenth album

Napalm Death bassist Shane Embury told the Pod Scum podcast that the British grindcore band's seventeenth studio album will "probably" not arrive before late 2027, citing a heavy touring schedule that is slowing the writing process. Speaking with host "Reckless" Rexx Ruger, Embury said, "I think it's probably not gonna be until the end of 2027, maybe, because of touring," and added that a pre-summer 2027 release would be welcome but unlikely.

Russ Russell returns as producer at Parlour Studios

The band is again working with longtime producer Russ Russell, whose credits include Dimmu Borgir, At The Gates and Amorphis, at Parlour Studios in Kettering, United Kingdom. Embury said the sessions are open-ended, noting that the group is "on no timeframe with Russ," and described the current state of the record as "the 'bare bones.'"

Writing method shifts toward drum-led sketches

Embury outlined an unusual approach to the new material, saying he has recorded guitars and bass parts first and then handed them to drummer Danny Herrera to interpret. "I have the guitars and the bass recorded. And I said to Danny, 'Maybe this beat, but you try what you wanna try.' It's a weird way of doing it, in a way, strangely," Embury said. Herrera is still familiarizing himself with the arrangements, and Embury stressed that the parts are "not set in stone." Frontman Mark "Barney" Greenway is expected to begin writing lyrics on tour, possibly starting in November.

Embury weighs fan feedback and longer-form possibilities

Asked whether he reads listener reactions, Embury said he tries not to seek them out but occasionally encounters them, joking that his wife scolds him when negative comments sour his day. He pointed to one positive exchange as having shaped the new record: a fan who asked for a 12- or 13-minute track prompted Embury to suggest, "there probably might be a 12-, 13-minute track of just insanity." He also noted that Herrera still wants more fast material, leaving room for additional blast-driven songs alongside the slower, longer pieces under consideration.

Context: the gap since the last Napalm Death release

Napalm Death's most recent studio album is "Throes Of Joy In The Jaws Of Defeatism," released in September 2020 via Century Media Records and recorded with Russ Russell. The band followed it in February 2022 with the eight-song mini-album "Resentment Is Always Seismic – A Final Throw Of Throes," a partner recording of roughly 29 minutes also issued through Century Media. Embury separately published his autobiography, "Life?… And Napalm Death," in October 2023 via Rocket 88, an imprint of Essential Works.