UMUR "Utopia Banished" is the 4th full-length studio album by UK grindcore/death metal act Napalm Death. The album was released through Earache Records in June 1992. One lineup change has happened since the release of "Harmony Corruption (1990)" as drummer Mick Harris has been replaced by Danny Herrera. Mick Harris was the only member of the lineup who had appared on each of the first three albums, which means that "Utopia Banished" is the first Napalm Death album to not feature a single original (album releasing) member.

Stylistically there´s been a couple of changes since "Harmony Corruption (1990)" too, although the music is still unmistakably the sound of Napalm Death. The music style on "Harmony Corruption (1990)" was grind infuced death metal featuring a time typical Scott Burns created Morrisound Recording sound production, while "Utopia Banished" was recorded at The Windings in Wrexham, Wales with producer Colin Richardson, and stylistically features a grindcore style with some death metal leanings. So the scale has tipped back towards grindcore and away from death metal. Production wise there is also a major difference between the dark and ultra brutal sound of "Harmony Corruption (1990)" and the more raw, noisy, and organic sounding "Utopia Banished".

Most material on 15 track, 38:47 minutes long album are fast-paced grindcore tracks, but there is generally great rhythmic variation in the music, so there are often mid-paced brutal grooves and even hardcore punk oriented parts featured too. An example of a track with a memorable mid-paced groove is "The World Keeps Turning". The closing track "Contemptuous" shows a slow industrial tinged side of Napalm Death, which at the time was a new element to their sound. But as mentioned most tracks are furiously fast-paced grindcore with Mark "Barney" Greenway´s semi-growling intelligible barking raw vocals in front. His vocal style here is quite different from the brutal growling vocal style he used on "Harmony Corruption (1990)" (and in his Benediction days too), which again increases the grindcore connection and decreases the death metal ditto. For the first time guitarist Mitch Harris also contributes vocals to a Napalm Death release, as he occassionally delivers high pitched aggressive screams to compliment Greenway´s deeper shouting delivery ("Got Time to Kill" is an example of that).

Considering their relatively "primitive" grindcore past, it´s safe to say Napalm Death have grown as musicians on "Utopia Banished". It was already apparent that they had aquired a couple of new tricks on "Harmony Corruption (1990)", but "Utopia Banished" sets new standards in terms of musicianship. New drummer Danny Herrera plays with militant precision but also with a vital organic touch. Vital in the sense that it enhances rawness and grindcore/hardcore authenticity. The guitar riffs are adventurous for the style (and often pretty original too), and the heavy über distorted bass playing by Shane Embury is also pivotal for the sound of the album.

So "Utopia Banished" is a high quality release on all parameters. It´s very well produced, well played, and the material is powerful and creative in nature. There are a couple of tracks on the album, which don´t stand out as much as the most memorable material (highlights of the album include tracks like "I Abstain", "Dementia Access", "The World Keeps Turning", "Got Time to Kill", and "Contemptuous"), but often it has to do with the most memorable tracks featuring some catchy hooks or vocal phrases, because none of the material on the album is easily accessible. Even experienced extreme metal listeners can break their necks on Napalm Death, because of the relentlessly aggressive and abrasive nature of their music. Given enough time and spins "Utopia Banished" does become slightly more accessible and the tracks easier to tell apart, but it´s an album which requires something from its listener. To my ears it´s intelligent and quite sophisticated grindcore which fortunately never becomes pretentious and a 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

Kingcrimsonprog 1991′s Utopia Banished from Napalm Death was the band’s fourth full length studio album and is a very strong and fondly remembered record that contains a lot of the band’s well loved material. Utopia Banished was the second album to incorporate two guitar players and use a lot of Death Metal influences within the songwriting, following up their classic but initially maligned 1990 record Harmony Corruption which some fans criticized for its shifting from grindcore to Death Metal. Utopia Banished remedied this by mixing the two styles into a harsh and furious yet intelligent style that retained the sophistication of their third album but also tried to recreate the raw punk fury of their first two studio albums.

In addition, it was their first album to feature the complete definitive (and most common) Napalm Death line-up that (with the exception of Jesse Pintado’s tragic death) remained constant on every single Napalm Death album ever since; with Mitch Harris and Jesse Pintado on Guitars, Shane Embury on Bass, as well as Vocals from Mark ‘Barney’ Greenway and for the first time, Danny Herrera on the drums.

Everything about the album is good; the lyrics are the most developed and intelligent they have ever been up to this point, the songs mix Death and Grind well, creatively mixing groovier and thrashier moments with raw furious grinding and blast beats for heavy and fast songs that can still be memorable and catchy. Even The production is good for what it is, while not recorded at Morrisound Studios with Scott Burns like their previous effort, it is ably handled by Colin Richardson who does a great job for the time.

Album highlights include the catchy ‘I Abstain,’ as well as the famous single ‘The World Keeps Turning,’ and ‘Idiosyncratic.’

Overall; If you like the band then Utopia Banished is certainly something you should consider picking up, it has a fair amount of classic material and is definitely worth your time. It may not be the go-to album for Napalm Death beginners but anyone who is serious about the band will have positive things to say about the record, which is a fairly great recommendation in itself.

DamoXt7942 Harmonization of grindcore and thrash metal. ‘Utopia Banished”, veiled in a pic of infernal dread, was released in 1992, when the formation of NAPALM DEATH has got stabilized. Their settled period might let themselves introduce a novel music style - extreme grindcore blended with thrash metal. Their speedy, up-beated melodic and rhythmic distortion and dissection should’ve blow the audience deeply into addictive nightmare. This “Utopia Banished” can be thought as “Deathtopia Appeared”, and obviously our nightmare’s just got started at that moment.

Aside from detailed expression for every single track ... after infernal vocal madness and lazy, hazy dragging guitar play, Barney’s monotonous, distorted, deformed shouts open our inner brain in a forced or compulsive manner. Along with destructive, ultrafast rhythmic basis, Barney’s voices sound quite vivacious and immersive. Each instrument can get precisely synchronized and crystallized with others. Their crazy harmonies spin pretty violently but never broken nor collapsed. We, the audience should be attacked and tortured powerfully with such a distorted sound revolution for about 40 minutes indeed, but we would follow the “deathxplosion” completely I guess. NAPALM DEATH’s intensive attitude for us is serious and sincere, let me say.