May 18, 1992 - Utopia Banished

A year since their last EP "Mass Appeal Madness" and two years since their last album "Harmony Corruption", Napalm Death released their fourth album "Utopia Banished" on May 18, 1992. We have another line-up change and there are no original members left in the band anymore as drummer Mick Harris has departed. Mick is a pretty awesome drummer who can play at incredible speeds and he will be dearly missed! The tough task of replacing Mick falls to new drummer Danny Herrera. Napalm Death revert somewhat back to their grindcore past with more, shorter songs once again, but they do keep some of the more standard heavy metal that was very present on their last album. How will these two styles combine? Let's find out!

The album begins with a short intro called "Discordance" and it has a bunch of very difficult to understand talking overtop of a very distorted and repetitive riff. It's nothing special by any means and it leads right into the next song "I Abstain". They fire right into a distorted and decently heavy main riff and Barney Greenway sounds like a much-improved singer with a clearer, and heavier vocal style. After the first round they ramp things up to more typical Napalm Death speeds with everyone going nuts and Herrera proves that he too can play some super fast, but still on time drums. There's even a short but pretty wicked little guitar solo and at least on this first (real) song, Napalm Death have blended their two styles pretty damn nicely! Track 3 is "Dementia Access" and they explode into a uber-fast, neckbreaking, headbanger of a main riff and Greenway holds a nice long, high first scream before getting into a more typical, lower verse. Most of the songs on this album are under three minutes and this one headbangs furiously for two minutes, then the last 30 seconds are closed out by a slower, but still nice and heavy riff to bring things in for a smooth landing. The next track is "Christening Of The Blind" and it fits the old-school Napalm Death template as they definitely seem to be leaning more grindcore than standard heavy metal, which is just fine with me! These guys just have no let-up at all as everyone is harmoniously going insane and Herrera seems to be quite the solid replacement for Mick Harris, he plays all kinds of great drums on this one. After a few furious rounds they slow things down a little with a groovy new riff that is still fast and pretty sweet and after solidly jamming this out for a bit there's still time to return to the madness for a final round! Track 5 is the only single "The World Keeps Turning" and while I'm sure this wasn't being played on most radio stations, I can see why this was the single as it still sounds like Napalm Death, but it's driven by a simpler and easy to follow main riff. It's still a good song for sure, but it's certainly a different vibe than the rest of the album so far. Even though on it's own it's probably the worst song so far on the album, it stands out more because it's different and it's a welcome break-up from the carnage that we're being thrown right back into with "Idiosyncratic". This fits the template to a tee, but words don't do proper justice to all the awesome and super fast guitars, super fast and heavy bass and absolutely nutty drums that these guys bring to the table every song! Greenway continues to sound improved and pretty solid and things are flying wonderfully by at high speeds! Track 7 is "Aryanisms" and we're thrown out of the frying pan into the fire with another template-fitting, headbanging extravaganza of metal prowess. I could describe this one the same way as the last one, but it's a completely different and unique, very cool tune! The next track is "Cause And Effect (Part II)", continuing on from Part I on the "Mentally Murdered" EP! This might even be the fastest song on the album as Jesse Pintado and Mitch Harris somehow harmonize their guitars at these lighting fast speeds for some great stuff! Greenway still sounds pretty monotone in his low yells, but at least it's a better quality yell! At the very end of the song Greenway hits another high screams and he holds it for a good while and that sounds pretty awesome! More of That please, what a great short song! Track 9 is "Judicial Slime" and it starts with a super fast, but also pretty groovy guitar riff before things devolve into our more typical Napalm Death madness for a chaotic verse. They stick to this loud, distorted and harmoniously chaotic riff for most of the songs (with no complaints from me) and they even wrap things up with a short face-melting guitar solo. Just another non-stop headbanger! Up next is "Distorting The Medium" and they fire right into another typical(ly cool) main riff with everyone going nuts and Greenway yelling low overtop. The guitars and bass slow down for a few bars, but the drums don't as Herrera nails several cool fills before they return for a predictable finish. Track 11 is "Got Time To Kill" and Greenway nicely screams the name of the song as they dive into another chaotic sea of furious instruments. Words fall short again as I could describe this furious song just like several others, but it's another unique cacophony of blistering guitars, bass and drums that sounds pretty cool the whole way through! The next track is "Upward And Uninterested" and the blazing pace continues right into another short song with some more unrelenting music attacking you with no let-up. It doesn't really stand out all that much, but it's still a more-than-solid two minutes banger. Track 13 is "Exile" and they just keep slamming from one insane song to the next as Pintado and Harris lead the way with some more super fast and cool guitars. The chorus of this song is actually a little slower, but just by their standards, it's still plenty fast! The two minute songs just keep pleasantly, headbangingly rolling by and that includes the next one as well, "Awake (To A Life Of Misery)". They set the stage nicely with one guitarist playing the cool main riff before everyone comes slamming in to support and complete this very loud and pretty sweet main riff. Greenway sounds solid yelling quickly to match the pace and it'd just yet another pretty solid two minute song. The final song on the album is unlike most of the album as it's over four minutes long (by far the longest on the album) and it's super slow, which is very unlike Napalm Death! It's called "Contemptuous" and Embury starts us off by himself with a slow, echo-y bass riff. Eventually we hear a man say "I am... in a world of shit" then the guitars and drums finally join in to form a decent but still super slow and largely unexciting main riff. Greenway actually sounds decently heavy overtop of this slow March as they jam things out and get more and more distorted. It's probably the worst song on the album, but I can't hate them for experimenting a little I guess.

That is the end of "Utopia Banished" and I thought it was a pretty solid album! Napalm Death really improved upon their previous album and put together a largely unrelenting and grindcore album with Barney Greenway sounding much better on vocals helping a lot. I think it's even better than their second album "From Enslavement To Obliteration", but it doesn't surpass "Scum" so 2nd place will have to do. It also means we have to slightly alter the year-end rankings for 1992! 

1. Vulgar Display of Power by Pantera

2. Images And Words by Dream Theater

3. Dirt by Alice In Chains

4. Rage Against The Machine by Rage Against The Machine

5. Utopia Banished by Napalm Death

This album bumps Hybris by Anglagard out of the top 5, which is saying something! Where will Napalm Death go from here?