Napalm Death - Utopia Banished (1992)

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Napalm Death - Utopia Banished (1992)

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Like for lots of other bands, I’ve always thought that the central part of Napalm Death’s career has always been a bit overlooked. They are so famous for having put out the seminal grindcore album, Scum, but the albums after are not as famous as they deserve to be, especially if compared to Scum itself. I’ve never loved that album and I’ve always loved the death metal period instead, that sounded far more mature and competitive. OK, the grindcore on Scum was something revolutionary but we must be able to understand that even the central part of the career of this band was so important to forge the modern Napalm Death sound we all know. The violence of the early days was filtered down through the death metal and now with a touch of groove, a groove that was in bigger quantity on the album after this Utopia banished, that gloomy Fear, Emptiness, Despair.

1992 Napalm Death was always bound to that grind/death formula that worked so well on the previous Harmony Corruption, one of the best efforts by this band. A young Danny Herrera took place behind the drums to replace Mick Harris. We begin with the gloomy, distorted sounds of the introduction, “Discordance” to continue with the ferocious drums rolls and blast beats of the following “I Abstain”. Greenway is always the man behind the microphone and he’s always able to transmit pure energy through of this growl, a truly hard thing to do in death metal. The first groove elements already start to come out during the mid-paced parts but the restarts are just savage death/grind ones with always the deserved intelligence to create always catchy and never chaotic sounds.

The production is fuzzy but dark as hell. Not that dark like the one on Fear, Emptiness, Despair but absolutely amazing. “Dementia Access” is a kick on the teeth for speed and brutality. The band plays at the speed of light and the dynamism is something enviable. The tempo changes are numerous and they contribute in creating always mature and brutal compositions. The riffs are crust-like or death metal. No matter where the influences come from because the important thing is to create an impenetrable wall of sonic violence. All hail to Jesse Pintado. The distortion of the bass is something great because it conserved that primitive distortion (a way between Repulsion and the very first Napalm Death) and it fits perfectly for this dark and violent sound.

The fast songs run after each other in an infernal assault based on grind blast beats, punkish up tempo and grooving mid-paced sections. Everything is fucking catchy and made to snap tour head from your neck. The fury of this band knows no limits and to the punk elements of “The World Keeps Turning” with those simple but devastating up tempo sections, we remark the iconoclast grind fury of that “Exile” that pays tribute to the very first wave of this genre. One thing is evident: the coming of Jesse in the Napalm Death line-up was a revolutionary thing. His way of playing brought the perfect combination between death/grind and hardcore. Inevitably Terrorizer threw big shadows over the more recent Napalm Death production (post 1990).

Well, all things considered, this is an album to appreciate for its sheer intensity. Maybe Harmony Corruption displayed more catchy sections with more standout riffs but my personal idea is that Napalm Death here really wanted to create a longer bridge with their past, with the experience they’ve acquired along these years and with that new line-up. The intensity is the strongest point of this album, without shadow of a doubt. Once gain, I praise the post-From Enslavement to Obliteration era. It definitely gives me more satisfactions since I’ve always preferred the death/grind combination, instead of the pure grindcore.

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