Utopia Banished

Last updated

Utopia Banished
Utopia Banished (Napalm Death album) cover art.jpg
Studio album by
Released18 May 1992 (1992-05-18) [1]
Recorded10–19 February 1992
23 February – 2 March 1992
StudioThe Windings, Wrexham, Wales
Genre
Length39:04
Label Earache, Relativity
Producer Colin Richardson, Napalm Death
Napalm Death chronology
Death by Manipulation
(1991)
Utopia Banished
(1992)
Fear, Emptiness, Despair
(1994)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal 4/10 [3]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [4]
Select Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [5]
Spin Alternative Record Guide 5/10 [6]

Utopia Banished is the fourth studio album by the British grindcore band Napalm Death. It was released in 1992 by Earache Records. [7] It is the first album featuring Danny Herrera on drums following the departure of Mick Harris. Metal Hammer ranked it as one of the 20 best metal albums of 1992.

Contents

Release

A limited edition of this album included a 3" bonus CD; the vinyl release included a bonus 7" containing the same material. [7] The 2007 re-release came as part of Earache's Classic Metal series with The DVD as bonus disc. [8] In 2012, Earache Records released a remastered edition on limited edition coloured vinyl and CD digipak. [9]

Single

The EP "The World Keeps Turning" was released in July 1992 on vinyl and CD and contains two non-album tracks, "A Means to an End" and "Insanity Excursion". [10]

Writing

Samples

Napalm Death make use of samples in some songs on Utopia Banished. The tracks "Discordance" and "Awake (To a Life of Misery)" sample snippets from 1988 science fiction film They Live while the track "Contemptuous" takes a line from 1987 war film Full Metal Jacket . [11]

Track listing

No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Discordance"  1:26
2."I Abstain"Mark GreenwayJesse Pintado3:30
3."Dementia Access"Shane EmburyMitch Harris2:27
4."Christening of the Blind"EmburyEmbury3:21
5."The World Keeps Turning"GreenwayPintado2:55
6."Idiosyncratic"GreenwayEmbury, Pintado2:35
7."Aryanisms"GreenwayEmbury, Harris3:08
8."Cause and Effect (Part II)"GreenwayPintado2:07
9."Judicial Slime"EmburyEmbury2:36
10."Distorting the Medium"GreenwayPintado1:58
11."Got Time to Kill"GreenwayEmbury2:28
12."Upward and Uninterested"GreenwayPintado, Harris2:07
13."Exile"EmburyHarris2:00
14."Awake (To a Life of Misery)"EmburyHarris2:05
15."Contemptuous"EmburyEmbury, Harris, Pintado4:21

Personnel

Napalm Death

Technical personnel

Chart positions

Chart (1992)Peak position
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [12] 60
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [13] 77
UK Albums (OCC) [14] 58

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Napalm Death</span> English grindcore band

Napalm Death are an English grindcore band formed in Meriden, West Midlands in 1981. None of the band's original members have been in the group since 1986, but since Utopia Banished (1992), the lineup of bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mitch Harris, drummer Danny Herrera and lead vocalist Mark "Barney" Greenway has remained consistent through most of the band's career. From 1989 to 2004, Napalm Death were a five-piece band after they added Jesse Pintado and Mitch Harris as replacements for guitarist Bill Steer. Following Pintado's departure, the band reverted to a four-piece.

<i>Swansong</i> (album) 1996 studio album by Carcass

Swansong is the fifth studio album by English extreme metal band Carcass. It was released on 10 June 1996 in the UK by Earache Records. It is the only Carcass album to feature guitarist Carlo Regadas. This album was intended to be their major label debut, having been signed by Columbia Records following the success of Heartwork, but disputes with that record company caused them to return to Earache. The album was re-released on 21 July 2008, as a dualdisc including the fifth part of The Pathologist's Report. It was the band's last studio release for over 17 years, until the release of Surgical Steel in 2013, and the last to feature founding member Ken Owen on drums, although he contributed backing vocals to Surgical Steel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bolt Thrower</span> English death metal band

Bolt Thrower were a British death metal band from Coventry. They formed in 1986 and released their first album with Vinyl Solution in 1988. The band then shifted to a new record label, Earache Records, soon becoming one of the best selling bands on that label. Their last label was Metal Blade Records. The band had a succession of members, and had toured Europe, the United States, and Australia. Over the course of their 30-year career, Bolt Thrower released eight studio albums, three EPs, one live album, three compilation albums and two demos. Their albums have sold over 100,000 copies in the United States as of 2005.

<i>Harmony Corruption</i> Album by Napalm Death

Harmony Corruption is the third studio album by British grindcore band Napalm Death, released in July 1990 on Earache Records.

<i>Greed Killing</i> 1995 EP by Napalm Death

Greed Killing is an EP by the British band Napalm Death.

<i>Diatribes</i> (album) 1996 studio album by Napalm Death

Diatribes is the sixth studio album by English grindcore band Napalm Death, originally released on 22 January 1996 on Earache Records. It was released as double 10" vinyl, regular CD, special digipak CD with space for the Greed Killing EP and MC. In 2010, Earache issued a re-release of Diatribes in a box set that also included the Greed Killing EP and the live album Bootlegged in Japan.

Earache Records is a British independent record label, music publisher and management company founded by Digby Pearson in 1985, based in Nottingham, England, with offices in London and New York. The label helped to pioneer extreme metal by releasing early grindcore and death metal records between the late 1980s and mid-1990s. Its roster has since diversified into more mainstream guitar music, working with bands such as Rival Sons, the Temperance Movement, Blackberry Smoke, Scarlet Rebels and the White Buffalo. The company also hosted the 'Earache Express' stage at Glastonbury Festival in 2017 and 'The Earache Factory' at Boomtown 2018. The label's logo is a homage to Thrasher magazine, as Pearson was a skateboard culture enthusiast.

Jesus "Jesse" Ernesto Pintado Andrade was a Mexican-American guitarist best known as a guitarist for the British grindcore band Napalm Death.

<i>River Runs Red</i> 1993 studio album by Life of Agony

River Runs Red is the debut studio album by American alternative metal band Life of Agony, released on October 12, 1993, by Roadrunner Records. It is a concept album, telling the story of a teenager, from a troubled household, who ultimately attempts suicide. The album features what Rolling Stone called "bleak odes to misanthropy, parental neglect, regret and killing yourself".

<i>Enemy of the Music Business</i> 2000 studio album by Napalm Death

Enemy of the Music Business is the ninth studio album by the British band Napalm Death, released in 2000. This album, along with Words from the Exit Wound, are the only Napalm Death studio albums that were released only on CD until 2013. London-based Secret Records has re-issued the album on CD and 180g LP. This is the last release that has Jesse Pintado actually performing. Kerrang put it on the list of the best 50 albums of the 2000, at the position number 19.

Sore Throat were a British crust punk band formed in Huddersfield in 1987. They are known for being one of the earliest exponents of the grindcore subgenre known as "noisecore", as well as for launching the careers of several prominent members of the British heavy metal community.

<i>Streetcleaner</i> 1989 studio album by Godflesh

Streetcleaner is the debut studio album by English industrial metal band Godflesh. It was released on 13 November 1989 through Earache Records and was reissued with a second disc of previously unreleased material on 21 June 2010. The album is widely acclaimed by critics and is often cited as a landmark release in industrial metal; though not the genre's first release, Streetcleaner helped define what industrial metal would become.

<i>Fear, Emptiness, Despair</i> 1994 studio album by Napalm Death

Fear, Emptiness, Despair is the fifth studio album by British grindcore band Napalm Death, released on 9 May 1994. Napalm Death's inclusion on the Mortal Kombat soundtrack brought significant exposure to the band and this album, alongside the fact that the band's label Earache had formed a partnership with Columbia Records which allowed the album to disseminate to a wider audience. RAW magazine listed Fear, Emptiness, Despair as one of the essential album of the 1990s.

<i>Inside the Torn Apart</i> 1997 studio album by Napalm Death

Inside the Torn Apart is the seventh studio album by British extreme metal band Napalm Death. It was released by Earache in June 1997 on double vinyl, regular CD, digipak CD and MC.

<i>Bootlegged in Japan</i> 1998 live album by Napalm Death

Bootlegged in Japan is a live album from British extreme metal band Napalm Death, released in June 1998 through Earache.

<i>Words from the Exit Wound</i> 1998 studio album by Napalm Death

Words from the Exit Wound is the eighth studio album by British extreme metal band Napalm Death, released in 1998 by Earache. It was issued only on CD. It is considered the final album of the band's "experimental" period, while simultaneously foreshadowing the band's return to a more traditional death metal and grindcore sound.

<i>Leaders Not Followers</i> 1999 EP by Napalm Death

Leaders Not Followers is an EP album by the British band Napalm Death, featuring covers from various punk and metal bands. The EP has been re-issued by Secret Records on limited edition red vinyl on the occasion of Record Store Day 2013 and has also been included on their CD re-issue of Enemy of the Music Business as bonus tracks.

<i>Breed to Breathe</i> 1997 EP by Napalm Death

Breed to Breathe is an EP by English extreme metal band Napalm Death, released in 1997 through Earache on CD.

<i>The DVD</i> (Napalm Death video) 2001 video by Napalm Death

The DVD is a Napalm Death DVD released by Earache in 2001. The only material seeing release for the first time is the Nottingham show from 1989 and the ULU show from 1989. The version of Utopia Banished currently in print features The DVD as a bonus disc.

Meathook Seed was an industrial metal music project formed in 1992 by the Napalm Death guitarist, Mitch Harris. Two Meathook Seed albums were released.

References

  1. https://www.discogs.com/release/4525141-Napalm-Death-Utopia-Banished
  2. Birchmeier, Jason. Napalm Death: Utopia Banished > Overview at AllMusic. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  3. Popoff, Martin (2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 305. ISBN   978-1-894959-62-9.
  4. Larkin, Colin, ed. (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. pp. 1015–1016. ISBN   978-0857125958.
  5. Perry, Andrew (July 1992). "Napalm Death: Utopia Banished". Select . EMAP. pp. 74–75.
  6. Norris, Chris (1995). "Napalm Death". In Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (eds.). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. pp. 265–266. ISBN   0-679-75574-8.
  7. 1 2 "Napalm Death 'Utopia Banished'". Earache.com. Earache . Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  8. Utopia Banished at Discogs
  9. Sheila (14 May 2012). "Napalm Death – 'Utopia Banished' remastered edition out now!". PlanetMosh. Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  10. "Napalm Death 'The World Keeps Turning'". Earache.com. Earache . Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  11. "(Film) samples in (metal) songs". Rate Your Music . Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  12. "Napalm Death - Utopia Banished". Offizielle Deutsche Charts. Germany. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  13. "Dutchcharts.nl – Napalm Death – Utopia Banished" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  14. "Napalm Death | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 11 October 2014.