Utopia Banished is the fourth studio album by the British grindcore band Napalm Death. It was released in 1992 by Earache Records.[6] 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.

Utopia Banished
Studio album by
Released23 June 1992 (1992-06-23)
Recorded10–19 February 1992
23 February – 2 March 1992
StudioThe Windings, Wrexham, Wales
Genre
Length39:04
LabelEarache, Relativity
ProducerColin Richardson, Napalm Death
Napalm Death chronology
Death by Manipulation
(1991)
Utopia Banished
(1992)
Fear, Emptiness, Despair
(1994)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal4/10[2]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[3]
Select[4]
Spin Alternative Record Guide5/10[5]

Release

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A limited edition of this album included a 3" bonus CD; the vinyl release included a bonus 7" containing the same material.[6] The 2007 re-release came as part of Earache's Classic Metal series with The DVD as bonus disc.[7] In 2012, Earache Records released a remastered edition on limited edition coloured vinyl and CD digipak.[8]

Single

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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".[9]

Writing

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Samples

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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.[10]

Track listing

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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

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Napalm Death

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Technical personnel

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  • Colin Richardson – production, engineering
  • Pete Coleman – co-engineering
  • Matt Anker – photography
  • Mid – cover art
  • J. Barry – layout

Chart positions

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Chart (1992) Peak position
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[11] 60
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[12] 77
UK Albums (OCC)[13] 58

References

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  1. ^ Birchmeier, Jason. Napalm Death: Utopia Banished > Overview at AllMusic. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ Larkin, Colin, ed. (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. pp. 1015–1016. ISBN 978-0857125958.
  4. ^ Perry, Andrew (July 1992). "Napalm Death: Utopia Banished". Select. EMAP. pp. 74–75.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ a b "Napalm Death 'Utopia Banished'". Earache.com. Earache. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  7. ^ Utopia Banished at Discogs
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ "Napalm Death 'The World Keeps Turning'". Earache.com. Earache. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  10. ^ "(Film) samples in (metal) songs". Rate Your Music. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  11. ^ "Napalm Death - Utopia Banished". Offizielle Deutsche Charts. Germany. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  12. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Napalm Death – Utopia Banished" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  13. ^ "Napalm Death | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 11 October 2014.