Utopia Banished

Utopia Banished
Studio album by Napalm Death
Released	May 1992 (1992-05)
Recorded	10–19 February 1992 23 February – 2 March 1992
Studio	The Windings, Wrexham, Wales
Genre	Death metal grindcore
Length	39:04
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
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	4/10[2]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[3]
Select	[4]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	5/10[5]

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.

Release

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

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

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.^[10]

Track listing

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Discordance"			1:26
2.	"I Abstain"	Mark Greenway	Jesse Pintado	3:30
3.	"Dementia Access"	Shane Embury	Mitch Harris	2:27
4.	"Christening of the Blind"	Embury	Embury	3:21
5.	"The World Keeps Turning"	Greenway	Pintado	2:55
6.	"Idiosyncratic"	Greenway	Embury, Pintado	2:35
7.	"Aryanisms"	Greenway	Embury, Harris	3:08
8.	"Cause and Effect (Part II)"	Greenway	Pintado	2:07
9.	"Judicial Slime"	Embury	Embury	2:36
10.	"Distorting the Medium"	Greenway	Pintado	1:58
11.	"Got Time to Kill"	Greenway	Embury	2:28
12.	"Upward and Uninterested"	Greenway	Pintado, Harris	2:07
13.	"Exile"	Embury	Harris	2:00
14.	"Awake (To a Life of Misery)"	Embury	Harris	2:05
15.	"Contemptuous"	Embury	Embury, Harris, Pintado	4:21

Personnel

Napalm Death

• Mark "Barney" Greenway – lead vocals
• Jesse Pintado – guitars
• Mitch Harris – guitars, backing vocals
• Shane Embury – bass
• Danny Herrera – drums

Technical personnel

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

Chart positions

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

References

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. "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.