Revisiting Napalm Death's 1992 Studio Album "Utopia Banished"

Utopia Banished is the very good 4^th album by British death metal band Napalm Death. This is the first album that I heard from these guys, and I really have enjoyed it to this day even as we are in 2025. At this point in their career (1992), the band had an international feel for it. Danny Herrera, the person playing the drums on this album is of Mexican descent. Guitarist Mitch Harris is an American and Jesse Pintado (1969-2006) was a Mexican born guitarist. He would later die in The Netherlands due to liver failure. Therefore, only vocalist Mark “Barney” Greenway and Shane Embury (bass) are the only British members playing on the album. There is an edition containing six bonus tracks which is the one that I have. Utopia Banished is the first time in Napalm Death’s career that we also see them become more noticed in the mainstream death metal music scene.

Here is a Special Album Review This Time

This album review will also be a special one because it is necessary to take the time to pay tribute to Mr. Jesse Pintado for his dedication and wonderful guitar playing talents. He gave the band Napalm Death an international perspective.

An In-Depth Analysis of the Musical Style of the Death Metal Band Napalm Death

Napalm Death can be considered a multi-generational kind of death metal band because it should inspire younger fans to tune into their style of death metal. These guys do not play your standard, dark death metal, nor do they play melodic death metal with creative guitar passages. They do play a furious, fast kind of death metal that has very socially aware lyrical themes.

Napalm Death is considered by many people to be the founders of a genre of metal known as grindcore. This type of death metal has songs that are very short. Usually, the songs are not more than a few minutes long. You’ll be lucky if you see a song by this band that is over four minutes long. The music also has vocals that are so extreme that they sound like a loud dog that is barking. The guitar playing is distorted and very fast. The drumming in this genre is known by the term of blast beats. Those of you that can’t wait and sit through a long metal album will enjoy this one because it will be over fast. Utopia Banished was produced by Colin Richardson, the same person that produced the awesome album Heartwork by the band Carcass. Lyrically, the band tends to focus on themes having to do with politics and social issues. This is especially evident in this album.

After the short and noisy track called Discordance, the song I Abstain goes into a very fast and angry kind of song. The message is that we should come out and protest against the very few in society that prosper at our expense. I guess the band must have known that the gap between the rich and poor would eventually increase in Western nations, especially the UK and US. Imperialism is also rampant currently as countries are invaded, occupied and in some cases conquered. The band brings up the subject for thought. We must be the ones in our society that campaign for lasting change. After all, democracy is a system of government where the people have a voice so that they can speak out against injustices. We revisit one of the iconic albums in the history of grindcore. In the song “I Abstain” there is a very eye-opening lyrical line, and it is “I abstain from this mundane apathy.” To give some context to this, the song is trying to point out that in some nations of the world, the citizens tend to get complacent as they are taught to think in ways that are counterproductive to a healthy democracy. Stylistically, Utopia Banished shows us the musical approach that has defined Napalm Death since this time. There is a terrific lead guitar part in the middle of the song I Abstain which only adds to the brilliance of the song. The song is also trying to tell us to not be a slave to the system in certain countries that attempts to brainwash its people.

More great songs follow including Dementia Access, Christening of the Blind, and The World Keeps Turning. That song was featured on the popular program Headbanger’s Ball back in the early 1990’s. The band would make a music video for that song.

Now since we have introduced the two most notable songs on this album how are the other songs? “Christening of the Blind” is a really heavy song with a very important message in it. That message is that we must take steps to reduce the narrow-minded nature of people to create what is being termed as a new paradise. Utopia Banished is one of those albums with decent exotic riffs for this kind of grindcore style. Examples of this are songs such as “Aryanisms” and “Judicial Slime.” Judicial Slime is one of those songs that begins with a catchy mid-tempo heavy riff before Mark Greenway’s growl starts this one. The song also has some cool drumming in it as well. The song is basically about a person that knows he is in court being judged but he also knows that he has more power than people can imagine.

Final Thoughts About This outstanding 1992 Death Metal Album

Utopia Banished represents perhaps the highest moment in the career of Napalm Death until perhaps the album Enemy of the Music Business in 2000. Utopia Banished is the one album from these British guys to check out if you are just getting into this style of death metal. This album and Napalm Death’s music in general isn’t very innovative in terms of melody but it is a very well done brand of grindcore death metal which has succeeded until this day.

Track listing for the album "Utopia Banished" (including the six bonus tracks)

1. Discordance
2. I Abstain
3. Dementia Access
4. Christening of the Blind
5. The World Keeps Turning
6. Idiosyncratic
7. Aryanisms
8. Cause and Effect (part 2)
9. Judicial Slime
10. Distorting the Medium
11. Got Time to Kill
12. Upward and Uninterested
13. Exile
14. Awake (to a life of misery)
15. Contemptuous
16. One and the Same
17. Sick and Tired
18. Malignant Trait
19. Killing With Kindness
20. A Means to an End
21. Insanity Excursion