Warthur The first two Napalm Death albums had people wondering if they were a joke - Harmony Corruption, though, reveals that they are deadly serious. Pivoting from the terse grindcore style of their previous work to a death metal approach which demonstrates their ability to extent the brutal assault of their grindcore material over more conventional song durations and death metal compositional structures, Napalm Death in one great leap went from being pioneers of a strange niche subgenre to producing a work that can go toe to toe with anything the likes of Morbid Angel, Deicide, or Bolt Thrower were putting out during this era.

Kingcrimsonprog 1990′s Harmony Corruption was Napalm Death’s third full length studio album and was a record that herladed a lot of changes for the band. It was their first album to feature two guitarists rather than one, in the form of Mitch Harris and Jesse Pintado (originator of the term “grindcore”) as well as the first album to feature Vocals from Mark ‘Barney’ Greenway.

In addition to the change in line-up that, with the exception of drummer Mitch Harris leaving (and Jesse Pintado tragically dying) remained constant on every Napalm Death album ever since, the band also saw a significant shift in musical direction, allowing more slow tempo grooves into the mix and relying less constantly on Blast Beats.

When compared to the band’s first two albums, the lyrics are a lot more developed and intelligent, the song lengths are markedly longer and the music within had taken on a large influence from the Death Metal scene at the time. The production is also a lot better as Napalm Death recorded the album in Florida at Morrisound Studios with Scott Burns, who as many listeners will know is associated with many important and genre defining records all with a connected production style.

If anyone was still in doubt of the band’s Death Metal leanings, John Tardy of Obituary and Glen Benton of Deicide even provide guest vocals on the record, further associating Harmony Corruption with the American Death Metal scene of the era.

Ignoring the direction of the music however, Harmony Corruption is just a rock solid album of well crafted material, with excellent performances from all involved and great songwriting; Barney’s vocals especially are incredibly strong here, there are some great double-kick patterns on display and importantly there are a lot of exciting and memorable riffs all throughout the album’s duration.

Album highlights include the catchy and thrashy ‘Circle Of Hypocrisy,’ the fast and heavy ‘Extremity Retained,’& ‘Mind Snare,’ as well as the famous single ‘Suffer The Children.’

It is instantly noticeable just how good the songs are on Harmony Corruption. This is not just a good album from Napalm Death but an all round good album for metal in general. Harmony Corruption is a very strong and enjoyable album full of classic material that the band will still play live to this day, material that no greatest hits collection or live album would go without.

Overall; If you like the band but haven’t tried Harmony Corruption yet, you are in for a real treat. It is an undeniable Napalm Death classic that no serious fan should overlook, and even that any fan of Morrisound Death Metal should consider having a listen to.

UMUR "Harmony Corruption" is the 3rd full-length studio album by UK death metal/ grindcore act Napalm Death. The album was released in July 1990 by Earache Records. Since the release of the band´s 2nd full-length studio album "From Enslavement to Obliteration (1988)" quite a few things had happened. The band released a couple of EPs ( Most notably the "Mentally Murdered (1989)" EP which is featured as bonus tracks on many CD versions of "Harmony Corruption"), a split with S.O.B. and "The Peel Sessions (1989)" compilation album, but also the lineup had changed quite a lot. The only founding member left in the band on "Harmony Corruption" is drummer Mick Harris. Guitarist Bill Steer left the band to concentrate on Carcass and lead vocalist Lee Dorrian left and soon after his departure founded doom metal act Cathedral. They are replaced here by American guitarist Mitch Harris (Defecation, Righteous Pigs) and new lead vocalist Mark "Barney" Greenway (Benediction). Shane Embury plays the bass and second guitarist is Jesse Pintado who joined the band for the recording of the "Mentally Murdered" EP.

This new lineup went to Morrisound Recording in Tampa, Florida and recorded "Harmony Corruption" with producer Scott Burns. While still rooted in grindcore the music on "Harmony Corruption" is quite the departure from the band´s earlier grindcore sound. It´s obvious that Napalm Death felt inspired by the, at the time, new death metal movement and "Harmony Corruption" is probably the closest Napalm Death ever came to recording a "regular" death metal album. This is also helped on its way by the very brutal and quite characteristic Scott Burns production. Mark "Barney" Greenway´s vocal delivery is brutal yet fully decipherable and while it was always obvious that Napalm Death wrote clever social/ political/ personal issue lyrics it´s on "Harmony Corruption" that you are actually able to decipher what is being said. There´s no better example than the "save the earth" anthem "Unfit Earth" ( which on a sidenote features backing vocals by John Tardy (Obituary) and Glen Benton (Deicide)).

The tracks take a while to tell apart, but upon closer examination they are actually quite varied. At least structurally. Most tracks feature both blast beats, fast paced parts and groove based heavier mid-paced parts. The variation isn´t that great between tracks though, but really! It´s a minor issue when the album is only 35:47 minutes long and if you´ve just come to get your mind blasted and your body violated, "Harmony Corruption" will fully meet your expectations. The fact that the band are able to deliver their aggressive music with equal amounts of attitude and clever lyrics is not a minus in my book either.

"Harmony Corruption" is actually quite the odd album out in Napalm Death´s discography but from start to finish it´s still unmistakably the sound of Napalm Death. Fans of the band´s earlier releases may have been shocked by the band´s new sound but personally this was when I started getting really interested in the band. This one is a death metal "classic" and fully deserves a 4 star rating.