UMUR "In Utero" is the 3rd full-length studio album by US hard rock/alternative rock act Nirvana. The album was released through DGC Records in September 1993. Despite the major commercial success of "Nevermind (1991)", Nirvana felt that the album ultimately came out too polished compared to how they saw their own music and they wanted to make sure that "In Utero" sounded more raw and closer to the "punk" ideals they felt a closer relation to. They enlisted producer Steve Albini to help them gain that sound and with him they recorded the songs for "In Utero" in around two weeks time. They weren´t completely satisfied with the result though and ended up hiring Scott Litt to make a few changes to the sound.

The more primitive recording process is certainly audible as "In Utero" is a much more raw sounding album than "Nevermind (1991)". The prominent use of dissonance, feedback and other non-polished features (check out the highly aggressive and almost hardcorish track "tourette's") that you usually don´t find in accessible mainstream music, are quite the change compared to the predecessor. The songwriting is a bit uneven though and while tracks like "Hear-Shaped Box" (which was the biggest hit from the album) and "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle" are really effectful and memorable, there are far too many tracks on the album that come off a bit half-baked and honestly sound like the band didn´t care too much. I understand that it was part of the attitude in those days, but some tracks simply don´t sound as inspired as they could have.

When that is said the musicianship and especially Kurt Cobain´s vocals are for the most part a real treat. He has such a raw and personal delivery. A really unique and characteristic voice, which he explores a bit more on this album than he did on "Nevermind (1991)".

Considering the major commercial success of "Nevermind (1991)", "In Utero" is actually quite a daring and bold attempt at breaking free from a sound that most people expected from the band. 5 million copies sold arond the world bear witness to the fact that at least commercially Nirvana fully succeeded in their mission, but artistically I think "In Utero" lacks a bit although a 3.5 star (70%) rating is fully deserved.

UMUR "Nevermind" is the 2nd full-length studio album by US hard rock/alternative rock act Nirvana. The album was released through DGC Records (a sub label to Universal Music Group) in September 1991. Alledgedly the label expected that "Nevermind" would sell around 200.000 - 250.000 copies if it became successful, but because of the success of "Smells Like Teen Spirit", which received heavy rotation on MTV, "Nevermind" soon sold so many copies that the label´s sales stragedy for the album became completely useless. At the hight of the album´s success it sold around 300.000 copies a week. "Nevermind" has sold around 30 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best selling albums ever. There are probably a number of reasons why the album became this successful including a fatique, among fans of harder edged rock music, over the eighties glam rock/metal scene that had dominated the last decade. In the end it was probably the combination of the right timing, a good album that touched people and excellent promotion.

"Bleach (1989)" had provided the band with some minor success but main songwriter Kurt Cobain felt the need to write more melodic material and at the same time Nirvana opted to leave the Sub Pop label and sign to a major label. Producer Butch Vig gave the band´s sound enough polish for even the most hard edged punked material to have mainstream appeal. I guess "Territorial Pissings" might be the exception, but even that track, which is the most noisy track on the album is pretty sweet on the ears except the the ending of the track where Kurt Cobain screams his lungs out. The four single tracks from the album "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "Come as You Are", "Lithium" and "In Bloom" are probably the most known songs from "Nevermind" but most tracks are actually pretty noteworthy and memorable.

The songs are pretty simple vers/chorus structured, typically with subdued verses and more energetic and loud choruses, making good use of dynamics for effect. "Nevermind" is an album that successfully alternates between mellow almost drowsy sounding sections and bursts of aggressive energy. It´s also an album with a nice flow. It´s the kind of album where all the pieces seem to fit in the right places.

...after not having listened to "Nevermind" for many years, I was pretty amazed to learn that I could remember each track, vocal line and melody to perfection and I had a great time listening to the album while doing all that remembering. Often it´s only the truly great albums where you feel right at home, when putting them on and such is certainly the case with "Nevermind". It´s still an album that stands out from the crowd and a 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

bassgeezer OK so this is THE grunge album right. A masterpiece and yet even I can play some of the bass lines. But that’s the beauty of it. There is nothing complex about it, no virtuosity. But good composition and good performance are not always about all that are they. This album is a perfect example of everything falling into place, of the three members of the band being perfectly in balance. It will sound trite to say it I know but it is just so sad that despite the happiness that the songs Kurt Cobain wrote for this album have given to so many people, they did not make him happy enough.

bonnek August 25th 1991, it's a sunny Sunday morning when I enter the Festival grounds of the Belgian alternative rock festval Pukkelpop (the one that got thrashed in a storm this year). It's pretty quiet still, there's a small crowd in front of the stage looking at the first (or maybe second) gig that day, it's a last minute replacement for the absent Limbomaniacs so it seems. It sounded pretty cool so I work my way to the stage and get to the front row pretty easily, the band set in their next song and a musical tornado hit me.

Drums, bass, one guitar and a voice like sandpaper. All of it with the raw power of pure rocking punk like we hadn't heard it since the end of the 70s, or maybe even all the way back to the end of the 60s when the Stooges ravished the earth. I don't remember which exact songs were played but the 20 minutes that the gig lasted left an impression I'll never forget. And one that none of the remainder of the acts could top, though it was quite a bill with Dinosaur Jr, Sonic Youth, Frank Black, Pogues, Ramones. Olé!

One month later or so, that obscure opening band released their sophomore album 'Nevermind', a collection of amazing and powerful punk songs and moody stripped-down ballads, but with a streamlined sound compared to the live gig. The rest is history. Synths and drum computers were referred to the trash bin, guitars and rock ruled the land again.

Ok, this review doesn't say all too much about the music on this album. But is that still necessary in this case?

Time Signature Smells like teen spirit...

Genre: grunge

Let it be known that I generally never liked Nirvana. I have always thought that they were overrated and that their music was generally boring. Still, this particular release is well nigh a masterpiece for at least reasons.

First off, its stripped down sound and musical minimalism gave metal music a well-deserved kick in the ass. Mainstream metal had become too pompous, too cheesy and the hair too tall. It was all whistles and bells and hairspray and no heart and soul. With "Nevermind", Nirvana and the grunge movement they represented took rock music back to its roots and virtually killed hair metal, cock rock, and all those cheesy metal genres of the 80s overnight. Sadly, more interesting metal genres also fell victim and were thrown back into the underground where they would flourish and develop into new even more extreme forms of metal. "Nevermind" forced metal to take a good look in the mirror and reconsider its life, and, had it not been for releases like "Nevermind" metal might have just kept growing and growing till it imploded on itself.

Secondly, despite all the emo teen shoegazing self-pity on this album, "Nevermind" is nonetheless a very expressive album, and the raw energy of the simplistic music itself is one of the things that make this album truly unique.

Thirdly, simple though it is with its three-chord and four-chord songs, Nirvana's music on this album is really dark, depressive and catchy as hell, as the simple riffs, guitar figures and vocal melodies have something unique and appealing to them (Nirvana stayed simple throughout the rest of their career, but failed miserably at capturing the unique atmosphere of this album).

"Nevermind" is a one-off, and outstanding album by a sub par rock band, which redefined metal and rock music in general. Unfortunately, many people abandoned metal completely because of this album, which was not necessary (I mean if I could listen to Nuclear Assault, Nirvana, Helmet, Judas Priest, and Megadeth on my walkman the same day, then, surely, so could a lot of other teens at the time), but you cannot blame this album for that. "Nevermind" is an inescapable part of the metal landscape.