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| PRODUCED BY NAPALM DEATH & SCOTT BURNS RECORDED AND MIXED AT MORRISOUND RECORDING, FLORIDA ARTWORK BY DAVID WINDMILL, PHOTOGRAPHY BY TIM HUBBARD MASTERED BY NOEL SUMMERVILLE. | NAPALM DEATH IS: MARK "BARNEY" GREENWAY - VOCALS |
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Wow, Harmony Corruption. What a great record. What a great record thisone COULD have been. It is strange enough that the first Napalm Death recordwith the all-new line-up is has the worst production seen by the band tothis very day. "Harmony Corruption" was the band's first albumwith new members Jesse Pintado, Mark "Barney" Greenway and MitchHarris. The three of them brought influences from traditional american DeathMetal, which can be noticed in songs like "Suffer the Children"and "Malicious Intent". Now, the music is more than just sonicblasts of out-of-control rage and fury, as featured in the two previousrecords. The blast beat parts are methodic, rhitmic, dense and calculated,whereas in the old albums Napalm was nothing but a wall of noise and speed.
Some may say that all this "precision" took some of the 'do-ityourself' aspect of ND, but I beg to disagree. The band clearly choose tofollow the metal path when confronted with the dillema of being noisy punksforever or trying to experiment and progress with their music. Fortunately,for us, they chose the latter, and added some very clear metal elementsto the songs. Not that Napalm wasn't metal inflenced before, but now theinfluence is clear on the slayer-esque riffs that both Jesse and Mitch useto tear our ears apart. 'Headbanging' bits of groove thrash are all throughthe record, together with a good portion of sonic blasts and spazztic blurr.Within that dream-like scenario, what could go wrong? Very simple: The production.
American producer Scott Burns couldn't have done worse here. All the guitarriffs have a dirty, muddy, annoying thick layer of stactic through it. Itseems like the record would sound better if it had been recorded on yourgrandma's basement with your Aiwa tape recorder. He tried to apply the samemethod used on traditional Florida bands on our british hardcore quintet.Naturally, it didn't work, and the record sounds awfull. A few brilliantsongs lost in the production.
As this was the first record with a band that was being reborn, not allof it sounds absolutely amazing all the time. They were probably feelinga bit akward, this was the 'let's get to know each other' record. Therefore,in spite of having some good moments, this is the worst Napalm Death record.But it still is worth it, not only because it represent a period of transitionand change, but for classics such as "Suffer the children" and"If the truth be Known".
Glenn Benton of Deicide and Donald Tardy from Obituary make guest appearenceson the record, with grinding backing vocals. Very nice indeed.
According to Earache Harmony Corruption was released in the followingformats: Harmony Corruption CD/MC/LP w/ free live 12", picture disc(1990). This edition with the free live 12" was available within theUK ONLY.
- Vision Conquest - If the truth be known - Inner incineration - Malicious Intent - Unfit Earth - Circle of Hipocrisy - The chains that bind us - Mind snare - Suffer the children - Hiding Behind* |
- Rise Above - Success - From Enslavement to Obliteration - Control - Walls Of Confinement - Instinc of Survival - Siege of Power - Avalanche Master song (with Justin Broadrick) - You Suffer - Deceiver |
