''Harmony Corruption'' is the third studio album by British

grindcore Grindcore is an extreme fusion genre of heavy metal and hardcore punk that originated in the mid-1980s, drawing inspiration from abrasive-sounding musical styles, such as thrashcore, crust punk, hardcore punk, extreme metal, and industrial. G ...

band

Napalm Death Napalm Death are an English grindcore band formed in 1981 in Meriden, West Midlands. None of the band's original members has been in the group since 1986. But since ''Utopia Banished'' (1992), the lineup of bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mitch ...

, released in 1990 on

Earache Records Earache Records is a British independent record label, music publisher and management company founded by Digby Pearson in 1985, based in Nottingham, England, with offices in London and New York. The label helped to pioneer extreme metal by rel ...

. The style of the album is more

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

than grindcore, featuring extremely heavy

riffs A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or accomp ...

and deep low vocals. It was recorded at Morrisound Recording in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

, where many classic death metal albums have been recorded. Florida death metallers

Glen Benton Glen Benton (born June 18, 1967) is an American death metal musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist and bassist for the death metal band Deicide and was also a part of the band Vital Remains, where he has performed in recording sessions ...

from

Deicide Deicide is the killing (or the killer) of a god. The concept may be used for any act of killing a god, including a life-death-rebirth deity who is killed and then resurrected. Etymology The term deicide was coined in the 17th century from m ...

and

John Tardy Obituary is an American death metal band formed in Tampa, Florida in 1984. They were a fundamental act in the development of death metal music, and are one of the most successful death metal bands of all time. To date, Obituary has released ten ...

from

Obituary An obituary ( obit for short) is an article about a recently deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on positive aspects of the subject's life, this is not always the case. Ac ...

were guest vocalists for the song "Unfit Earth". The tracks from the ''

Mentally Murdered ''Mentally Murdered'' is an Extended play, EP by the English grindcore band Napalm Death, released in 1989. It was later included on the ''Harmony Corruption'' CD and the ''Death by Manipulation'' compilation album. On this EP the band's migrati ...

'' EP, are included at the end of early editions of the CD, though versions now in print feature only the standard eleven tracks. It is the first Napalm Death album to feature

Mark "Barney" Greenway Mark Andrew "Barney" Greenway (born 13 July 1969) is a British extreme metal vocalist who is the current lead singer of Napalm Death and a former member of Extreme Noise Terror and Benediction. Greenway has stated his nickname "Barney" came ...

as the vocalist and Americans

Mitch Harris Mitch Harris (born October 31, 1969) is an American guitarist. He started his career in the grindcore band Righteous Pigs. He did a side project with Mick Harris – then the drummer of grindcore band Napalm Death – called Defecation. Shortly ...

and

Jesse Pintado Jesus "Jesse" Ernesto Pintado Andrade (July 12, 1969 – August 27, 2006) was a Mexican-American guitarist best known as the lead guitarist for the British grindcore band Napalm Death. He started in the grindcore band Terrorizer where he record ...

as guitarists, and the last with

Mick Harris Michael John Harris (born 4 October 1967) is an English musician from Birmingham. He was the drummer for Napalm Death between 1985 and 1991, and is credited for coining the term "grindcore". After Napalm Death, Harris joined Painkiller with Joh ...

on drums. Richard Johnson, a member of

Agoraphobic Nosebleed Agoraphobic Nosebleed (abbreviated as ANb) is an American grindcore band formed in 1994 in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States. Its line-up has changed often over the years, with guitarist and drum programmer Scott Hull being the only cont ...

, says that the wide distribution of ''Harmony Corruption'' ensured that it had a greater impact on the American grindcore scene than earlier Napalm Death efforts.Kevin Stewart-Panko, "Altered States," "Grindcore Special" part 2, ''Terrorizer'' #181, March 2009, p. 42-43. Their third UK chart entry, this album peaked at number 67. Limited vinyl pressing included the bonus LP with live set recorded at I.C.A. In 2012, Earache Records released remastered edition, containing bonus tracks. The track "Suffer the Children" was released as single on vinyl and CD, which features the non-album tracks "Siege of Power" and "Harmony Corruption". A video was made for "Suffer the Children".

Track listing

Personnel

Napalm Death

– vocals,

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...

(2, 5–11) *

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, music (3) *

–

, music (8) *

Shane Embury Shane Embury (born 27 November 1967) is a British bassist and a member of the grindcore and death metal band Napalm Death since 1987. Career Napalm Death While not a founding member, Embury is the longest standing member of the band, havin ...

– bass,

songwriting A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

(1, 2, 4), lyrics (3, 7) *

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, music (5–7, 9–11)

Additional musicians

– backing vocals (5) *

– backing vocals (5)

Technical personnel

* David Windmill – artwork * Tim Hubbard – photography * Noel Summerville – mastering

Chart positions

References

{{Authority control 1990 albums Napalm Death albums Earache Records albums Albums produced by Scott Burns (record producer) Albums recorded at Morrisound Recording