Harmony Corruption is the third studio album by British grindcore band Napalm Death. It was released in the UK by Earache Records on 30 July 1990 and in the United States by Combat Records on 7 December 1990. This is the first album by the band recorded as a five piece.
Background and recording
Notably, it was recorded in the spring of 1990 at Morrisound Recording in Tampa, Florida, where many classic death metal albums were recorded.
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". Additionally, limited vinyl pressings included the bonus LP with a live performance recorded at I.C.A.
The tracks from the Mentally Murdered EP, are included at the end of early editions of the CD, though versions now in print feature only the standard eleven tracks.
In 2012, Earache Records released a remastered edition, containing bonus tracks.
Music
Harmony Corruption has been characterized by its "sluggish rhythms and a generally sludgy sound." According to music journalist T Coles, the album "makes a clear effort to be structured, naturally bringing their style closer to the bands in the Florida scene" and introduces a "tighter architecture to their berserk style." Described as a stylistic "handbrake turn" for the band, the album represents a shift in genre from grindcore to "standard death metal", featuring technical riffs and deep low vocals. The tracks have been called "full-fledged songs [...] not start-stop eruptions of noise" and "straightforward death metal songs, not grindcore blasts." The album has been described as "more expansive" than its predecessors, which have been called "one- or two-minute grindcore blasts." According to Phil Freeman of Stereogum: "The primitivism of the early albums is still there, just spread across a slightly broader canvas."
The guitar work between Pintado and Harris has been described as "varied and intricate" compared to that of Bill Steer, their predecessor in the band, whose style was described as a "frenzied, distorted blur."
Artwork
Guitarist Mitch Harris retrospectively described the album's cover artwork as "medio-CORE."
Reception and legacy
The album was met with a polarized reception upon release and has continued to divide listeners. Decibel described the album as, "a milestone in extreme music history." Conversely, AllMusic described the album as, "a bit of a novel album for the band, though one that's not especially remarkable in the big picture."
Shane Embury has said of the album's reception, "it turned a lot of people on to the band who I guess had never given us the time of day, but also turned old-school fans off. Being young at the time and seeing the reactions was kind of scary; as you get older, opinions matter less, but it captured the time. Over in the states it has the same nostalgia as Scum. We will always have to play 'Suffer the Children.'"