In Utero
| Nirvana
In Utero
In Utero is the third and final studio album by American rock band Nirvana, released on September 21, 1993, by DGC Records. Nirvana intended for the record to diverge significantly from the polished, refined production of its previous album, Nevermind (1991). To capture a more abrasive and natural sound, the group hired engineer Steve Albini to record In Utero during a two-week period in February 1993 at Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. The music was quickly recorded within that time with few studio embellishments. The song lyrics and album packaging largely incorporated medical imagery that conveyed frontman Kurt Cobain's outlook on his publicized personal life and his band's newfound fame. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Rolling Stone
In Utero is a lot of things — brilliant, corrosive, enraged and thoughtful, most of them all at once. But more than anything, it’s a triumph of the will. -1993
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Pitchfork
In Utero is the sort of painful shock that, paradoxicalaly, reinstills the empowering sensation of feeling alive. -2013
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NME
As a follow-up to one of the best records of the past ten years it just isn’t quite there. Perhaps it was dumb to expect anything more. -2005
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Biillboard
In Utero strips away some of the polish and re-embraces its punk rock roots. -2013
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BBC
It's powerful, personal, psychological, physiological, scatological, paranoid, frenzied and exhausting, beautifully frank and funny and poetic and infectious and disarming and saddening and upsetting and willfully uncomfortable. And great. -2007
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Consequence of Sound
Instead of moving forward by attempting to recreate what could never be recreated for their third LP, Nirvana dug in its heels before darting off in an opposite direction. -2013
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Sputnik Music
In Utero's self-destruction creates one of the greatest albums of our time. -2016
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AllMusic
In Utero remains a shattering listen, whether it's viewed as Cobain's farewell letter or self-styled audience alienation. Few other records are as willfully difficult as this.
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Spin
The songs of In Utero are fractured, spasmodic, wrenched out of shape — notes pulled inside out, meanings stood on their pointy little heads and spun for kicks. -2014
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The Top Tens
It's not Nirvana's best, let alone histories' best album. You will like it if you are a fan of Nirvana. If not, you will probably have a hard time getting into it. -2013
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TIME
Looking back on In Utero decades later reminds us that, while many remember it first-and-foremost as the last Nirvana album, there is much more to the record than that. -2013
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Punk News
In Utero is the uglier, perhaps punker kid brother to the glossy yet powerful Nevermind. -2009
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The Quietus
Nirvana’s third proper album is their howl at the moon, their schizophrenic apogee, their gunshot into the abyss. -2013
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Diffuser
‘In Utero,’ was the most experimental of the band’s career. In many ways, it was also their loudest, darkest and most artistic. -2013
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Louder Than War
They’re Nirvana, this is In Utero. Immerse, read up on, and enjoy this flawed masterpiece. -2013
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Kerrang!
In September 1993, Nirvana returned with In Utero, the follow-up to the world-busting, fame-making, multi-million-selling Nevermind. It was like nothing anyone expected. -1993
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Drowned in Sound
In Utero is the sound of an unstoppable force - the band’s intense desire to fuck up their careers - hitting an immovable object - their unerring inclination towards pop - and sending mad, mournful, raging, funny sparks flying. -2013
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Clash
This is a happier album than cursory listens indicate, one where humour finds its place amongst the horrors, and firm companionship between three great friends just about binds everything together, despite the production hiccups. -2013
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Record Collector
The album edges into more abrasive territory with Milk It and Tourettes, the review glosses over them abruptly. It’s as if the experts have lost interest.
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Paste
Viewed as a singular artistic vision, In Utero is easily Nirvana’s best work. -2013
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The Line of Best Fit
In Utero remains a masterpiece of mind over matter and deserves being lauded over in this manner. The real genius, of course, lies with the fact that whilst holding up a mirror to their own neuroses, they managed to reflect our own back at us. -2013
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The Student Playlist
The introspective flow is occasionally interrupted by violent, compelling thrashes like ‘tourette’s’ and ‘Very Ape’, or the bluntness of ‘Milk It’. -2017
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Albumism
In Utero is the sound of chaos and the very definition of brittle anger, but it is executed in an almost joyous and cathartic manner. In this sense it is Nirvana’s defining statement. -2018
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Q Magazine
The sound more fully formed than ever. -2013
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Magnet
The album proper already excellently spoke for itself 20 years ago. -2003
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Classic Rock Magazine
The highlight is a live DVD, Live And Loud.... When we get down to the demos--which are largely free of vocals--the sound of a barrel being scraped starts to overpower the music. -2013
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Mojo
Albini's hardline technical/philosophical missive is the tastiest 'discovery' in this inevitable 20th anniversary box set--tastier, indeed than any of the unheard music. -2013
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Austin Chronicle
A 2013 mix of the LP, reportedly overseen by Albini and surviving group members Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, and Pat Smear, and boasting an alternate guitar solo on "Serve the Servants" and a different cello overdub on "Dumb," but otherwise it's indistinct. The bonus material gets worse: ubiquitous B-sides, boring instrumental demos, and a "Forgotten Tune" that simply sucks.
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Kill Boring Music
In Utero is a compelling listen, but even without the backstory and drama behind it, it’s just a good, raw rock album that easily stands the test of time. -2018
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Audio Ink Radio
“In Utero” would be the final note from one of the most influential rock bands of all time, and this 20th anniversary reissue presents Nirvana at its finest. -2013
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Metal.de
Significantly heavier in sound than on its predecessors, the album goes straight into the bones and harnesses the patience of the listener due to different circumstances to the extreme. -2007
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Cryptic Rock
While much has changed in the world of music in the past 2 decades, In Utero still sounds fresh all these years later. -2014
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Entertainment Weekly
In Utero makes a case for rock as the grating voice of the underclass. But watch out, Kurt-that target straight ahead might be your own foot. -1993
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Renowned for Sound
In Utero is one of those albums that has never felt old, perhaps a little dated in retrospect, but definitely not old. -2013
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Pop Matters
In Utero has always been thought of in the context of conflict, so it's only appropriate that Nirvana would mark its 20th anniversary by reviving the debate over what the album was supposed to sound like versus what it turned out to be. -2013
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50 Third and 3rd
In Utero is Nirvana’s crowning achievement, showcasing Kurt Cobain’s song writing and the power of the band with a raw sound more reflective of the band’s punk roots and indie ethos than its more successful predecessor. -2017
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Scene Point Blank
For a fan who just likes to enjoy In Utero for forty-five minutes of high-energy, powerful and, er, classic rock, there’s already a version of this available. -2013
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The Fire Note
I don’t think anyone realized how special In Utero was at the time but after 20 years, it has not only aged gracefully but now should be a standard listen right next to Nevermind! -2013
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Contact Music
In Utero is in no way superfluous and doesn't cause you to play a never-ending game of spot the difference. Instead, it presents a record that sounds substantially different, and all the better for it. -2013
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Bearded Gentlemen Music
The songs are total experimental noise-pop and the way the album is mixed is so dirty and killer. -2013
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KEXP
Nirvana tapped into an energy that was frightening, but relatable. A scared and angry part of our restless souls that we too often deny is there. And nowhere is that made more clear than on In Utero. -2018
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Eric Mack Attack
while In Utero may be a good deal noisier in terms of content, it’s still easier on the ears than its predecessors. -2013
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The Grunge Rock Guru
“In Utero” is bittersweet in a way. On one hand, we get to celebrate a band who broke through the mainstream on their terms and changed the face music and pop culture. On the other hand, it is really the last flash of brilliance we got from a very talented song writer as well as a true end of an era. -2013
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The Guardian
This album is Nirvana: it's everything before, and it's the diving-board for the future we never got.
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Savage Henry Magazine
the strength of these “In Utero” album cuts – the ones that did not achieve crossover success – points to some sort of rare ability Nirvana had too simultaneously obliterate and woo. -2014
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Mark's Record Reviews
No artistic growth is displayed here. It's just an attempt to appease two different fan bases, neither of which Kurt felt fully comfortable with.
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The Omega
While some of the songs have utterly ridiculous lyrical content, Cobain still exhibits remarkable talent as a writer with most of In Utero. -2015
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Sonic Abuse
In Uterois a crucial album in the genesis of grunge, an album that encouraged exploration of the underground scene. -2013
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I May Roam
The band’s last creative effort was arguably their best effort and they ended on top of their game. -2015
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Music Scramble
[In Utero] did scare some people away but I still think this is a genuinely great album. Nowhere near as polished as its predecessor but then it was never meant to be. -2013
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Spectrum Culture
As it stands today, In Utero sounds more like a partial deconstruction of the Nevermind sound that a complete break from it. -2010
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Happy Katana
Overall, this album is amazing. It’s has great music and great lyrics. All the elements on this album come together in a way that makes it just perfect. -2013
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The Needle Drop
In Utero truly is a deep look into the mind of Kurt Cobain.
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USD Student Media
The much less polished Post-nevermind sound is a beautiful end to the Nirvana catalogue, and one you should most definitely give a listen to.
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Adrian's Album Reviews
the album suffers from a lack of variety, suffers from the same sound being used all over the record. Having said that, this album is very easy to listen to if you like this kind of music.
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