In Utero

米出身の3人組バンド、ニルヴァーナが1993年に発表したサード・アルバムにして最終作となった『イン・ユーテロ』のアナログレコード盤。
前作『ネヴァーマインド』のメジャー大成功を受け、バンドの意向によりアンダーグラウンドへの回帰をテーマに制作された作品。

Nirvana probably hired Steve Albini to produce In Utero with the hopes of creating their own Surfer Rosa, or at least shoring up their indie cred after becoming a pop phenomenon with a glossy punk record. In Utero, of course, turned out to be their last record, and its hard not to hear it as Kurt Cobains suicide note, since Albinis stark, uncompromising sound provides the perfect setting for Cobains bleak, even nihilistic, lyrics. Even if the album wasnt a literal suicide note, it was certainly a conscious attempt to shed their audience -- an attempt that worked, by the way, since the record had lost its momentum when Cobain died in the spring of 1994. Even though the band tempered some of Albinis extreme tactics in a remix, the record remains a deliberately alienating experience, front-loaded with many of its strongest songs, then descending into a series of brief, dissonant squalls before concluding with "All Apologies," which only gets sadder with each passing year. Throughout it all, Cobains songwriting is typically haunting, and its best moments rank among his finest work, but the over-amped dynamicism of the recording seems like a way to camouflage his dispiritedness -- as does the fact that he consigned such great songs as "Verse Chorus Verse" and "I Hate Myself and Want to Die" to compilations, when they would have fit, even illuminated the themes of In Utero. Even without those songs, In Utero remains a shattering listen, whether its viewed as Cobains farewell letter or self-styled audience alienation. Few other records are as willfully difficult as this. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine