In Utero

NIRVANA "In Utero" (Geffen)

What exactly is it that Nirvana have got that has made them so incredibly fucking massive? They're a good group, an above average group, in the average Nineties. But Nirvana come in one or two colours. Good colours, sure, but when the riff has been played the music remains the same. It's the same cycle, the same good idea repeated over and over again.

The riff-intro to 'Rape Me' - a dodgy title in my opinion - is almost identical to the intro to 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'. In the same vein, 'Dumb', in both its melody, vocal line and lyrical content - "I think I'm dumb/Or maybe just happy/Think I'm just happy." - is practically a twin of 'Lithium' "I'm so happy 'cause today I found my friends/They're in my head/I'm so ugly but that's okay/'Cause so are you." Add to this the same idea of leaving a "silence" of about twenty minutes during the last song on the CD, so that those of us who forget that the CD is still running, get a rude shock -it's a clever idea, but it had been done already at the end of Nevermind. Then there's the art work on the inside sleeve - Cobain splayed on the floor - which is very similar to the inside sleeve artwork for Bleach, which had Cobain splayed on the drum kit.

I sense that perhaps the motive for all these repeats is that Nirvana want to inform the world that all that money hasn't gone to their heads; that they're still the good old hardcore Nirvana. Which they are. But while I admire the ardent no-sell-out stance, I would have been much more impressed with new hardcore ideas, and some sort of artistic advance.

How such fundamentally abrasive, uncompromising, raw and risky music has achieved such popularity is a beautiful mystery nonetheless.

Indeed, In Utero continues the full metal jacket hardcore assault. Cobain remains a courageous and wild spirit - more than willing to bite hands - as on the first lines of 'Serve The Servants', which opens the album: "Teenage angst has paid off well/Now I'm old and bored."

Songs with titles like 'Rape Me', should by any logical criteria, be anything but what another song title suggests - a 'Radio Friendly Unit Shifter'. We're talking about more than heavy metal irony here, we're talking about a group still willing to take risks.

But taking risks is not enough. Ultimately, it's what you are taking risks for that counts. Dylan risked the wrath of the acoustic dodos by going electric. But the risk brought forth Blonde On Blonde. Lou Reed didn't risk so much as deliberately commit commercial suicide with Metal Machine Music. But that gave him the space to make Street Hassle.

In a way, In Utero is a type of Metal Machine Music in that it is an assault on the industry's expectations, as well as those of the press and the fans. It pisses and sneers at everybody who might feel they have a share in it. On songs like 'All Apologies', 'Radio Friendly Unit Shifter', and 'Pennyroyal Tea', Cobain addresses again the central theme of the album. Which is success, and the price that success demands of the mega star - little or no privacy.

Cobain is brave and Lou Reed was even braver. But let's face it, although Metal Machine Music was an extraordinary statement of artistic freedom, it is an absolute pain in the arse to listen to. There is much on In Utero, which I find a pain in the arse too - 'Milk It', 'Tourette's', 'Scentless Apprentice'.

The lyrics - no matter what Cobain states on 'Serve The Servants' - are often not much more than teenage-style angst rants. Although 'Dumb' is a decent song, lines like, "My heart is broke/But I have some glue", are decidedly lame. 'All Apologies' has another irrestible melody, but how do you rate a chorus that goes, "In the sun/In the sun I feel as one/In the sun/In the sun/I'm married/Buried"?

These are good tracks, despite their lyrical deficiencies. 'Radio Friendly Unit Shifter' - the stand-out track - 'Heart-Shaped Box' and 'Pennyroyal Tea' are even better. And on balance, In Utero is a good to very good album. Nirvana are still taking no prisoners.

I suppose in 1993, that's something to celebrate.

• Gerry McGovern