Beyond Insanity - Beyond Insanity

Beyond Insanity are five guys hailing from France with a fascination with one Mr Ed Gein.  Their music is apparently a reflection of Gein's life following the death of his mother as in when it all started to go wrong. Ths subject matter certainly adds to the atmosphere created by the music even if the is not completely convincing in its execution.

The music is equal parts technical and more simplistic modern/groove laden metal with some killer musicianship it has to be said - standing out is the drumming and lead guitar. Lead guitarist David peels off some super slick soloing here and drummer Jeremy displays some pretty nice poly-rhythmic drumming in parts.

The vocals for the most part are strong with some nice growls - not super guttural death but nice all the same. The only downside I can see is some of the staccato guitar work preferred on occasion when combined with some of the more clean/spoken vocals leave a slight nu-metal feel which is not to my personal taste.

That said, the positives do outweigh the negatives here. If I had to name some influences here it would be Meshuggah or fellow countrymen Hacride.

However, this is a strong release, I can see the Slipknot fans of this world and some newer fans who need a helping hand to find fellow Frenchmen Outcast or the previously mentioned Hacride lapping it up. Bear in mind this is the bands first release and these guys are a band to watch for the future.