Insain - Enlightening The Unknown

Brutal, fast, accurate and... monstrous! These are the first words that hit me when I first heard this EP from those French beasts (whose presence I must admit I was unaware of). Insain is a brutal death metal band from Paris, and it reeks death since 2007. They are a band of a full length and a demo, and "Enlightening The Unknown" is their release for 2014! The way their extremity is expressed is through brutal death metal. Influenced by bands as Nile, Hate Eternal and Cannibal Corpse, it is getting obvious that speed is one of their qualities in the sound they choose to play!

This EP of theirs consists of 7 songs of pure wrath and brutality. Well, 6 if you take out the intro. The whole band's style varies from hyper blasted death metal to blasted death metal with some groovy interleaves here and there adding some variety to the entire outcome! The main core here, are the swirling riffs upon which the whole performance is based! Mostly aggressive, mixed with lead themes that blend in this chaos of ferocity perfectly. The drumming is simply relentless. Insane blasting in hyper speed, combined with medleys of 4/4 kick triplets, and sometimes thrashing it out, but all when needed. This, along with the precision of the bass guitar creates a kick unmatched regarding the rhythm section. The ideal rhythm section to join the guitar riff madness making the balance of lead themes versus brutality more even to the listener! The vocals are something like a duel between extreme death metal growls and high pitch shrieks, and sometimes a blend of both!

Now this is strictly a matter of taste, and the truth is that I am not very fond of excessive use of shrieks in death metal, but the music here is so decent, that the almost equal dose of shrieks versus growls didn't bother me at all! To those who like the shriek specimen, just ignore my last comment. The whole release is tied together by a very decent production. A bit shinny but when a band is playing in such high speed, you can't mud it up a lot cos it will all end up sounding blurry. So, 25 minutes of French extremity is what Insain have to offer for 2014 through Kaotoxin Records, and the whole package is really attractive. Really promising material and definitely waiting for their next full!

  1. Abyssum Invocatis
  2. Absorbing The Masse
  3. The Faceless One
  4. Beyond The Stellar Remnants
  5. The Scourge
  6. Enlightening The Unknown
  7. Apex