Assuming that most of black metal’s contingent of elite bands come from Norway, it’s quite pleasing that INSENSE employ their metal mantra with such aplomb. From the power of late period Max-era SEPULTURA to the jackhammer rhythms of MESHUGGAH (possible hints of CANDIRIA as well) this lil’ four man army is making quite a bit of headway in the DMD camp. Some of the dense layers of dissonance bring to mind KILLING JOKE and there is a similarity to FEAR FACTORY’s robot-like relentlessness. I have never been a big FEAR FACTORY fan. That said, their influence on this CD is very prevalent and it work’s to INSENSE’s advantage.

“Helplessness” get’s things fired up in spite of a needless keyboard intro.“Making for Lost Time” gets the old school speed metal on through the death metal blast beats into trippy metal psychedelia. The songs ends with a nice wall of death and then “I, Deviant” starts off with aforementioned KILLING JOKE dissonance. The second half of the song features melodic vocals which don’t sound forced or stupid like the typical garden variety screamo act A or B. It ends with another wall of death with some added feedback. We are in for long night, kiddos. These guys want us to feel their pain and it is non-stop relentless ouch! And…it’s beautiful. “Gasping for Air” switches gears and actually contains more uplifting modes and motifs than anything else prior. It’s ending is very abrupt and opposes the two previous ways of ending a tune.

A couple more finely crafted songs, a killer title track and the SEPULTURA sound comes “Clawing at the Nerve” which makes my spine tingle with an intensity that concludes with no-wave noise guitars. Nice. Real nice. “Soothing Torture,” concludes with "A Prayer for the Feeble" and “Fallout” which contains some of the more aforementioned melodic vocals that actually work for the composition. The vocals are not just there to say “look at this guy, he can also sing instead of just yelling all the time”. More noisy feedback at the end. Remember, kiddies, feedback is your friend and will never let you down. Ever! A great ending to a great record by a great group.

- Herring

OFFICIAL SITE:www.insensehq.com

MP3 SOUND SCRAP: Gasping For Air

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