Insect Inside - The First Shining of New Genus (2021; Gore House Productions)

Insect Inside is not technically a new band, but listening to the few released singles from this album a couple weeks ago before it dropped had me looking into them in order to do research for this review. Evidently, they put out a one-song demo back in 2017 and, listening to it compared to this debut, it's clear they've come quite a long way. The First Shining of New Genus is a pretty excellent first official effort by this trio of Russian slamophiles.

The album begins with a sample and atmosphere that will sound familiar to anyone who has heard the aforementioned first demo of this band, as it is the same "tortured dude screaming" sample from the end of that track. It's evocative enough, but it's obviously not until "Sickening Ground" when the true feast begins; this album wastes no time announcing its intentions with an overture of darkly-melodic chords that quickly deviate to a very satisfying groovy slam section that feels predatory and engaging. The first thing that stands out to me here is the fantastic production, which details some surprisingly-excellent bass playing and which highlights each slam with a foundational clarity that I really appreciate. Some thuggish slams and punctuated ride cymbal usage begin "Posthumous Grief," a track featuring some contributed vocals by Kevin Muller (ex-Pyrexia, currently in The Merciless Concept) that feel like they elevate this to an early album highlight. This is also the longest track, and it contains a serpentine, winding structure that even features somewhat of a "slamdown" section that is tastefully put into play.

I really enjoy the combination of clever grooves, slightly-deviated slam phrasings, and tasteful time-signature switches this band plays with on this album. Seems like Insect Inside's greatest strengths lie in their ability to switch from "tech slam" to a very lowbrow, Soils of Fate-esque primal sound at the drop of a hat. Almost every track has some form of fun breakdown or blast-slam-to-catchy-riff transition, which leads to the album having pretty-high replayability. The title track, for example, has a very straightforward, charging section of chunky riffs right in the middle that dexterously oscillate between being underscored by blastbeats and being driven by quick fills and normative grooves. This is one of those albums that brings in a lot of different ideas in each track and never really focuses too heavily on any one idea for too long. Sometimes, albums that focus on tons of individual ideas don't really come across as cohesive, but The First Shining of New Genus succeeds where many have failed because the glue that holds it together is very strong songwriting in spite of these quick changes in direction.

Vocals here are not fantastic, though, I will say, and I think one of my only misgivings here lie in how plain and unenthusiastic the vocalist's performance is. Most of what he does is quite monotonous, though every now and then, he'll descend to an extremely-guttural gurgle that I think does at least something to bring a bit of variation into the picture. That said, the vocals, even during the lower sections, sound very dry and almost cut into the slams in a way that feels a bit unfortunate. A touch of reverb or some equalization to get them integrated into the mix more would probably be a good call, but I realize this is probably nit-picking.

The second track with guest vocals is also superb, and it features Kirill of Disfigurement of Flesh (who share a drummer with this band... said drummer was also the founder of Insect Inside, just for the record) with some very solid vociferations. The breakdown at about 2:41 is one of my favorite slams in recent memory, so that definitely counts for something, and the next few tracks keep up a very high level of quality and seem to highlight the bass playing to a greater extent than the first half or so. It was a pleasure to hear Roman (of Abnormity fame) provide some solid vocals to the final track, as well. Man, Abnormity kicked ass; they're probably never coming back but bands like this are doing some killer work in their stead when it comes to Russian slam. I look forward to following the future of Insect Inside, and I'm glad Gore House Productions put this out... as I mentioned in the Infected Humans review from last week, this label seems like one to continuously watch out for, as they seem to have a good eye for upcoming talent. This is where I sign off and continue to listen to this solid-as-fuck disc on repeat... see ya next time, devotees!

Relevant Links:
Insect Inside - The First Shining of New Genus (official direct Bandcamp link)
Gore House Productions (official website)

Infected Humans - Unexpected Traumatic Experiences (2021; Gore House Productions)

Howdy all. As I get back into the swing of writing reviews of brutal death metal, I figured it'd be a good exercise to go in blind to an album, namely this one: Unexpected Traumatic Experiences, a 9 song (plus into and outro) release by a new Ecuadorian band called Infected Humans. This dropped on Gore House Productions just about a month ago, so it's some rather-freshly-served brutality to punish your eardrums with. The label in question here released one of the best slam albums in quite a while in 2020, Glam Not Slam by Engutturalment Cephaloslamectomy, so I'm hoping this at least marches to a similar beat, though even if it does, it'll certainly do so in a less humorous and parodical way. One more thing about Gore House before we start: they are due to release the new Insect Inside album next Friday, and the few singles that have come out have been great. I'll link to one of those below in the Relevant Links section, but for now: onwards to the write-up!

I think Encystment is the only other Ecuadorian slam I know of (but Logan might prove me wrong: his memory of this stuff is sadly better than mine these days; just gonna blame alcohol), and their album out last year on NSE was decent enough shit, but this seems right off the bat to be a very different beast, at least after the intro provides a bit of a creepy atmosphere. The riffing in the first song, "Killing Perservately Depressed," is surprisingly deft and catchy with some suppurating melodies and unusually-haunting ringing chords providing some interest to the writing. The snare is loud, resonant, and pingy, of course, but it also has a weirdly deep tone to it that feels distracting, especially because the riffs are darkly-atmospheric and honestly quite cool.

I wish the guitar tone were a little beefier here, because some of what's happening is truly interesting and almost "epic," but it just feels like it's missing a little something to make it great. I will also say that the vocals are definitely on the mediocre side of things a lot of the time, and the lack of cadence/how amorphous they feel is disappointing. At times, it almost sounds like the guitarist belongs in a different band entirely, which is something I've noticed in some other South American (particularly Colombian) brutal death metal bands, but there are definitely also times where this comes together pretty damn well. Take 1:54 of "Bloodthirsty Sacrifice," which has a killer straightforward riff and groovy drum pattern that sticks around in your head for a bit. It's one of those sections you wish the band would develop and build on, but of course, they charge right into another track.

Luckily, the track they stumble onto is one of the better ones, "Calcining Human Flesh," and that is due in no small part to a smart, groovy intro section and an abundance of blast-slams, which are a great invention that I wish more bands would utilize. Again, however, the vocals are just not good or well-mixed, and even the guest vocal spots feel poorly handled in one capacity or another. As an aside, I'm glad the sample usage here is on the minimal end of things, but most of the time I really would just prefer that bands dispensed with sample-usage at all (other than for atmospheric purposes and only if it actually feels necessary to establish the mood of the album). Anyway, a few more tracks go by, full of well-written and cool riffs that feel generally unsupported by the rhythm section and poor vocals, until we hit the penultimate track, "Chaotic Biological Organization," which sounds totally different from the rest of the album for some reason. It's mixed differently, has weirdly-good (and quite loud) contrapuntal bass playing, and features a more groovy mood to it that I find intriguing, if unusual and "off" somehow. It's also a bit more technical by turns, with some time-signature changes and stop-on-a-dime sections that I would've liked to have heard more of peppered throughout the album. Not really sure what's going on here, but whatever. There's even a part that reminds me of The Dillinger Escape Plan or some other mathcore at about 2:35, so that's weird.

Overall, this is a fine album, but not one that is mind-blowing or spectacular. It has its strengths and its weaknesses, its moments and its misgivings. It's one of those records that I'm not sure I would particularly recommend, but it also doesn't feel like one I would tell people to avoid. Give it a shot, though, and maybe you'll dig it. Gore House Productions seems like a good label to support, and it makes me happy to see smaller slam labels start developing solid rosters. Also, definitely keep an eye on this blog for a review of the aforementioned Insect Inside once it drops next week. Until next time, stay sick and brutal!

Relevant Links:
Infected Humans - Unexpected Traumatic Experiences (official direct Bandcamp link)
Gore House Productions (official website)