Insane Harmony

This act was run parallel to the one-demo-wonder Dark Fate, but the latter’s career was wrapped on as the guys wanted to give themselves more chances as Cruor. And that was probably for the better since the album reviewed here is one of the more interesting recordings to ever come out of the big country. The guys were one of the latecomers on the field alongside other visionary outfits like Butcher, Strangulation, Acid Storm, etc., and their single-song (guess the title) demo captured the thrash/death metal hybrid in all its inspired naïve rough charm albeit in just under 6-min. The band bashed out all their frustrations with it ready to look at the more ambitious, more complex side of the genre…

Four years later they were ready with the full-length here which saw them having grown considerably as musicians. The style is multi-layered old school progressive thrash which goes through several nuances and influences the final result resembling Flotsam & Jetsam’s “When the Storm Comes Down”, but done in a much more coherent and a more convincing manner, with tighter control over the diversification escapades. The title-track starts marching with carefully arraigned bouncy riffs and interesting soaring melodies this blend sped up later, but often interrupted by quirky, outlandish pirouettes the final result quite mesmerizing, the psychedelic 70’s-sounding leads another major asset. The singer tries his best to assist his comrades any which way he can although it quickly becomes clear that his rough, semi-declamatory tirades can’t be any more than the requisite appendage to the superior music. “Travelling Through the Mind” unleashes a cavalcade of brilliant virtuoso leads, but what follows is a minimalistic, less flashy albeit still quite effective delivery with a pounding rhythm-section and covert power metal nuances.

“Mortal Reality” is the actual saga here, an 8.5-min odyssey which is heavy on atmosphere and balladic/semi-balladic escapades, but there’s some impetuous progressive thrashing present as well alongside arresting gallops and dark sinister undercurrents the latter making a fuller use of the subdued brooding vocals. “Game of Words” thrashes in a morose, pessimistic fashion recalling the Brits Deathwish although the riff applications are more here the lead guitar player making a really fine showing towards the end. “Banditry” accentuates on the melody at first, the galloping histrionics placing it squarely within the power/speed metal confines where this carefree number stays till the end with the bass guitarist making himself heard with several steady reverberations. The latter is in his nature once again on “Slow Death Machine”, a really nice combination of hard-hitting thrash and interesting technical decisions, with a few gorgeous melodic tunes also provided to ensure the lasting appeal of this masterpiece. “Seca”, the number from the demo, serves the epitaph in the form of one charming ball of less bridled fury, a death/thrashing cannonade without too many stylish ados.

Several short, 1-2.5min, pieces are scattered around dissipating the serious mood with a more uplifting, crossover-ish approach, those frivolous dashes also adding more unusual flair to this less ordinary recording the guys using a wide palette to construct their vistas which may not be very easy to grasp at first, even at second listen. The diversity never gets out of hand, and the band never lose their lofty visions from sight also looking at the purer progressive metal fanbase that should find quite a bit to savour here. There isn’t any eccentric, weird experimentation at play anywhere, everything develops along well established canons which makes this album even more compelling also having in mind its (un)timely appearance, right at the peak of the groovy/aggro/post-thrashy craze.

Efforts like this were “doomed” to remain without a sequel thus certifying their cult, and probably their obscure as well, status. It’s good that at least this outfit didn’t sink without a trace; the guys have voted to give themselves another go in the new millennium, and the first “fruit” from this decision is the “Unburied” EP, a lively 4-tracker composed along the old school regulations, but without too much complexity, just straight-forward intense thrash. Regardless, it can still be viewed a sure-handed new entry into a career that surely hasn’t reached its zenith yet from both a harmonic and a disharmonic point-of-view…