Change to Insane

This outfit should be better known as they were one of the few who tried to keep the US power metal sound alive during the transformational 90’s. Some of those (Steel Prophet, New Eden) managed to rise above ground and leave a more lasting trace whereas others like Visitor, Steel Angel, Power, Oracle, Siren and the band under scrutiny here remained a part of the underground resistance. In the case here at least we have a band who went beyond the one-album-wonder phenomenon with a couple of other official releases in the new millennium.

The delivery on the album reviewed here is retro power/thrash akin to Meliah Rage and Laaz Rockit’s “Know Your Enemy” with a more aggressive thrashier flavour. “Cease to Exist” is probably the best example of the guys’ style with the crunchy dynamic riffs and the frequent up-tempo excursions, the vocals another asset holding to a steady mid-ranged clean baritone reminiscent of the one of James Hetfield and Rick Astley (Xentrix). “Inevitable Death” is angrier, but also slower the heavy guitars letting a couple of nice melodic tunes slip through; it also establishes the dominant tone which never slips into monotony thanks to interesting deviations like the cool balladic overtones on the title-track, or the urgent speedy crescendos on “Deadly Hypnosis”. “Invisible Force” recalls Xentrix with the intense semi-galloping rhythms, but “Into the Fog” sticks to volcanic rhythms with a hefty doomy vibe. More energetic thrashing with the more relaxed crossover-ish “Mortuary Delight” and the more serious quasi-progressive shredder “Circle in the Field” before “Death Con5” wraps it on with consistent mid-paced reverberations, a supreme spell-binding lead section, and an abrupt speedy epitaph.

A nice reminder of the glory days of the 80’s scene again alongside other similar defiers that tried to re-write the laws of musical gravity in the midst of the 90’s. Defiant they fall, as they say, but our friends here survived, and even found the time to produce an EP and another full-length. Unfortunately, those two remain very sought-out items on the metal fan’s list… I want to believe that they kept the old school flame burning and had merged with the representatives of its resurrection wave in the 00’s; if nothing else, it seems like the more logical, and definitely less insane proposition.