Insurrection: Catatonic

Featuring ex-members of Enraged, Corda and Crushing Jackhammer, Dutch outfit Insurrection arrive with their debut mini-album some five years after their inception. From the band name and the fact you have to squint your eyes as you stand on one leg to actually decipher the name on the cover of Catatonic, you know this lot are operating in the extreme end of the market. And so it proves, with a clear melodic bent rubbing shoulders with a thrashy outlook and the expected melodic death blueprint. They do it well, Pieter Oevering covering some serious vocal ground through a variety of attacks, adding a real sense of bite as he does; all the while punishing his bass as guitarists Marten Hutten and Armand Venema lay out a damaging barrage of riffage. Often overlooked as speed freak pummelers in this genre, the contribution from drummer Douwe Talma can't be ignored, for much though we are consistently operating at warp factor silly for most of the six tracks, Douwe brings a real sense of character and identity to proceedings.

Oddly, the main weakness on Catatonic is that the production and mix are maybe a smidge too clean for this style, robbing "Apotheosis" and "Armageddon" of the threat and danger you can sense in Oevering's full on vocals and the rapid rushes of guitars. The impression given of early Helloween doing extreme metal as unwelcome as it is preposterous. However that's not a reflection on the performances, or the material, as you sense Insurrection hoped to achieve so much more with what they've crafted than their first offering really provides. I'm not suggesting this lot need a fuzzed up cotton-wooled sound of muffledom to thrive, but something dirtier and less friendly would have done the trick.

However there's still a lot to engage and interact with on Catatonic and live I'm betting these lads sound a lot closer to their desired aim. As a first outing there's much to recommend here and while Catatonic won't find Insurrection changing the world, it does suggest they'll have a lot to say that's worth hearing as they grow and mature.

Track Listing
1. Armageddon
2. Catatonic
3. Exile
4. Conspiracy
5. Apotheosis
6. Moribund

Added: June 14th 2015
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Insurrection on Facebook
Hits: 2073
Language: english

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