Band : We Insist!
Album Title : The Babel Inside Was Terrible
Label : Exile On Mainstream
Distributor : Southern Records
Release Date : October 2009
Review : CD

Two years after they met, six musicians coming from radically different universes released an EP under the name of We Insist!, an obvious reference to Freedom now suite, Max Roach’s manifest. Four albums, hundreds of concerts and ten years later, We Insist! have created a style of their own. Their fifth latest album, is released through Exile On Mainstream. (Volt, Beehoover, Ostinato, Enablers,…)

French rock outfit We Insist’s eleven-track endeavor sometimes is a clever interpretation of the early 90s NYC underground scene, as tracks like "Deja-vu",”Biting tongues”, “Our countries” and "Custom device” suggest a love of all things Helmet, Cop Shoot Cop, Sonic Youth, Foetus and Jesus Lizard. Abrasive yet tuneful, with a hint of the frantic punk of Dead Kennedys, The Babel Inside Was Terrible repeatedly delivers highlight-worthy punches to the head with its lethal cocktail of Dillinger Escape Plan, Tomahawk, Zu, Dÿse, and dischord rock that makes it not too accessible at first. “In a maze” has a rather relaxed atmosphere, but the drums sound very playful, reminding me at times of Fugazi. “Cogent stories” combines their angular sound with a Primus-rhythm, achieving something like a commercial charm.

The Babel Inside Was Terrible is enough to make me hunt down some of We Insist’s previous works, and I very much look forward to their next full-length.

88/100

Cosmicmasseur.