Four years after their debut full length Spiritual Rebirth, France’s Insain return with Enlightening The Unknown, an EP / MCD that was produced at the Italian 16th Cellar Studio (mainly known for recordings by Italian acts like Nefertum, Eyeconoclast, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Theatres Des Vampires or Hour Of Penance). The seven titles last for twenty five minutes and feature guest performances on two songs by Daniel Neagoe, whom you might know from, for example, Eye Of Solitude (also on Kaotoxin), Colosus (Kaotoxin…), Unfathomable Ruination, Deos, Fogland etc. The material is more than one year of age, but for some unknown reason, the release took until now… …does not matter, because ‘beter laat dan nooit’ still counts…
Enlightening The Unknown brings a very brutal and high-speed form of rather traditional Grinding Death Metal. It is an amalgam of blasting eruptions, fierce leads, terrorising rhythms and merciless distortion. The record is an intense experience that requires courage and bravery to hold on to the end. Especially the permanently hyper-sonic tempo and the massive sound are hard to digest, but so are the vocals, rhythms section and leads too. Indeed, this is no stuff for the average softie, but it will be appreciated by the masochistic eardrum-molestor. What I do appreciate is the addition of some intelligently composed melodies or the few necessary decelerations. The better part, nevertheless, is based on merciless brutality, sonic aggression, neurotic disorder and mental terror.
Sad news to end with: the band did split up a couple of minutes (weeks) ago. No tears, however, because we can still enjoy this EP for another time…