Renaissance for Insect Inside.
After keeping a low profile for a few years, the Russian band led by Daniel Sementsov (drums, Nauseating, ex-Traumatomy…), Bogdan Pisavnin (bass, Cold Blooded Murder, ex-Traumatomy), Ivan Tyulkin (vocals, Nauseating) and Pavel Pleshkov (guitar) is back with its second album, Reborn in Blight.
After a long sample, Echos of the Swallowed Sinners offers us a dissonant but heavy rhythm, where the screams finally appear, reinforcing the brutality of the song before welcoming Angel Ochoa (Abominable Putridity, Disgorge, Cephalotripsy, ex-Condemned…) on Abhorrent Landscape, a song just as thick and delicate as the previous one. We find the power inherent in Brutal Death Metal in the mosh parts, but with an appreciable touch of technicality in certain sections, as on Fragments, which follows suit and strikes at full speed. There is sometimes a prog approach, notably due to the (fretless?) bass, then Putrid Lament once again recalls the weight of Death Metal with well-placed accelerations and animalistic vocals, before inviting Josh Welshman (Defeated Sanity) to join them for Hiveborn Abomination. The track hits us like a veritable monolith of violence and guttural vocals, especially with the two monsters on vocals, and Flesh Cathedral seems to follow the same path while allowing itself some more breathable parts, but conversely brings in some sub-bass before letting us catch our breath on Obscuration Worship, a fairly short composition that serves as a dissonant and jerky interlude. Once this moment of respite is over, Carnal Ruins puts us back on the path of heavy violence with waves that are more or less virulent but all solid in their own way, then in the company of Len O’Donnell (Vinnytsia Fatalities, ex-$lutrot, ex-Decimated Humans, ex-Pestilectomy…) on Parasite Messiah, the next track, which will be one of the most vocally diverse, fitting perfectly with all phases of the riffs. Once this apocalypse is over, Reborn in Blight brings the album to an ultra-violent close, easily exceeding five minutes during which the band assaults us, blasts us, and places its chopped-up riffs at a good pace, finally transforming into a sweet little outro.
Insect Inside knows a thing or two about violence, and the band is back to show us on Reborn in Blight, an album that is quite complex to grasp between Brutal Death and Prog touches, but which has its devastating moments just the way we like them.
85/100