Witching Metal Webzine

Witching Metal Webzine

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Insinnerator- Stalagmite of Ice




Insinnerator are a lil’ ol’ three-piece thrash band from Texas.  They’ve finally released their debut album, having released only EPs and demos previously, and DAMN, it’s an ass-kicker!

The first track just cuts right in. There’s no fancy-shmancy introduction music, it just goes off with a riff that socks you right in the jaw and spits on you as you go down. There are riffs abound, very tasty riffs I might add. I think the riffs really make this album; they leave you shitting your insides out like your mother’s chili. Gary Holt and Kerry King would wet themselves in jealousy. Lots of good circle-pitting riffs and plenty of ones to go nutty and mosh your brains out with.

 There are quite a few  Araya-screams, although at times they’re grating to the ears, like in “Rites of Execution”, and others they fit in perfectly such as “Face the Insinnerator”. The vocals at times are usually speed talking garbles of words with a slight sneer; it’s a lot cleaner than what you could expect as they aren’t very gruff. Think Hetfield meets Baloff.

The tracks flow very smoothly one after another, probably to keep your attention as they pummel you through your speakers. It’s pretty much an album of thrash metal blitzkrieg. There is a 7 minute track, but the music has the dynamics to keep your attention. Musicianship seems to be emphasized on this record. However, it’s not to the point of being a proggy-egghead band, but they really know how to construct a well-written tune. I haven’t heard such well composed tunes from a thrash band in a long time. Besides the great riffs, the solos are tasteful and aren’t rope-pissing guitar wank fests. The drummer keeps in the pocket while adding fills to spice up the song, with very little jackhammer blast-beats, too.

Overall, this is one solid debut. If the riffs don’t start making your neck moving and groovin’ then you might as well be dead. It’s not for those that are brand-new to thrash as the vocals wouldn’t be appealing to fresh ears. Whilst they didn’t set any new standards in thrash, nor do I think they were aiming to, it certainly is just good, “classic” thrash metal. They don’t rehash anything or sing about pizza, beer, and bongs. I would definitely say these guys stand apart from the rest of the New Wave of Thrash; if they can keep it together they can easily become the cream of the crop in a few years. If a zombie apocalypse were to commence soon, I would definitely recommend you to pop this in your music player and get crackin’!
4/5

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