Insision
Revealed and Worshipped
8.6
Formed in 1997, after a lot of lineup changes, this Swedish death metal band has earned quite a bit of hype through their last release, Beneath the Folds of Flesh. Still being signed with Wicked World I'm sure has done nothing but to increase that attention - and rightfully so, as Insision really do a fine job of composing brutal and intelligent death metal without appearing wanky.
Complete with ultra-low guttural vocals and screeching high background growls, Insision play jumpy, groovy, and technically. Compared to the likes of Malevolent Creation, Morbid Angel, and even some of the groovier DM bands like Dying Fetus, they're certainly more focused on the more American side of things. Really though, with so many comparisons being tossed around, none of them give you a good idea of how Insision sounds. Dizzying guitarwork leading to solid head-bobbing passages; artificial harmonics, pick scrapes, arpeggios...it's all very inventive guitarwork. I'm confident that even people who aren't fans of death metal would at least take notice of the creativity in the songwriting.
Insision have the ability to spontaneously change their sound completely, as evidence on the track "The Unrest", which begins exactly like your standard Slayer-influenced Swedish thrash song and continues along in a more death metal path. Throughout most of Revealed and Worshipped, this ability helps solidify any assumptions you might have about the talent of Insision, however, the continual changes from song to song may turn off a few people. That aside, it should be noted that no matter how they're playing, they're always playing extremely well.
Everything sounds fucking great, as it should, being produced by Mieszko Talarczyk (Nasum). The man's made a reputation for himself more recently through his great work on the soundboards. He's made the drumming stand out quite a bit and I would've liked to have heard the bass stand out a little more, but really, it sounds excellent. Unfortunately, someone made a bold move in making the title track sort of a moody piece with some sort of sample running. It just gives the overall impression of the album a slight shift towards ridiculousness, especially when the processed vocals enter abruptly on "The Cleansing". It's all in good fun, regardless.
I'd really encourage any musicians out there to seek out Insision, as they display an amount of variety that I wish more people would strive for. Although I'm sure they could be compared to plenty of bands I haven't mentioned, I feel that Insision truly strive to play within their own realm of technical death metal and they succeed quite well at that.
