Having been around since 2000, and with 6 albums under their belt already, Warsaw Poland’s Antigama continue to be one of the most underrated yet productive bands in Grindcore. and album number 7 shows no signs of the band letting up.
The Insolent starts off with the very aggressive “Reward or Punishment”. If one could picture a mix of Rotten Sound, Nasum and Misery Index, Antigama might very well be it. There is even a touch of some jazzy elements in the guitar arrangements. The overall intensity of “Reward or Punishment” sets the listener off for a face pummeling thirty plus minute buffet of spastic energy.
“Foul Play”, the second track has some really well layered guitar parts building into some very straight ahead bomb blast grind core. It is interesting that the song length of the album seems to vary quite a bit yet the flow from song to song holds my attention fairly easily.
Being this is Antigama’s 7th album I was in no way surprised to see that this band used to be on Relapse Records. Antigama definitely have the feel of a Relapse band. Very well arranged grind core. It should also be noted that this album was mastered by Scott Hull (Pig Destroyer, Agoraphobic Nosebleed).
I think “Randomize The Algorithm” is my favorite track on the album. I still am a sucker for song intros. “Some people loose their faith because heaven shows them to little but how many people loose their faith because Heaven shows them too much?” I also am a sucker for Christopher Walken movies. The Prophecy anyone?
The title track “The Insolent” features a nifty drum intro transitioning into more over the top grind cacophony. “The Out Beyond” is probably the one song on this record that seems out of place. It might because for twenty minutes you are listening to an aggressive grind record and then all of sudden there a synthesizer instrumental track with Neurosis-ish tom work drum fills. Seems kind of odd but actually transition well into the end of the album.
The last track, “The Land of Monotony” is the longest song on the record and almost has a Melvins feel to it. This very well could be one of the heaviest song on the record as the song starts with clock chimes the one slowly builds into a different type of break at around the three-minute mark. The clock chimes come back underneath a very droning riff make for a rather unique effect.
Some might be of the opinion that a Grindcore record should end with the most intense material and while “The Land of Monotony” might not be the most intense in terms of speed it is a very catchy album ender that wraps up a very well played thirty minutes of grind.
In closing though this is a very well played grind record that fans of Rotten Sound, Nasum, or Misery Index would be sure to enjoy. The overall intensity to The Insolent is relentless. Antigama is a veteran grind core unit that has a very clear idea as to what type of riff structures work well for their style of grind.
[Visit the band's website]
Find more articles with 2015, Antigama, Nick K, Review, Selfmadegod Records
Comments
Leave a Reply
Killer write-up Nick. I had this in eyed up for my last batch but you beat me to it, that’s not a dig. Your review says it better than I could have.
These guys have really hit a stride with the last couple of albums. I liked their older stuff, but it never really blew me away or inspired a lot of repeated listening. “Resonance” through “Meteor” finally struck a bigger chord with me.
on Jun 17th, 2015 at 21:15