I’ve mentioned it a hundred times before, but Belgium was quite an impressive yet hugely underestimated country during the glorious days of Old. The U.S.A. and Sweden, as well as Brazil, the Netherlands, Germany and Poland, that were some of the protagonists, but back then countries like Greece, Spain and Belgium were at least as impressive, at least when talking about quality (the quantity, that’s another story). Morbid Death, Exoto, Hellsaw, Spithead, Ancient Rites, Dreft, Chemical Breath, Cyclone, Agathocles, Suhrim, Deadly Intentions, and I can go on for quite a while, weren’t but a handful of sweet Belgian combos that tried to conquer the world – some did succeed, others seemed to fade away in eternal un-peace…
One of the bands that did surely succeed to impress me time after time is Limburg-based band Insanity Reigns Supreme, formed at the end of the eighties. I still remember being pretty enthusiastic about their first, untitled demo (on tape back then), but that wasn’t but the start of a slowly marching forward history with nothing but highlights. Slowly marching, because this band isn’t exactly known for its numerous releases; but once again, when quality prevails on quantity, one cannot but honor such attitude, is it not.
So, to keep it short: a couple of demos (compiled on CD in 1999) and three full length studio releases, spawn onto Mater Terra in 1998, 2003 and 2009. And now, five and a half year after the band’s debut for Shiver Records (another Belgian institute one might define as ‘Kult’ for the worldwide Extreme Metal scene!), the quintet, the Insane Cult Of Doom, return with full length # 4 (the compilation not included). And it’s no secret that I like doomy stuff, but this band’s evolution into the faster corners of the Doom Worlds deserved and still deserves my eternal respect.
First a word about the artwork – but you’ll probably recognize the characterizing work: Seth Siro Anton. You like it or you do not, but let’s admit that this guy is one of the most important visual artists within the scene. I think he did one of his best jobs with Unorthodox.
Then the sound: done once again by no one else but studio wizard Andy Classen at the über-famous Stage One Studio. Result: a sound that hits like a fist in the scarred face of (their) god(s). One might expect a somewhat over-produced finalization, but there is no clinically sterile sound whatsoever. And that’s a good thing, for it does empower the execution of this experienced combo for sure! All right, Mister Classen is not such a guy that tries to create radio-hit material, but this time he shows his most unpolished side, and I cannot but hail, hail, hail this approach.
Unorthodox starts with The Conjuring, an intro that lasts for a couple of seconds and therefor maybe way too short to give it a title, but it surely impresses, and it surely offers a perfect step into this band’s greatness. And that’s evident once again as from the very first riff-blasts on Ov Fire. This piece opens the Scandinavian way, i.e. fierce, blackened, thrashing and smashing, yet the interesting thing about this piece is the permanent interaction in between those harsh blackish assaults (cf. the opening sequence I just mentioned) and excerpts in the vein of the best old schooled Doom-Death tradition. Damn, it makes me aroused… An unholy symbiosis of early My Dying Bride and Dark Funeral, if you want to… And it’s this kind of un-beauty that does color the whole album (coloring it pale and black at the same time). The basic structures are very comparable to the past, but once again there is such a fine progression (yet as said: without being unfaithful to the roots). Insanity Reigns Supreme still come with that massive, little primal and barbaric Old School attitude, which strengthens their Nineties-based structural professionalism for sure. But since there are more blasting eruptions and blackish assaults, these guys seem to penetrate into dimensions unexplored before. And what’s more: there is so much variation, going for tempo, melody, structure, atmosphere, emotion. There’s not one single piece that does not satisfy my ear drums, and some are just above average in a most glorious and victorious way. Besides, ‘funereal’, ‘morbid’ and ‘shivering’ aren’t just but some ‘hollow’ words to describe this stuff with from time to time.
Another fine thing is that Insanity Reigns Supreme did work with Claudia Michelutti again. Most of the time when a band uses a female, so-called classical skilled guest singer, it makes me nauseous, but this woman’s voice is really magnificent, and what’s more, her contribution totally fits to the stuff! It was this way in the past, and still now she does impress. And another fine element is the use of some short intermezzi based on classical pieces, such as Moonlight Sacrifice (the Von Beethoven-way) or The Calling (more ethereal and esoteric).
A final thing to add is the remarkable idea to have a re-interpreted version of Ov Fire as bonus, but this time with inclusion of the great voice of Claudia too. It gives this already-great track another dimension, little more mysterious and occult for sure.
So, if you do appreciate the ‘true tradition’, spiced with some additional darkness and clothed in a grey veil of oppressive mist, etc…