REVIEW: Undeath - More Insane

Hailing from upstate New York comes the most enjoyable death metal band in the world, Undeath. After releasing a modern classic in 'It's Time... To Rise From The Grave', they're back with a full length that is sure to liquify many an eardrum and melt brains worldwide. Featuring the timeless death metal sound they've honed, as well as their signature mosh-inducing riffs and high-tempo grooves, 'More Insane' really is, well... more insane than any other death metal album out this year.

Opening with 'Dead From beyond', the five-piece present a bit of everything they're good at in just four minutes. The guitars go from low chuggy riffs to pit starters, throwing a little solo or two in and then for good measure going back to the underbite creating riffs they are best at. Alex Jones' vocals sound as excellent as they did all that time ago when we first heard Undeath, with maybe a little more maturity to his delivery in his enunciation of the gruesome lyrics. This leads into the title track, one of the three singles released thus far, and there are a plethora of moments here that will bring about the grim smile you only get from disgustingly heavy metal. The two minute mark features a particularly enjoyable double bass and guitar attack that will have your head rocking back and forth like a bobblehead in a rally car, and is guaranteed to break barriers and stage-diving records -not to mention the cavernous growl the song finishes with that is all but certain to sound like an unholy beast in a live setting.

The third song, 'Brandish The Blade', is also a single and is somehow even less repentant than the previous two songs, with a frenetic tempo and drumming that'll bring out a sweat just by hearing it - God only knows how Matt Browning hasn't torn his ACL yet. At the halfway mark is the sneeriest breakdown thus far, which will clearly cause circle pits aplenty in the not-so-distant future. Song four is also a single, the last of them, and 'Disputatious Malignancy' is clearly one of the best pure death metal song titles there is. Not only that, it lives up to the sensational naming by being a proper meat and two veg death metal song that's fit to bursting with gutturals, deeply disturbing lyrical content, gargantuan riffs and stupendous usage of a double bass pedal. Track five, 'Sutured for War', feels almost like it's been blackened a little, as it is noticeably tinged with the iciness of Scandinavian black metal. The track is still well within the limits of the Undeath sound, but does serve to broaden their horizons a little on this album, as well as being a pure headbangers anthem.

Track six is another phenomenally named song, this one called 'Cramped Caskets (Necrology)'. The riffs run rampant here, and the sound of Tommy Wall's bass will likely be found careening around your skull cavity for 3-5 business days after having listened to this. The whole song is rife with moments to gurn at, and if your neck survives the ordeal you'll be grinning like a loon afterwards. This is followed by 'Bounty Hunter' which slows things down a little for a more mid-paced groove that feels like it could quite easily soundtrack the march of an unhallowed army, before 'Wailing Cadavers' rolls up and makes you want to spin kick the nearest animate or inanimate object, whichever may be more convenient (note, Out Of Rage takes no responsibility for any outcome whatsoever related to Undeath-induced spin kicks, unless those results are entirely positive for everyone involved in which case it was definitely us). The back half of the song is where the spin-kickiness really kicks in (pun intended) and you feel the full force of the crushing heaviness Undeath have written into being here.

By now, if you've survived this far, you will reach what might be up for song title of the year - the legendarily named 'Disattachment of a Prophylactic in the Brain'. The penultimate spot on the album isn't always easy to fill, but Jared Welch and Kyle Beam use their guitars to devastating effect and take a trek across nigh on their entire fretboards, delivering a double-pronged attack of squeals and chugs in quick succession. The final track, 'Bones Clattering in a Cave', is one final opportunity to fill up on caveman style heaviness before the band retreat away to their cave to hide, so it's lucky that it's a riotously enjoyable slab of metal that rips between tempos at lightning speed.

Undeath haven't ever messed around musically, and they've given us no reason to doubt them on the aptly named 'More Insane'. There are breakdowns aplenty, chugs throughout, more riffs than you can shake a thigh bone at, everything you could possibly want off of one of the best death metal releases this year. Till Undeath do us part fellas.

Words: Jake Longhurst

Photos: Nick Karp