Metal Goes Punk

The rather enigmatic Antigama released their fourth album, The Insolent. While not much can be said regarding the band, save that they’re from Poland and per their Facebook they are “controlled chaos,” one does not find themselves lacking in things to say about this album.

It can be sufficiently broken into two parts for this review. The first half of the album, meaning the first six tracks, treats us to more or less true grindcore, with the longest song, “Randomize The Algorithm,” coming in at a whopping 2 minutes and 22 seconds. These songs meld the punk rock and thrash metal aspects of the genre perfectly, with blast-beats abundant, semi-unintelligible growling, and repetitive (read: freaking awesome), fast-as-you-can-thrash guitar riffs. For those listening, they even threw in some jazzy drum/cymbal combinations, which really makes “Foul Play” one of the most interesting 1 minute and 29 second songs heard in a while.

With as intense as the first half of the album is, the transition to oh-so-slightly slower tempo and better composed second half does not make you stumble at all. Here they incorporate the industrial side to the genre, such as in “Out Beyond,” where the echo of a synthesized beat morphs into what sounds like an eighties pop song intro. This is played over controlled drums and dark guitar notes, giving the whole song a mission to space feel. The whole album finished up with a 7 minute and 16 second unexpected sludge and growl track, which could hold its own as an EP.

Overall, Antigama’s The Insolent held nothing back and was thoroughly impressive. With its hard, intense start off then winding down to a murky march, it ebbed and flowed as an album should; like the adrenaline it should inspire.