Infidel

Insane Devotion as their name is suggesting, they are totally devoted to music. Maybe this is not so obvious by watching the number of their releases, as in the twenty years of their existence they have released only a split album and two full lengths. So ten years after their first album “Slaves Will Serve”, they return in October of 2015 with the second one, which contains six new compositions of a duration of thirty eight minutes, as also there are seven compositions of their first album lasting for forty minutes. Insane Devotion are presenting to us melodic Black Metal with a lot of references to symphonic Black Metal but without limiting themselves to the clisses of that sound.

The listener apart from the ruling elements of the album, will come across a lot of fast parts, chaotic passages and other melodic, atmospheric ones full of feelings and images. The riffs are atmospheric and dark, other times chaotic – fast, other times melodic of medium speed and other times slower and mysterious. There is much variety into the riffing and mainly into the feelings that they offer. The atmosphere is majestic, heavy and dark. What is surely adding a special character to the compositions are the keyboards. They are the ones that they are showing the direction of the compositions every time. Other times they are majestic, other times they are insane, other times they are minimalistic and dark and other times melodic, they achieve to create a very intensive and thick atmosphere. Finally, their electronic influences are quite intense and they give a special style to the compositions. The structure of the tracks is good, with beautiful changes both regarding the riffs and the atmosphere, it achieves to maintain the listener’s interest on high level.

The instruments deliver the compositions flawlessly. The first thing that impressed me was the drums. Although that they come from a drum machine, they are so well programmed and their sound is so close to the original sound that make you think that they are played by a real drummer and even by a very good one. Their lines are very interesting and they don’t give not even in a moment that they are programmed. The guitars are heavy and clean, they deliver the riffs with passion and feelings. The keyboards are creating the atmospheres and the feelings very vividly and they give a very intense character to the compositions. The bass is heavy and somehow lower in the mixture. It feels the sound well but its lines are not clearly audible. The vocals are heavy Black Metal vocals which will remind you of the vocal style of bands as Dimmu Borgir, namely somehow standardized and monotonous. The production is heavy, bass but absolutely clean, it puts out a warm and very dark sound which fit to the style of the compositions a lot. The mixture achieves to give that solid character to the compositions highlighting their strong parts. The lyrics are written in English and they are contained into the cd. They narrate symbolic stories that they contain philosophical thoughts, questions about religion and concerns of the band.

The new album of Insane Devotion is quite interesting. The fact that they offer their first album with this one, is another reason to make this release even more interesting, especially for the fans of the band. Surely those of you who are searching for melodic – symphonic Black Metal, into the style of bands like Dimmu Borgir you will be satisfied by this release. The rest of you listen to it before you buy.