Insanity

Insanity (U.S.): Visions of Apocalypse (Unspeakable Axe / Dark Descent)

Release date: 13 November 2015

Death metal band Insanity (California, U.S.), has a new album, but before talking about the album, it is good to see a bit of the history of the band.

Long-championed by none other than Napalm Death, death metal band Insanity began in 1985. The band’s bio states about the early days:

“INSANITY was formed in 1985 in the San Francisco Bay Area and unleashed some of the most fast & brutal death metal of that time.

After being friends for years and going to see bands like Motorhead, Metallica & Slayer, Joe DeZuniga and Dave Gorsuch decided to form a death metal band in 1985. The vocalist/guitarist Joe DeZuniga roared out some of the most brutal death metal vocals of that time. He was also one of the main songwriters and the artist that created the logo with the decapitated heads. The other guitarist/songwriter Dave Gorsuch seemed to push the style of guitar riffs to a more technical edge while mixing in stomping heavy parts. With Joe's style progressing in that direction as well, it proved to be a great partnership and the two would go on to collaborate on most of the early material. They tried to write songs that mixed in riffs that were technically intense and acheive a style that went beyond what was considered heavy and brutal. Dave's high school friend Keith Ellison played bass like a death metal version of Steve Harris and had been tring to start a band with Dave since 1984. When drummer Bud Mills joined the band in September of 1985 and played faster than the normal thrash beat most bands used, Insanity was pioneering new levels of speed and intensity in early death metal.

The first show was played on Oct. 19th 1985 with Death and Sacrilege and the crowd maintained a frenzied pit which was admittedly short because the band only had five songs at the time. INSANITY then went on to play with many of the other great bands that played Ruthies Inn including the likes of Possessed.”

Metal Archives gives the following discography, which I think in the case it is instructive to list it:

Live Rehearsal Demo Demo 1985

85 Reh. Demo Demo 1986

Demo Demo 1989

Rehearsal Demo 1989 Demo 1989

Pre-Production Demo '94 Demo 1994

Death After Death Full-length 1994

Sacrefixion EP 2001

Ultimate Death - Rare Bits & Pieces of Unreleased Insanity Compilation 2004

From the Grave Compilation 2005

Demo 1985 Single 2006

Visions of Apocalypse Demo 2008

Chronicles of the Cursed Compilation 2009

Anyway, the band has not been lucky in life, and they obviously have not been “at the right place, at the right time” because they have had many problems, too numerous to explain. Suffice to say that the band has had many set backs, such as prison time, illness, death, long periods of inactivity and the like that have not helped them.

That’s the bad news. Here’s the good news.

The new album is the result of work that the band did years ago and now they have new album. All you have to do is listen to the first song to hear how this band knows how to write death metal. Given that there is such a long history and experience involved, the band does not mess around with tomfoolery. The growling has to be powerful, not just microphone cupping. The guitars have to have more than chugging, it has to be real riffs and the songs have to be the kind that you can remember. That’s the death metal that they have in mind. Speed, brutality, heaviness, yup, it’s all there, but that’s not the whole story. The real story is the songs.

www.unspeakableaxerecords.com

www.facebook.com/unspeakableaxerecords

www.facebook.com/pages/INSANITY/57208433713