Band:	Inhumate
Album:	The Fifth Season
Style:	Death metal, Grindcore
Release date:	April 2009

01. Human?
02. Hellmaze
03. Whisper
04. Bleargh!
05. Ecotone I: The Tree
06. 21 Grams
07. The Glance
08. It's Back
09. Dig!
10. Addicted
11. Ecotone II: The Ocean
12. Flames
13. I Want to Kill Some...(Part V)
14. Art, Sex, Intelligence
15. Obey
16. Ecotone III: The Sphere
17. Mic Crusher
18. 59 Seconds
19. It's Back (bonus track)

"As ever, there are no vocal effects on this album", the liner notes to the new Inhumate album, The Fifth Season, proudly exclaim. Now then, considering that Inhumate is a grindcore band and therefore part of a genre that often features vocalists that do their best to imitate dogs, bears, pigs, rotor engines and/or various industrial-grade farming equipment, this little piece of information ceases to significantly impress. Nevertheless, although Mike Patton he ain't, Christophe Knecht, Inhumate's vocalist, offers quite a fun and varied approach, from nether-world grizzly growls to spastic high shrieks. How about the rest of the music?

As it turns out, Inhumate is predominantly a rather old-school grindcore band, often resorting to syncopated hardcore in lieu of hyperblasting into oblivion ad naseum. This is just as well, since the band sounds somewhat forced and sloppy during those more methamphetamine fueled sections and it often feels like the vocal wackiness is there primarily to cover up the subpar musicianship. With this said, I found the more groove-oriented parts to be by contrast extremely well executed and fun to listen to. Moreover, The Fifth Season juxtaposes demented tracks with Christophe showcasing his ability to weep, yawn and laugh into the microphone ("It's Back", "Obey") with more straight forward, groovy grind death ("Art, Sex, Intelligence", "Ecotone II: The Ocean") and this is a mixture that works really well. The band is extreme but not in a serious and scary way. This is why a lot can be forgiven, such as the often nervous wavering tempos and the inherent tautophony of the genre.

Inhumate is ferocious but fun and friendly. It's like having a pet pitbull. So yeah, that might be blood on the floor beside him, and that piece of meat by the tree looks suspiciously similar to your girlfriend's foot but... who's a good boy?