Band:	Insicknia
Album:	Ascent To The Sky
Style:	Hardcore, Thrash metal
Release date:	2007

01. Lies In, Blood Out
02. A New Day
03. Ascent To The Sky
04. Holy Hell, Holy Cell

When I received this four-song EP from Danish metallers Insicknia, I didn't quite know what to expect. Now that I have my socks back on, I can tell you, this is one heavy motherfucker.

Insicknia are a Danish band, founded somewhere in the mid-nineties, who released their self-financed debut album in 2006. Since then, the band replaced a few musicians, but also had the opportunity to share the stage with other more well-known Danish bands like Mercenary, Hatesphere and Urkraft (so you can already start figuring from where the wind is blowing). This EP, recorded in only four days, has the intention to give a first taste of the band's upcoming new album. And let me tell you, "Ascent To The Sky" leaves quite a piquant taste in your brutally ripped open mouth. However, since there are only four songs on this EP, one can only guess if he or she is getting a fully representative image of this band and their merciless straight-forward sound. One thing's for sure though, Insicknia seem to have pulled out all the stops on this release, and there is indeed quite some variation in the songs. My overall impression is that Insicknia are tight, rough and crushing. And especially the strong production on this release seems to boost the blasting intensity of the sound. There are also a couple of catchy mid-tempo parts with contagious choruses, mostly sung in catchy clean vocals, where you can catch your breath for a second, before Insicknia blast off and go for your throat again.

Since I dislike putting closed labels on the kind of music bands are playing, I just keep it short when I say this band is found somewhere in between melodic thrashcore and melodic (brutal) deathcore. So yes, "Ascent To The Sky" is loud and heavy. Yes, their sound is pretty harsh and by times even extreme. Yes, Insicknia are a very nice side-dish snack. But no, I don't know if this is the thing you have been waiting for all your life. My suggestion is you consider having a short but intense affair with Insicknia, rather than thinking about a bland long-term relationship.

Unfortunately for Insicknia though, there is a difference between blowing one's socks off and blowing one's mind. Where they succeed with flying colours in doing the first, they fail brilliantly when it comes to the later. Although this EP is absolutely far from being bad, it's not particularly world-shattering either. And that's quite a pity when you come to think of it, as there are really tons of bands in this particular genre doing the exact same thing over and over again. And maybe the genre could use a band doing something striking and spectacular for a change. Anyhow, amateurs who like their metal a bit more unrestrained, as loud as possible, and who don't mind that it's all a bit more "-core", can start looking forward to Insicknia's upcoming full-length album, which will be recorded in June. People, who need to vent their rage in the next quarter of an hour, should have ordered this piece of brutality by now. There's nothing to see here for all the rest of you complicated softies.