Band:	Antigama
Album:	The Insolent
Style:	Experimental grindcore
Release date:	May 07, 2015
A review by:	Auntie Sahar

01. Reward Or Punishment
02. Foul Play
03. Data Overload
04. Used To
05. Randomize The Algorithm
06. The Insolent
07. Sentenced To The Void
08. Out Beyond
09. Eraser
10. The Land Of Monotony

Within the often rigid confines of grindcore, the Polish Antigama has carved a unique identity for itself, sticking true to the genre perhaps, but also coming to weave all kinds of unusual shapes and sounds around it. 2015's The Insolent, however, sees the band easing up on the weirdness factor a bit and opting for a more straightforward approach.

If you enjoy aggressive and in your face grindcore, The Insolent has you covered, as Antigama bring all the fixings here in terms of these common staples of their genre. Short but intense bursts of power pop out with a purpose, smothering listeners with a barrage of blast beats, pummeling guitar riffs, and the fierce vocals of frontman Łukasz Myszkowski, not too unlike in delivery to the iconic snarls of Barney Greenway. And to make things a little more interesting, and not a mere blitzkrieg-on-steroids tornado, on this album Antigama also flirt around with a pleasantly groovy sound at points, more midpaced and bouncy than fast and roaring, especially on "Sentenced To The Void."

What lies outside of this more conventional grindcore approach, however, is where The Insolent may come across as a bit disappointing. With previous albums, Antigama separated themselves from the rest of the pack quite well with, progressive, jazzy, and otherwise atypical moments that, while brief, helped give them a great sense of distinction. On The Insolent, it feels like such moments are generally less prevalent than they have been previously, and that the music is more down to the nitty gritty. "Out Beyond" and "The Land Of Monotony" are probably the most "experimental" tracks here, but even the latter feels more like slow grindcore a la Napalm Death than anything truly bizarre.

To be fair, Antigama never really committed themselves to developing a sound that was significantly unconventional for grindcore, at least not to the extent of bands like !T.O.O.H.! or Fantômas. But the more pronounced experimental aspects of Antigama albums such as Meteor and Zeroland did nonetheless really help make the band who they are, so the fact that The Insolent is a bit more basic in its approach is a bit of a let down. However, this album does still have a few good moments of techniques unusual for grindcore in it, and it makes up for what it might lack in this area with a great sense of catchiness and tempo variation that keeps everything from sounding like a tangled mess. Yeah, it could definitely be more "out there," but overall, not a bad release by any means.

Now go listen and try to figure out what the hell that thing on the album cover is.