Inscape are a band I’ve heard a lot about over the last year or so, I’ve managed to catch them live a couple of times and they’ve impressed me each time, onstage they’re full of energy, they’re loud and intense but work the dynamics of the songs well so its not all just noise – remember folks occasionally you need to ease off, the quiet bits make the rocking bit rock even more, Anyways, we’ve established their a good live band, I’ll write a proper live review next time I get the chance. Guitarist Joel sent me some links to their Debut E.P. To have a listen to, it seems like they’ve been around too long for this to be their first E.P. But apparently it is and I was more than happy to give it a listen.
The opening track is Re/Surface which kicks in with a real big riff, everyone’s in from the off, there’s a nicely Jagged sounding guitar riff firmly in the driving seat of this intro and some nice drums pounding along behind with what sound like the drummer smashing the shit out of a china that really gives me some nu metal flash backs as the guitar stutters through its pointy riff. The song drops off in to a much mellower more atmospheric verse with some really nice vocals on it and a nice flowing bass line underneath before the boys up the energy through a driving bridge section and some more of those jagged guitar riffs. Its a good tune this, reminds me of Incubus playing something a bit more metal / emo. When it kicks in the guitars and drums kick in angry and hard, but the vocals are less metal and more sung, like I said its Incubus if you dialed up the metal a bit, the song has quite a long atmospheric outro which I’m guessing is meant to lead straight in to the next song with no gaps, but of course one of the joys of modern technology is that this effect doesn’t always work as well these days, I for one appreciate that effort though.
Track two is another one that crashes straight in, who needs long drawn out intros, not Inscape that’s for sure, and when its done this well neither do I. This song “Eris” is heavier and nastier sounding, the guitars are still hitting those riffs hard but they’ve upped the pace a little bit and given it even more energy and it sounds more metal than the opener. It still has those great vocals that are big and powerful but still clean, unlike a lot of stuff this heavy you can actually understand what’s being sung which makes a nice change, there’s no screaming and shouting just for the sake of it. This song is a bit more relentless in its intensity and there’s definitely more elements that remind me of some of the heavier side of those Metal sounds towards the end of the song where it gets darker and more evil sounding to finish off. Again they’ve gone for a long atmospheric outro to bleed in to the last song so that all 3 tracks on this E.P. Feel like one long piece of music, they’ve done it well, for a three track EP this effect works nicely.
“Adrift” is the third and final track on this EP and is probably the one with the heaviest, weirdest, sharpest sounding intro, its in the same vein as the first two tracks but just…. “more” more what I’m not sure how to describe, more “math rock” ? maybe, heavier ? Yes, noisier ? Yes if you like the way the first two songs kick in you’ll probably like this more. There’s a drop in the intensity when the vocals kick in and for a few brief seconds it gets a bit more atmospheric before those heavy guitars are back to drive things forward and smash you in the face with those sharp edges. There is a nice dropout a little bait later in the song where the synths take over control a bit and create a nice atmospheric feel that almost feels like drifting through a moment of calm, like passing through the eye of the storm, before it builds back up in to the heavy intensity and then crashes down to fade the song out on gentle guitar riff that rounds this three track E.P. out nicely.
Overall this is an intense three track journey driven on by heavy, jagged guitars, whilst powerful vocals soar along above them and the drums smash out equally brutal groves, with the songs accented by the occasional nice atmospheric drop out where the synths play more of a part. Its a sort of modern Nu-metal, Emo, Metal with an intensity lots of bands aim for but never quite achieve on a recording, Good work Guys
Listen to Inscape:
Spotify
Applemusic
Find Inscape Online:
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