Metal Underground.com

Originally self-released back in 2010, the debut full-length “Spiritual Rebirth” from French death metal battalion Insain is now seeing an official label release after the band signed on with Kaotoxin Records. Fans of brutal death metal are in for a bludgeoning good time with these 11 slices of aural destruction that draw clear influence from the likes of Cannibal Corpse.

Think of words like “pummeling,” “pulverizing,” or “destroying” and you’ve already got the gist of Insain’s musical approach. The songs may be short and to the point, around three minutes each, but there’s a lot of brutality going on in that seemingly short span of time across all instruments: blistering guitar, booming kick drums, and non-stop vocal intensity of the deep growl variety. When a track has exploded with as much ferocity as it can, it bows out and lets the next one come in to keep up the sonic assault.

Even with the non-stop heaviness, the pace within any given song is taken to fluctuations and there’s a lot going on musically, with changes in tempo and a few minor hardcore leanings in the slowdowns and immense guitar tones. The vocals are massively heavy, but also lack much in the way of depth or variation, which may be perfect for the brutal death metal crowd, but perhaps less enticing for those who want something a little more unique or diverse. The only real changes take place in “Angel of Pain,” which uses a secondary croaking black metal voice for overlapping vocals, and “Worthless,” which throws in some serious pig squeals.

Those small changes don’t do much to break up the landscape of “Spiritual Rebirth,” which is unfortunately quite similar across all 11 tracks. Mayhem the album has a-plenty, but variety it does not. That being said, if brutal death metal is your thing, check out this underground addition to the scene anyway, because it stands up on extreme insanity alone.