Album Review - Reside Infernus - Insult

Album Review - Reside Infernus - Insult

If the bouncy riff extravaganza party of Iron Maiden was added to a swirling cauldron of juicy ingredients- the vocal led, biker savvy rhythms of Judas Priest (and a healthy pinch of Metallica and Testament thrown in for good measure)-you would get Bristol’s own Insult. Washed down with a nice cold beer on a sunny day and there could be many a worse way to spend your afternoon.

Formed in the 1980s, the band has had A LOT of time to incubate their debut (yes that’s right, debut) properly and, as if the decade that gave us the best of the aforementioned bands never ended, Reside Infernus takes us back in time to a place where metal relied on chunky riffs and oily slick vocals going on to inspire whole new generations of growlers, screamers and shriekers.

Insult clearly wear their influences on their sleeve but rather degenerate into a, more or less, glorified cover band that many like them often become, Insult add a thing or two to the thrashy-power metal bars that is rarely delved back into these days. And the band’s debut album feels like a middle finger thrust into the faces of those that think this type of music has passed us by. The duel guitar riff machines that are Robbie Harris and Jonny Fifield respectfully could still teach a thing or two to all those aspiring guitarists of the future, delightfully weaving leads together to keep Insult hammering on with no let up for the weak.

Most importantly perhaps, the band genuinely seem like they are having the time of their lives just churning out tunes that please them and, no doubt, will please scores of listeners. What a band like Insult reminds us followers of all things metal, is that it doesn’t always have to be about darkness, religion hating, lets punch walls for fun type aggression (although there is plenty of that on here too), we can still have a damn good time while we’re at it-whilst doing all of those things of course.

Over its relentless eight songs, Insult are not just flying the flag of New Wave of British Heavy Metal, they’re reminding the scene of it, showing this generation and next that their style of metal has not gone out of fashion. It can still rip. And with its opening riff to its last, Insult prove this in abundance with Reside Infernus- not bad for a band that began life as an 80’s metal cover act.

Insult aren’t trying to set the world ablaze with something never before heard, ground-breaking stuff, they’re here to get a crowd pumping, chanting and singing along to some undeniably catchy hooks and, did I mention riffs galore? And the album is relatively and surprisingly short-ingeniously crafted to allow the listener to get stuck in straight away. Insult have done away with all the fluff and theatricality and instead, proceeded to the non-stop fist pumping for all of its fleeting run time.

What will the future hold for the NWOBHM die-hards? If this debut effort is anything to go by, the future is very promising and not just for Insult but the whole style and movement.