There is nothing right about Inside Project. From the grotesque artwork to the overly aggressive titles, ‘A history of violence’ is a slice of gloriously twisted music that slithers and crawls through the darkest of human emotions and holds the detritus up for all to see. Producing death-metal and hardcore infused thrash, Inside project are an explosive unit whose ambition and commitment sees them seeking to join the likes of Exodus as purveyors of stunningly heavy, violent music.
Opening with the horrific piano chords of the title track, the first fifty seconds or so of the album would have you believing you’re about to experience an exercise in terror similar to Axis of Perdition or Ehnahre but then the guitars lock in to place and suddenly you’re hit with the explosive rage of a band who have coupled explicitly unpleasant subject matter with a technical proficiency that will leave you gasping. With the percussion a flurry of furious double bass drum beats and the guitars a wall of brutal chugging riffs, it recalls Unearth at their most extreme. ‘Hools no rules’ is similarly crushing, the barrage of percussion that announces its arrival sounding like an artillery attack and the vocals delivered with a hardcore intensity that would make Biohazard sweat profusely, although it is the utterly brutal beat-down of the mid-section that will do the most damage, the riff enough to leave you sweaty and euphoric as it smashes into you. A catchy title if you live your life in a misanthropic haze, ‘white trash whore’ opens with a rumbling tom attack and grinding guitars before tearing into the body of the track in a red mist of rage and testosterone-fuelled aggression. ‘Drop dead’ is a mosh-pit destroying blast of toxic air that is custom built to spontaneously create circle pits (try playing it on the tube at rush hour) with its glistening riffs and rock solid rhythmic backbone and then ‘we all die alone’ opens in a rush of creepy sound effects and growing fear, the ambient horror an essential break from the otherwise non-stop metal assault of the album.
Having been allowed but a moment’s respite, ‘The lovely bones’ is a brutally militant instrumental that gives way to the unstoppable tsunami of ‘black Sunday Bitch’, easily the heaviest track on display and a clear album highlight with Manu’s vocals sounding evermore inhuman as the album progresses. ‘The gravedigger’ is no less engaging, a multi-layered mosh-pit inciting riot of noise that will level all but the hardiest souls before the band unfeasibly slow the pace to a leaden trudge, the sludge guitars grinding against a doom-laden drum beat and the whole recalling Crowbar at their most syrupy and unpleasant (you can also check this out on the band’s Myspace page here). Shockingly the track suddenly segues into the blistering ‘My fists hate your pride’ (featuring Arsene) which sounds all the more vitriolic in contrast to its crushing predecessor. ‘Ruining me’ is an atmospheric, instrumental track which adds another layer of complexity to Inside project’s approach to music making with its twisted industrial soundscape gnawing at the senses and then final track ‘the firmament’ unleashes the band’s potent thrash assault for one last instrumental flurry
‘A history of violence’ is an astonishingly brutal, complex thrash assault mixing up elements of hardcore, thrash, death, doom and post rock to form a terrifyingly cohesive whole that assaults the senses with a power and authority that is truly overwhelming. Music for those with a taste for the extreme, this is sweaty, adrenalin –soaked mayhem for those whose sole wish is to die at the heart of the mosh pit and it seems entirely likely that Inside Project are capable of granting that wish. Listen at your peril for this is heavy stuff, but be warned also that once you’ve delved into Inside project’s twisted, violent world, you will want to return.
