Insane Art—'Human Nature Bright Side/Dark Side' review

Insane Art is an interesting four-piece Siberian Groove Metal band from Novosibirsk, Russia, with a monster of a two-part album for their first ever releases. Though they were released almost a year apart, they flow together so well that I wanted to review them as one body of work. Even just by title, these two seem to follow a concept of a lighter/dark-type double album, which, in concept, I, as a listener, really enjoy! Their overall sound is a good blend of traditional groove metal (ie: Lamb of God and Pantera) mixed very well with early 2000s era metalcore like Chimaira or Unearthed, which comes off as chaotic in the best way! As a vocalist and lyricist, I would usually talk about lyrics and the like, but for these dudes I'm going to give that a pass, as there is a bit of a language barrier. I can say, vocally, the lead singer has great chops on screaming as well as his cleans (don’t worry, my metalhead friends, when I say "cleans," it is closer to a thrash metal yell for the most part, nothing whine-y or autotuned will be found on theses disks). But enough about the dudes, let's get into what they have created!

Starting off with the Bright Side of Human Nature—as expected, it was definitely the lighter of the two. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t some acoustic album or flooded with clean guitars and keys, this is still a metal record, through and through. The intro track of this album really leads the listener to what they are about to experience, then there is the smack in the face that is the first full track on this album. "Your Life" is one of the best indie released songs I have heard in a long time; the chorus melody really hooks in the listener and kept me coming back to listen to it many times. It is an earworm in the best way, not punching the listeners' ears with it so many times you can’t help but like it, but it is just catchy. Sometimes that seems to be sort of a bad word in metal circles, but I think it is awesome in this case. The second full track, "Bright Side," has moments of the clean on clean thing I thought this whole album would end up being, however, on a “lighter side” of a double album concept, it works very well, and the solo, starting around four minutes, absolutely slays! The next song is called "Dimebag," which, based on the band's overall sound, I could assume it is about the lost but not forgotten guitarist of Pantera/Damageplan. Like I said though, I'm not going to stray into the lyrics on these albums. The groove on this track is a head banger, and the closest you are going to get to a flat-out death metal part on this album! Leading into the self-titled final track, which is a great way to cap off this part of the album; the heaviness and the groove are in full force as if it were leading into something…dare I say, darker?

The Dark Side does not have a soft and fluffy intro like its first half. It is a punch in the face from note one, with a heaviness not found in its counterpart! The first track, “Just Piece Of Me,” rolls on a relentless yet melodic path of destruction of what is to come in the rest of this darker, heavier beast. I will say to the band's credit that, in these two albums, you can tell it is the same band, but they are just showing a different side of themselves, which leads into the the foreboding intro to the next track, “Human Nature: Dark Side.” This continues the road through hell, a pounding drum beat with some ideas of Strapping Young Lad or even Meshugga in small bits. This leads to another ripping solo at two minutes. Although fairly brief, if one is not careful, it may leave you with a large case of face melt as they move deeper into this almost death metal feel, or a Devildriver type of idea going forward! This same groove seems to lead into the next song of note, "One Hate Song." This is another heavy romp of bass drums, palm muting, and even the occasional blast beat that flows so well with the the last two songs, "Myrter" and "Powerful." This keeps the pounding rhythm up, mixed with the excellent guitar work. Even some clean chorus makes a return on "Powerful," which, overall, was a strong way to end the album, and may be my favorite song of the album! I will say, of the two albums, the production on this one was far better, tighter, and grittier. The only gripe I would have is that some of the ideas on this album were good in the groove, but lacked a bit of the songwriting from the lighter end that I enjoyed. That being said, it is early, but I would not be shocked if this dark boy made it somewhere on the top twenty of the year!

Favorite Tracks: The biggest standout for me on these albums is "Your Life," with the grooves and a great hook, it really rounds out a great album. Powerful would definitely be my go to from Dark Side.

Rating: Overall, I would give this double album a Solid B+ and they have me looking forward to a part three that could be even better yet!

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