Ikon

This band has always been about a whole lot of blastbeats and brutality. On this album they've changed it up, and it works surprisingly well. Opener "A Ravenous Discharge" is a classic Insision beating. After that we're treated to a whole new soundscape. "Unbind My Hands" and "By Habit" have a whole lot more groove than any of their earlier material. No worries though, everything's still in pure Death Metal mode.

The classic ultra fast parts are still here. They've just decided to give the songs more character. Two tracks that very well display this are "Into The Cold" and "Doubt Denied". "Into The Cold" is the slowest thing this band has ever written and it works perfectly. It's brooding and heavy as hell while not losing their traditional feel. And for some classic Insision, just listen to the crazy riff at 2.11 in "Doubt Denied". Definitely one of the sickest and most infectious little riffs I've heard.

Overall there's a whole lot of good guitar and drumming on "Ikon". Rogga has always been quite an unconventional and cool riff maker and remains so on here. Marcus Jonsson on drums also puts on one hell of a performance. He blasts away like crazy on the parts where it's needed and gets groovy in very appropriate places. The drums are definitely better on this one than the other Insision records and they're a big help in making the new sound flow so well.

I was somewhat worried about this CD being a disappointment since the sample songs sounded much more catchy and melodic. Luckily they know what they're doing here. They've retained most of the abrasive old sound, adding some groove (in the best possible meaning of the word) and catchiness. "Ikon" is a winner.