Reviews    Insense - Insense (This Dark Reign)
by Chris Barnes

Insense is yet another denizen of the Oslo underground, whom, like The Cumshots, have a penchant for hyper-aggressive music, stage fights and breaking instruments. Damn vikings.

I actually know very little about Insense from a biography, other than some are members of the Oslo all-star Caliban Sessions. Which if you don't own, you might be gay. Or if you're gay and you don't own this beauty you might be straight. That's some GOOD rock n' roll, boy.

My intro to Insense came at a perfect time... I popped it into the car CD player at a time I was incredibly stressed out. Big bills, no money, that type of stress. Aggressive music fit the aggressive mood. This shit spoke to me. Speedy, erratic driving and the flipping off of several elderly drivers ensued. The end result? Catharsis.

Imagine the bastard child of Prong and Helmut, the Cro-Mags as your mid-wife. Insense are pure aggro-core, sounding a bit like the U.K.s SNUB.

OK so, last song "Bacteria" opens with that annoying sound that you can't shut-off upon entering their website, and "Trust Just A Few" breaks up the the pace with a wuss-sounding metalihardcorepuss ballad, but I can forgive the lads for the minor infractions. Skull bashers and neck snappers like "Factory Preset", "It's Not OK" and "In the Words" more than make up for it.

The Norway scene rules.

Visit the Insense website at www.insensehq.com

Copyright 2002 HellrideMusic.com
Review by Chris Barnes