Forming nearly a year ago in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Insult To Injury (formerly known as I, Creator) strive to bring originality to this realm of music that is over-saturated with mediocrity. They claim to be a progressive metalcore act, but after listening to their debut EP, Dead Weight, I failed to pick up on many progressive elements. Dead Weight is set to release on January 15, 2013 via Fort Charter Records, and while it’s not very progressive, it’s worth taking 18 minutes out of your day to listen to.
After a lengthy intro with nothing but a soundclip, Insult To Injury’s Dead Weight starts off sounding like one of the most generic metalcore/post-hardcore releases to ever make its way into my iTunes library. “Genesis” slightly picks things up with its syncopated ‘djent’ chugging as it goes along, though. Almost the entire song is comprised of chugging and breakdowns, but everything else is fairly impressive. The drummer pounds away on his kit with a purpose and the vocalist belts out a wide range of vocals throughout. Sadly, because the guitars, vocals, and drums are so loud in the mix, they completely overpower the bassist and you can barely hear him.
For the most part, three of the remaining four tracks on Dead Weight follow the aforementioned pattern; a lot of chugging, occasional melody, virtually no appearance by the bassist, very solid drumming, and excellent vocals. Unlike the other tracks on the EP, the title track (“Dead Weight”) is not dominated by chugging and it’s definitely the strongest track because of that. The first and last minute of the title track are basically the only instances when a progressive element can be heard. Even though the chugging makes its reappearance near the midway point, the rest of the song is very solid because there is some melody. Also, the breakdowns heard on “Dead Weight” are much more impressive than the breakdowns heard on other songs.
Without the occasional melody, Dead Weight would be just another mediocre metalcore release that gets one or two plays before being entirely forgotten. While the sporadic melody is certainly not enough to make me want to come back to this EP for several listens, I will be jamming it from time to time and awaiting Insult To Injury’s next release. Hopefully there will be more variety on that.
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