Insania (German band)
| INSANIA | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Heavy metal |
| founding | 1988 |
| Website | www.insania.info |
| Current occupation | |
| Gerald "Gary" Nagy since 1988 | |
| Wolfgang "Wolle" Haitz (formerly Prein) since 1990 | |
| former members | |
| Jörg "Short" Muß 1988–1993 | |
| Jürgen "Simon Sledge" Grziwotz 1988–1994 | |
| Ludger Weiss 1988–1990 | |
| Johannes "Cheesy" Nieswandt 1994–1995 | |
| Jörg "Dicky" Dickgreber 1994–2002 | |
| Elke "Alicia" Runkler 1996–1997 | |
| Marc Distelkamp 1998-2006 | |
| Marcel "Big M" Kleinholz 2004–2006 | |
INSANIA is a heavy metal band from Germany . The band was active from 1988 to 2006 and has released six albums and one maxi CD during this time.
history
1988 to 1990
In 1988 the two guitarists Gerald "Gary" Nagy and Jürgen "Simon Sledge" Grziwotz from Kamen and Bergkamen founded the band in the eastern part of the Ruhr area. The influences clearly came from the then popular Heavy Metal of the 80s such as Iron Maiden , Judas Priest , Metallica , Megadeth , Flotsam and Jetsam and Helloween . This line-up of INSANIA recorded the first demo "Seasons In Hell" in 1988, which met with extremely positive feedback in underground circles. The song of the same name was not on it. He can be heard for the first time on the first CD "Set Them Free".
1990 to 1993
Ludger Weiß left the band in the summer of 1990 and was replaced by drummer Wolfgang “Wolle” Haitz (formerly Prein) from Düsseldorf, whom singer Shorty knew from some joint activities before INSANIA. Due to the success of "Seasons In Hell", the then newly founded production company Inline Music became aware of INSANIA. In February 1991 INSANIA went to the Delta recording studio in Wilster near Itzehoe and recorded their second demo "Streets Of Madness" there. The studio was first known in the 1970s through the artificial head recording technology and the Krautrock heroes JANE from Hanover, who recorded their classic "Between Heaven And Hell" there. ACCEPT and others were also found later. a. for their classic "Breaker" there. For INSANIA, the demo was primarily the pre-production for the first full-length album "Set Them Free", which was also recorded again in the Delta recording studio in Wilster. The album was finally released in September 1993 as a CD on the “Battery” label, which had since been founded by the production company Inline Music.
1993 to 1994
In the spring of 1993 the Chapter II line-up of INSANIA was over when singer FR Shorty left the band for musical reasons. His successor was Johannes "Cheesy" Nieswandt, who had previously played as a guitarist with Wolle in the Düsseldorf metal formation SHOTGUN. In the fall of 1993, the band started pre-production for their follow-up album, which was to be recorded again in the Delta-Studio Wilster in spring 1995. However, the band carousel continued: Bassist Jürgen Grziwotz dropped out immediately after the preproduction of a promotional demo with demo versions of five songs on the upcoming CD “One More… One Less” in 1994, also for musical reasons.
1994 to 1995
INSANIA decided to record the upcoming album with three people. In the studio, Gary Nagy took over the bass as well as the guitar. The CD “One More… One Less” was also released in the summer of 1995 on the “Battery” label. In the first limited edition, only the INSANIA mascot could be seen on the CD as a label. In addition to the title song, the highlight of the album is definitely the ten-minute semi-ballad "For You", which was an integral part of the live program for many years. The live implementation of the much more progressive song material also made the use of sequencers and keyboards off the tape necessary. “One More… One Less” received excellent reviews, including a. in Rock Hard issue 98 (07/95), 21st place on the Richter scale with 8 out of 10 points with comparisons to Pretty Maids and in the (now discontinued) Heavy or what ?! Issue 20 (4/95) with 9 “very, very big” points out of 12. There was also a short interview in the Small Talk of Rock Hard issue 101 (10/95).
Jörg "Dicky" Dickgreber joined the band as the new bass player during production. Dicky had his live premiere on May 27, 1995 at a festival in the town hall in Kamen. On September 2nd, 1995 INSANIA gave the official release party for “One More… One Less” in the completely sold-out Düsseldorf House of Youth. At this gig, ex-singer FR Shorty came on stage for the song "Sweet Destroyer".
1996 to 1997
Then it went on with INSANIA in the then current line-up. At the beginning of 1996 INSANIA were back at the beginning without a record deal and without a singer. The band decided to continue the musical direction they had already taken on One More… One Less , to produce their music themselves in the future and to publish it on their own label. The use of keyboards was increased, the songs became more complex, but at the same time more catchy. Sometimes the song material ranged between rock and metal. The takeover of the lead vocals by Elke “Alicia” Runkler, who was able to set new accents with her “rock tube” and the vocals designed for Jutta Weinhold, matched the changed concept.
In 1996 the band's work focused on the production of the next CD House of Cards . The heart of the album were the 13-minute title song and the nine-minute Beyond the Other Side , in which a 20-strong choir took part, as well as the instrumental Awakening and the Stampfer Born to Lose . Particularly noteworthy are the sophisticated instrumental arrangements, the keyboards completely taken over by Gary and his highly melodic guitar work. For the first time INSANIA also recorded a cover song in their own version, here Alphavilles Big in Japan , with which Guano Apes had a chart success with their own cover version about half a year after the publication of House of Cards .
1998 to 2002
But in early 1998 this Chapter V line-up was history again when Alicia ended her musical activity as a singer for personal reasons. At this point the band was already recording a planned CD with cover versions and some acoustic versions of older INSANIA pieces, especially songs from the CDs "Set Them Free" and "One More ... One Less". The idea for this was based on the regularly positive response to IRON MAIDEN's “Hallowed Be Thy Name” and an acoustic version of “Children Of A Lesser God” in the live set. These cover versions were never released. In July 1998 Gary, Dicky and Wolle found the new man on the microphone in Marc Distelkamp. With the next album INSANIA didn't want to give up their musical orientation, but wanted to go a little "back to the roots".
In 1999 the band recorded the first album with Marc. The album was called "Fear" and was released in early 2000. Unfortunately the fourth CD with the fourth singer. The cover version of the SCORPIONS classic "Is There Anybody There" could be heard. With the eight-minute “As The Candle Melts Away”, INSANIA once again devoted themselves to their preference for epic material. The melancholy masterpiece is at the center of the CD. With “No More Lies” and “Voyager” INSANIA made themselves much straighter and more suitable for radio than ever. Therefore, both of these songs were also released in abbreviated edit versions on the maxi CD "Voyager" accompanying the album, along with three other tracks from the album. During this time INSANIA were given the opportunity to record a cover version of “Janie's Got A Gun” for an AEROSMITH tribute sampler. It is not known whether this sampler was ever released.
In 2001 an unusual situation arose for the band. A Swedish power metal band released the album "World Of Ice". The name of the band was INSANIA (Stockholm), with these brackets added. In fairness, the Swedish band kept the parenthesis Stockholm after the band name. Following the concerts for “Fear”, the band started work on the follow-up album “Never 2L84H8”, which meant nothing more than “Never Too Late For Hate”. In order to be able to better stage Marc's powerful vocals, INSANIA already took a much harder pace on “Never 2L84H8” and there were also isolated growls. The texts also increasingly dealt with social grievances and a resulting feeling of hatred. B. in the title "Trash", which was also shown in the dark cover artwork. With "Never 2L84H8" the band released two albums in a row for the first time with the same line-up. The album starts with the first two songs of the “Spirit Suite”, consisting of four parts, of which “The Spirit” and “The Spirit (Reprise)” form the framework. In spring 2002 there were a number of live gigs for the CD “Never 2L84H8”, during which the band with this line-up was in excellent shape. As a special praise one could hear a statement in the press that at INSANIA you can feel the team on stage.
2003 to 2006
Jörg "Dicky" Dickgreber left the band in January 2003 after almost nine years for family reasons. INSANIA then initially considered recording an unplugged album with acoustic versions of earlier songs as their next album. Several songs have already been tested for their suitability without a bass player. The result was astonishing, because the heavier songs in particular made an excellent picture in acoustic guise. However, the band quickly found out that such a project could not be realized without a new bass player. But it took more than a year until INSANIA finally found a suitable new bass player in April 2004 in Marcel “Big M” Kleinholz. Marcel and Wolle knew each other from the late 80s.
Since there was now enough new material for a sixth album, the recordings for the CD started in summer 2004. The recording process turned out to be difficult for a variety of reasons, there were always technical breakdowns or scheduling problems, so that the recordings dragged on until the end of 2004. Musically, the harder pace of "Never 2L84H8" had proven itself. Therefore INSANIA once again added a lot of hardness and aggressiveness to both the music and the lyrics in order to really let the deep lead vocals from Marc come into their own. On “Face Your Agony” there are many vocal excursions into the field of Death Metal (“Common Ground”, “Nocturnal Blast”, “Juggernaut”, “Lord Of The Machines”, “Mania Construct”), while the music changes still had a major impact on Power Metal. "Face Your Agony" was released in summer 2005.
INSANIA started to write new material that moved more than ever from pure power metal and approached the term (heavy) rock in general. In the summer of 2006 six songs were already in preparation for a seventh album. But at this point INSANIA decided to take a break for an indefinite period of time. The band members began to get involved in other projects.
Discography
- Seasons In Hell (1988), demo
- Streets Of Madness (1991), demo
- Set Them Free (1993, Battery), re-released 1997
- One More ... One Less (1995, Battery), republished 1997
- House Of Cards (1997, STF)
- Fear (1999, STF)
- Voyager (1999, STF Records ), maxi CD
- Never 2L84H8 (2002, STF)
- Face Your Agony (2005, STF)