Insanity (American band)
| Insanity | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| origin | San Francisco , California , United States |
| Genre (s) | Thrash metal , death metal |
| founding | 1985, 2005 |
| resolution | 2001 |
| Current occupation | |
| Dave Gorsuch | |
Electric bass , vocals |
Falko Bolte |
| Juan Casarez | |
Electric guitar |
Ivan Munguia |
| former members | |
Electric bass, vocals |
Nathan Greenstein |
Electric bass |
Keith Ellison |
Drums |
Bud Mills († 2007) |
Electric guitar, vocals |
Joe DeZuniga († 1987) |
Drums |
Tim Tallerico |
Electric guitar |
Matt Janko |
Drums |
Prakash Sharma |
singing |
Bob Martinez |
Electric bass |
Joe Landers |
Electric bass |
Josh Santiaga |
Electric guitar |
Kirt Teeple |
Electric bass |
Lou Gilberto |
Electric guitar |
Scott Dodge |
Electric guitar, vocals |
Mike Turner |
Electric bass |
Chris Tanti |
Drums |
Colin Osness |
Electric guitar, vocals |
Peter Svoboda |
Drums |
Yar |
Insanity is an American thrash and death metal band from San Francisco , California , founded in 1985 and has been active intermittently since then.
history
The band was formed in 1985 by longtime friends Joe DeZuniga (vocals, electric guitar) and Dave Gorsuch (electric guitar) after seeing bands like Motörhead , Metallica and Slayer live. Both did the songwriting , the original band logo was created by DeZuniga. High school friend Keith Ellison, who had been trying to start a band with Gorsuch since the previous year, joined as bassist . In September 1985 the line-up was completed with the addition of drummer Bud Mills. The first gig was then held on October 19, with the group only playing five songs and opening acts for Sacrilege BC and Death . This was followed by further concerts, among others together with Possessed . In the meantime a first demo was recorded, which allowed the band to increase their popularity a bit. The demo was recorded in a garage using a walkman and a stereo microphone . Around 1986 the band had to struggle with various problems: On the one hand, they did not have adequate equipment and a suitable rehearsal room; on the other hand, Bud Mills had to serve a ten-month prison sentence. During this time the band was mainly writing new material. When she started planning the first studio recordings before Mills was released, DeZuniga fell ill with heart disease. The group recorded another demo with DeZuniga, who had briefly left the hospital before he passed away on May 16, 1987.
After a long break, the band was revived in 1989. The line-up changed several times, but a record deal with Nuclear Blast failed to materialize because the line-up was not complete at that time. Instead, a contract for the release of an album was signed with the German label MBR Records , which in 1994 released the album Death After Death . Gorsuch had meanwhile also taken over the vocals, whereby he was still the only remaining founding member. In addition to him, the cast consisted of guitarist Matt Janko, bassist Joe Landers and drummer Prakash Sharma. 1993 and 1994 various appearances were completed, including with Possessed, where Mike Torrao was a good friend of the band since 1985, or on March 12, 1993 with Machine Head . Due to back problems of the drummer Sharma, the band took a break from the end of 1994.
In 1997 the band started working on new material. Lou Gilberto played bass while Mills took over the drums. Together, the band first reworked Death After Death by re-recording the vocals and the electric guitars. After the EP Sacrefixion , which contains three songs, was released in 2001, the band broke up towards the end of the year.
In 2005, Insanity got back together and held their first gig on June 8th in San Francisco. While she was already booked to perform and preparing to tour the west coast of the United States with Exhumed from August 25-28, drummer Colin Osness broke his hand. This meant that the group could only begin rehearsing after it was operational again on August 19th. Also in 2005, the compilation From the Grave was released by Parasitic Twin Productions , which contains the 1985 demo, the debut album and other demo recordings. Also contributed Barney Greenway of Napalm Death and Matt Harvey of Exhumed liner notes for. In early 2007, Mills rejoined the band as a drummer. Eight months after he performed with Insanity at the 2007 Murderfest in Los Angeles , Bud Mills died of esophageal cancer on November 14, 2007 after being diagnosed with it in September, delaying the recording of the Visions of Apocalypse album . The appearance at the Murderfest was also released on DVD . In October the group, which now consisted of the guitarist Scott Dodge and the drummer Juan Casarez in addition to Gorsch, continued their activity. In 2009 she went on tour through the west coast region of the USA. After further line-up changes, the band began recording Visions of Apocalypse . On the album, however, the drum recordings by Mills, which were made during pre-production, were used. The sound carrier was released in 2010 via Unspeakable Ax Records .
style
According to Allmusic's Cosmo Lee , Insanity was particularly important for the evolution from Thrash Metal to Death Metal at that time. In particular, Bud Mills' drumming predicted the blast beats that would later be typical of death metal. The group play very fast Thrash Metal and at the time sounded partly ahead of their time. Groups like Carcass and Napalm Death have also named the group as an influence. The latter band covered the Insanity song Fire Death Fate on the album Leaders Not Followers: Part 2 . Markus Endres from metal.de wrote in his review of Death After Death that the band initially played a mixture of Thrash and Speed Metal and later Death Metal. On the album itself there is angry old school Death Metal with strong Thrash Metal influences. At the time of publication, the material already sounded out of date. There are fast, merciless riffs on the album , and the album is slightly technical and complex. The songs are mostly fast, with occasional slow, groovy passages. In songs like In Memory there are also acoustic elements. The singing sounds mangy and should be classified between Ronnie Galetti from Nasty Savage and Jeff Becerra from Possessed . The drumming sounds massive and is strongly influenced by the use of double bass . You also use solos that would remind you of Slayer . Overall, the album is a mixture of the speed of Incubus , dark, aggressive Thrash Metal in the style of Possessed, the wildness of early Death as well as old Exodus and Dark Angel . However, there is a lack of catchy refrains. E. Thomas of teethofthedivine.com stated in his review of Visions of Apocalypse that the band played a mix of Thrash and Death Metal in their early days before the term "Death Metal" even existed. The style hasn't changed much on the album and he can tell that the group has been compared to Possessed, Dark Angel, Incubus, Master and early Death. Overall, the music could be described as more aggressive Thrash Metal, with rough vocals and dark themes. The sound was based on the late 1980s / early 1990s.
Discography
- 1985: Live Rehearsal Demo (demo, self-release)
- 1986: 85 deer. Demo (Demo, Black Lung Productions )
- 1989: Demo (demo, self-published)
- 1989: Rehearsal Demo 1989 (demo, self-publication)
- 1994: Pre-Production Demo '94 (demo, self-publication)
- 1994: Death After Death (album, MBR Records )
- 2001: Sacrefixion (EP, Black Lung Productions)
- 2004: Ultimate Death - Rare Bits & Pieces of Unreleased Insanity (compilation, Black Lung Productions)
- 2005: From the Grave (Compilation, Parasitic Twin Productions )
- 2006: Demo 1985 (single, Nuclear War Now! Productions )
- 2007: Visions of Apocalypse (advance copy) (demo, self-published)
- 2007: Morbid Home Video (DVD, Black Lung Productions)
- 2008: Visions of Apocalypse (Demo, Black Lung Productions)
- 2009: Chronicles of the Cursed (compilation, AreaDeath Productions )
- 2015: Visions of Apocalypse (Album, Unspeakable Ax Records )
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Biography. rockdetector.com, archived from the original on April 9, 2016 ; accessed on April 15, 2017 .
- ↑ a b c d e f BIOGRAPHY. blacklungproductions.com, accessed April 12, 2017 .
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Cosmo Lee: Insanity. Allmusic , accessed April 14, 2017 .
- ↑ Insanity (5) - Sacrefixion. Discogs , accessed April 15, 2017 .
- ↑ Insanity (5) - Visions Of Apocalypse. Discogs, accessed April 15, 2017 .
- ↑ Markus Endres: Insanity - Death After Death. metal.de, accessed on April 15, 2017 .
- ^ E. Thomas: Insanity. Visions of Apocalypse. teethofthedivine.com, accessed April 15, 2017 .