The Pitch: "Long time ago, five undiagnosed mental patients were admitted to a high-security psychiatric facility. After years of... quarantine, isolated from any human contact, they were selected to participate in an experiment that ultimately led to a pathological phenomenon called Insaniam"
What I Like: What happens when you combine modern black metal music with nü-metal imagery? This, apparently. And you know what, I'm not ready to say it doesn't work. Black metal is supposed to "have no rules" as it has been put even by forerunners in the genre, and as I said before why are masks stupid but corpse paint and giant spikes and leather okay? Musically, these guys are decent. The stronger tracks on the album are catchy while still being dark and ugly. I also love the presence of the bass guitar.
What I Don't Like: The not-so-strong tracks aren't bad but do come off as extremely generic. If I have one concern about the imagery, it's that the music needs to come first regardless of your brand. Insaniam show at times that they are more than capable of making stronger compositions, so they need to put more work into keeping the quality consistent.
The Verdict: While Neurotic Mental Storm definitely has a gimmicky side, the band shows some strong promise in their songwriting abilities that could lead to a more recognized future release. I could see some of those in the Dimmu Borgir/Cradle of Filth fanbase eating this up. Name your price for the album below.
Flight's Fav's: Intoxicated Call, Fall And Rise