Innsmouth – The Shadow Over Innsmouth (Review)

Innsmouth are from Denmark and play Technical Death Metal. This is their début album.

This is Technical Death Metal with programmed drums and added subtle keyboard highlights.

Think bands like Nile, Necrophagist and Obscura and you’ll be in the right place.

The musicianship is impressive with shredding guitar solos peeling off all over the shop. The solos feel like an integral part of the band’s identity and they make a good impression.

The music is nicely varied with a healthy amount of brutality offsetting the technical capabilities of the band. Quality riffs and some good atmospheric sections rub shoulders with moments of chuggery and melodic leads. Inssmouth seem more than capable of keeping the listener interested and the songs on this album show a high degree of maturity of delivery and composition whilst simultaneously keeping things aggressive and direct.

The band have plenty of energy and show that they can use dynamics to good effect. These songs actually feel like songs rather than stitched together riffs, which is always a danger with the more technical side of Metal. Thankfully they seem to realise that the song comes first and everything else is just enhancement.

The vocals are quite daemonic and evil sounding, both deeper growls and higher screams.

The album’s production values are good and the music has a satisfying sound that hits the spot.

A most enjoyable release. This is Death Metal with interest, depth and a whole bucket-load of guitar shenanigans. I Like.