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INSANITY ALERT
Second Opinion EP

Slaughterhouse (2013)
Rating: 5.5/10

Insanity Alert, as you may have guessed from their moniker, are a thrash act who dabbles with hardcore and punk. Second Opinion is the Austrian band’s debut opus, a six-track affair that hurtles through the room like a whirlwind, which is literally over in just ten minutes!

These guys have only been in existence since 2011, and are very much here to party, skateboard and mosh. Insanity Alert features the vocal talents of Heavy Kevy, who is somewhat of a metal veteran having performed with various bands over two decades previous to joining this bunch of crossover lunatics. The band also features guitarist Dave Dave Dave (clearly so popular he likes to hear his name three times!), bassist Jatsch Ziag O and drum maniac Don Melanzani.

Together they make quite a noise, as you’d expect, combining retro thrash with their own boozy brand of skateboarding-crossover thrash which hits at such a speed that by the time you’ve slapped the disc on you’re already getting back off your arse to play it again.

Second Opinion opens with the mid-paced riffage of ‘Strength Of The Insane’, which is probably the EP’s slowest moment; a half-decent instrumental that shows potential, but it’s a shame the track, which clocks in at under two minutes, doesn’t develop into something more.

From here on however it’s pretty much frantic party thrash. ‘Slimer’s Revenge’ combines the fury of Exodus with punky attitude and gang chant choruses. The band are clearly keen on injecting their pacey noise with high levels of humour, and this strongly comes to the fore with the chugging menace of ‘Arac Attack’ with its old school chants and ear-splitting speed.

Of course, the usual lyrics describing “toxic waste” and over-sized arachnids on the prowl have been part of the thrash metal diet for the last 20 or more years, and it’s nothing new to the ears, but I don’t think Insanity Alert have any other aim on this planet except to batter the ears and pummel the brain with their retro thrash attack.

The 50-second ‘Twist-Off Betrayal’ and closing ‘March Of The Mentally Ill’ are simplistic flesh-rippers, that will no doubt appeal to the thrash metal maniacs who’ve spent the last decade lapping up the zombified cacophony of bands such as Municipal Waste, Gama Bomb et al. Sure, it can get tiresome very quickly, but on Second Opinion Insanity Alert don’t even give the listener time to think, because within those ten minutes they removed the brain of their victims with precision and gulped it down with a nice cup of moshing soup.

Second Opinion pretty much sums up where thrash is today – fast, frantic and yet overdosing on zombies and cartoon violence – but when is it going to stop? The invasion continues…

Neil Arnold

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