Insider, the long-lived “cosmic doom psych prog” rock band coming from Pescara (Central Italy), is back with a new work called Event Horizon. The new album had been announced already during the release of their previous opus in 2012, “Vibrations from the Tapes”, the well over 70 minutes-long, monumental collection of sessions of psychedelic improvisation (read more here). The line-up for the new album is the stable and inspired trio involving Marco Ranalli on electric and acoustic guitars, effects and synths, his brother Piero Ranalli on bass and Stefano di Rito on drums. Like the previous CD, the new album is totally instrumental and includes 8 tracks summing up to slightly less than an hour.
Insider made us enjoy and, yes, get used to their own way to deeply riff-based heavy, and often remarkably heavy psychedelia and reminding us of several monsters of the old school space prog, kraut- and psych blues rock and of heavy doom as well. Probably the 2012 Vibrations from the Tapes CD might be seen or experienced like the celebration of such sources of inspiration via a personal and spontaneous reworking crafted by experienced musicians after several years from the previous album (the 2005 album Simple Water Drops). This impression of mine got further reinforced after listening to the new album Event Horizon which sounds much structured and complex, a bit different from what heard before and, above all, often drenched with darkness. Or at least these are, let’s say, the synthetic effects, feelings and images, Insider’s music is evoking in my mind with their new, deeply inspired tunes! And, I must say, finding new and unexpected atmospheres and, well, yes, sound constructions was a cool surprise for me.
If you head to the new interview to Marco and Piero Ranalli (HERE) you’ll see that actually nothing in particular changed in the band’s attitude to their music, in the sense that their approach keeps on being the one of full, almost cathartic immersion into the pleasure of inventing and playing music together. (link to the interview) But whenever I listen to Event Horizon I get struck by the much darker and gloomier atmospheres and often harsher sounds employed in the eight chapters of this new adventure. This is definitely an adventure starting from the titles of the album and of the tracks. The titles are evocative of the physics of the black holes and of the mysterious fate of energy waves in all their forms when they are deviated and eventually swallowed by the extreme gravitational field related to black holes (the so-called “event horizon” or “else point of no return”). Tracks are labeled with sharp, synthetic titles, and sub-titles, that strike harsh like equations and/or sound majestic like chapters of a book of astrophysics. As with previous releases by Insider, all this may be intended as reflecting spiritual issues.
Event Horizon is a hauntingly grim voyage described by a hybrid style variably blending Insider’s spacey heavy psych rock constructions with radical tempo changes, with tense, martial, abrasive to sometimes asphyxiating or even funereal “industrial” and doomy sounds. The glue linking and combining all these components is, more than ever, technics which imparts a strong “progressive” and almost jazz-like character to this album. The “core” of some tracks, or, as the band indicated them, “mini-suites”, in Event Horizon may be lead by “normal” psych melody. However while the track unfolds the leading melody may be enthropically transformed and eventually almost annihilated by frenetic tempo changes and by the onset of deviating or else circular to coiled riff patterns involving guitars and a deeply pulsating, jazzy bass. For example, this is my feeling while listening to the first two tracks Escape Velocity and Magnetic Field Lines, and, sincerely the titles fit well with the fate of the sound!
Magnetic Field Lines, in particular, is one of the tracks where contrasts rule: the band sharply shifts between breathless, almost syncopated martial heaviness and deeply melodic airy lead by Marco’s synth or else proggy/stoner metal groove.
Gravitational Mass is probably the most doomy track of the whole album. The slow, plodding development of this charming dark ballad sounds like a dirge, the perfect refrain for a “trve” funeral doom metal suite. But don’t give anything for granted with Insider, as they will turn the funeral into a party by smoothly inserting an amazing series of groove-laden prog psych rock riffs. I am in love with this amazing, gloomy track …Jet is the track that the band used for promoting the new album. This is another doomy ballad where synths and effects help in creating a vintage sci-fi vibe. Here as well the band likes to play with contrasts between the levity of the groove-laden guitar solos and the mammoth progression of the dominant doomy parts where raw distortion and continuous tonal changes will make your breath painfully slow down. Tiny surprises may come up as well via a short acoustic ballad like the title track, a melancholic song lead by a rather simple melody. But here the cool invention is to couple the touches on the acoustic guitar with delicate but weird, drony, wavy psychedelic effects that sometimes sound like distant seagulls in a lonely, icy-cold atmosphere … Expansion of the Universe is a 9 minutes-long suite which has been ideally divided into six parts by the band: Inertia, Quantum Fluctuations Development of Galaxies, Dark Energy, Synthesis of Elements, and The Present Universe. All in all this is a complex and multifaceted prog suite telling a long story via a wealth of sounds and ambience. There are no marked separations between the different parts of the suite. The suite develops via effective variations between tempos, smooth and “mechanical” melodies, dark and light atmospheres, riffs and/or the way instruments and, especially, guitars plus synths, on one side, and bass plus drums interact often along independent melodic lines. In spite of the title, the 9 minutes-long suite Black Hole is a delightfully slow, trippy song, almost a heavy lullaby lead by sequences of circular psychedelic riffs plus synth and by a weird but intriguing heavy refrain. The overall leading melody is simple and catchy, but what is fascinating here is to discover and appreciate the coupling with retro synth and guitar possessing many voices. The album is closed by White Hole, a triumphant space psych doom prog ballad. Sorry for the many adjectives but this is a universe of citations and states of minds or moods. You may shift from the initial electronic cosmic vibes in the vein of Hawkwind and 35007 into Sabbathian groove and then into some grim abrasive noise or post-metal dissonance. You may catch quick glimpses of retro prog fusion à-la-Soft Machine here and there, and eventually jump straight into pure juicy stoner/bluesy riff rock. And all this mental gym is taking place in about 6 minutes.
So, here is my experience with Insider’s new album Event Horizon, a complex, dark and charming album revealing different faces or else potentially touching different chords in the listener.
An “external” label, Phonosphera Records, had been involved in the release of the “Vibrations from the Tapes ” CD. But with Even Horizon the band did everything at home, not only recording and mastering but also the physical release of the album via the establishment of the band-owned label called Andruid Records. The label also involves the professional recording studio that the band members have always employed for their music activity. You may get some first-hand info about the making of this album and about the band and what may come from these guys in a near future via the interview to Marco and Piero Ranalli here. (link to the interview)Get this new, haunting opus by Insider by contacting the band, via Andruid Records or else via international resellers like Kozmik Artifactz (Europe) and Clearspot (worldwide).
Words: Marilena Moroni
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