Review: Havoc Mass - El Insomne : MetalBite

El Insomne	United States

Type: Full-Length

Release Date: June 28th, 2018

Label: Independent

Genre: Death, Progressive

1. Krig

2. Födosagan

3. Slaget Vid Blodsälv

4. Skogens Hämnd

5. Jaktens Tid

6. Bakom Varje Fura

7. Kitteldags

8. Krigsmjöd

9. VargTimmen

10. Kyrkovisan

11. Den Hornkrönte Konungen

12. Aldhissla

13. Tomhet Och Tystnad Härska

1. Source Of Souls

2. Revenge Of Tizona

3. In The Name Of Blood

4. Rasputin

5. Odin's Spell

6. Accused To Be A Witch

7. Throne In The Sky

8. Odyssey

9. Fate Conquered The Power

10. Infinite Love

11. Hero Nation

1. Intro

2. Scarred For Life

3. Burned

4. Prime Directive

5. All That Is Evil

6. Distant Signs

7. Pools Of Blood

8. Mark My Words

9. Into Nothingness

1. El Insomne

2. The Wounds That Unheal

3. Nostalgia Painted Black

4. De Todo A Nada

5. Screams Of Tenerife

6. Irie To Agony

7. Panacea

8. Bedfast Catharsis

Review by Luka on October 20, 2001.

Now these guys are really doing something fun with their music! The Viking six-piece Finntroll are masters at their instruments and they seem to be held by no metal boundaries whatsoever. "Jaktens Tid" will bestow upon you everything from the regional soundtrack of brutal black metal to somber old-time chants to catchy piano harmonies to happy folk-polka music! I was first taken aback and turned off by this but now I just laugh at how interesting and fun it is! This is a CD I listen to when I’m in a good mood, although there are some very downhearted parts on here as well.

Trollhorn’s (I wonder if it’s his real name) euphonious keyboard melodies from songs like 'Skogens Hämnd' and 'Krigsmjöd' will stick in your head for days! It’s unbelievable! The songs here contain a massive amount of variety as well. 'Födosagan' starts with heavy-groove, distorted black metal riffs and in mid way enters into a sad and beautiful acoustic section. The third song will start off the same way and enter into a polka music part, all the while lightning-fast double-bass is thundering in the background! Now this is really fucked up!

The fact that there is such a vast amount of variety on the album is a bad thing too. The CD doesn’t really create a feeling of anything. Each song works on it’s own and at the end nothing was accomplished emotionally. I don’t think Finntroll are the kind of guys who would even care about something like that, to me they seem like a bunch of beer-drinking, fun-loving guys who know their music and wondered what a black metal band would sound like with accordions mixed in! Well, I’m certainly laughing, and enjoying the hell out of this album! This is really refreshing!

Bottom Line: Fun and weird! I Those crazy Finns.... I loved it!

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 6
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 6
Originality: 4
Overall:6

Rating: 7.8 out of 10

Review by Luka on October 20, 2001.

Now these guys are really doing something fun with their music! The Viking six-piece Finntroll are masters at their instruments and they seem to be held by no metal boundaries whatsoever. "Jaktens Tid" will bestow upon you everything from the regional soundtrack of brutal black metal to somber old-time chants to catchy piano harmonies to happy folk-polka music! I was first taken aback and turned off by this but now I just laugh at how interesting and fun it is! This is a CD I listen to when I’m in a good mood, although there are some very downhearted parts on here as well.

Trollhorn’s (I wonder if it’s his real name) euphonious keyboard melodies from songs like 'Skogens Hämnd' and 'Krigsmjöd' will stick in your head for days! It’s unbelievable! The songs here contain a massive amount of variety as well. 'Födosagan' starts with heavy-groove, distorted black metal riffs and in mid way enters into a sad and beautiful acoustic section. The third song will start off the same way and enter into a polka music part, all the while lightning-fast double-bass is thundering in the background! Now this is really fucked up!

The fact that there is such a vast amount of variety on the album is a bad thing too. The CD doesn’t really create a feeling of anything. Each song works on it’s own and at the end nothing was accomplished emotionally. I don’t think Finntroll are the kind of guys who would even care about something like that, to me they seem like a bunch of beer-drinking, fun-loving guys who know their music and wondered what a black metal band would sound like with accordions mixed in! Well, I’m certainly laughing, and enjoying the hell out of this album! This is really refreshing!

Bottom Line: Fun and weird! I Those crazy Finns.... I loved it!

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 6
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 6
Originality: 4
Overall:6

Rating: 7.8 out of 10



Review by Elijah on February 26, 2020.

Out of all the fusion genre metal bands out there, Sleep Terror is pretty much my favorite. They've made some good albums when they started, but El Insomne is truly just something else.

This album has pretty much been dubbed as "Latin Surf Jazz Technical Death Metal". This features technical death metal with other genres too such as funk, acoustic, prog, and reggae. The way this album came out is outstanding, can't explain enough how insane the music on this album is. Every song starts out differently and always changes throughout the rest of the song. Some songs start out brutal, others soft, others right in the middle of the both. Ever heard a song that has some progressive surf funk and then suddenly turns into technical death metal? You most likely have not.

Literally every song is insane, and the listener is definitely unprepared for what they're about to listen to. The album starts off with a mid to fast-paced Latin acoustic guitar intro, and this is a very great way to start off an album like this. That intro alone perfectly emulates the feel for the rest of the album. Tech death with a big twist. After the intro, the first track starts off nice and smoothly. A funky latin surf section that would soon transform into brutal, crushing, (yet still surfy atmospheric) technical death metal. Then after that it turns into some funky stuff. Every genre on this album is just back and forth over and over. This is amazing. Bands like these know how to mix genres just the perfect way. Talented musicians have talented minds, and I can't even begin to process how long it took Luke to come up with stuff like this. This album is VERY mind-blowing.

Sleep Terror has mainly been a one-person band; Luke Jaeger on all instruments as well as providing programmed drums too. All his past work is great as well, but El Insomne is obviously this band's peak. On this record, legendary death metal drummer Lord Marco joined the band in order for Luke's music to sound purer by adding in some real drum tracks for the first time in the band's studio recording history. And his playing is amazing. The style of the drums sounds just like the drums on all the past albums; fast and furious, very technical and organized indeed. Luke is the composer of all the music on this album, with Marco coming in to provide the drums tracks. Both men on this record are insanely skilled in every way possible. This is the album that no one asked for but was very much needed. Who knew Sleep Terror would put out such a complex and insane album like this after the release of Unihemispheria? Wow!

This is one of the greatest releases of 2018, and if you like technical death metal, I HIGHLY HIGHLY suggest you go and listen to this right now. This album will blow your mind and begin to make you think "What the hell?? How could a band make such great music like this?!?!" I swear to you, you will not waste a single second with this listen.

Rating: 9 out of 10



Review by Elijah on February 26, 2020.

Out of all the fusion genre metal bands out there, Sleep Terror is pretty much my favorite. They've made some good albums when they started, but El Insomne is truly just something else.

This album has pretty much been dubbed as "Latin Surf Jazz Technical Death Metal". This features technical death metal with other genres too such as funk, acoustic, prog, and reggae. The way this album came out is outstanding, can't explain enough how insane the music on this album is. Every song starts out differently and always changes throughout the rest of the song. Some songs start out brutal, others soft, others right in the middle of the both. Ever heard a song that has some progressive surf funk and then suddenly turns into technical death metal? You most likely have not.

Literally every song is insane, and the listener is definitely unprepared for what they're about to listen to. The album starts off with a mid to fast-paced Latin acoustic guitar intro, and this is a very great way to start off an album like this. That intro alone perfectly emulates the feel for the rest of the album. Tech death with a big twist. After the intro, the first track starts off nice and smoothly. A funky latin surf section that would soon transform into brutal, crushing, (yet still surfy atmospheric) technical death metal. Then after that it turns into some funky stuff. Every genre on this album is just back and forth over and over. This is amazing. Bands like these know how to mix genres just the perfect way. Talented musicians have talented minds, and I can't even begin to process how long it took Luke to come up with stuff like this. This album is VERY mind-blowing.

Sleep Terror has mainly been a one-person band; Luke Jaeger on all instruments as well as providing programmed drums too. All his past work is great as well, but El Insomne is obviously this band's peak. On this record, legendary death metal drummer Lord Marco joined the band in order for Luke's music to sound purer by adding in some real drum tracks for the first time in the band's studio recording history. And his playing is amazing. The style of the drums sounds just like the drums on all the past albums; fast and furious, very technical and organized indeed. Luke is the composer of all the music on this album, with Marco coming in to provide the drums tracks. Both men on this record are insanely skilled in every way possible. This is the album that no one asked for but was very much needed. Who knew Sleep Terror would put out such a complex and insane album like this after the release of Unihemispheria? Wow!

This is one of the greatest releases of 2018, and if you like technical death metal, I HIGHLY HIGHLY suggest you go and listen to this right now. This album will blow your mind and begin to make you think "What the hell?? How could a band make such great music like this?!?!" I swear to you, you will not waste a single second with this listen.

Rating: 9 out of 10