Review by Alex Grindor on December 28, 2023.

One thing is that black metal sounds raw in its approach (as it is the way of the style), but another different thing is that the final product sounds overtly rushed and with an excess of overlooked details. Such is the case with the all-female black metal band Insanity Storm and their debut album Caos Destrucción. While the band itself has existed since 2023, their current stable lineup comprises Elizafer (Faithless Yell, ex-Hierra), Moon (from "Mun") and Black Martus (Beelzebuth, Carnivorus, 1879, among others). This album was, according to the band, recorded and released from December 12th to 23rd.

Caos Destrucción is what I consider a conflicted album; it wants to be heavy, but also black, but also melodic and none of these three directions is executed properly. Make no mistake, there are some excellent moments in the album ('Cerdos' having an amazing starting riff) but it feels like the full potential of the songs was not reached properly, due to how fast this was recorded and published. The instrumentation is well executed, recorded with a raw approach but clear enough to be discernible. The bass (amazingly) has a notorious presence and weight throughout the album. The drums sound a bit out-of-sync at times but this is barely an issue. The guitars are really well played and there are more than a few excellent riffs in the record. One of the major issues here would be Elizafer's vocals, which sound (for lack of a better term) really weak. Her shrieks barely have power and the studio reverb cannot hide this issue. It sounds like she's constantly trying to out-do her vocal performance in every track and the result is the complete opposite. There are some clean vocals and synths thrown at some moments in the album, but they barely enhance the music. All of this, however, is nothing compared to the most obvious issue in the album: the production.

Caos Destrucción's production is as rushed and raw as it gets. The lack of a click-track gives this a more organic feeling which is appreciated but also shows when the band falls out of sync. The drums sound like they were recorded in an empty basement (and that snare sound is not really great) that was thrice as big as the drum kit. The guitars and bass barely have an issue, as they are well executed, but they are sometimes drowned by the vocals and drums. There is a chance that all of this was recorded live in the studio, which may explain some of the discrepancies here, but hopefully this will be a lesson on how to do things better next time.

Insanity Storm's debut is 27 minutes of melodic black/heavy metal marred by a rushed recording and release process. Even more amazing is the fact that they managed to create and release a video for 'Fears' (which somehow sounds slightly better than the studio version?). But in the end the album as a whole has quite a few issues that, hopefully, will be fixed in a future follow-up to Caos Destrucción. Insanity Storm has a lot of potential that can be unleashed in the future, but let this be a lesson on one simple thing: you can't record and release an album in less than 2 weeks and expect it to be good.

Unless you're Buckethead.

Rating: 6.3 out of 10