In an instant, I knew The Insolent (Selfmadegod) from Warsaw, Poland’s Antigama was a stellar pursuit—the seventh full-length installment from the avant-garde Grind act cracks open new dimensionality in their already complex and angular brutality.
The ten tracks comprising The Insolent play as the culmination of Antigama’s aural evolution, where their Napalm Death-style intoning is augmented by ambient qualities, which synthesize into an aura of hauntingly ominous hues.
Opening track ‘Reward or Punishment’ splays with righteous indignation, as vocalist Lukasz Myszkowski’s high throat barks and sneers grate atop guitarist Sebastian Rokicki’s asymmetrical chord progressions, materializing into a din of riffs and unpredictability.
Antigama cozies up to instrumental interludes on tracks like ‘Out and Beyond,’ which resonate with meditative impulses, while maintaining momentum and push via Paweł “Paul” Jaroszewicz’s consistent, atomic-tight percussive timing.
Focused and capable, The Insolent also proves Antigama has mastered the art of maintaining decipherability, which speaks to a maturity heard rarely in Grind: tracks like ‘The Land of Monotony’ impress breathing room between the impulses of Antigama’s cacophony, rendering the requisite sound all the more impactful, impressive, and harrowing.
Recorded in February 2015 at JNS Studio in Warsaw, The Insolent was engineered by Pawel Grabowski, mixed by Pawel Grabowski and Antigama. Mastered by the venerable Scott Hull (Pig Destroyer, Agoraphobic Nosebleed) at Visceral Sound in Bethesda, Maryland, the album also features a guest appearance from Władysław “Gudonis” Komendarek, and cover art from Bartek Rogalewicz.
8.0/10
LINDSAY O’CONNOR