Squeaky-Clean Metal
Surely the Swedish conveyor belt of bands must come to an end. 'Agony - Gift of Life' is Swedish power metallers Insania's fourth album and I'm reaching a point where I believe every metal-head in Sweden is in a band, and if they're not they're treated as outcasts and weirdos who bring shame on the community. I'm only saying this because I'm insanely jealous of such a rich music scene whereas we poor Brits only have a fraction of the bands spewed from a country with approximately one-sixth the populous. Perhaps it's a mental block of the 'cheese factor' that generates so many bands including such acts as Insania because 'Agony - Gift of Life' is pure cheddar through and through.
We're firmly in power metal territory here, so firmly in fact that manacles are put on your hands and feet to prevent you from ever leaving because this sixty-five minute opus is a collection of squeaky-clean yet catchy and appealing songs. This album is tidy power metal along the same lines as Sonata Arctica, the production is fairly light weight considering the pace and driving rhythms the band adopt, yet it is very tight to allow every note and chord change to have an effect.
The musicianship is pretty much flawless. The drumming of Mikko Korsbäck is tighter than the snare drum he hits and he really excels on the faster tracks which, blister along at a fair ole lick. Peter Östros shreds for his country and impresses most on the title track 'Gift of Life', however, he is joined in his soloing by keyboardist Dimitri Keiski and the two trade off each other brilliantly. Peter uses those high soaring notes where as Dimitri adopts a distorted Hammond organ sound ala John Lord, and grinds solos over the heavy backing.
Like with most power metal, the album is at its strongest on the 100mph tracks as it gives a chance for each musician to really let rip, especially the vocalist Ola Halén who has an impressive range and pure silk tone similar to that of Michael. 'Fight for Life' is a belter of a tune which could rival Gamma Ray in its delivery as could 'Facing my Destiny'. 'Alive' is fast based tune with a heightened sense of drama courtesy of Dimitri's keyboards and 'Times of Glory' is epic and a nice change of pace without losing anything the band are about.
On the flip side 'Agony - Gift of Life' presents nothing new for an already over-cluttered genre. There's little doubt the band can pen a decent metal tune but there's a sense of 'heard of it all before'. The songs are grand in scale, yet so are PowerQuest's and Sonata Arctica's, so what can Insania offer that is new? The answer is very little, only the distorted Hammond organ was a step away from the crowd, which, doesn't count for much when it's appearance is fleeting. Some of the songs miss their mark as well, 'Dreams' is so generic it actually hurts and the ballad 'One Day' is so dire that they should play it to terrorists on loud speakers to reduce their morale. Why oh why do power metal bands feel the need to sully an album with such weak toss? I don't think I've heard a good power metal ballad yet and 'One Day' isn't going to change that statistic.
For all it's run of the mill power metal qualities 'Agony - Gift of Life' is an enjoyable listen. The stronger songs help to carry the weaker tracks and the powerful lead breaks keep you listening to almost the end at least. If you like the tidy and clean cut side of the genre then this a must listen but for those who like power metal with a little dirt on it's hands then this could be an album to try but not to commit to. For the rest of the metal land (i.e magazine shelf publications), this should be avoided at all costs as Insania won't be converting anybody anytime soon, they're sort of preaching to the converted, it just so happens the converted all seem to live in Sweden.