Insane - Wait And Pray - Reviewed By The Mule Rail ! Check it out here at this link: https://ilragliodelmulo.com/2021/05/19/insane-wait-and-pray/
One of the cult albums of the Italian scene, accessible today in unauthorized versions, is "Wait and Pray" (2005) by the Marche thrasher Insane. In a few months, that album will be available in a new official version, published by High Roller Records,which will not only lend a new graphic design, but also a tracklist full of surprises...
Ciao Dan (vocals and bass), during 2021 High Roller Records will release a new edition of "Wait and Pray", the debut album by your Insane. The peculiarity of this release is also the presence of "Insolent Aggression", a record that bears the signature of slaves. And it is from the latter that I would like to start: how and when were the Slaves born?
Twenty years ago, year plus year less, in the same way that hundreds of groups are born every month. Teenagers with a lot of desire to mess up, a lot of ambition and zero experience on how to move. This last circumstance means that the majority of these groups will evaporate in a short time, but we have managed to get back into that small part that can move forward and I do not feel like saying that it was a stroke of luck. I can assure you that the difficulties we had to overcome would have brought down a wild bull. You have to be extremely determined to get up on your feet every time, and awake enough to learn quickly from your mistakes.
What do you remember about the "Insolent Aggression" recordings?
The dirt from the carpet in the crypt where we made it. In addition to that I also remember well that it was our firm intention to record an album completely in analog, on magnetic tape. Here I open a parenthesis: in those years the boom of digital recording accessible to all was exploding, a phenomenon that would open the doors in a short time to the birth of home recording until it became that mass costume that we know today and of which we appreciate some indisputable advantages. Only, as is often the case with a novelty, there is a tendency to lose sight of a certain balance of judgment and so everyone was blindly thrown in that direction. The only word "analog" suddenly had taken a completely negative sense, synonymous with old man and garbage from the straight. Everything had to be "digital art" from sound, to record covers. Rightly or wrongly, we felt we had to be against the current. It was clear that the future was mapped out, but we wanted to show that an 'old school' approach, as we would say today, was not yet to be given for dead. So with a little word of mouth we found that a man around us still had an old Teac 80/8 abandoned in a garage. It was a real feat to be able to organize everything between logistics, registration, mixes, passages on DAT, final burning and it is worth pointing out that no one obviously gave us anything; we paid up to the last cable moved for every half meter. We certainly didn't choose the easiest and most comfortable route but that was our "mission" and we were determined to accomplish it at any cost. I believe that the conditions in which we found ourselves making that album are fully reflects the result of the album: raw, imperfect, obstinate and furious.
The transition from Slaves to Insane to what was due?
From the beginning, even amid continuous changes of formation, there were always four of us because it was obvious that our proposal was designed to work with two guitars. However, in 2003, after recording the three tracks of the demo and being contacted by BattleCry's Andi, a guitarist left for the umpteenth time; all that continuous turnover of guys alongside Luca had become nerve-wracking, we really couldn't take it anymore, and it was clear by now that we would have to accept the idea of continuing in three. So we took advantage of that episode to cut back on what we had done until then and the most significant thing that came to mind in this sense was starting from a new name for the "new" group. It was a decision dictated by the instinct of the moment and in hindsight I can tell you that this thing caused even more confusion, also for the endless list of groups that are called by the same name, but at that time it was what we needed to give us a mental shock. Then you always have to consider that we are talking about a year in which MySpace still did not exist, you connected to the internet with a 56 Kb modem and Google was an almost nerd thing. We had never heard of any group called Insane and believed it to be the most original name in the world!
"Wait and Pray" was released in the mid-2000s, at a time when thrash metal, given for dead in the 90s, was again gaining the favor of the masses thanks to bands such as Municipal Waste, Evile, Gama Bomb. Why couldn't you get into that strand, despite the excellent quality of the record?
I have to tell you the truth. I don't even know one of the groups you mentioned. As far as I can remember, when we started playing in 2000, the scene was entirely dominated by melodic power metal in Europe, Scandinavian black metal and nascent nu-metal and all the crossover movement from the USA. There were certainly also minor movements for all the other genres but I have to say that we were never interested in getting into a strand or being part of a few rounds. We've always been lone wolves and we've never paid too much attention to what was going on around us or watching what others did.
Does the fact that today your debut has become an object of worship, soothe or exacerbate the displeasure of not giving continuity to the band's activity?
None of that. We are satisfied with how things went and how they ended. The band has made its way, achieved its goals and the chapter has closed in a completely natural way. I never perceived "Wait and Pray" as a starting point but rather as a point of arrival. Exactly where we wanted to get to. Again we didn't choose the most comfortable route - we could easily have recorded it in a studio a stone's throw from home and saved ourselves a bloody intercontinental trip in all respects - but we would never have achieved what we had in mind. See, the point was to want to shot everybody in the face. A demonstration. The reference so close to Slayer is wanted and clearly it is something unique and is at the same time the reason for the success and the limit of the record. Everyone can see it however they want but in the end it has a deeper meaning than it may seem; it was never a mere "tribute". Now that's not to say it's just an experiment, but surely the band wasn't structured to continue. I think "Wait and Pray" should be seen as a child album of its time, a time when there was a need to send a message, to give certain answers and to show that it was still possible to make a certain type of music in a certain way. The fact that after twenty years the attention around the record does not seem to decrease makes me assume that insane have given current answers even today.
Now let's move on to reprinting, in the communiqués I have read, I have not seen the date of publication of this new edition, can you tell me or has it not yet been scheduled?
Yes, the publication is scheduled for October 29th and pre-orders should start six weeks earlier then around September 17th.
One of the distinctive elements of that album is the Slayerana cover, instead the new edition will have a new artwork signed by Velio Josto: why did you opt for a new packaging?
The idea of offering a new cover was from High Roller Records and we immediately loved it. It was the ideal opportunity to distance yourself from all those editions and reprints that still run today without any authorization or consent from us. There are several jackals who have made and continue to make money with "Wait and Pray" by millaning or reselling non-existent "rights". These speculators hide behind the actual difficulty and dubious convenience of taking international legal action. Regarding the new cover I think it is a magnificent work on the one hand for velio's evident talent on the other for his ability to transmit the atmosphere of the record while managing to maintain a common thread with the past. Then it is clear that for anything you will always find someone who sees it as opposed to you (I still remember the ass sockets for the original cover when the record came out) but everything is fine with us so. As at the time, it's exactly the unexpected face shot we like to give.
Are the tracks on the disc the original tracks or are they remastered?
We made the original tracks available to the label which then took care of sending everything to Patrik Engel of Temple Of Disharmony for a restoration of the material. For sure something, especially in older pieces, will have needed a heavier makeover but we are also curious to discover the final result.
The idea of inserting "Insolent Aggression" to whom did it come? Why didn't you opt for a specific reissue of that record?
Yes, in reality "Insolent Aggression" will be released as an album in its own right and here too the idea was of the boys of the label. I would say that given the absence of a sequel, we have opted to offer a prequel and I personally believe that this is an exceptional opportunity to get a better overview of the evolution that has taken place to get to realize "Wait and Pray".
In addition to "Insolent Aggression", if I am not mistaken, there will also be other bonus tracks on the album: what is it?
That's right, there will also be pieces from the first recordings, experiments and various demos, all those primitive and even somewhat naïve ideas that oscillate at the edge of black metal of the beginning in search of a form and experience that we later treasured.
After talking a lot about the past, I would like to close by opening a window of the future: do you think that reprinting can somehow re-esremit the Insane?
No, I rule it out; it wouldn't make sense. The Insanes ended their cycle – they did what they had to do, demonstrated what they had to prove and there's nothing else to add. What's more, we are now 100% committed to our new project. - The Mule Rail
The cult album " Wait and Pray " from the Italian thrash metal band ' Insane' will be reissued by High Roller Records in 2021 along with the unreleased " Insolent Aggression " from the first incarnation of the band known as ' Slaves' . The remastered editions by Patrick W. Engel ( Temple of Disharmony ) will be real collector's items featuring new cover artworks by Velio Josto and will be enriched with new original material like bonus tracks from early demos and photos previously unseen. Pre-orders for both CD and vinyl versions will open soon.
Release date is October 29th and pre-orders start September 17th!
FFO: Slayer, Midnight, Bewitcher
Check out the original version below released April 5, 2005!
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https://insanewap.bandcamp.com/releases
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