It’s always a pleasure to come across a band that does more with their Industrial influences than some sub-Nine Inch Nails dancefloor pap, and Insidious have clearly been bought up at the more extreme end of the genre. Digital Disdain is a re-release of a demo with a couple of extra tracks to bring the running length up to EP standards, and treated as a debut EP this is promising. The band refuse to follow in the footsteps of the few other Extreme Industrial Metal bands out there that have made a name for themselves – this is more abstract that The Project Hate MCMXCIX, more Death Metal than Red Harvest (although you can hear the Norwegians’ influence on Blood Harvest, a nightmarish soundscape that’s the opposite of ambient).

What this listen promises is the sound of a band that is nearly very good, almost at the point where they deserve the kudos; you can hear future songs taking shape, being hammered together. The sheer amount of touchstones in the likes of the title track is impressive: the wild technicality of Origin, the insane fury of Strapping Young Lad, complete with mid-period Cryptopsyian groove and early Fear Factory rawness. Everything that Insidious attempt works to some extent, from the beats in Slave To The System to the Deicide-on-a-space-station brutality of Charges Of Disgust, and it’s easy to see the members’ instrumental skill, especially from the Blackened rumble of Eradication.

Give them time and attention, O Metal labels of the world, and Insidious will soon be producing some damn fine work. Digital Disdain is almost worth buying on its own merits, and it’s not often that you can say that about a new band’s pre-full length releases. This is the sound of the future in more ways than one…