Slovenian band INMATE was formed in 2005 according to the sources I see online, and I understand that they have been a fairly active live unit in their local scene. It has taken them some time to go from a performing band to a recording one however. “Free at Last” is their debut album, and was released through Graviton Music Services in 2012.
Whipping dead horses is a sport that isn’t the most constructive, but this is a case where I’ll do a little bit of that. It’s not about the band as such really, but the fact that I see them described as melodic death metal. In the vast jungle of metal subgenres, a jungle that have grown into hundreds and possibly into thousands of different varieties with miniscule differences between them, this particular description is one of many I’d like to see tossed into the garbage heap. There’s really nothing that a band like Inmate does which can’t be described by using old, existing terms. For me, personally, inventing these myriads of new subgenres is an exercise in laziness first and foremost.
With that rant over and done with for now, onto the music. And besides already mentioning the melodic death metal, which should give the genre nerds plenty of direction in itself, I’ll start out by mentioning that Inmate is a surprisingly accessible band. They do toss a lot of different elements into their stew, but you’ll never be far away from distinct melodies and harmonies. Often by way of melody based riff structures, but also by way of melodic overlays. In both cases with origins that can be traced back to NWOBHM, and I’d namedrop Iron maiden in particular as a likely origin for many of these elements.
But the songs themselves are more complicated affairs, pairing off several different takes on metal. Iron Maiden and Saxon are the bands I’d pull out as possible inspirations for the calmer and slower paced sequences explored, while the more extreme and dramatic hammering drum and riff excursions may possibly reside inside a hardcore thrash inspired context. Dubbed metalcore these days from what I understand. On a few occasions there’s a slight touch of what is described as djent unless I’m much mistaken, while a more common expression are intense galloping rhythms and riffs of the kind I’d describe as power metal. Fairly intense and on steroids at times, but at least to my ears otherwise fitting that style quite nicely.
I guess that the death metal aspect is mainly covered by the vocals in this case, as Inmate alternate between distinctly powerful, melodic lead vocals and a nicely dampened variety of growling as the providers of the lyrical content. It’s an effective contrast, and both vocal styles are executed with a certain degree of finesse too, making sure to shy away from a one dimensional mode of delivery. Backing vocals are supplied with the same amount of variety, which makes this aspect of the album a rather interesting one. That Inmate also use keyboards on a select few occasions further enhance the feeling of variety that is a strong aspect of this album, and fits in quite nicely in this context too I might add.
If you find the notion of a band that explore an accessible blend of NWOBHM, power metal and thrash to be interesting, and you are intrigued by a band of this type using alternating melody based and growling lead vocals, then this well made and well produced album merits an inspection. A taste for variety and contrast will be needed, but the music have also been executed in such an accessible manner that I suspect the potential fanbase for them to be a fairly broad one, despite of rather than because of all the contrasting features.
My rating: 79/100
