With the flood of death metal releases in recent years it is becoming harder and harder to distinguish oneself from the mainstream. The best way is to have a good live reputation and a crushing debut album. I have not had the privilege to see I.N.R.I. (abbreviation for Insane Non-commercialized Rock Institute) perform live since their recent lineup (and musical) changes, but the debut album is not too bad. Their style is a raw, sometimes a ‘rock ‘n’ roll’ kind of old school death metal.

It lacks a bit of originality though. Throughout the entire album I felt I heard it before. Since I.N.R.I. chose this new direction of songwriting only a year ago, that is not surprising. It is really hard to have your own style right from the start and on such short notice. Nevertheless the album has its serious ups. Some riffs are quite catchy. The title track “Hyper Bastard Breed” for instance contains some catchy old school riffs that stay in your head.

The production is very open and direct.

It too has a kind of ‘rock ‘n’ roll’-feel thanks to the guitar sound. The guitars stay within the lines of tolerable distortion which adds to the clarity of the sound. The only flaw is that some songs seem to end a bit too early. The artwork is not really special; the overall feel is that the whole album is not too polished and what I.N.R.I. themselves would probably call non-commercial. The lyrics are of varying quality. Some deal with superficial things and others carry deeper thoughts.

Because I.N.R.I. has a long road to go to reach their goals I am very curious about what they will bring us in the future. I will definitely check them out live soon to see what they really sound like; a debut album is always just an impression of what a band is really about. The record itself is for those who like old school death metal and want to support the Dutch scene by buying everything that is released. It is certainly not the worst album to buy, but it isn’t an essential either.