
Insult to Injury Realm of Indifference LP
I thought the band name rang a bell, so I took a quick peek at the internet before I started listening. First thing I saw was the cover for the split with 10-96, and it was like someone flipped on all of the lights at once. I was curious (how has the sound aged?), I was eager (I remember this shit being tough as nails), I was anxious, even…but mostly I was fucking ready. Except I wasn’t. Not for this. INSULT TO INJURY existed completely outside of my realm when I was in the Midwest—thuggish mosh metal I associated with people who affiliated themselves with “crews” was completely not my thing then (and still isn’t). You know what they say about books and covers and preconceptions though, right? If beatdown hardcore sounded like this, then I might need to do some re-evaluating, because 2002’s Realm of Indifference is an absolute beast. Period. The trappings of a generic hardcore release are all there, but INSULT TO INJURY avoids literally all of them and this release sounds fresh and devastating more than two decades later. There are elements of the bare-bones fastcore that dominated the DIY scene at the time, but delivered with tough, full-throated metallic hardcore brutality. There are skinhead tracks (“Crazy Streak,” most notably) that sound like something from another world. The beatdown parts are one thing (and a powerful thing), but throw a blaster like “Vise Grip” in the mix and you’ve got yourself a fucking problem. I am sure this will (still) get lumped into a “scene,” but this outsider is extremely grateful for the reissue—I’m glad these sounds didn’t stay in the past, there are new minds ready to be blown.