Most metal fans figure Norway to be home to black metal's elite bands. But there's something else entirely different bubbling under foot. With Soothing Torture, the second album from this Oslo-based four-piece, Insense present a raw yet highly complex album that is bound to find comparisons more akin to Meshuggah, Fear Factory, Killswitch Engage and more. Surely its a far cry from the Inner Circle but their sound is as equally explosive and impressive.

Popular online site Ink 19 said on review of the band's self-titled debut, "one of 2002's top stomp-along metal albums. Metalcore with a wicked attitude and a bouncy swagger." England's Metal Hammer added, "Insense fuse the relentless mechanical assault of Fear Factory and the seething hardcore aggression of Hatebreed with phat Entombed-style grooves." Formed in 1999, Insense recorded Soothing Torture at Caliban Studios in Oslo. The album was mastered at Strype Audio (Emperor). The album saw successful European release earlier this year and finally now makes its way stateside.

The Sausage Index