Ελληνικά
Last Updated on 04:17 PM by Nikos Nakos
Insult Through The Years
My first contact with Whiplash was on their debut album, where along with other classic albums in my phone orders for vinyl at the time, I had requested the iconic “Power And Pain”. Such was the excitement that the connection with the group continued discovering all the subsequent steps that giganticized their legend, rushing from New Jersey, America. The purpose of this text is to talk about their 3rd effort ”Insult To Injury”, an album that marked the end of their golden first period.
It is one of the hidden treasures of the classic thrash metal era. With diverse songwriting, excellent musicianship, and a fresh sound, it is a valuable piece in any metal collection. Perhaps their most ambitious and cohesive effort considering that in the first 2 albums, the group appears as a steamroller playing a mixture of Exodus / Slayer in more hardcore ways. Here we find maturity and prog mood to evolve their sound. The songs are mostly mid-tempo, choosing a melodic speed/thrash tone without missing the necessary explosion. The instrumentation and production (at Morrisound Studios) are top-notch and Tony Portaro’s excellent guitar work is one of the main reasons for the album’s high quality. The lyrics are also improved, focusing more on war and social issues, rather than random violence as most first-wave groups presented.
Joe Cangelosi displays a tight drum performance, embracing the complex song structures well, responding to the high bar of main man Portaro. When the riffs want to thrash, Joe brings the thrash (on every track); when the riffs want to groove, Joe has the groove (“Voice of Sanity,” “Rape of the Mind”). This extensive consistency on the band’s 2nd collaborative album was perhaps the ticket to entry for the one-take participation on ”Cause For Conflict”, the only album where we don’t see Ventor behind Kreator’s drum kit. Tony Bono shines through his creative, almost jazzy bass playing and newcomer Glenn Hansen’s voice does justice to Portaro who was looking for his replacement. Its tonality is appropriate and perfectly suited to this creation. This would be the first of three frontmen to pass through Whiplash before finally returning to factory settings. But to be fair, Glenn Hansen did an excellent job on this album and the fact that he disappeared without a trace afterward remains one of the greatest mysteries in thrash metal annals.
With “Voice of Sanity” starting incredibly well through a melodic and catchy feeling, every experienced metalhead understands that this is no ordinary thrash album praising Slayer. An obvious thoughtful technical approach where there are crushing breaks and shredding leads everywhere. On guitar, you hear a Metallica to Sadu’s bastardization where there are no compromises and the melody complements the brutality in a relentless listening experience. It is truly an insult to Whiplash and thrash metal that so few metalheads have exposed their ears and throats to this hungry riff monster. The very fast song “Hiroshima” telling the story of the bombing of the city and the slightly dopey “Dementia Thirteen” slows things down a bit until halfway through the album, “Essence of Evil” and “Witness to the Terror” (a tribute to Whiplash classics) come to shake our minds for good with “Battle Scars” clearly foreshadowing our future: Whiplash wants our souls forever. This track stands out because of its sincere heaviness. The vicious sonic assault is the real beauty of the riffs and continues through ”Ticket to Mayhem / 4 E.S.” and “Pistolwhipped” which closes the album.
A complex and unique album, a real mind rape, considering how many other bands turned to down-tuning and groove in the following years of the ’90s. Tony Bono’s surprisingly raw ability on this album was comparable only to Steve Di Giorgio’s. Completing every riff with speed and technique, pointing out what a great loss his death is to metal but also what a great legacy he left behind, especially through this album. “Insult To Injury” is an album of variable quality that revealed a different kind of creativity of the band that unfolded just before the end of the 80s when metal was entering a transitional stage.
