INSURGENT SINGLE DEBUT - 'COUNTERPART'

Insurgent are set to release their debut single 'Counterpart' this week on the 21st of September and I'm so excited for everyone to hear it, I can't imagine what the band feel like! This is the first single Insurgent are releasing since forming in Spring of this year and since then they have been creating a name for themselves performing at well established venues across and outside of Birmingham such as The O2 Academy, The Victoria and The Flapper. I fell in love with this single whilst writing this review and am certain anyone else who listens to the single will feel the same.

(Will_pixx)

It's hard to wrap my head around the fact that 'Counterpart' is the first single ever released by Insurgent - how has a band managed to release a song of this quality so early on in their career? Not only is the production quality absolute perfection but the writing is clever and catchy. Bands with years on these guys haven't been able to pull off what Insurgent have done - I'm impressed to say the least.

The guitar tones are gritty and even though you could say they're pretty standard across the board of the metal genre, they work perfectly for what Insurgent are going for. The tone of the drums gives off a huge, full sound, everything about this single is big and fat and full - very metal. To be really picky, at first I wasn't completely in love with the pitch of the ride cymbal during the bridge, but after listening to to it a few times I understand how it fits into the mix of low end and helps break up the deeper sounds.

The vocals are so smooth and contrast beautifully against the heavy instrumental, the added vocal harmonies give a near ethereal effect leaving an almost ambient sound behind in all the madness of the high impact instruments. Teitge delivers power and anger while also sounding soft and near operatic. The harsher growl-esque vocal overdubs (which sound incredibly impressive by the way) help tie the vocal in with the instrumental rather than making 'Counterpart' a metal song with 'pretty' vocals - which this song isn't but some could argue it. The vocals remind me heavily of Maria Brink from In This Moment - very powerful and striking enough to stand out above all the sound behind her.

(Amy Demidow Photography - [love u amy <3])

Regarding the intro of this single - I'll be honest in the fact that I've never been a huge fan of heavy reverb, so the intro to this single isn't my favourite - but I don't absolutely hate it. Saying that I do still think the first 10 seconds of the song are a little redundant and could've been left out leaving the single to start with everything coming in heavy at the same time, for me that would've worked better with the hard impact and high energy feel of this single.

Last time I spoke to the band they spoke about taking inspiration from Alter Bridge, 'Counterpart' shows resemblance to their inspiration but not too obviously, this leaves the single feeling fresh and unique rather than a carbon copy which is easy to do unintentionally. The band also explained the lyrics for 'Counterpart' to me, "The song is themed around the internal conflict of trying to be yourself when people would much rather see you conform. It also goes on to discuss the way people respond when you do choose to behave in the way you want to."

After seeing Insurgent perform live a couple of times this past year I was super excited to see what they would release, and they've done more than just 'not disappoint'! The bands live shows sounded incredible but this 'Counterpart' has blown me away. Everything sounds so polished and professional, I'm almost worried that they won't be able to follow up after such an outstanding sounding debut single - I'm looking forward to hearing more!

Keep up to date with Insurgent on their social medias -

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/insurgentmusic/
Website - http://www.insurgentband.com

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/InsurgentBand/