When I received the new Inme album to review I instantly went around telling everyone, to which most people replied with, “Christ, are they still going?” There was a point in their career when Inme were literally everywhere, during the release of their debut album, Nirvana-lite ‘Overgrown Eden‘ and its spectacular follow up ‘White Butterfly‘, but since then Inme have gone under the radar (despite progressing quite nicely with fourth album ‘Herald Moth‘ turning them almost into a technical metal band).
‘The Pride‘ is Inme‘s fifth album, coming after one of those dreaded greatest hits albums that generally always marks the steady decline of a bands quality output. It is also an album that is funded via a PledgeMusic campaign, meaning that the bands fans have coughed up some of the cash for the recording which I guess shows how much of a cult following the band must have picked up since they disappeared from the front cover of Kerrang. It also adds a hell of a lot of pressure for Inme to actually deliver a fantastic album.
Very much like ‘Herald Moth‘, ‘The Pride‘ has its roots firmly placed in a technical melodic metal-light boundary which has as much to do with Dave McPherson’s consistently elaborate guitar playing as it does with the arrival of a fourth member, a lead guitarist (who happened to arrive for the recording of ‘Herald Moth‘) to pad their sound out further. Unlike ‘Herald Moth‘ though, this album is clearly more positive, both lyrically and musically with an ever insistent nod towards the uplifting rather than the depressing. It also has an electronic element to it which I can’t recall ever hearing from Inme previously, especially during second track (and stand-out track for me) ‘Moonlit Seabed‘ where it becomes an integral element of the song very much in the same style of perhaps Enter Shikari. McPherson’s vocals haven’t lost the melodic gleam that set the band apart in their earlier media frenzied days either and the melodic sections of this album really afford his voice the space to shine.
‘Herald Moth‘ very much sounded like a band exploring their options with the inclusion of a new guitarist (and probably less mainstream pressures). ‘The Pride‘ sounds to me like the love child of ‘Herald Moth‘ and ‘White Butterfly‘, still heavy and technical in sections yet with an ambience that always has its eye on creating that euphoric chorus that this album is just full of. It isn’t the most original album that I’ll ever hear but it is a testament to the band that five albums in and they still don’t show signs of slowing down or running out of ideas.
[rating: 3]
www.inmeofficial.co.uk
