Flat Out Insult is a punk/metal band from Charlotte, North Carolina. If you have been keeping up with Mutilated Mohawk Media, you’ll know that we interviewed their frontman a while back. The link to that interview is here. When we interviewed him, it was sort of a promotional teaser for the topic at hand today.
Today, May 27th of 2022, Flat Out Insult has dropped an album upon the world. The album is called ‘Onward To Armageddon’ and holy shit is it something to get into. I will say that the band has not paid or compensated me in any way, so the opinions here are mine and mine alone. When reviewing the album we try to enjoy it for what it is, and if there are any major problems or disgruntlement then we will address them. Can this album stand the trials of Mutilated Mohawk? Or is it destined to end up in the local trash gutter of washed up punk bands?
The Review
Right off the bat the first track, Ignorance and Apathy, gives us an instrumental track to open the album to. It’s very metal, and sounds completely different from previous works from Flat Out Insult. I will say I absolutely loved this track. This one definitely felt like I was listening to Death or even some instrumental track off of a melodic black metal band. This track is my favorite when it comes to guitar parts alone.
The second track Fall, opens with a sample of George Bush giving a speech. The heavy guitars immediately pick up and holy shit we get the first sound of vocals on this track. FOI is definitely making a statement with this one because these vocals are the heaviest thing that they have released so far. The song is very thrashy, once again a completely different sound for this band, however it really fits. So far this album is absolutely a thrill to listen to. This song also gives me heavy Kreator vibes, especially if you follow the rhythm guitar, very God of Violence sounding.
The third track Give Me Quarter opens with another chugging guitar riff. The sound quality in this album is something to point out because it is very professional sounding. This sounds like something that came right off of Napalm Records or Metal Blade records. This track continues to triumph with that classic thrash attack sound that they have really utilized for this album. Towards the end of the track there is a guitar riff that is just majestic. Then the song picks back up and chugs right through the finale of the song.
Chainsaw Lobotomy is up next, however this track was released as a single prior to the album coming out as sort of a teaser. This song rocked when they originally released it, and once again it rocks here too. This song really told the fanbase that FOI was going somewhere different with this track. This was going to be an album that really changed their sound and (hopefully) keeps that heavy style in the future.
Mind Control is up next. The guitar riff that opens this song up is less chuggy and even reminds me of Iron Maiden. Then the beat drops and we get right into the meat of this song. This song has some pretty neat breakdowns and I can almost guarantee that for those who are into moshing, this one is going to take the cake on that front. The breakdowns, guitar riffs, and absolute decimating hammer that is the guitar makes this an absolute tribute to the moshing crowds.
The next song opens with what I can describe as a much punkier riff. The song is called Let’s Go Punch Some Nuns… The Devil’s Interval. Definitely bringing you back to classic FOI until those new vocals open up. I will say that FOI did a fantastic job completely changing its vocal style. Very rarely do bands change their sound so drastically and are able to really remain sounding amazing. The main solo in this one absolutely resonates with heavy Zakk Wylde or Dimebag vibes. The squeal of the guitar in the small solo that we are given really hits hard and just wraps this song up.
The last song is called To Armageddon and for the last song this thing is lethal. Once again the guitar work on this whole album is insane. They did an amazing job recording and really writing unique riffs that pack an absolute punch on this album.
So, What Do You Think?
To really analyze this album we got to weigh out both the pros and cons, and fresh off of a listen I know this section will be a little tough to write. I’ll start with the cons, since that is going to be harder. The only real cons I can find with this album are matters of personal opinion. A lot of times with local records the vocals will sound off or the drums weren’t recorded right or the songs all sounds the same. That just isn’t the case for these guys. If I had to say anything, and this is solely just personal opinion, I would just have liked to see more melodic pieces. The small bits of epic melody that we did get a taste of in this record were phenomenal. This is kind of ironic because a lot of bands that try to be melodic end up just being very redundant and can’t write riffs to maintain a crowds interest. FOI demonstrated that they can craft majestic riffs that keep us engaged. It would have been amazing to see this natural talent highlighted even more through the track.
However, that is solely a matter of opinion. The pros heavily outweigh the cons in this piece. They utilized samples efficiently, they wrote killer riffs, they brought confident vocals to the table, they wrote catchy and impactful songs, and made a damn good record. The few times I listened to this record I can say it didn’t get stale or boring, which once again is hard to find. A common critique in the heavy music scene is that bands don’t know how to write albums anymore. This record doesn’t follow that rule at all. Its a solid listen every single time.
Overall this album gives me high hopes for my friends over at FOI. It is very evident that they put a lot of hard work into a local masterpiece. As I said before, it is extremely rare that a band goes out and pretty much changes their whole sound and it actually works. I think that with this album FOI did just that, but absolutely killed it. They really adopted a very melodic and thrashy sound. The rough vocals that they were able to accomplish and convincingly maintain through the whole record really ties the album together as a whole. For an album coming out of the local Charlotte scene I am happy to say that this thing kills and wins the Mutilated Mohawk Seal of Approval. We are giving it an 8/10, which is insanely high for our scale. This album features professional quality recordings while also keeping a very heavy street influenced thrash sound in it. It doesn’t sound corporate or redundant, just heavy and real. This album is hopefully a testament to the local scene, and it would be nice to see it set a trend for music in the future coming out of the scene.