It may be raw and at times spiteful but Veritas, the debut EP from inSeverance is like its creators, an unpolished gem which ignites real enthusiasm and hunger for the band’s future. Creating an evocative brawl from a mix of punk, rock, and metal, the Canadian quartet makes a convincing introduction with their six track release. It is as said green in presence and comes with a production which casts a sink or swim touch over the songs to deal with, but ultimately they and the EP do overcome that to leave a rather satisfying and very promising confrontation from this confidently emerging band.
Formed in 2009 and hailing from Toronto, inSeverance has a stature and sound which is honest and unafraid to wear its passion on its sleeve musically and lyrically. Consisting of vocalist Leigh Oxide, guitarist Kyle Layton Thomas, bassist Mike Dynamite, and drummer Dickey, the band instantly wakes up attention through the opening track upon Veritas. A lone guitar strokes the ears initially as Gaslight comes into view; it a teasing bait soon aided by sinew cloaked rhythms and feisty riff rubs. Settling into a purposeful gait with the vocals of Oxide a magnetic lure to add a sultry tension to the encounter, the track prowls and tempts the ear like a mix of The Distillers, The Objek, and early No Doubt. The song has a fiery breath and rapacious snarl which constantly provokes the passions whilst its imagination and invention persistently inflames further the already greedy appetite devouring the song. Production wise the song is unable to ignite its fullest fire, the sadly bland coating preventing the track’s pilot light from sparking, but despite that it still emerges as a riveting and impressive start which secures a full hunger towards the rest of the release.
Seething follows with a more reserved and considered attack, it’s haunting start drawing in thoughts before the band opens up another 
embrace of crisp rhythms and fine guitar craft all prowled by the menace of the bass. That evocative threat emerges in the fine vocals too, Oxide like in the first treating the song to gentle and raucous variations which all comes with passion and a ready snarl. Not as exploratory as its predecessor the track still offers plenty to get excited over, the great choppy guitar and vocal blend across the band especially potent.
Next up Erosion shows the band has the ability to dig deep into their emotive depths and wardrobe of intensive evocative persuasion, the song a blaze of impacting and raging emotion. It suffers from the production again and fails to grip as intently as earlier tracks anyway but as it smoulders and gets stronger with each encounter, it still leaves a very palatable impression. An impress soon reinforced by the punk riot of Contusion, a song which leaps at the jugular whilst soothing the wounds with seductive vocal harmonies and contagion soaked hooks. A muscular storm of punk ‘n’ roll which takes no prisoners but treats them with a modicum of respect as it entices out their passions, the song is an outstanding slice of adventure rivalling the opening tempest for top honours upon Veritas.
The EP is concluded by firstly Skylines and lastly Admired. The first of the pair is an intensive scorching of the senses and thoughts without igniting real fire in the passions, but again it shows plenty to sculpt suggestions and promise of greater things to come from the band whilst the final song is a sultry piece of pop rock with fine temptation and melodic endeavour, as well as some blues kissed guitar play going towards creating a strong engaging finale.
Ripe with imagination and inventive intent, inSeverance is a band in the early stages of forging a big presence and imprint with their punk fused rock ‘n’ roll. Veritas shows that there is a great deal to be excited by whilst breeding strong expectations that given the opportunity the band has something major waiting to emerge inside. Time will tell but it would be foolish to bet against it.
8/10
RingMaster 23/10/2013
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