With a war of attrition being fought in Ukraine, a certified genocide occurring in Sudan (including nine million people displaced) and the persecution of the Uyghurs in China, the world is undoubtedly a harsh place. However, such is the fuel that feeds the Inhuman Nature fire and if you need proof that heavy times create heavy music you need look no further than their sophomore album Greater Than Death. Featuring ten tracks that seethe with crossover rage, this is the soundtrack to a world perishing in flames and sets the bar impossibly high for all who follow.
We are no strangers to Inhuman Nature here at the Midlands Rock, having seen them live (here and here), and spoke to the band at last year’s 2000 Trees festival (here). Needless to say, we’ve always been partial to their blend of thrash/crossover/hardcore and as if that wasn’t fruity enough, when bassist Daragh Markham joined in 2023 he brought a distinctly crust/Kängpunk influence which only served to feed the flame. It’s been six long years since the bands eponymously-titled debut album and any album with such a long gestation is bound to carry a weight of expectation. It makes opening introduction ‘From The Shadows’ all the more torturous; such is the time we’ve waited for Greater Than Death that there’s a desire to be hit immediately with the band’s trademark crunch. It means that when Inhuman Nature explode into life with the following ‘Dawn Of Inhuman Man’, they detonate with nuclear warhead ferocity. Guitars light up the sky like phosphorous flares, the rhythm section fires with machine gun rapidity while Christopher Barling’s vocals are dredged from the very depths of Hades. With a lyrical realism that’s as weighty as the music, it all adds up to a pretty hefty experience and you can almost hear legions of fans sighing with relief.
Playing any kind of crossover is a risky business; fumble the ball and a band can find themselves in a kind of musical no man’s land, and with no appreciable audience to play to. Greater Than Death works because the band don’t deviate too much from their core sound, that isn’t to say it’s generic, far from it, yet the likes of crust, hardcore and anarcho-punk are all sucked into the band’s sphere and then pounded into the band’s own image. The parts become the whole, and in songs such as ‘Lines In The Sand II’ you’ll find mosh parts nestling next to all out thrash sections and you can visualise crowds erupting into chaos wherever its unleashed (surely the ultimate seal of approval for any type of song). It’s a modus operandi that ensures things never become staid and the variety found on Greater Than Death means it will easily hold your attention over its entire running time.
With their second album, Inhuman Nature have not only set the standard for others, but also for themselves and it’ll be interesting to hear where they go from here (but hopefully we won’t have to wait another six years to find out). But for now, we can bask in a sound that’s Greater Than Death.
- Greater Than Death is released via Church Road Records on 25th April 2025.
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Track List:
- From The Shadows
- Dawn Of Inhuman Man
- Possessed To Die
- Servants Of Annihilation
- Fortress Of Delusion
- Lines In The Sand II
- Greater Than Death
- Mad Man’s Cage
- The Maze Of Eternity
- Dead And Buried
