UMUR "Deep Inside" is the debut full-length studio album by Canadian death metal act Spasme. The album was released through Neoblast Records in 2000. Spasme formed in 1994 and released the 1995 "Traumatisme" demo (and an almost identical demo in 1999 titled "Deep Inside"). Only guitarist Mathieu Marcotte remains from the lineup who recorded the 1995 demo. The most notable addition to the ranks is lead vocalist Martin Lacroix, who would subsequently join Cryptopsy in 2001, touring with them and recording the 2003 "None So Live" live album before being asked to leave again in 2003.

While "Traumatisme" (1995) showed that Spasme had more up the sleeve than your average technical death metal act, "Deep Inside" takes that approach much further. It´s a dynamic, creative, and relatively varied technical death metal release. It´s brutal alright and new vocalist Lacroix has a deep but intelligible aggressive growling vocal style, which is brilliant, but the music is also loaded with breaks, tempo changes, atmospheric parts (the subtle use of keyboards is effectul and create atmosphere), and adventurous songwriting ideas. It´s no surprise that a technical death metal act is well playing and the skills are through the roof, but it still deserves a mention how well playing Spasme are and how many unconventional ideas they incorporate in their songs while still maintaining an element of catchiness.

I´m afraid the sound production leaves just a little to be desired and while it´s not a major issue, the album does sound a little thin, and could have prospered from a more meaty and brutal sound. The thin sound gives the album a demo recording quality aura, and while that´s maybe a bit too harsh when evaluating the sound production, I have to mention it.

Don´t be put off by my description of the sound production though, because "Deep Inside" is a technical death metal release which deserves a lot more attention and while it doesn´t quite possess what it takes to be a classic in the genre, it´s still a great album. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is fully deserved.