The Calm

Insane Clown Posse are a cartoonish metal/rap band with a vaunted live show that featured open fires, chainsaws, liters of soda dousing the audience, and more emphasis on performance art than the performance of music. In the world of the late '90s, that was more than enough to get them a recording contract with a major label. Now just a duo, Insane Clown Posse were originally formed in 1989 as a hardcore Detroit rap group called Inner City Posse. After combusting in 1991, the only members left, Violent J (born Joseph Bruce) and Shaggy 2 Dope (born Joseph Utsler), slightly altered the name to reflect the fact that they had been visited by the Carnival Spirit, which ordered them to carry word of the impending apocalypse by touring the nation and releasing six "Joker Cards" (popularly known as LPs) with successive revelations of the final judgment. Spring 2005 found Insane Clown Posse hyping a new direction for the mythology, to be revealed with the May release of The Calm.

As 2004's Hell’s Pit was the last installment of a concept piece spanning over a decade's worth of Insane Clown Posse albums, juggalos and juggalettes (the band's hardcore fans) anticipated the next missive from their fearless Insane Clown Posse leaders perhaps even more eagerly than usual. While the new theme presented on The Calm is typically obtuse, the Insane Clown Posse does seem to be exploring new avenues. Intro boasts an eerie hockey-rink organ sound that appropriately sets up a mystic/sci-fi thread. Not to worry, though, Posse mainstays of over-the-top profanity and violent imagery are still in abundance, albeit with a somewhat more varied musical backdrop. Rollin' Over takes a laid-back roots-reggae groove, and pairs it with enough curses to make George Carlin blush. While Crop Circles offers a brief respite by combining G-funk, New Wave, and some philosophical ruminations, Like It Like That is classic Insane Clown Posse, full of horror-movie samples and a boastful chorus. Employing all the familiar ingredients while adding some welcome spice, The Calm breaks just enough new ground to please even the most discerning among the faithful.

It's a pretty typical Insane Clown Posse release, catering to a thriving niche and caring little for the rest. Whatever Shaggy and Violent J have planned for the future, Insane Clown Posse's lyrical and musical tenets are mostly unchanged. They continue to follow the gangsta method of amplifying street-level grit into a violent hyper-reality, and their production is often just a serviceable frame for whatever social bile they want to spit. But The Calm is just the calm before the storm. It comes at a pivotal moment in the history of the Insane Clown Posse and offers new material and new direction through an old tradition. Their fans have wondered for years what would come next, and this new mini-album is their first glimpse of a future they can't afford to miss.