MindGrinder "MindTech" CD
[Candlelight]
Despite what the band name, album title, and use of a drum machine might suggest... this Norwegian act is not an industrial tinged metal band, which could be good, or it could be bad, I'm not 100% sure. I'm undecided on that fact because this is a mediocre record that I can listen to, but I don't really fall on either side of the fence with it. It's a little boring, but there are some cool parts as well. I'm not a fan of the drum machine because it sounds thin and weak, not unlike most triggered kits these days, and the band's use of electronic elements is really only minimally present during certain moments of the songs rather than playing a constant role, so the bulk of the material is simply midpaced metal influenced by both thrash and death metal, coming off in more of a discordant/dark sort of Machine Head style or something like that... with a dash of Morbid Angel and Emperor's slower/thicker rhythms tossed in. Some of the chord progressions certainly have that typical post-black metal Norwegian tinge, and I do actually like a lot of the solos, as brief as they are (they're more melodic and curious than the rhythms), but my preference lies with the crushing chord progressions and straight death metal riffing in more energetic pieces like "Regeneration". The main problem here, though, is that most of the songs sound quite similar to one another: They tend to run right around four to five minutes, they tend to stick to a moderate tempo, the chord phrasings and structures are similar, the vocal patterns don't really fluctuate a great deal, etc. For a 47-minute full-length that's a bit much to deal with, especially because these songs don't really offer much of an emotional impact or a strong use of repetition. There are some faster moments, some quite fast moments in fact, but generally they don't last that long, and are fairly stale as far as being simple tremolo picked runs. Don't ask me why there's a song called "Surviving Gadzooks" (horrible title, good song), and the singing vocals in "Soul Inferno" are really forced and obnoxious... The guitar tone is really good, and the mix is alright, I'll give 'em that. Guitars and vocals dominate, and the synths fall back into place where they should. The vocals are "shouted growls" or something like that, and they're cool. I wish there was more bass, and of course the programmed drums slice straight through the fucking mix, but... they could pull off the machines if the songs were more interesting or memorable somehow. I don't care for the layout here, portions look okay, but it has a strange sort of roughness to it that makes it look a bit less crisp and professional, and the band photos are rather dull. As far as the content of the songs, they have some interesting moments, but overall aren't too interesting and don't really provide much to identify with. "An existence in explicit surroundings, An existence in the form of will, Non figurative sights of life, life of no shape revealed to man before, Revealed to mind before..." There's also a CD-Rom video for "Fire & Equanimity" but it's totally goofy so I won't really bother going into that... just be ready for lots of extreme facial close-ups, lame visual effects, etc. This is an okay record, it's just boring and one-sided. I like a few of the songs, and I don't particularly dislike anything, it's just a snoozer. Give or take, it's almost like the same song six or seven times in a row, with a few riffs or tracks that do stand out from the pack. Definitely not something I'd choose to listen to regularly at all. (5/10)
Running time - 47:14, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: Regeneration, Surviving Gadzooks]
Candlelight Records - http://www.candlelightrecords.co.uk

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