Hi, you wanna know about us?By: Ernesto Aguilar
Album Type: Full length
Date Released: 20/09/2017
Label: Transcending Obscurity
Don't wonder. Go listen. Mindkult's alchemy is in blending in forces that probably would not otherwise really work well together, to beget a release that is one of the most prepossessing in the genre, reshaping what we consider tradtional doom in spectacular ways.
"Lucifer's Dream" CD//DD track listing
1. Drink My Blood
2. Nightmares
3. Behold the Wraith
4. Infernals
5. Howling Witch
6. Lucifer's Dream
The Review:
How many of us think about The Cure on a daily basis? Now, for those of a certain age, you may ponder the 1980s new wave trailblazers more than someone born in the mid-1990s. However, safe to say even then considerations of the Robert Smith-fronted group are rare occasions. However, The Cure has been a bigger influence in varied genres of popular music than you might at first know. Relevant to metal, extreme music and Mindkult is the shadow The Cure casts over gothic, post-punk and shoegaze. In the early 1980s, The Cure helped forge the sound and look. Today, Mindkult uplifts that downtrodden tradition in a way that reshapes doom in spectacular ways.
Mindkult is a one-person performance piece that conveys some of the classic sensibility as well as a new philosophy to doom and stoner rock. "Lucifer's Dream" comes on the heels of Mindkult's debut EP "Witch's Oath." That release scored positive reviews for its genre-bending nonchalance. Psychedelic jams slammed into a doom ethos and haunted lyrics. With its return, Mindkult offers this surprisingly irresistible slosh, and more.
The recording begins with "Drink My Blood," which is a largely instrumental (the first three of eight minutes have no vocal) blues-infused rocker. "Nightmares" is the shortest track, and follows the opener's rhythm with a churning doom energy not unlike mid-golden era Black Sabbath. It is the sort of song you might share to get a friend into Mindkult; it is catchy, with strong songwriting and thick grooves. "Behind the Wraith" is another cut you might introduce new listeners to Mindkult with. There are a ton of excellent metal inspirations herein, and yet Mindkult makes the air all its own.
But back to The Cure. There will always be a strand or two of goth in doom. Truly hard to say how that necessarily came to be. One might be able to trace it back to the emergence of the post-punk movement, where early metal found some adherents, and a unique subculture that arguably impacted death metal and some extreme music subgenres. Nevertheless, the musical tempo is unmistakable. Mindkult flashes more shoegaze, which has its own history with post-punk or goth, and it towers over the interpretations you may hear elsewhere. "Infernals" and "Howling Witch" are the zenith of this avenue. The arrangement is just right, and while the vocals across this release are superlative, there is a charisma in these songs that is magnetic.
The title track ends the six-song trip, and it touches on both effects of shoegaze and doom. You might read that suggestion and wonder how it works. Don't wonder. Go listen. Mindkult's alchemy is in blending in forces that probably would not otherwise really work well together, to beget a release that is one of the most prepossessing in the genre.
"Lucifer's Dream"is available here:
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