At least this was the case with the MINDGRINDER debut album “MindTech” in terms of concept and, most of all, sound and production.
I am not going to argue whether this artistic mimicry is intentional or not, but my opinion is that in the wake of “Death Machine” there has undoubtedly grown a conspicuous tendency among several artists to pursue different aspects of this particular record – whether it be its musical elements, lyrics, concept, feeling or production/sound. Alas, no one (ironically, Myrkskog included) has been able to truly match or surpass the quality of this release in the following years.
Nevertheless, MINDGRINDER have proven themselves a force to be reckoned with – at least among the most devout adherents of the contemporary death metal scene. Of course, the term “contemporary” is an ambiguous expression and should not be ascribed too much substance in this context as “Riot Detonator”, like its precursor, offers little, if nothing, new to the death metal vocabulary – despite their biography`s claim of continual progression. On the contrary, whilst I associate their debut album with the “Myrkskog-trend” as referred to above, I experience an even more retrospective approach this time. This is primarily vintage death metal which basic components are all present, occasionally complemented by Slayer-esque thrash-sections and more or less traditional heavy metal material.
In other words: Old news. Safe, yes, but old and will eventually turn into considerably bad news if the MINDGRINDER writing personnel persists on running the business in a similar way in the future.
Homepage: www.mindgrinder.com
Written by Kjetil Ottersen
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