Mindscar – Kill the King (Self-Released)
Sunday, 5th April 2015
Florida’s Mindscar brings a large dose of energy to their version of modern death metal. The selling point of Trivium’s Matt Heafy doing a few backing lines and a guitar solo may swing you in the wrong direction about what to expect with this release (being that it’s their debut full-length after all), but rest assured, this is some blistering material.
Things start in with a bang with “Asmodeus.” Tech-friendly, spiraling riffage with plenty of blasting explodes through the speakers at the onset, but the band slows things down with some catchy guitar melodies after the warm-up and the track turns into a more epic, and majestic sounding beast. A similar feeling pervades through much of the remainder of the album, as Mindscar is content to blur the lines between blasting and near-grind speeds but knowing when to pull things back for some memorable riffs and keeping Kill the King from becoming an exercise in monotony. The title track starts off with some hammering yet intriguing riffs, as does “Deathmask,” and almost pulls from the intensity book of a band like Behemoth. Mindscar’s ace in the hole is really their ability to create a wrecking ball of intensity and still retain some sort of melodic structure, with “Beneath All the Broken Bones” and “God’s Creation” being two of the more shining examples of this. The album even ends with a frantic rendition of NIN’s “Mr. Self Destruct.”
Kill the King is an effective introduction to Mindscar, a band that hopefully will see some more accolades thrown their way as time progresses. Having already laid down what seems to be a great formula, watching them progress forward from this point should be of interest to most looking for a new band to rotate into their death metal playlist.
