Mindswarm

Mindswarm are four young chaps from Huddersfield -  Arley on drums, Fab on lead guitar,  Lewin on guitar/vocals and Sonny on bass/vocals who have been playing together for a couple of years.

I’m not sure what to expect from Mindswarm’s music. I’m going in totally blind and all I know is that they  describe their genre on Facebook as ‘grunge/hardcore/alternative/sludge metal’. Their Twitter biog says ‘Vicious & Heavy Hardcore Grunge. Played Loud & Fast.’ Hmmmm, that covers pretty much everything doesn’t it?

Let’s get one thing clear before I go any further. One thing I’m not a massive fan of is the old death growls and screeching vocal combo that so many bands, especially those with two vocalists,  insist on employing. When it’s done well I can almost get away with it…almost...but for the majority, my finger automatically homes in on the off button. It’s just fingernails down a chalkboard to me I’m afraid!

(c) Mindswarm

I must admit that I’m fearing the worst. However, I take a deep breath, pop my non-judgemental head on and press play on track one of their self-entitled EP……here goes!!

The first track is Consumption. It starts off promisingly with strong thumping Pink Floyd-esque bass……then just on 13 seconds in, the thick, grungy guitars and drums come crashing in…..so far so good!! Ok, here come the vocals and - oh - wait a minute…..what’s this??? No screeches, no growls but a kind of 'sprechgesang' with a curious megaphone style tone. Nice!! I’m liking this – a lot!! I’m not sure which of the vocalists this is but he’s good and I’m very pleasantly surprised.  Actually, what I find very interesting about this track is the timing – long, slow, almost lazy and slightly angst-ridden verses interspersed with the more furious, harder and faster shorter chorus.  This tune lasts a perfect 3 minutes.

Next up is Skin. A 1:44 instrumental is not what I was expecting but I tell you what, these boys know how to play! My cat actually goes mental when this track is on – I think she’s a big fan!!

The final track is Province, which doesn’t mess around, smashing straight in right from the start with a riff that it’s impossible not to, at the very least, nod along to but as the track goes on,  I challenge you not to want to get up and have a damn good headbang!! Slightly more harsh, shouty vocals on this one fit in well with the overall mood. Mindswarm do the business again with this one as it lasts a whopping 4:56 but certainly doesn’t feel like it!! 

Mindswarm mentioned on Twitter recently that Bleach is their favourite Nirvana album and I can see it waving to me through the rawness and muscle of their sound. I would definitely say that if you’re a fan of Mr Cobain & Co’s less commercial brilliance, you’ll love this!

The lads tell me that the EP is essentially a demo that was recorded in a single take and they are currently in the process of recording a studio album. I hope the producer of the album takes note of the raw power of this band and doesn't dilute it or pretty it up, as their sound is rather immense. 

(c) Mindswarm

I’d love to see Mindswarm playing live and hope that one day our paths will cross, which they may well do as the world of music tends to move in mysterious ways!

All in all I think these young fellas deserve to go far. This is smashing little EP which you could just stream via bandcamp but why not do the lads a favour and buy it – it’s cheaper than a pint and bag of Quavers!!

Keep up the good work fellas!