The Demo Review:

	There are currently 1 Reviews of this Demo. Average Rating: 3
Band Name: Mindlock Demo Title: Soulfracture Band Members: Bo Frandsen (Guitars & Vocals), Lars Petersen (Bass), Peter Carlsen (Drums) Location:Helsingor, Denmark Email for This Artist Official Web Site for This Artist Discuss on the Metal Judgment Web Board

Musashi's Review:
What is the number one rule of writing a biography? Do you know? Does anybody teach this stuff? Here it is. Take notes! Always sell yourself! The bio is your band's way to inform the public about yourselves. Therefore, the bio should be positive and make people interested in the band. Members of the press and record companies rely on the bio to inform them and give them an impression of the band. Here are some quotes from Mindlock's bio: "1997 was kind of an 'off-year'. Not to much creativity... Due to 'a lot of circumstances' it got delayed.... Mindlock has been trying to find a vocalist, but none has been found.... Soulfracture...got some ok reviews.... The Swedish label...showed interest...but to the bands frustration, the Swedes were not been to kind to answer their mail." This is what Mindlock writes about themselves. Shit, this makes my job easy.
Mindlock call themselves thrashmetal. They cite influences such as Meshuggah, Slayer, Machine Head, Pantera and Sepultura. Of these bands, I think the closest comparison can be made to Machine Head. Of course, most metalheads would call Machine Head NuMetal these days and that seems to be the path that Mindlock is going down.
Mindlock sent me their EP, Soulfracture, and they also sent me a newer three-song demo. This was cool because I got to compare the two recordings and hear how the band has grown. Soulfracture has a lot of thrash elements. However, I find the songs a little long and boring. Too much time is spent on each riff and they don't seem to go anywhere. Also the mix is a little muddy and the guitars are not thick enough. If I were to change one thing about the EP it would be the singer. He is boring and generally unmusical. The vocal lines add very little, if anything to the songs. If I were to change another thing, I would edit all the songs and make them shorter.
The demo sounds good. In fact I think the band has grown considerably since the EP. The songs are shorter and tighter. The vocals still suck, but less so. The vocal style is much more NuMetal than before. The mix is better and the guitars are thicker. Unfortunately, the sound and style that Mindlock is leaning towards now is more NuMetal. Although Mindlock is technically getting better, they are becoming less interesting by virtue of the fact that they are becoming more generic.
I visited the Mindlock website just briefly enough to snag a picture of the album cover and to learn that in March, 2002, Mindlock signed a deal with Jet Speed Records Group inc. Congratulations! I do not know Jet Speed, so I do not know what to expect from this unholy union. I look forward to hearing more from this band.

[- Metal Judgment Home -] [- Email Metal Judgment -]
©2001 Metal Judgment. All rights reserved.