25 Aug 2017

Mindkult: "Lucifer's Dream"


Timeless opium tunes at the edge of the cosmos
Looking for something that takes the edge off every day life? Then let Mindkult's cyclopean riffs crush you with sludgey heaviness instead of your day job and money troubles!

Lucifer's Dream. The familiar crunch of sludge erupts like a sudden spark of radiation, but for Mindkult the world-ending churning of downtuned strings is but a fraction of their total sum. This debut album makes use of doom-ripping stoner riffs and void gazing vocals the same way one would use a hydraulic press to squash a mid-size car.

Fowst's vocals combined with his, at times, downcast guitar melodies brings a degree of melancholia to Lucifer's Dream, putting a stark contrast to the otherwise titanic string distortion. Though Mindkult makes the music sound almost ancient, the album is in no way antiquated or particularly outdated.

"Lucifer's Dream is a slowly burning pyre of overdrive,"

Though I can barely make out a single piece of lyrics, the vocals could easily be more ethereal for a more interesting effect on the musical landscape. Lucifer's Dream is a slowly burning pyre of overdrive and atmosphere for sure, but even then it drags on for slightly too long and is, perhaps, not quite as cataclysmically impactful as what would be ideal for an album such as this.

When Mindkult wearily trudges along and the vocals chime in absent mindedly it recalls efforts by bands such as Jex Thoth or Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats; This is when the band shines through the thick fogs of opioid smoke, but Mindkult is far more than mere residual leftovers of a scene whose best years is definitely behind it. It would be a disservice to say that Lucifer's Dream breaks new ground, but to completely dismiss it is equally foolish, because Fowst's songwriting takes the mind on trips that few bands in the genre can match.

7/10


Released in 2017 by Throne Records (vinyl), Transcending Obscurity (CD/Digital) & Caligari Records (tape)

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