29th August 2023

Review: “Hands Of Fire” by Mind Swell

Describing themselves as a band who write music to swell your mind, the sonic abrasions of Beatdown Deathcore quartet Mind Swell have echoed their bleak World view since their inception in 2020. Hailing from Ontario Canada, they were quick to identify shared vision, to craft an uncompromising sound that incorporates elements of Metallic Hardcore and Deathcore, something which they refine unwaveringly in creating their signature sound…

The scales of justice are weighted in perfect balance between the bleak and the hopeful as Mind Swell return three years after their debut EP with one that has clearly been refined in the furnaces of Valhalla. The raw, jagged edges have been sanded off and left smooth and the blade is all the sharper for it. A vicious little ditty, “Painted Worlds” is vocally as savage as they come with the band occupying a space between Metallic Hardcore and Deathcore as they search for their signature sound. Imagine Strangled playing Kublai Khan covers and you get the picture. It’s dirty and aggressive, breathing new life into the corpse of both genres with a crushing and oppressive sound that keeps body bags in short supply. “Memories” then tenderises the flesh with a yet more heavy hitting material, breakdowns stacked up high as the blunt force truma plays out. The swirling atmosphere keeps everything balanced on a knife edge, the eerie final moments the Chef’s Kiss of psychological warfare. The title track has more of a groove laden feel in comparison with the earlier pairing, the pummelling percussive battery driving perpetual forward motion before a high grade incendiary downtempo moment brings out the two steppers. An abrasive soundscape to accompany Humanity’s journey to the bowels of hell, this is as caustic and cursed as they come. “Sever The Hand” feels like a demo from The Acacia Strain, its vicious bark and brutal bite making it arguably the heaviest track on this burnt offering. Mind Swell don’t do solos but they do add a few screeches into the guitar work to ensure its not all just breakdowns and razor sharp riffage. Here they offer up a few moments of odd time signatures that mess with the mind in a playful way despite the crushing oppressive darkness of the piece. Visions of human bones in dilapidated, post-apocalyptic environments are offered up with “Humanity A Plague“, a closing cut that brings slab after concrete slab of skull crushing breakdown to the Kings table. Anvil heavy and darkly bleak, it finds vocalist Dakota Egerter discussing the dismal state of the world as if a wrathful God. You may not need a magnifying glass and lyrics sheet but once the moshing is over there is plenty to think about here [7/10]

Track Listing