15th October 2025

Review: “Here Goes Nothing” by Mental Maze

A decade after their initial five year run that saw them leave venues across the middle east reduced to rubble, the four horsemen of the apocalypse reunited. What was intended to be a one off jam session reignited the flames underneath the remains of Mental Maze, triggering the urge to not only write and record new music but also locate a new vocalist. In August 2024 that search came to an end with Nik Harchenko chosen to take center stage with original drummer Eli Abkin, bassist Sergey Kraivoy standing beside guitarist duo Avi Dvir and Raph Mushailov. The Haifa City quintet like to call themselves a Deathcore band who take influence from Groove and Death Metal in creating their sound but in truth, each track is a story about fighting the struggles of life with a clenched fist.

The cold winds of plague howl around the ruins as a sandstorm approaches, wind chimes sounding a subtle warning that something wicked this way comes before heavy end Metalcore guitars and death growled vocals give “Here Goes” the gift of live. A bruising cut with a powerful rhythmic dynamic that blurs the lines between sub-genres with haunting leads and staccato riff breaks galore, its an aggressive and yet sinister introduction that confirms Mental Maze have the ability to not only do atmosphere but also slap you about a bit. Dialing up the energy, intensity and urgency “Twenty One Fingers” pushes into groove laden territory with pummeling percussion and bombastic bass around some spine juddering riffs, raising the hairs on the back of the neck with some tasteful lead moments. The vocal performance in this one is nothing short of throat splitting, the track very much a warning of how heavy the band are prepared to go in pursuit of world domination. “Lack March” has a nice one two punch style vocal attack with shriller moments between the usual death growls before a pig squeal in slam vocal style from Harchenko underpins just how much range he has when it puts his mind to it. A track with plenty of menacing and sinister urges in the guitar work, it simmers in the shadow of intent with a deep seeded rage that is just waiting for a trigger to strike.

Galloping drums with bursts of blast beats form the backbone of the neck snapping “Horrible Demise“, a Groove Death orientated cut with instant appeal and an ear worm quality. Another brutal vocal performance from Harchenko is chemically enhanced by a collection of bloodthirsty roars that reverberate around the skull like a bullet ricochet. Its total carnage by the end (in good way) with slightly oddly timed stop-start riffs creating an unsettling Deathcore pattern that hits like multiple punches to the face. Last but by no means least “October” has an almost cinematic darkness to it in the early stages, the beast rising from the black depths with barbed talons ready to strike. You can’t help but get taken with the verve and swagger of this one because the band clearly know exactly what they want to achieve and nail it perfectly as they push on Extreme Metal borders and boundaries. As a record this five track affair is as slick and polished as you’d expect from a major label act. This is a dark new dawn for Mental Maze because they’ve come back stronger and more ferocious than ever before [8/10]

Track Listing