This ramshackle shack, glorified garden shed of what I call a house of grind stands as a dedicated monument of grindcore dissemination. Yet, at it's foundation, that house is constructed firmly upon the soils of punk rock. It is the belief of this blog and its author that the antecedent fundamentals of grindcore can be traced back to the formative years of punk and hardcore. This ideology is in direct contrast to the conceptions of most of my peers and the genre's listenership who believe grindcore is a form of metal or at the least the two are intrinsically linked. I'm not going to argue this point out of fear that this blog will be considered falsely as some varied delusion of grandeur instead of the anxiety-ridden class of imposter syndrome that it is. And to be honest, grindcore is its own thing anyways, and also, who cares.
I state this biased opinion merely as introduction to Madrid Spain's Mindcollapse and their latest self-titled 7 inch EP. Released on Everydayhate Records, among many other labels, last month and instantaneously sold out. These Spanish grinders produce a sound not too dissimilar to previously reviewed Herida Profunda's In Fear We Trust split. A punk as fuck, unadorned, straightforward grind. Well, straightforward by way of the aforementioned punk. As I previously stated, the roots under this house are based in mohawks, studs and music from the who's who of early 2000's street punk and bands from the 80's British punk explosion. Mindcollapse's sound on this 2021 release is a collision of these worlds.
The guitar work is simple power chords of vacuum cleaner distortion reminiscent of the UK82 European style repurposed into a modern grind delivery of speed and weight. No solos. No black metal leads. No avant-garde synthetic noise interludes. Just stop-n-go riffing commanding through a song structure that falls somewhere between power violence and crust punk. Mixing catchy punk strumming with strident grindcore shiftiness. The bass guitar has that classic earthy hollow twang of a cleaner used tone that really helps deliver that old school sound during the many instances of bass centric lead-ins. But that is where most of the vintage motif ends. A hefty majority of the vocals are the deep low, cinder block meets asphalt roars. The kind of vocals you'd likely expect to hear on something more goregrind or death-grind in nature. The other half of the vocals being caustic, straggly screams mirrored into symmetrical barks. Likewise, and thankfully, production did not adopt the 80's trashcan lid snares and cardboard box kick drums from the days of yore. Instead opting for a more contemporary sound with a clear and impactful kit that brings us well into the 21st century. My only real criticism is that the snare is a little buried in the mix. Especially when compared to the band's previous recordings.
Mindcollapse isn't continual blast beats, but when they do lean into them it can be more difficult to decipher exactly what's going on amongst the frenzied bashings. Meanwhile you can hear every cymbal tap and head strike when things are more straightforward.
Last we heard from Mindcollapse was their 2015 split Do This Wall with fellow Madrid grinders Bad Spencer Grind. While doing little in the way of changing their writing style, the band offers more in the way of branching out this time around. Architecturally the band likes to use a systematic approach in writing that often includes introducing and concluding songs with bursting build-ups of staggered solos and cymbal catches. Akin to the revving up of a bull as it drags its horns and kicks up dirt before a charge. This staple tactic is used by the band as a tool to usher the listener from song to song or to change the pace and style seamlessly within a song. Stepping out of their tried and true, under a minute, cookie cutter norm, Mindcollapse spread their crustcore wings with the three minute song "24H Control + Explotación Asimilada." A half crust punk, half doom-clapped groove epic. Then finally the last track, "Punker Than Grind," very blatantly culminates into the thesis of all of the abovementioned. It's a relatively oversimplified, tongue-in-cheek punk song complete with repetitive riffs and Disrupt-esque strained vocals. The song comes as a huge departure from the rest of the record. It reminds me a lot of "Não Me Importo" towards the end of Ratos de Porão's Sistemados Pelo Crucifa LP. Proof that both bands apparently don't take themselves too seriously in the end.
I find myself liking Do The Wall a little more due to the drums in the mix and the songs being a little leaner. But Mindcollapse's self-titled 7 inch, in its brevity, acts as basically a full length for the band as it is more polished and allows the Spanish three-piece to explore more of their influences and tap into them at their discretion. This, alongside the brute speed and brash song structure, destroys any notions that the band is purely a throwback. But instead are descendants of where Disrupt left off and where Napalm Death failed.
FFO: Shitgrinder, Phobia, Disrupt, Cripple Bastards
Listen to the album:
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