BLOOD FREAK — Mindscraper (review)

BLOOD FREAK — Mindscraper album cover Album · 2011 · Grindcore Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"Mindscraper" is the 4th full-length studio album by US goregrind/death metal act Blood Freak. The album was originally meant to be released in 2008 through Razorback Records but that never materialized and in December 2010 Blood Freak signed a deal with Willowtip Records who released the album in April 2011. I don´t know if the band has made improvements, re-recorded tracks or anything else that could set this version of "Mindscraper" apart from the version which was intended for release in 2008. The 2008 version was meant to be titled "Scared Stiff" and feature a cover artwork by Edward Repka though, while "Mindscraper" ended up featuring a cover artwork by Mark K. of "Frightfeast Comix".

Compared to the earlier more deathgrind oriented releases by the band "Mindscraper" features more similarities to the more death metal oriented goregrind "Multiplex Massacre (2007)". The tracks have become even longer this time though. Most of them are around 3 to 4 minutes long. That´s actually pretty long for goregrind tracks. Of course Blood Freak isn´t an out an out goregrind act as they incorporate filthy mid-paced old school death metal elements in their music. Acts like early Carcass and Impetigo are the prime influences. The lyrical themes still revolve around cheesy B-Horror movies, Zombies, blood and splatter and song titles like "Slaughterhouse Recollections", "Sex Trash Princess", "Paralyzed by the Medusa Spider", "We Kill Cause We Care" and "Death Trip... In the Drug Den of the Damned" are testaments to that.

"Maniac" Neil Smith as usual handle vocals, guitars and bass but he is helped out on this album by Travis Ruvo on drums and Kevin on vocals. The band are generally very well playing but they make sure to leave room for some loose organic playing to keep the whole thing filthy and authentic sounding.

Besides the tracks generally being longer than usual, "Mindscraper" doesn´t add that much new if you are already familiar with Blood Freak (well a couple of electronic experiments are a new feature). Personally I think the album sounds a bit too much like a routine release from the band. I´m not as enthusiastic about the album as I have been about all three predecessors, but it´s hard to say exactly why that is. I just don´t find "Mindscraper" as oddly charming as the predecessors. It could be because the tracks are longer and they really don´t feature enough quality riffs and ideas to justify being that long or it could be the more sparse use of cool B-horror movie samples which dominated the earlier releases by the band. We´re definitely not talking a bad release here by any means, but considering the usually very high quality level of the band´s material I think I´ll reserve the right to be slightly disappointed here and I find that a 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.
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