HEAD HITS CONCRETE - My Minds Mine 10''
Canada's Head Hits Concrete kicks this puppy off by blowing through nine brief tracks of intense and noisy grindcore that's much better than their previous work that I've heard. There's a shitload of feedback and rhythmic wackiness with some subtle technicality that borders on being complete chaos. In fact, and I don't mean this as an insult but as a compliment, to me this band is sort of like the hardcore/punk version of Cryptopsy, but where Cryptopsy fails, Head Hits Concrete rips your face off and shits down, around, and all over your fucking neck! And it's not all speed and insanity here. Check out "Hole in the Head", which offers up some slower riffing with a little bit of Godflesh-esque discordance that is sheer fucking brilliance. And the recording isn't that bad for as wild as the music is. The vocals get a little bit loud at times, but the screaming is so forceful that it's not a real hindrance. I love the rhythm section, so I'd like to hear a bit more density in that department, but even though the grating nature of the guitars and vocals can be slightly tedious at times, things tend to be kept in check for the most part. The lyrics are fucking awesome, always making a point without neglecting the power of sarcasm. Take for example "Cancer of the Side of the Face", if you will: "What shit from your head pollutes our common space today? You're a fucking crusader and no one is exempt from the signals you send and receive. A latté in one hand, your digital status symbol in the other, and a fantastic 24-inch cock takes the wheel. Is that 'Shout at the Devil' or 'Hot for Teacher' I hear every time your fucking phone rings?" Excellent. My Minds Mine, from The Netherlands, is up next, also with nine tracks. Their style is a bit more straightforward musically, but the vocal screams are far more extreme, as are the speeds... so they're no less abrasively intense than their Canadian comrades. I like some of the lower vocals a bit more, but I can't understand a damn word of what they're saying even when trying to read along with the lyrics! Some of the slower riffing is far more powerful as well, notably in a few of the tracks towards the middle of their side of the 10". (I honestly have no idea which song is which because the gaps between tracks are so minuscule, and the vocals are literally impossible to decipher, no matter how hard you try. In fact, it seems as though there are more like 20 songs on their side of the record, rather than nine!) The recording is alright. The mix is pretty even, so it works out okay. It needs a little something, but I'm not sure what. Perhaps the guitars need to be slightly less noisy? I'm not sure, nothing jumps out at me as being problematic, and I like the fact that all of the instruments and the vocals are closely knit, so... The lyrics are pissed off and tend to deal mostly with socio-political topics such as the abortion issue, the media, religion, etc. "Slavery without any stable reason, the outside looks so fine but tastes like shit. The ones who should care about law and order in our civilization, are the ones who break the rules..." The record comes in a black, white, and red sleeve with an old illustration of a bunch of people being tortured by having their hands cut off on the cover. Inside is a foldout insert that has all of the lyrics, and in the case of Head Hits Concrete a band photo and some additional text regarding hardcore/punk's connection to building international communication and such. Very cool. Definitely a great split.
