Inverted Mind hail from Kraków, Poland, with their third full-length album to date. To me, they are a totally new acquaintance. Their craft is groovy sludge metal, and while it carries huge rhythms, it is not sweet dance music.

First, the vocalist shouts like hell, lacerating, as it sounds like, his throat. The style comes from hardcore punk and sludge metal. The guy is able and I truly feel sorry for his throat... I have never enjoyed this style, to tell the truth, but the performance is kook. He doesn't much stray from his note of choice, and that is the biggest drawback, together with faceless voice itself. It is just straight fucking shouting. There are some sung melody lines and spoken parts to spice up the stuff, often mixed into background or effected (often by guesting personnel).

This is some heavy music. Its gravity seems to slow time (even though this never gets to doom-level pace; this is mid-paced, mostly), because shorter songs feel like they were twice their length. The songs feature a few riffs each, but the drummer seems to be a bit more demonstrative. So, the riffs also vary from sludgy to hardcore-y, from fast picking to string-benders, and discordant stuff keeps things urban. And one should not expect any guitar soloing. The guitar tone is hefty, and even heftier bass guitar which buzzes and flaps mostly in tandem with the guitar, make one thick wall of noise. The drummer presents some double kick drumming, waving the flag of metal music, as well as other intense, gravitational booming and alt-rock beats.

At times, I feel like this was much heavier Quicksand (in ignorance of many alt-rock bands, that's what I could come up with)... The true problem is the lack of identity in the songs; they just end up feeling very similar to each other, except the atmospheric parts that bring in some needed divergence (track 4 is a good example of that). It is harsh music, where no beauty is found, except seldom.

This could be a gem for those who seek for this kind of music. I feel it is well done and that the band may have their say, but I am unable to connect with it. It is not my kind of music, really, and someone who enjoys listening to something like this, may find this truly varying. Fuck do I know.

Rating: 5+ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
10/16/2020 17:17