brain dead

Another Suffering Mind related record in their latest offering, their split 6" with Protestant. Orange vinyl of 666 copies. Pressed by Halo Of Flies and Crucificados Records amongst others. Only the third 6" record I've been able to post about on here. Kind of a redundant format I suppose, but it is what it is.


Two new songs from Suffering Mind that mark the introduction of new singer Radek. As I've mentioned recently I prefer his pipes to previous vocalists Ula's. They tread a pretty predictable grindcore path; deep guttural groans offset with high pitch screams, but his advantage is in the power he is able to throw behind them. Ula developed a pretty strong approach over the course of her tenure with the band, but she certainly lacked some of the power that gets me excited about aggressive vocals, especially in the high end department. While Radek falls short ever so slightly compared to some of his more recent contemporaries, he still packs quite a wallop. The recording here would arguably signal the bands most precise so far too. Clean enough to set the idea without getting all studio prefect or anything. Listening to these two songs gets me really excited to hear more from these guys with the new member.

Protestant may not be the band you would expect to feature on a split with a band like Suffering Mind. The two times that I've posted about them in the past have been about records of theirs that certainly conveyed a more traditional form of metallic hardcore akin to the holy terror clique or similar. I quickly compare them to the American Catharsis often. Their offerings here vary though. The first song employs a pretty standard Protestant vibe. Fast hardcore with melodic leads, gruff vocals and a slower bit. The second track is where the band seem to experiment a bit more. Now I'm no Protestant encyclopaedia, but to my knowledge this is the shortest song they've ever written, clocking in at around 30-40 seconds. It's built around a simple riff and a blast beat that runs the backbone, offset by two vocal tracks, one by the regular singer (from what I can gather) and a second, more high pitched guy. It ends in a pretty ignorant mosh bit, short and sweet. Both songs also employ a relatively rough recording compared to a lot of their previous stuff.

                      Worth it alone for the SM side, and just to add another 6" to my collection.