(written by Islander)
We’re about to premiere a song from Mind Prisoner, a PDX-launched band (now divided between Oregon and South Carolina) that continues to seize our attention around here, and should seize yours. But first, a bit of history for those of you who might be encountering their music for the first time.
Following a handful of demos and an EP, the band released their debut album The Color of Ruin about 11 months ago. Our Andy Synn wrote that it “made one hell of an impression” on him after finally hearing it, using “an array of Black Metal, Post-Black Metal, and Blackened Doom influences” to create experiences that were “dark and desolate,” “bleak yet beautiful,” “bitter” and “biting,” “terrifying” and “tormented.” He closed by suggesting “that Mind Prisoner haven’t even reached the peak of their powers yet, and we should all make sure to watch this Portland-based pair very closely in the future!”
What the future then brought was a new single released on October 1st this year named “Years Gone,” the first excerpt from Mind Prisoner’s forthcoming second album Less Faith. It signaled a shift in the band’s stylistic ingredients, previewed by their label as “post-black metal with elements of doom, post-punk, and gothic rock.” It hooked this writer right damned fast. Allow me to repeat what I banged out very soon after hearing it (as if you had a choice in the matter!):
“‘Years Gone‘ works really well. Sounds of ethereal choral voices and celestial radiations greet the listener, but although those unearthly voices and glimmering tones persist, the surrounding music, slow in its initial pacing, gets much heavier and gloomier.
“The song is an amalgam of continuing contrasts. On the heavier side of the scales, cavernous growls and roars join in, along with tormented screams, thundering bass-lines, rattling drum gallops, and full-bore blasting. High above, the synth-driven music continues to shine and sweep, heart-aching and yearning in its emotional effects. As the bass noticeably murmurs, it also sounds grieving and seeking.
“Near the end, male choral voices take over the words. Solemn and deep in their expressions, they link arms with gothic darkness, even as sonic stars continue winking and shimmering in piercing tones high above.”
And now we come to the subject of today’s premiere, a second single from Less Faith named “Gradient“.
In this one, Mind Prisoner put listeners on the back of a galloping horse right away, and surround them with dense swarming riffage below and tones of glimmering and spiraling brilliance above. Inflamed snarls and roars join in, adding an element of beastliness to the ravishing affair, and the band ratchet the intensity higher with bursts of blasting beats and rapidly shivering fretwork.
Those piercing, sky-scraping melodies continue swirling across the top of the sound, both glorious and unearthly in their sensations, even as the low-end abrasively churns. Tormented screams and howls cut through these torrents, but the torrents then slow, allowing those brilliant sheens of shimmering and rippling melody to have their ethereally yearning and joyful way (joined by ecstatically bubbling bass tones), even as the harsh vocals become near-cacophonous in their mind-blown intensity.
The drums briefly vanish, again yielding to a vividly glittering guitar and sonic shimmers of cosmic drift, and those persist even when the mad voices, the thunderously throbbing bass, and the variable drumming return.
In this song Mind Prisoner once again succeed in their creation of contrasting musical styles and sensations, in its audio union of ferocity, and anger, of heavy abrasion and gossamer lightness, of passionate hopefulness and stirring beauty.
MIND PRISONER is:
Griffin Campbell – vocals, lyrics, guitars, drum programming
Thomas Night – vocals, lyrics, sound design, synth programming
Alan Brucke – bass, guitars, vocals, lyrics, drum programming, noise
The album includes guest vocals by Zenona Banks on “Memories”, and by I See Satan Fall Like Lightning on “Bleed”. The band notes that the song “Wound” was inspired by “Crawlspace” by Blessure Grave, original lyrics and melodies by Mind Prisoner.
Less Faith was produced by Mind Prisoner and it was mixed and mastered by Alan Brucke at Hanging Puppet Audio. The album’s cover art is the work of CVSPE, with layouts by CVSPE and Isolation Club.
Violet Hour Transmissions and Isolation Club are releasing the album on November 28th, in variant vinyl formats and on colorful cassette tape, as well as digitally. It’s available for pre-order on Mind Prisoner’s Bandcamp page.
PRE-ORDER:
https://mindprisoner.bandcamp.com/album/less-faith