m e n t a l   d e s t r u c t i o n
straw - CMI.47

We assume many of you know that Mental Destruction is synonymous to industrial music. "Straw" is no exception. Mechanical and ugly vocals are guiding us through musical landscapes covered by death and destruction. This is total industry lasting 50 minutes, great for lovers of this musicstyle and probably just noise for all the others!

ET: Mental Destruction, true to their label, convey mental images of being inside a meat locker, hanging on a hook... And in reference to the bands name they do in fact cause massive amounts of mental destruction. Employing relentless distorted beats and wrathfully enraged vocals MD is nothing to be listened to lightly; this is not polka music. It is for those who enjoy experimental that is very d-a-r-k with precise insane emotional tactics plus an added bonus of "seemingly religious" melodic harmonies. Moving in on the quiet mind in a distinctive rhythmic attack, MD is a unique audio pioneer reflecting the collective unconcious, offering shuttles to those who wish to enter there in.

"September Warning" brandishes painful emotional upheaval on all scales, a very moving piece {available also on ...And Even Wolves Hid Their Teeth CMI collection}. "The Streams of Time" uses a crushing militant beat and absolutely mind wrenching vocals... try listening to this at full volume and see what kind of mind you have afterwards ... Rather, see if you ever do come out of it. {Available also on Karmanik Collection from CMI.}

S: This is some serious !%*@; yet I find it fascinating (and, given the public response cited on MD's web page, I am not the only one to feel this way) that it comes across as so beautiful. To be sure, it sounds quite horrendous, but Mental Destruction makes that curious sort of music of which the sum is greater than the parts. Their characteristic crunching, digitally-slowed drums are creatively and non-repetitively assembled, making the music intriguing in that it is extremely percussive yet not groove-oriented or dancey. All of their instruments (particularly vocals) seem at times like mostly an excuse to exercise the principles of distortion, but they actually have an highly personal, well-executed, and admittedly peculiar aesthetic: Ice shards, which are cold, sharp, and brittle, yet catch the light and create rainbows of color. They call themselves "Orthodox Industrial", which may be essentially true, but their work is so pure as to feel totally refreshing and original. More intense than brutal, Straw is music with which to end a millenium.

"an orchestra of pulsating, distorted noise, sizzles & crackles, spits out the frustration of our souls' search for perfection. the darkness of it mirrors the human heart and passionately confesses our hopelessness in the absence of God. life is scraped raw revealing the truth of our existance. this is industrial in its purest form...but be ready to be traumatized."

review by EvolTwin (ET) & Jeff Kihn (JK)