Mindrage

Item: Sown in Weakness, Raised in Power
Author: John Sant

Sown in Weakness, Raised in Power

(1999)

Reviewed by John Sant

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Label Bulletproof MusicBandoppler1999

hardcore metalcore

This CD pleasantly surprised me. When I heard about the new Mindrage album, I didn't pay too close attention. They were coming out on a label that isn't known for their hardcore products, so I didn't think twice about it. I decided to get it on a mere whim and was greeted with a solid album.

Musically, Mindrage has the hardcore thing down. They know how to lay down heavy riffs, coupled with insane blasts on the drums. The only problem is, they don't know when not to do that. Sadly, as good as the album is, it suffers from the tracks bleeding together. There are no break-downs in the songs, they all move straight ahead, same tempo for three minutes plus, then onto the next track. ZAO mixed it up fairly well on "Blood and Fire," you could tell a distinction between songs. It gets hard to do that with Mindrage. The upside is that all of the songs are very well written, musically and lyrically. They do add a different flavor with 'raised in power', an instrumental track.

The mix on the CD is above average. The guitars do not overpower the rest of the band, but still remain a solid force. Drums are well mixed, just prominent enough to allow you to hear Justin Carder's insane skills on the double bass pedal. The vocals are awesome. They remind me of a cross between NIV and Fear Factory, extremely commanding.

The album definitely has its moments. But not enough of them. Often they'll play with a sickeningly cool riff, but they never capitalize on it...they kind of forget it and go back to whatever they were doing before. All in all, I do enjoy this album. I don't regret the purchase, but I can think of a couple other CDs I would have rather bought in place of this.