Norway's Selfmindead describes their sound as "emo-core." You know what that means--tortured, screamed vocals over a distorted bed of guitars, with a melodic riff thrown in here and there. The band's image is certainly more emo than hardcore--the three men posing for pictures in the liner notes all have greasy hair, are thin, and wear hooded sweatshirts and blue jeans. The music, however, is decidedly hardcore, and I have difficulty hearing much of an emo influence at all.
Instead, Selfmindead plays typical Christian hardcore, treading no new water whatsoever. The only noticeable difference between this band and the other 400 hardcore bands in the industry right now is that Selfmindead's lyrics are uplifting. This wouldn't be a problem, except that they are uplifting in a cheesy, CCM sort of way:
The motivation song
Is here to motivate you
Show the world that you can make it
Believe in yourself
(From "The Motivation Song")
Fasten your seatbelt, baby
We're going for a ride tonight
We're gonna drive far away from here
To a place that we call love
(From "Everything's Gonna Be O.K.")
Even these lyrics could be tolerated, though, if they fit with the music at all. Hardcore is traditionally not a genre whose lyrics are happy, and there's a reason for that. Screaming uplifting lyrics such as the ones above in a tortured voice sounds ridiculous.
As bad as these lyrics are, however, Selfmindead is even worse when they attempt to be political:
I'm getting bored with this culture
And these old traditions
I'm getting bored with these people
And their boring ideals...
Revolution
Revolution now
(From "Rules to Break / Laws to Change")
This song peddles the same halfhearted anti-capitalism message that bands like Rage Against the Machine ran into the ground years ago, and it is nearly unlistenable.
Unless you're a die-hard fan of Christian hardcore and can handle cheesy, unimaginative lyrics, don't waste your money on At the Barricades We Fall.
1.5 tocks
Other coverage for this album
HM Magazine #82Reviewed by Ben MengdenStrikingly powerful, this release easily supercedes their former release. Heavy throughout, they have evolved from a tech metal band to a more up and close hardcore band with some definite metal roots. Selfmindead has apparently evolved into a more mature less complex, but stronger band. It almost seems that they have come back to what would be classified as an older sound without the frills.…Bandoppler 2000Reviewed by Earl CampbellIt has got to feel good to be associated in any way to Solid State Records coming into this new century. Just based on their European 2000 releases alone, this is going to be an amazing year for Solid State mania. Blindside lived up to the hype, and even surpassed it in some ways, with their new one, and now it is time for Selfmindead to come correct. HooBoy, don't you worry about that. Can you…Art for the Ears 2000Reviewed by Marco PovervestHere's another Swedish hardcore product and if you listen to it, you'll know that hard is the core of their business! Just give it a listen: The screams are almost like shrieks and they are fond of playing dual tones (I mean, playing one note with two strings) which generates a dissonant effect. There is some aggressiveness in the songs though it's not fast stuff. Still the music offers a variety…Similar sounding releases
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