I will put this simply. There are too many powerviolence bands. You can find more Myspace pages with Infest and No Comment under their influences than were ever records pressed from either band. I've realized this is a pretty egregious style of music (kind of like moshcoreââ¬Â¦which these kids call stupid and neandrathalic). So who out there is stopping the entire genre from spiraling into the banality of every other Myspace-hype genre? Well, there are the bands from the Gulf Coast and one hallmark band from Boston: Mind Eraser.
Cave, their first LP, impressed me. The total Crossed Out warship, the Boston-straightedge flavoring, the weirdly depressive lyrics, the creepy-ass woodcut; it all did it for me. I figured Glacial Reign would be more of the same, and in a way it is. I mean, outside of Bucket Full of Teeth, powerviolence isn't known as an experimental genre. But, Mind Eraser has definitely upped the ante by dragging out both extremes. The slow, crushing weight of the breaks has been drawn out to something approaching stoner rock and the fast parts flare up to the speeds of Repulsion and Terrorizer. And in between the current wave of Boston hardcore bands (read: Lockin' Out's roster) seeps through.
I don't want to dissuade anyone from checking out Cave but the release of Glacial Reign easily lays it to rest. The vocals are harsher, the production is warmer, the songwriting is more varied, and the art is even more intensely bizarre. The only fault I can find is that the lyrics are much less catchy and as many times as I've listened to it I still don't know any of the words without the booklet in front of me. Oh well. But if you're tired of every 80 pound weakling that's bought an Infest record starting a band and releasing a garbage seven inch - this is the real deal from real pissed dudes.
