Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing

Mind Eraser-Conscious Unconscious (Clean Plate)  The formative efforts from Boston’s Mind Eraser were less than remarkable. Their debut and sophomore LPs, “Cave” and “Glacial Reign”, provided the sporadic burst of tributary Neanderthal/Crossed worship amidst monotonous sludge and repetitive thrash hammering. Coherent song structures largely took second stage to amorphous romps championing style over substance. At the outset, the band seemed little more than spotty Slap-A-Ham retread.

Fast forward a few years and several lukewarm outings later, however, and Mind Eraser have abruptly come into their own, delivering on the oft-touted praise and promise heaped upon them by the hc hype mill. With “Conscious Unconscious” , they have developed a cohesive, impactful whole which, despite its long playing two song 12” format, manages to avoid the pitfalls of pretense and self indulgence.

Far and away the band’s strongest material to date,”Conscious Unconscious” offers layer upon atmospheric layer of icy metallic riffs, power violence blur, fluid rhythms and a viscous production scheme harboring more of a brooding early death metal aesthetic than anything in the band’s past.

Mammoth without being overwrought, the record alternately roars, grinds , drones, and lumbers its way through waves of e-chord savagery, thick vocal charring, and some of the more inspired drum fills to grace a hardcore record in recent memory.

Where previous Mind Eraser releases had more of an impromptu feel– a slipshod procession of loosely assembled passages –there is more meticulous drive to these two compositions—a depth and scale which, at intervals, bears semblance to the less grind-centric early Earache cannon (the more mammoth moments of Entombed et al). The band’s more overtly metal orchestration and unabashedly dramatic songwriting flair infuses these hymns with a surprisingly sombre, emotive atmosphere. Here, their staple hammering, thrashing violence is punctuated by a subtle ambience, foreboding fantasyscapes simmering in low-end, pulsing drone.  Never before have their extremes in tempo and pacing been executed in so epic and seamless a fashion.

In fusing plodding metallic frost with the band’s well honed (but less readily apparent) Neanderthal/ No Comment/Crossed Out/Noothgrush infatuation, Mind Eraser have taken the style to its logical extreme. The end product is modern, crushing, and inspired, not more late ’80s/early ’90s grist for the mill. Recommended. -Mike Ramek