Hegemony

Mind Snare was formed in 1989, in Turin (Italy) and they can be considered one of the very first death metal bands in that country. At first, under the name of Satan’s Slaughter they play something like early Atheist. After they change the name in Chemioterapy always releasing a lot of demo tapes.

The name Mind Snare came in 1996, when “…Awaiting the Ancients” demo was released. They toured Italy over and over again, playing concerts with Kreator, Malevolent Creation and others. Now they were playing true brutal death metal.

Italy, as we now, is a bad place to play extreme metal in general because none is interested on it, including most of the labels. In fact, after being screwed up several times they decided to release their first self-produced EP “ Hegemony” in 1999, ten years after the band was born (INCREBIBLE!!!).
This EP contains songs in true old school brutal death metal. You can hear influences of Suffocation, early Deicide and Terrorizer among the others.

After a short intro with distorted guitars, it’s time for Stronger than Any Fate to make ears bleed. Old school production plus great death metal. “We fall, we cry, we bleed, we suffer but we’re raised again stronger…than any fate”. It's a great track, alternating blasting parts with others more slow.
Gigi Casini (vocals and bass) is awesome, Chris Benso (guitars) is evil and fast and Marco Boffa (drums) is a panzer.

The following track To Jesus is more technical but with a great riff in the middle forcing you to mosh against the wall. The true essence of evil death metal. Here you can hear Deicide influences, along with thrash metal and black atmosphere.

Monarch of Prayer is true unholy brutal death metal. Great guitars and drums work. The old fashioned but good production makes you hear all the instruments very well and you can notice that Casini is not the classic raw death metal bass player: he’s technical, not noisy but very clean in the way of playing.

Butchered Human Corpse is highly influenced by grind in some parts, with gore lyrics. The most violent song of the EP.

The Ancients Awakening is slow and heavy as fuck. The growls are perfect and every instruments can create a piece of hell…it’s like walking in a odd place with no lights around you…There is a fast break in the middle, but immediately after, it turns again slow and evil with whispering voices alternating with growls.
This debut EP is evil, fast, heavy and brutal. It’s all you need from a truly dedicated death metal band.