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Blood Freak > Mindscraper > Reviews
Blood Freak - Mindscraper

Best offering, fucking crazy! - 81%

slasher47, July 8th, 2012

Well after far too much hype back when Myspace existed, and a huge delay on this release, I must say it was worth the wait. This album was originally supposed to be released on Razorback Recordings with artwork done by Ed Repka, which is already completed and everything, and the title would have been "Scared Stiff". I do not know what happened, but the album finally got released, but under the name "Mindscraper", with shitty artwork, and on Willowtip Records. I was happy that this was a Willowtip release because Razorback has a bad reputation of putting out gimmicky bands, and the three previous BF albums were on Razorback, and "Mindscraper" deserves better.

This whole album is straight up intense, very riffy, brutal, and fucking catchy. The vocals are all over place with not much of a pattern, but it adds to the craziness of the album. I do not know why, but Neil decided to add members to this album when it has always been a one man project of his. I wish he would not have included the vocalist on this album, because he is not as skilled as Neil is, and Neil already does plenty of vocals so adding Kevlar was not a necessary move. But Neil has a very unique way of presenting his vocals; he goes all over the place with raspy vocals, low gutturals, and old school growls. He puts his vocal styles in all different places and makes them sound straight up filthy.

The instruments are fucking killer. Neil has a very unique and interesting guitar style that he mastered down to the core in all of the projects he's been in. The riffs grind like crazy, but still include thrashing riffs, death metal riffs, and punk structured riffs. The guitar tone is sick, and sounds great with all of the catchy tremolo riffs, like the intro riff for the track "Mindscraper", or the most catchy riff near the start of "Sex Trash Princess". This album is full of catchy riffs left and right; it stays fucking brutal while still busting out almost a happy sounding riff that gets your adrenaline going, the song writing is insane! The drummer was a good addition to the band, he can play fast and keep up with the speed of the songs. The drum production is also sick, its nice and raw sounding, especially the snare. Neil is just an insanely great song writer and musician all around, and this album shows the best of his talent and ideas, they are unlike any other.

I guess my only complaint would be the track "Death Trip...In The Drug Den Of The Damned". The album is already pretty long, and this song was not needed. Nothing really stands out except for the poor guest vocals. At one point the guest vocalist makes this snorting sound for probably five seconds long, I think he thinks he is doing something interesting and different, but it just sounds lame. Plus that song just doesn't belong, not nearly as catchy, aggressive, or brutal as the others.

Honestly, I don't see how this record could disappoint someone, it has all the right elements taken to the best extreme. It didn't get nearly as much hype as it deserves, so go pick this shit up today.

Death, an dJust a Little Grind - 80%

FullMetalAttorney, September 25th, 2011

Blood Freak is a deathgrind band from Oregon, currently signed to Willowtip. Mindscraper is their fourth full-length.

Their style is as close to death metal as you can be and still get the "grind" tag. They're extremely heavy and brutal, with death growl vocals, death metal length songs, and death metal solos. But there are just enough of those grinding riffs, that frenetic grind urgency, and silly samples to call it grind.

Death metal fans should love this. Many of the riffs are incredibly catchy and get your body moving to the song. "Scared Stiff" and the title track are perfect examples. The attitude is clearly humorous, as the art, song titles, and lyrics show a love of bad horror movies, and the few samples in the opening track are both gross and ridiculous. It's something I could definitely get into.

Grindcore fans might find themselves bored, though. The songs are extremely long for grind, averaging about 3:30, and they don't go for the constant whirlwind changeups, instead opting for songs you can follow. In total, the album runs nearly 45 minutes, and I found myself losing interest after about 33. Still, for that first half hour, the riffs are mindscraping.

The Verdict: In short, this would be perfect for fans of brutal death metal who are just a bit interested in grind. It's heavy and brutal, with just a hint of chaos, even if it does go on a bit too long.

originally written for http://fullmetalattorney.blogspot.com/