The fifth album by the doomsters from Little Rock, Arkansas is once again all about gloom and melancholy - dreamy, playful with a bit of heartache, but also a glimmer of hope.
The themes of isolation, trauma and mental disorders run like a common thread through the 50 minutes, spread over 6 songs.
All in all, more complex than the last album "Forgotten Days", which was a bit more straightforward and straight to the point.
More minimalistic, the epic parts scaled back, which suits the band very well. "Mind Burns Alive" creates a dark, almost intangible atmosphere, as we know it from Sólstafir, Katatonia and 40 Watt Sun.
"Where The Light Fades" starts the album with King Crimson and 70s Pink Floyd prog vibes, less doom, but plenty of room for the great and diverse voice of Brett Campbell. The title track "Mind Burns Alive" has a great arc of tension with big guitar walls as you would expect from the band, then becomes quiet, thoughtful, and then builds to an epic finale.
This alternation of quiet passages and recurring outbursts of doomy riffs runs through all the following songs. The band manages to keep the songs exciting despite the recurring hypnotically quiet passages, with great and varied songwriting and surprises such as saxophone parts in the over 10 minute long song "Endless Place".
"Mind Burns Alive" is different from the albums before, but the band has perfected their style and shows that they have arrived in their very own sound cosmos.
-Helge Neumann
