Style: Blackgaze/Math-Rock (mixed vocals)
Review by: Sam
Country: Unites States, Texas
Release date: November 13th, 2020
This month I’ve been trying the NBBMN (“Nothing But Black Metal November”) challenge. So far it’s been going well. I’ve made a single exception for the new Fates Warning album upon its release, but otherwise all has been kvlt in Sam land. This release by The Chemical Mind is the latest installment of that.
Blackgaze, I still don’t have the slightest clue what it entails. Even less so for math rock. Apparently, this is both those genres. Or rather, blackgaze with math rock elements. Whatever. My only association with -gaze genres is washy sounding guitars and a slight emphasis on atmosphere, and with math rock the only association I have is the utter chaos of mathcore which I detest. Not the most positive start to this review, but That Benign Terror is actually pretty fun.
Because indeed, this is loaded with washy guitars, and it’s certainly atmospheric. Not in a melancholic fashion like, say, Skyforest or Agalloch, but rather in a more claustrophobic, anxious manner. It’s much befitting of the album title really. It’s very intrusive music. But didn’t you say it was fun? Yes! Despite coming across as contradictory, the pacing of the music is often very upbeat. Despite a serious black metal filter on everything and frequent blasting, the washy guitars riffs are always at the center of the louder parts. There’s a certain sense of fun oozing from these I find hard to describe. Perhaps it’s a math rock thing, who knows. This band also frequently drops off the tempo for dreamier, softer sections, often paired with synths and gentle clean vocals. They’re executed well and the pristine production really sells me on them. It’s a very distant, but clear mix that keeps all the good aspects of the lo-fi aesthetic while still coming off as professional. It makes the album pleasant to listen to in general.
Now I do have to say that these songs come across as chaotic. They are structurally often very loose. The songs tend to go from one idea onto the next, but barely return to pre-established ideas within the song. I’m personally all in for repeating parts within music since it gives you something to latch onto. The Chemical Mind does too little of that for my liking. The album flows like a giant stream of consciousness rather than a bunch of cohesive songs with a start, middle, and end. It’s often very hard to differentiate whether a new song has started or if it’s another transition within the current one. All the sections by themselves are well-executed and enjoyable, but it fails to deliver on the bigger picture. Maybe it was a conscious choice of the band, but for me this approach killed a lot of the initial excitement I had on subsequent listens.
That Benign Terror is not the best (or even one of the best) NBBMN discovery I had this month, but it surely is a fun album. Their loose songwriting approach turned me off the album over time, and I probably won’t be returning to this much, but I assume that those who have less of a problem with this will adore this record. At 42 minutes it’s a very easily digestible record and it’s good fun, so give it a shot, will ya?
Recommended tracks: Dominion, Ophanim
Recommended for fans of: idk Skyforest? Warforged maybe?
Final verdict: 6/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | RYM page
Label: Independent
The Chemical Mind is:
– Nick Krueger (composition, production, guitar, bass, vocals)
– Matt Clepper (guitar)
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