One thought on “Antidote: Mind Alive-1996.”

1. bayern, June 28th, 2020
   Missing a few spikes from the Finnish classic thrash wheel, so I’m rushing here to add a few lines this band’s way who appeared quite late on the circuit but made sure there was no stone in the Bay-Area unturned with their fairly cool debut “The Truth”. The truth is they were capable musicians, and they were not exactly copycats, and they did sound inspired for another few similar retro thrashy showdowns…

   and they didn’t disappear once the numetal laws were firmly established on the scene, but carried on although the sophomore was already a “beyond thrash” listening experience, a thrash/post-thrashy conglomerate straddling between the Black Album and Flotsam & Jetsam’s “Quatro” with a heavy seismic delivery and a couple of more entangled, progressive moments.

   Two years later the approach has shifted a bit from the more rigorous thrashy/post-thrashy patterns the guys looking towards more expansive vistas where also power and progressive metal can be seen interfering more frequently. Atmospheric slow-burning chuggers like the title-track surely serve as the engines here but it’s more melodic, more memorable numbers like the Stratovarius-esque odyssey “Fall from Disgrace” or sudden more aggressive explosions like the very fittingly-titled “The Aggressor Within” that will keep the listener on his/her toes, alongside blends of several styles (the cool sharp riff-fest “Icon of Hate”). The excellent emotional clean vocals call for at least one genuinely mellower piece, and here comes the very cool heavy ballad “Dying to Be Dead” which further consolidates the melodic impression the latter occasionally brushed aside either by more faithful adherences to the groove (“Wallow in Vice”) or by other short brutal thrashing explosions (the 1.5-min ball of fury “Attitude”).

   The more complex progressive power/thrashy material (“Masked Dance”, “Books of the Moon”) by all means strikes a chord, too, but it’s laid-out in a more monotonous, not very eventful manner the band looking at their roots by trying to adapt them to the newer generation. The resultant therapy works on a first listen but every subsequent return to it doesn’t generate the same lofty effect. A definite plus is the less modern clout compared to the one of the second instalment; the band try to show their passing interest in the ruling vogues but nothing insistently aggro can be detected with melodic etudes and breezy references to the old school overwriting such attempts.

   Still, the energy of yore is missing, and audible restraint in the creative process can also be felt. The melodic decorations serve as appendages and never get developed into a standalone phenomenon the guys obviously aware of the stirred power metal wave as an antidote to the dominant numetal trends, but not quite certain whether they want to become a part of it. Well, they did but under a different moniker, Thunderstone, and not only but they turned this second initiative of theirs into a major player on the contemporary power metal arena with whole six full-lengths released so far… an antidote to their earlier rowdier thrashy exploits? No, not really; the past is past, and it doesn’t need any antidotes. It was a totally relevant chapter from ancient Finnish thrash/post-thrash lore.

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