MIND/KNOT – Deadly

vote
7.5

• Bands:
  MIND/KNOT
• Duration: 00:14:30
• Available from: 01/16/2026

Streaming not yet available

We understood well that Mind/Knot were an intense and visceral group, reluctant to stay within strict rules of genre and sector, when listening to their second album “Essenza”. A truly intense, multifaceted and brutal record, overwhelming in how it mixed old-fashioned hardcore inputs and the more intricate and anxiety-inducing derivatives of mathcore, crossing them with some interesting and non-trivial atmospheric cues. A short album, but full of excellent content, which enhanced the conciseness of the Roman formation, perhaps leaving a few too many things unsaid, sacrificed on the altar of an expressive urgency that did not allow for discounts and had no intention of dragging it out for too long.

With this EP, Mind/Knot continue and relaunch their actions, continuing with momentum along that path, moving away in a clear and probably now definitive way from older hardcore forms, to embrace in the sounds, rhythms and in every detail the propulsive and overwhelming force of the most ferocious, feral and disturbing mathcore. In all this chaos, however, a pinch of experimentation filters through, an oblique look at the material of advanced hardcore, which adds details to a formula already rich in nuances.

“Mortal” corners, beats, knocks down and bones, leaving us breathless, letting a dark reflexivity filter through in the background, dark and profound afterthoughts that increase the load of anguish and restlessness. The writing, maintaining the same thirst for essentiality as “Essenza”, grows in complexity here. The rhythmic convulsions sound harder, unpredictable and dazzling, as they writhe in cruel spasms but, when necessary, open up to small atmospheric parentheses, working finely between dissonances, faint arpeggios and hints of leaden and apocalyptic soundscapes. Songs like “If I Laugh, You're Gonna Die” and “10 Minutes” denote both a deadly impact force and a meticulous process of defining details, studying the dynamics and the type of sensations you want to evoke with your music. They represent, to our ears, an explosive cross between The Dillinger Escape Plan, Converge, younger bands like Frontierer and strokes of murky extreme metal, expressed with an agility that isn't exactly for everyone.
The vocal lines are also excellent, wild, obsessive, not simple screams but heartfelt interpretations of moods and emotions, managing to make us perceive something more sincere and profound.

If we had appreciated “Essenza”, yet thought that there was some slight absence and imperfection within it, in this case we find nothing to complain about. The only flaw, if we can call it that, is the brevity of the work: as soon as you started enjoying it, it was already at the end. As for quality, however, there is only so much to be fully satisfied with. As well as deafened by such sparkling violence.