Mind Hive - Wire: Review
are a British punk band that are absolutely essential to telling the story of punk music in England. Releasing three records in their initial run the band were pioneers of art punk, post-punk and hardcore punk music. They reformed years later and have had a steady output of releases since then that interpolate numerous other genres but have never quite reached their initial highs again.
Review By Lavender:
This feels like a review I end up writing time and time again. A band that got off to an incredible start and whose first few records you should absolutely familiarize yourself with if you haven't, but have become middling as the years have gone by. I didn't hate their last record 2017's Silver/Lead but it is clear that the thirst for innovation the band once had has been traded out for a more comfortable sound as they've aged, and that has never been clearer than on Mind Hive.
The record isn't all bad though, but even its highlights can be middling. Off The Beach is a pretty solid dreamy pop rock song that is tolerable and almost catchy at some points, a refreshing sound after the record gets off to a rough start. The closing track Humming is maybe the best of the bunch with a chilling electronic landscape and tangible instrumental build. It's one of the only points on the record that feels like one of the only moments of true emotion the record achieves in its balladry.
As far as the rest of whats here goes it ranges from boring to absolutely nauseating with a wide stylistic scale on top. Cactused is a track that flashes some really cool moments but it jumps from one sound to another way too much and ends up coming off incredibly inconsistent. Unrepentant and Shadows are back to back ballads that try to have a little bit of a political edge to them too, but neither really lands the mark on either front as the former has a barely there instrumental that is draining and the latter says too much until it all becomes meaningless.
Be Like Them is a song you could have definitely passed off to me as the theme tune to a corny 80's action movie and I would have totally believed you. Primed And Ready on the other hand sounds like a terrible early 2000's radio rock song straight out of the Jet catalog and the record gives me bad music whiplash when I hear them back to back. Oklahoma is one of the most confusing songs here as I have no idea what its actually supposed to be. There is some wild vocalizing over fuzzed out guitars, the sounds are admittedly interesting but the lack of cohesiveness kind of ruins it. Hung is a nearly 8 minute track with a huge driving instrumental that seemingly leads absolutely nowhere. It returns to the same refrain over and over again and really doesn't have a true climax at all and I'm really just not sure what the point is.
Mind Hive is one of the strangest rock records you'll hear this year but that doesn't add up to a dynamic or interesting experience. The records insistance on jumping between styles seemingly randomly wears thin very quickly and makes for one of the most viscerally inconsistent listens I've had in a while. Without that stylistic cohesion many of these tracks that have some decent moments individually add up to almost nothing at all when the record is all said and done. 2/10
