Konfident

Here's a split that seems to have been made just to please people like me. Two of my favorite current grind bands teaming up and sharing one record. Happy happy joy joy! Here's the Suffering Mind/Archagathus split 1-sided 7", black vinyl, 33 RPM.

Now for as excited as I was for this record, honestly as a whole it came of only as average to me. Two tracks from both bands, Suffering Mind first. The first track is an under 30 second ripper, solid blasting track from beginning to end. The 2nd one has the delicious grindage in the beginning, but rides this not very awesome mid-tempo chord progression throughout most of it. Archagathus come next with "Inexperienced Cannibal", a short little number, closing out with a cover of Rot's "Russian Roulette". Nothing bad by any means, but nothing mindblowing at the same time. Oh well I guess. Tons more great stuff is coming up from both of these bands to get bummed by it at all.

Fun fact, this was going to be a 5". That would have been pretty cool. Metal/grind mega label Power It Up Records took care of this and pressed it as a single sided 7". I believe there is a limited color variant, but I couldn't afford to get it.

~VII

Excesscrement

The tail end of 2013 gave us a couple more Suffering Mind splits, both of which are with some of my favorite Canadian bands (the other one is on it's way to me). Here is the Suffering Mind/Six Brew Bantha split 7", brought to us by Halo Of Flies records. It seemed the stars were aligned in favor of this split, as it left the pressing plant, and got shipped to me from the label within a span of what seemed like 3 weeks. Crazy!!!

You can tell from the über metal cover art that this thing is going to be metallic and deadly. Five excellent songs from Suffering Mind, some of the best stuff they've done all year. "Kolejny Medialny Obrazek" in particular has an insane headbanger of a groove riff at the end. Great stuff as always. SBB are as tight and refined as ever, bringing 4 longer songs with more riffs and whiplash inducing stop/start riffs then you could imagine cramming into any minute+ song. The closing track, "Excesscrement" also has my favorite ending scream of 2013. One of Canada's most impressive bands by far, and the info I got about one of their upcoming records has me going crazy with excitement. 

Halo Of Flies pressed 700 copies of these, 100 being on red and 100 on white. I was a nerd that day and snagged both colors. 

I'll be posting about that other split within the week, hopefully!

~VII

Dead Fields

Continuing my Suffering Mind postage, here we have the very latest release from the band, the split 7" flexi with the almighty Water Torture. White flexi, 33 RPM, I believe the white is limited to 100.

Water Torture isn't the first band you would normally think of doing a split with Suffering Mind, but I'm certainly not complaining. Without a doubt, two of the most solid bands playing their style of aggressive music that are going right now. This was originally going to be a 5" (so again, one song from each band), which would have been amazing, but this flexi is definitely not a cheap last resort. Everything here looks ver neat and tidy, and the flexi itself sounds great.

Suffering Minds track is fucking great. One of the more crushing tracks I've heard from their splits. There's an incredibly heavy and kinda catchy palm muted chorus, and the snare drums is like a slap in the face with a crowbar. Water Torture went all out doom and gloom on their side, nothing they've ever shied away from. Thomas's vocals sound particularly slow and wretched, more then anything else he's put on wax yet.

Pick this up at Mannequin Reign Productions.

~VII

Suffering Mind Collection

Well, here it is. Y'all know I'm an avid collector of Suffering Mind, and here are all the records (and tape) that I've managed to acquire. I also have the split CD with Scourge Schematic, but I didn't feel like digging it out for the photo, whatever. I'm obviously missing all the lathes, and the "Gates Of Suffering" 5".

*Descending from the top*

• Split 12" w/ H.407 (Maroon vinyl)
• "S/T" 12" (White vinyl)
• Split 12" with Asshammer
• Split 7" w/ Neon Hole (Marble vinyl)
• Split 7" w/ Wojtyla 
• "Destroy Mankind" 7"
• Split 9" w/ Massgrave (Gold Edition /50 with DVD)
• Split 6" w/ Protestant (Transparent Orange vinyl)
• Split flexi 7" w/ Water Torture (White Flexi)
• Split 7" w/ The Afternoon Gentlemen
• Split 7" w/ Lycanthrophy (Marble Vinyl)
• "At War With Mankind" 10" (Clear Vinyl)
• Split 5" w/ Dead Church (Blue Vinyl)
• Split 5" w/ S.A.T.A.N. (Red Vinyl)
• Split 5" w/ Phobia (Black Vinyl edition / 172"
• Split Cassette w/ Massgrave (variant of the 9")

~VII 

I Want Nothing

Suffering Mind have been having an amazing year, continuing their ever increasing productivity with a slew of incredible releases. Their recent 9" split with Massgrave has been one of my favorite thus far, and I've really been enjoying this little unofficial series of split 5"s (and 1 flexi). Here's one of the most recent releases, the split 5" with Dead Church, blue vinyl, 33 RPM.

As usual, only one song per side from each band. So even for a 5", these records are brutally short, but each track is generally a winner. This split if no exception. Dead Church pull of the deathy/hardcore/grindcore style fantastically, going from shredding blasts to powerviolence grooves very naturally. Suffering Mind's side is a solid ripper, as this band can really do no wrong. Great riffing from Kuchar, constantly punchy.

Awesome digipack packaging with a full color gatefold. Every record was pressed on blue vinyl.

~VII

Grind Bleed Your Soul

Got a beauty of a record recently in the form of the uber-sexy Phobia/Suffering Mind split 5". I always love when 2 titans of grind come together, especially when it's packaged as beautifully as this. This is the black vinyl variant, limited to 172 copies, hand numbered, 33 RPM.

The only fault I have with this is that it is waaaaaaay to short. One track from each band, both are less than a minute. Fortunately, they are really strong tracks, especially the Suffering Mind one. Both bands just doing what they do best, which is grind your fucking ears off. Though an extra track or two would have justified what I payed for this a little bit more.

This is the first release for the Poland based label, Behind The Mountain Records, and they did a fantastic job! Brilliant idea packaging the record in a CD digipack, everything looks beautiful. Strange how if this was a normal CD, I wouldn't give a shit, but slip a record inside and I'm going ga-ga over it. Another reason why vinyl is so awesome, I guess.

But yeah, gatefold package, with lyrics, hand-numbered, and it comes with two embroidered patches. Absolutely fantastic. These guys are also releasing the Suffering Mind/Massgrave split 9", and I can't wait to see how they handle that one.

#7/666, son. This is perfect. When I opened the package I laughed at how awesome this was, given my name.

Order this from Behind The Mountain, it's pretty great.

~VII

Too Late To Survive

After years of coveting, and months of seriously searching, I finally came across a little unassuming Big Cartel site that was selling the Suffering Mind/Lycanthrophy split 7". I took a chance on it, and it really payed off. A crucial part of my Suffering Mind collection has been filled. 33 RPM, grey vinyl.

So yeah, ripper of a split, as I had hoped. Pairing two of the best European female fronted grindcore bands. The Suffering Mind side is a nonstop grind assault, not a lot of stops or breaks in their 5-song contribution, not their best stuff, but it's a great compliment to Lycanthrophy's side, which tears shit apart! I think this is actually the first record I own from them, and it's great stuff. Grindcore boardering on fastcore, with some excellent stops and a nice beefy production. Solid.

I have another SM record coming the the mail, hopefully today, that has been evading me for a while. Updates soon!

~VII

A Sheep In Wolves Clothing

I made my first purchase from Halo of Flies records last week, and I couldn't be more pleased with how it came out. The records arrived amazingly fast, and in great condition. I highly suggest ordering from them. In addition to another 7" which I'll get to later, I picked up the brand-spanking new Suffering Mind/Protestant split 6" (released by HoF, TLAL, and others). Transparent orange vinyl, 33 RPM.

Two tracks from each band on this one. This is the first SM record I have that has their new singer Radek on vocals. He definitely does a good job, and I think he's a good replacement for Ula(I'm still not sure why she's not in the band anymore). Their songs are pretty standard SM songs; pure, fast, blistering grind. I'm not quite sure if I'm into Protestant yet. They play distorted, messy grind/hardcore, and really I don't think they're anything special. I love the 6" format though, this will be the 4th 6" I own. I just wish they came with dust sleeves.

Fucking glare...

Very good looking vinyl.

People in the USA can order this from Halo of Flies, and TLAL(whenever their webstore opens back up again). I'm not sure if it's reached Europe yet. 

~VII

Destroy Mankind

I've added a lot of pieces to my Suffering Mind collection, who have definitely been one of my main grindcore loves for the past couple months. I'm still missing a few choice records (I don't think I'll ever get those 2" and 3" lathe records...), but the other records are definitely within my grasp. This is their first 7" record; "Destroy Mankind", black vinyl, 33 RPM.

Solid 5 song EP from the band. Blisteringly fast, crusty grindcore, not as many ridiculous stop-start riffs as they do now, but that's not a big deal to me. Ula's vocals are definitely in their beginning stages, the lows aren't as low and guttural, but she definitely does a great job. I think she's one of the better female grindcore vocalists. It's a bit of a bummer she's not in the band anymore. 

Standard looking grindcore artwork. I'm not a fan of how the logo looks on this release, it has these weird 3D shadows on it, but I'm just nitpicking their. This really is a great looking package, I was very surprised when I got it. Solid, glued sleeve, and it even has a spine. I've never had a 7" that had a spine before, I'm very happy with this.

Rubbish picture of the spine, but it's really the best I could do. 

Glossy double-sided insert.

Someone sell me the lathe records and their split with Lycanthrophy right the fuck now!

~VII

Booze Gel Hell

This is a split that I was anticipating for quite a while. Two of my current favorite grindcore bands sharing one 7"! That doesn't happen to often, but when it does I'm giddy as fuck! Here's the Suffering Mind/The Afternoon Gentlemen split 7" on clear vinyl, 45 RPM.

500 copies were pressed, all on clear vinyl, and I'm very impressed with the packaging job. I've never seen a cover sleeve like this before; it's a double-sided cover with a "negative image" on the other side. Pretty unique idea, and it comes with a download card and a double sided insert with lyrics.

Four songs from Suffering Mind, and sic from TAG. Not the best stuff from either band by far, but still very good songs. The SM side is very raw and gutter filth sounding, and they do a cover of Assuck's - "World of Confusion". Their last song is probably my favorite on their side. TAG do more straight forward grind this time around, not as many crazy stop-starts. Kick ass stuff all around.

Cool artwork. I'm not a fan of the "negative version" of it though. Good thing it's reversible.

For the people in the USA, you can pick this up at Bullshit Propaganda records, but act fast cause these won't last much longer. 

~VII