Mind Control 7″ EP
Forward Records, 2015

Sure, you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover nor a record by its sleeve, but when I stumbled across this visually intriguing little gem at a local used vinyl emporium, I was curious enough to throw down the $3 price of admission just to see what it was all about. Needless to say, I’ve discovered that it’s a fine document of midwestern hardcore, played on par and with the requisite intensity and fire of genre aces like Bib, Condominium and Q. Asylum-bound shouts, sudden gear shifts and a relentless track sequence glued together by squealing feedback, always poised to strike with snarling bass lines and a properly muscular guitar assert the . Tracks 1–6 go by in a flash while the final track “Trends” locks into a noisy rotation that sounds something like a skipping Big Black record pounding away while a five-star lunatic positively loses their shit next door. It’s an effective end to a memorable ride that leaves a mark.