PEACE OF MIND

Righteous anger has been fueling hardcore since the start, but not every band has the songs or the style to make the rage count. PEACE OF MIND are absolutely fucking livid throughout their second full-length, and despite seldom taking any real musical risks, there is a freshness and intensity to "Blood Is The Price" that enables their frothing fury to connect directly with like-minded table-flippers everywhere. This is riotous stuff, delivered with a smile and a spiked bat to the back of the head.

Germany's hardcore scene has been underrated for decades, but bands like this are making a big difference to its international standing. Their name might imply a certain level of Zen-like calm, but PEACE OF MIND are so brutal and destructive that the irony is more than dense enough to choke any vest-wearing hooligan. "Burned Alive" starts the fistfight, and a re-recorded version of the band's theme song ends it, with bruises and broken teeth handed out like Halloween candies in between. "Blood Is The Price" breaks windows for fun, with SPEED's Jem Siow chipping in with some scabrous guest vocals. "Death Is Upon Us" is a sub-two-minute blaster with a gnarly, mutant thrash underbelly on full display. "Bite The Bullet" proclaims the unerring influence of the NYHC firmament, as guitars squeal like sirens, and breakdowns carve up the pit with venomous ease. "Hypocrite" churns and grooves like early BIOHAZARD, PEACE OF MIND's penchant for subverted thrash clicking perfectly with a maniacal need for lobotomized mosh riffs. "Cut The Rope" takes a more undiluted thrash approach but has so much bile and snot rattling around its veins that its pure hardcore credentials are never in doubt. Every one of these songs will make right-thinking people hurl themselves from the furniture. PEACE OF MIND are pissed off, pugilistic and plugged into the electricity of frantic societal discord. After 24 minutes of this, their modus operandi is obvious enough. Hold on to your teeth, the Germans are coming.