Mindslave

With “80s heavy metal” seeing such a massive resurgence in popularity over the last ten odd years (particularly the last five), a lot of the old guard, some more gradually than others, have managed to crawl out of whatever suburban, work-a-day hellhole they were in, and reform their now internet-lauded bands. Some of these reunions have been much anticipated - such as Warlord, or Sleepy Hollow, while others have been less so. Some of the reunion albums have been worthy of praise, but so many others have fallen well short. Arguably this is due to a number of factors - perhaps most importantly, incomplete, replacement heavy new lineups, and a failure of band members to retain an in-depth connection to relevant musical genres (amongst others of course). I believe this is the case with Banshee’s latest disc - 2012’s ‘Mindslave’.

I got into this band around 2008 when i became obsessed with their debut EP: a snarling slice of powerishly tinged US Metal, in that definitive style akin to Shok Paris and the like. After this I explored their handful of other offerings, which were all great - increasingly commercially polished, but good, energetic, strong, very US styled heavy/power metal. Banshee became somewhat of a favourite band of mine. They were often unknown to many fans of classic metal, and were shunned by some because of their commercial edge (most apparent on ‘93’s ‘Take ‘em by Storm’ - which hit in the dying days of the hair metal boom) .But I formed an attachment to this somewhat unique, cool band hailing from Kansas, who seemed, with their major label contracts and specific sonic style, somewhat like Leatherwolf or Shok Paris - cool commercial-enough US metal with melody and a glimpse at success. I had frequently checked for info on the band online, and after a few years of fandom, was surprised they released an album in 2012, which I will admit was psyched at the prospect of. The album though, is a far cry from the Banshee of yore, and in general, a disappointing reunion effort.

Generally speaking, the direction on this album is a marked departure from the thundering, energetic US metal of ‘Cry in the Night’ or Race Against Time’ - what we have instead is a misdirected, groove laden, 90s alterna rock approach, with songs that while sometimes are passable, never really rise out of mediocrity. Things are very patchy at best, or just in general, a failure, at worst. For example, the opener ‘Taming the Beast’ gives us an intro which seems to indicate this album is one the right track, and it turns into a passable, decent enough modern heavy metal song, somewhat in the vein of what Accept, Saxon and others made do these days. The band starts to show their true direction in the weaker ‘Floodgates of Hell’ follow-up number, which while barely passable, definitely starts to bring to the forefront a crappy, chugging, out of touch style of commercial tough guy radio metal. Would appeal to fans of Black Label Society fans, and that is most certainly what we want, nor expect from a band like Banshee. This vibe and direction merely gets deeper and deeper with the increasingly groove-metal oriented title track, which continues the misfiring, out of vogue style that the current incarnation of this band seems to be feeling at heart. The tired lyrics and some of the guitars in general just remind me of 90s alterna rock bands. Again - not we long time fans of Banshee were looking for. Perhaps the most full blown groove metal, southern rock feeling, 90s alterna track here is ‘Unearthed’ which just feels like the type of song Pantera influenced, mainstream-metallers would try to craft. Nothing here linking back to the old Banshee sound. Just full blown cheesy tough guy lyrical cliches and boring, predictable Pantera riffs.

Overall i feel this is a pretty disappointing offering from Banshee. Largely, this is the result of the approach in direction of the lineup on this record. While there is a solid production job, some good guitars (when they’re not too groovy) and the like, this has no connection at all to the Banshee of yore. Sure, after 20 years, a band should be able to play around, experiment, even play whatever style they want - but I feel most of their fans, gained from their 3 album run back in the mid 80s to early 90s, simply won’t be into the new direction the band have taken with this reunion effort. There is little connection to their furious, yet melodic former US metal sound, and while some might argue “that was in style then, it’s not anymore” - I’d beg to differ. There has been a massive resurgence in old school metal fans the last decade, and many of them would be frothing at the mouth for a release in the vein of ‘Cry in the Night’. Banshee here have attempted to distance themselves from their former work, and ‘modernise’ their sound, and it has resulted in a half passable, half terrible record that feels like a few tough guy Pantera fans trying to put their influences and approach down on some run-of-the-mill everyday local pub metal act, rather than the triumphant return of a cult USPM band. While it’s not the worst album on offer, with some decent cuts like ‘King of Nothing’, and the notable Ronnie James Dio tribute ‘Legend Lost’ it’s far from anyone’s favourite 2012 record.