Aggression, Atmosphere and Intellectualism on the Pulse of Time - A Review of E-Force's Mindbender

It took industrial thrash metal band E-Force six and a half years to release a successor to the dynamic Demonikhol. Quite a few things have changed in between both records as only founding member Eric Forrest from Canada remained on board and is still performing bass and vocals. French musicians Sébastien Chiffot on guitar and Patrick Friedrich on drums joined the band four years ago and perform on this record.

Despite these line-up changes and long break between two releases, E-Force hasn't modified its sound too much. The band still plays industrial thrash metal focusing on cold, depressive and dystopian atmosphere. This sound heavily recalls Eric Forrest's works with Canadian progressive metal band Voivod in the nineties and it doesn't come as a surprise that the closing tune on this new album is a revamped version of Voivod's ''Insect'' that sounds quite decent but obviously also similar to the original material.

The other tunes are able to compete with the sounds of Negatron, Phobos and Kronik from the nineties and should also please fans of bands such as Vektor, Sepultura and Ministry or even the more experimental side of Morbid Angel and Septicflesh. The band convinces most when it focuses on its atmospheric side with brief sound collages, longer running times developing cinematic soundscapes and progressive songwriting structures that are cleverly employed but never sound too complicated. Single ''Hellucination'' exemplifies in five minutes everything E-Force stands for and the epic ''Hypnotic'' isn't only the record's longest tune but perhaps the track with the greatest replay value due to its creative details that make it worth discovering over and over again. The cold production blends in perfectly and makes this album sound like a surreal sonic nightmare.

At the end of the day, E-Force's fifth album Mindbender is just as strong as its predecessor Demonikhol despite the line-up changes and long break between both albums. This band is a perfect choice for those who appreciate dystopian industrial and thrash metal sounds recalling the approaches of bands such as Voivod and Kreator in the mid- to late nineties. Bands who play this particular style have become quite rare and it's great that at least one great band performing this genre is still around these days. E-Force deserves more attention and recognition and here's hope that the international trio might embark on a world tour once this dreadful pandemic is finally coming to an end. Meanwhile, Mindbender is an appropriate soundtrack to the current state of affairs in the world and might strike a chord with anyone looking for a balanced combination of aggression, atmosphere and intellectualism.

Final Rating: 80%