Mushroom Cloud

Blind Lead The Blind EP

Written by: PP on 30/08/2010 22:09:37

From Randers, "the heart of Denmark" according to their own (mistaken) words, explode *cough* Mushroom Cloud. They've been around for about two years or so, and are finally ready to release their debut EP "Blind Lead The Blind", a fiercely anti-religious hard rock effort that draws its inspiration from the old school legends without sounding like a clone act. Aside from the atrocious artwork, what else does Mushroom Cloud have to offer to the Danish metal scene?

Well, for starters, they are referencing bands like Megadeth, Metallica and the like, while adding a little hard rock flair on top of the thrashy guitars to distinguish themselves from the old bunch. Despite the guitars owning a distinct metal base, particularly "Psychotic Thoughts" borrows heavily from modern alternative rock, even nu-metal at times, making it darn difficult to attach these guys to just one genre. It has a number of promising sections, especially the subtle melody lines during the chorus, that make it the best song on the EP. But to tilt the scale back the other way, it has equally many questionable passages that make the listener doubt the readiness of the band to release an EP just yet. The vocalist has certainly taken his cues from James Hetfield, but unfortunately he lacks charisma, and ends up sounding rather contrived and amateurish in many places. I'd like to blame that on self-production, but I don't think it's possible since the record was born at CB Studios, and lots of solid records come out of that studio on a regular basis.

On track two out of three, "Lady At The Gates", the lack of own inspiration and songwriting talent that plagues the majority of the album begins to show its ugly head in the form of a near-identical bass-line to Blink 182's "Adam's Song". It summarizes the EP's problems nicely: none of the tracks are horrid as such, they just fail to create any sort of positive impression in the listener, despite the very effective usage of samples from fundamentalist right wing Christians scattered across the record. It's hard to point a finger at just one aspect of "Blind Lead The Blind EP" that makes it so average, but the sub-par referencing of past greats is one, and the hit-and-miss songwriting found even within single songs is another. I have a feeling that Mushroom Cloud released their demo just a tad bit too early, as there's an all around feeling of "it's just not quite finished yet".

5

Download: Psychotic Thoughts
For the fans of: Megadeth, Metallica
Listen: Myspace

Release date 26.05.2010
Self-Released

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