Album Review: C.I.A Hippie Mind Control – C.I.A Hippie Mind Control (The Swamp Records)
Psychedelic death/doom band C.I.A Hippie Mind Control are back with a brand-new album entitled ‘C.I.A Hippie Mind Control’. The self-titled album will be released on February 4th, 2022 via The Swamp Records.
A little bit like the soundtrack to a mad killing spree in a horror movie. The Inharmonious Soul of Nature has bloodlust and delivers violent slash and stab after violent slash and stab.
That there is just two lines from our review of C.I.A Hippie Mind Control’s 2020 album, The Inharmonious Soul of Nature. An album we thoroughly enjoyed, meaning we’re particularly stoked to hear what they have to offer on this new effort.
Well, they’re still as abrasive as ever. That much is made immediate clear with the inharmonious noise of do gods know they exist? The crashing and banging of instruments create a cacophony of noise that combines the harshness of death metal with the mood-altering sound of doom. That’s describing this track in simpler terms because, of course, C.I.A Hippie Mind Control have so much more to offer. Not just on this track either.
If you like the sound of lunacy, well, C.I.A Hippie Mind Control have you covered.
Parsing out the entrails brings the chunk but also takes a sick sort of pleasure in seeing if it can twist your head from your body with its disruptive tonal shifts. The ancient metaphysics of the soul combines heavy doom with obnoxious effects and wild death-infused chaos, resulting in one of the album’s most impressive listens. Before an eternal steam comes bursting out with the kind of metal noise liable to leave burn marks. While also delivering some face-melting guitar soloing.
At the halfway point it’s clear that what C.I.A Hippie Mind Control provided on their previous album wasn’t a one-off. They are as violently coarse as ever and near impossible to not love for it.
A chance to take a breath before diving back into the entrails, reconvergence is a little over a minute of two audio recordings playing at the same time. Jarring but if you listen carefully, the two recordings are quite interesting.
More abrasive than ever, even heavier and just as overwhelming, C.I.A Hippie Mind Control bring intensity with what does resurrection feel like? Before from horus to holus deus makes the ever present other worldliness of this album even more prominent. The clean vocals take on a chanting style that is attractively haunting.
If your brain isn’t leaking out of ears yet, the face of divinity will fix that. C.I.A Hippie Mind Control providing a sandbag of metal to weigh you down. It’s enough to make you cry and beg for it to be over. Yet, it is not. There’s still another track to go and it also happens to be the longest on the album.
The gospel of confusion is the epitome of the lunacy that sits in the minds of C.I.A Hippie Mind Control. A track that is both objectionably harsh, exhilaratingly concentrated, and powerfully fixated. Even if it seems like C.I.A Hippie Mind Control are consistently unfocused, tracks like this finale prove that they know exactly what they’re doing.
One of the most unique bands around, this self-titled release shows growth but also a confirmation of just what C.I.A Hippie Mind Control are. Don’t expect, just listen.
C.I.A Hippie Mind Control – C.I.A Hippie Mind Control Full Track Listing:
1. do gods know they exist?
2. parsing out the entrails
3. the ancient metaphysics of the soul
4. an eternal steam
5. reconvergence
6. what does resurrection feel like?
7. from horus to holos deus
8. the face of divinity
9. the gospel of confusion
Links
Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
Album Review: C.I.A Hippie Mind Control - C.I.A Hippie Mind Control (The Swamp Records)
-
The Final Score - 8.5/10
8.5/10