With a foot firmly planted in the territory that bands like Alice In Chains and Nirvana called their own,
Connecticut's Swim The Mind delivers a massive dose of the grungy goodness that use to be reserved for the groups mentioned above. Lead singer Nick and his angst filled wail tells you "This drought will never end." in the aptly titled "The Drought" but he is wrong as the stoner/ grunge crowd has finally received a much needed shower to fertilize this undernourished genre.
The really crank up the stoner point of view on the second song "Fold" even borrowing a riff from the Black Sabbath catalog to complete the picture. The band brings despair to a new level as they paint a bleak landscape both lyrically and sonically. Even when you reach "Regret" the hopelessness continues and you might as well light a candle in Kurt Cobain's honor as Swim The Mind pays homage to those that blazed the trail that they take you down.
While this might not be a happy album by any stretch of the imagination, there is a groove to the music that makes you want to kick back with your favorite relaxation inducing agent, crank up the volume and wallow in the self pity and desperation this disc evokes. The lonely stark bleakness of songs like "Becoming One" and "Questions Unanswered" answer the call for those that need to be shown that things are just as bad as you might think they are. In fact, "The Groove System" is really the only song that dares to be even remotely upbeat and even here the repeated lyric "Everything created here is a lie" reminds you that there is no way out from their perspective. To top it off they offer you the old hidden track trick at the end of the disc. If you wait an exasperating long time after the song "Inadequate Mind" you get a little percussion piece that shows you the wait is certainly not worth it sometimes.
I can't say that this will be a disc that I will listen to repeatedly but it is one that I am glad to have in the library for those moments when I need to know that things could be worse. Musically these guys have the talent to take it to the next level and I will be looking forward to what they offer us in the future.
Track listing:
1. The Drought
2. Fold
3. The Rope and the Pole
4. Regret
5. Waterfall Walls
6. Becoming One
7. Her Last Song
8. Zani Norp
9. The Groove System
10. Questions Unanswered
11. Inadequate Mind
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