Freaky Mind - Surrogate

Freaky Mind is back with their second full length album Surrogate released through skyQode. Featuring ten new tracks of shattering TBM/aggrotech featuring remixes from Freakangel and Diversant:13, with two bonus tracks available exclusively on the physical format CD, this marks a new level of disorganizing aggressive stomping music that the act has become known for. Not only that - and while I don't remark on album are all too often - the greaser-punk style of the robotic character on the cover with the ax, the bloody title right underneath him, reminded me of a movie. And it looks swell.

Starting off with the slamming and quite catchy Unicorn Porn, the aggressive vocals, while not all that remarkable in any sense, pull off the job well enough. They match the fast paced beat well enough, and change pitch when appropriate with the music. Queue in a few intrumental change ups here and there to destroy any type of monotony, a digital voice that comes in mainly during the chorus, and you have a pretty grand track.

Estrangement offered up another beat that had a bit of an EBM kick to it, but really only gains a terrific stride in the latter half of the song, when choral samples play along with the rest of the music and vocals. It inspired, and was definitely the main reason why I come back to listen to the track again.

Peeping Hole hit slower, and added in more electronic elements. I didn't quite find much more to say about the track itself, but Blogposter's fast paced lyrical delivery changed up the flow of the album. During the quicker sung parts, there was less screaming and more talking, but don't let that get you down. There was plenty of yelling to be had throughout the song, still keeping well in touch with their angry side.

Much more steady than previous songs, with a main bassline driving the song forward and heavy synth elements coming out to play, Touch (Crime)'s slower pace rode out a more passionate sounding track. And it worked well.

Anticompromizer had a very thematic intro with drum work and choral samples flushing out a terrific sequence. The rhythm steadily flowed in, and then we were back into the territory of hard stomping beats and synth work. Hit Me had some more amazing synth work above anything else; all the other electronic elements included, and the vocals, all went well, but with the backing of some precise synths, it rung out really nicely.

Soul Corruptor was perhaps the first song on the album that brought in use of guitar work. While I wouldn't say the addition of the guitar work was the most riveting part of the album, it was certainly something new brought out, and was worth listening to. Though I immensely prefer the other tracks over this one.

I really appreciated the more industrial oriented beat of Dependence, the drums playing a heavy role in cranking out a slamming beat every so often. Great work in this song; it was a stand out track.

Lastly, a bit of hardstyle combined with lighter elements and more crushing vocal work, sending us off on an exciting note. Not the most inspirational song, but also one without too many faults.

And then we get into remix territory. Hit Me was remixed by Diversant:13, adding in strings of guitar work, and otherwise more harsh and heavy, but slower, beat. Well done. The other remix came from Freakangel and their rendition on Anticompromizer was rather chaotic in both a good and bad sense. On one hand, the noise presented in the song was pretty nice, but, on the bad side, paired with the rest of the electronics and drum work, and the vocals that came in and out, it all just transformed into a bit too much to handle all at once.

Now, what I will say is that the album began off on a very high note with Unicorn Porn. It was an absolute treasure to herald and really topped the album for me. However, not to bash the rest of the album, but I don't think any of the other songs really came close to the energetic and lively approach that Freaky Mind took to this song. I would say that I felt a slight dissatisfaction while going through the rest of the album seeing how none of the other songs could quite match to it. But, nonetheless, I had a blast entering each song and being pushed to the next, each one delivering a new prospect to both explore and love. Interesting electronic elements fuse together with the unforgiving melodies and vocal delivery to blow out a pretty good album from Freaky Mind. Nov 13 2014