RSS Feed


INHUMAN CONDITION
Mind Trap

High Roller / Listenable Insanity (2025)
Rating: 8/10

I like Inhuman Condition, a Floridian death thrash act that has somehow managed to issue three albums and an EP since forming just five years ago. Same line-up, same sound, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Mind Trap, with cool cover art depicting band members Jeremie Kling (vocals and drums), Taylor Nordberg (guitar) and Terry Butler (bass) getting tortured, kicks off with ‘Severely Lifeless’. It comes equipped with some stop start chugging dynamics and mid-tempo riffage that destroys. It’s a solid way to start an album that is in fact rather abrupt and fleeting at a shade over half-an-hour in duration. Even so, this template is definitely intentionally blunt as the trio sticks to a game plan of no frills but effective death metal.

It could be argued that Inhuman Condition exists within the shadow of Massacre, a “legendary” yet vastly overrated death metal act which featured both Butler and Nordberg at some point, but in my opinion these guys offer a lot more. It’s a shame that the press release for this platter mentions how the trio has moved away from being Massacre 2.0 and then proceeds to state that Mind Trap does have comparisons to Massacre!

There is a punky flavour here and there combined with some gruesome Deicide-styled riffs. ‘Face For Later’ is a refreshing dollop of deathly thrash made all the more cool by the accompanying promo video whereby the band are playing in amidst skating metalheads. There’s always been something ferocious yet accessible about the sound of these dudes; they seem to have found a way of constructing old school slaves but with an overdose of violent vim.

‘The Betterment Plan’ is Inhuman Condition at their grooviest, building on 90s urban streetcore with Kling’s foaming tongue rasping over the top. The drums are monstrous throughout this setting but more so on ‘Mind – Tool – Weapon’ with its doomy intro then steady pace.

‘Recollections Of The Future’ sizzles at the beginning, brooding beneath the surface before the drums and riff shift in timely tandem, creating a mid-range groove to the gasps of Kling. The pace gradually quickens to more than a ghastly gallop until just before the three-minute mark when the riffs slow again. It’s probably my favourite track, although the belligerent ‘Chaos Engine’ is as equally destructive with its pace variances.

Mind Trap is just further evidence of a band on the rise, a short but sweet demolition job on the senses.

Neil Arnold

<< Back to Album & EP Reviews



Related Posts via Categories
Share