The Prisoner – Life of the Mind

[nyrating]

27th December 2016 Thomas Nielsen Album Reviews 0

Look, I’m not a black metal fan as some of you very well know. And then again, there are a few black metal bands I enjoy listening to, and in particular bands who used to be black metal and moved into new territories.

French The Prisoner are one of the bands who have taken the black metal ethos and used it in a different way, turning it into something which for me sounds like a fusion of black and sludge. Some of you will say that this can hardly get any worse. I tend to agree. I mean, it really does sound terrible in many instances, the shouting black/sludge vocal in particular. But there are also good moments, for example the very promising and atmospheric first (instrumental) minutes of the album.

To be frank, I have lots of respect for what The Prisoner do. They dare experiment and play around with genres and there are really cool instances on ‘Life of the Mind’ like the almost Gojira like riffs of Emptied and the double bass drum sweeps of And So Be It. But on the whole, the black metal ethos and the sludge and the playing time of more than one hour kills my will to spin the disc one more time.

Track listing:
1. Awake
2. Emptied
3. Battling Ego
4. Still Here
5. O Vengeance
6. Life of the Mind
7. From the Void to the Void
8. Acte Final
9. Another Road to Nothingness
10. And so Be It

Playing time: 62 minutes

Release date: 9th of December, 2016

Label: Dooweet

Website:

About Thomas Nielsen 1051 Articles

When my old buddy Kenn Jensen asked me if I wanted to contribute to the new site he had created, then called powermetal.dk, I didn't hesitate. My love for metal music was and is great. I wrote my first review during the summer of 2004 (Moonspell's 'Antidote' album). In 2015, I took over the editor-in-chief role.