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Mind Assault – Metal Rites [2011]

Band: Mind Assault
Album: Metal Rites
Release Year: 2011
Genre: Melodic Death Metal

“Metal Rites” is the latest release by South African death metal quintet “Mind Assault”. It is their third studio release.

The first track “Retaliate” begins with a Eternal Tears of Sorrow sounding riff combined with some rhythmic double bass pedal. The vocals bring brutality to the track. The use of brutal and melodic riffs through the track is just astounding! The sound quality of the track is brilliant as well. The guitar solo is one of the best sections of the track. The second track “Die Rejected” sounds as if it begins where “Retaliate” finished. This track sounds more brutal than the previous as the drumming seems to have got more intense and aggressive. There are also more melodic sections as well. The guitar solo just adds to the immensity of this track. The track ends with the eerie ringing of church bells which work well with the outro guitar riff.

“Dark Continent” is straight after. The track begins brutal before an extremely fast paced, Dragonforce-sounding guitar comes into action. The vocals sound more aggressive than the previous two tracks which works surprisingly well with the melodic riffs. Again, the drums sound more intense on this track as well. The pace slows down half through the track, taking a more slow, heavy approach before a shredding solo bursts onto the track. “Vrede Deur Bloed” comes next abd it begins with a fast paced, face melting and brutal guitar intro before the track takes a slow, heavy pace combined with vocals. The pace soon increases again though, adding a certain intensity, found only in death metal, to the track. The guitar solo is probably the best one on this release.

“Volksmoord” is the fifth track. Its intro is some what very folk sounding despite being played on guitar. The track soon turns brutal after the intro however. The intro riff appears again later in the track, working extremely well with the vocals and drums. Halfway through, the track turns brutal enough to burst ear drums wide open. The guitar solo reduces the brutality ever so slightly though. The final track, which is also the title track, “Metal Rites” comes next. Surprisingly, it begins with a slow and light intro combined with the addition of a heavier guitar a little while into the intro before the pace and brutality increase a fair bit. The drums seem softer and the vocals sound like they’ve lost some of the aggressiveness they had in the rest of the album. The only good section of this track is the guitar solo.
This album is well-produced and has a brilliant sound quality. Five out of all six of the tracks have the potential to become mosh pit anthems and even classics in the death metal genre. With a release like this, Mind Assault are going to go very far.

4.5/5

Nico Davidson