Mandy Die Herrin Ist Mein Hirte LP
Germany’s MANDY belts out twelve tracks of no-frills powerviolence in around ten minutes. Throat-shredding vocals, tempo changes aplenty, blastbeats…they’re ticking all the right boxes. The down-tempo parts stand out for not being overtly metallic or floorpunch-y, and the production is exceptionally balanced with just the right amount of grain. The between-song feedback and samples add enough flesh to the skeleton for it to clock as a full-length LP, though I wonder if it would actually feel more complete as a 7” EP. That’s really splitting hairs, but I suppose that’s what I’m here to do. All told, a solid release with heft and force that leaves me searching for something corpuscular that would push it into brilliance.