Album Reviews

While Mark Ryan is probably still best known for his work with Marked Men and Radioactivity, he is certainly catching up with Mind Spiders, his other band where the overall sound changes as easily as the band’s line-up.

On their fourth album in five years, Mind Spiders pick up where they left off with 2013’s “Inhumanistic”. Sure, there are differences, but they aren’t nearly as surprising or radical as they have been in the past. The songs are a bit longer, the sound is fuller than ever and by giving the keyboards a more prominent role, “Prosthesis” sounds more brooding than any other Mind Spiders release to date. It also helps make “Prosthesis” the band’s most consistent release to date.

These eight songs rock from start to finish and pick up some krautrock, dark pop and post-punk influences along the way, before ditching them by the side of the road mere minutes later. Ryan is letting his inner DEVO make an appearance on “Split In Two”, whereas “Nothing Without It” wouldn’t have looked out of place on the soundtrack of an old sci-fi flick. And then there’s “Cold” and “Ulcer”, two paranoia-riddled tunes that sound like they are being chased by some unknown force.

It’s very likely that “Prosthesis” will make you look over your shoulder from time to time, but you are still going to want to ride this one out. Definitely the band’s most cohesive album to date.