There is very little to be found in regard to Mind Propaganda pretty much anywhere on the net. They hail from that hotbed of extreme music, viewpoints and ideologies that is Ukraine, a country formulating a definitive scope of interesting music beyond the more well known likes of Drudkh and Hate Forest. Following on from a demo and split release with the equally obscure Ismark is this debut album on Dutch label Blazing Productions.At first I thought this was simply going to be an exercise in heathen black metal but it is a whole lot more than that with every single track being completely different. The title of the 1st track ‘Enter The Path Of War’ is trollishly rasped out then broods in with a mystical air, accentuated by pagan sounding keyboards and clear well spoken English vocals. This flows and ebbs graciously evoking spirit and atmosphere and embracing the ‘Slavonic Heathen Law’ principles the group propagate.
‘Call Of Blood’ changes pace and romps in with the air of battle blowing through it and a loud roar that could have escaped from a Manowar song. There is a folky melody present in the keyboards here as the song charges forth cleaving skulls asunder. Forgotten Roots is full of passion and feeling, this is a martial instrumental number with a really gorgeous xylophone and violin mixed into it. Breaking down into a rainstorm with eerie Kraftwerk sounding keyboard and chanting monks, gradually everything stomps back into action and melodically carries you off again.
‘Quintessence Of Darkthrone’ is a cover from the Panzerfaust album but with horn effects adding to the songs backbone it comes across as sounding a lot like Hungarian’s Sear Bliss. Finishing with, ‘Fire! Fire’ we have another unexpected addition, this time in the form of vocal croons that have a powerful clean traditional flair about them and really add a huge dynamic thunder to the song.
This really is an impressive obscurity that has certainly captured my imagination. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that members of this group are in other bands as well and would love a bit more background information on them; somehow I don’t expect to get any though.
http://www.m-p.cjb.net
http://www.myspace.com/mindpropaganda