The Foetal or Foatal Mind according to the CD packaging spine, are a duo made up of Lord Trowe (all Instruments) and Lord Vaahl (Drum Programming). The French combo did have a third member Segomaros who provided lyrics and vocals on the first proper album track ‘Big Crunch’ but it would seem as far as the band are concerned he is no more. This means after the ‘Crunch’ itself we basically have an album that is wholly instrumental which is quite a shame as after the depressive strains and contrasting doom laden gruff growls and higher barks there is a big void here. I like the track as it has a bit of a funeral doom mindset running through it and is really accentuated by the hoary growls but after this despite the instrumentation being played well I am simply not engaged and wonder why the band did not go and wait till they had another vocalist before releasing this album, perhaps I am missing the point but the meandering guitar leading into the drum laden slow battery of a song like ‘Silence’ really needs something to come in and scream over the top of it. It would seem the band have recorded 5 demos and a full length before this one, some of which I guess have featured former vocalist Lord (they really do like lording it up) Dreef. It’s obvious as ‘Silence’ progresses and we move into the title track that Lord Trowe can play the guitar but this has all the appeal of a virtuoso guitarist showing off with his soloing and is incredibly tedious all too quickly.
The other problem is that songs sound like they have been recorded at different times in different places as the production is all over the place. None of it is bad or anything but the volume levels are not consistent from song to song and a couple of times I have found myself jumping up to either turn my amp up or down. It’s somewhat amusing that half way through an album that is nearly completely instrumental there is a track called ‘Instrumental’ it’s stating the bloody obvious and by now I am at the stage that this exercise in depressive music has simply become depressing.
On researching this lot on Metal Archives I did notice that previous demos had got some shockingly awful reviews, which having not heard cannot comment on but judging what they say this lot must have progressed a lot. However they are incredibly far from being anywhere yet and seriously need to get the stability of a singer as without one this album is wholly dull and I feel like I need matchsticks propping open my eyes to stay awake and listen to the hour long thing. If that were not enough anyone buying it gets a link to download four bonus tracks, something I am afraid I will not be doing as I have had quite enough as it is.
http://www.myspace.com/thefoetalmind
