Record of the Week: Reek Minds: Eternal Reek 7"

Reek Minds: Eternal Reek 7” (Black Water Records) We named Reek Minds’ last record—their Malignant Existence LP on Iron Lung—Record of the Week, and this new EP (which finds them moving to their hometown label Black Water) is even better! If you’re already a Reek Minds fan, this is a no-brainer since everything you loved about the band is still here: the performance is super energetic, the production is heavy and crisp, the riffs and guitar leads are blazing, and the vocalist still oozes charisma, with an articulated growl that sounds like a death metal-informed Jerry A. Where I think Eternal Reek bests Reek Minds’ previous records is in the increased variety of tempos and rhythms. They’re still pretty much always ripping fast, but they really shake things up with these crazy whiplash changes in rhythm. They’ll be charging along at a groovy, Poison Idea-esque tempo, then out of nowhere they’ll drop into their trademark super fast scissor beat / blast, or vice versa, and every time they execute one of these changes I swear I feel weightless for a split-second. Those scissor beat parts are so wild… the drummer lays into the snare so hard that it almost sounds like the beat is turned around backwards, which makes it even more thrilling when they snap back into the pocket with a groovier punk beat. With six songs in nine minutes, the thrill ride doesn’t let up for a single second.