“As someone who’s candidly gone on record about mental health in the past, it’s always a gamble for me to dive into an album that heavily focuses on such a difficult subject. It’s not often that it’s treated with the necessary weight and care that it undoubtedly deserves, and more often than not, for every one An Isolated Mind’s I’m Losing Myself, there are about 50 of these littering the scene, taking up way too much space and energy. If there’s one band, though, that can tackle it with grace and honesty, it’s Pennsylvania’s Zao.” Corridors of the mind.
Mithridatic
Grymm Comments: On Mental Health Awareness and Our Favorite Music
“Metal music is rife with either “mosts” or “-ests.” The most brutal. The most extreme. The most depressive, oppressive, and downtrodden. The saddest, angriest, fastest, meanest, and heaviest. Our music lives and dies by those concepts. Every day, bands, fans, and us critics go on the hunt to find or create music that scratches the perpetual itch that those “mosts” and “-ests” bring forth. But in that unending pursuit, many bands and musicians fall by the wayside. Worse still, some of those musicians do so by their own hands. Today is a good time as any to talk about mental health in metal and rock music, and what can be done to stop the stigma associated with it.”
Mithridatic – Tetanos Mystique Review
“I wish I was born with the ability to remain blissfully ignorant, especially when it comes to the music you and I enjoy. For starters, my output would increase exponentially from not saying “fuck this bullshit” due to bands promoting questionable beliefs this calendar year alone, and I would most likely review an album at face value. Oh, and I would relish in the sheer joy of ignoring the fact sheet that comes packed with about 75% of the music we review. What am I getting at, you may ask? Tetanus Mystique, the second album by French “blackened” death metal merchants Mithridatic, is based on writer Roger Gilbert-LeComte, and his getting high by injecting tetanus into himself. Lovely. Oh, and the album prides itself on being an unflinching look into mental illness and stability.” Bad science.