Mindfucker is a thought-provoking piece of mind-fuckery

95/100

This is I Talk To Planets' first album review since declaring we're changing up our format and going full time stoner rock and psychedelic, so I figured we'd better make this a good one.  To that effect we're leading off with a review of the latest release from my favorite active band - Monster Magnet.  I say "active" because my favorite band is Motorhead, which is inactive since the death of founder and leading man Lemmy Kilmister in 2015, promoting Dave Wyndorf and Monster Magnet to the top of my favorites list.  I have loved both bands for years and avidly collected vinyl for each since I rekindled my vinyl passion in 2014.  By the time Lemmy passed just after Christmas a little more than two years ago I had nearly completed my Motorhead and Monster Magnet vinyl collections, needing only a few rare pieces to flesh out each set.  I completed my collection of Mototrhead studio albums during the summer of 2017.  My Monster Magnet collection, however, is my pride and joy.  It contains several rare pieces, while I still search for several other rare items to flesh it out.  I was thrilled to add a red vinyl copy of the latest Monster Magnet release Mindfucker to my vinyl collection recently, and a CD digipack to my growing Magnet CD stack.   But none of that really matters to you guys I'm sure, so I'll shut up about my shit and get to the review already.

Dave Wyndorf promised a throwback to the days when Detroit was music central for the likes of the Stooges, the MC5, Alice Cooper even, and said he wanted to drive his car 100 miles an hour and howl at, well, whatever...  The first single "Mindfucker" dropped and I thought to myself, well, he's on the right track.  The song is a ruse, and a clever one at that.  The Mindfucker Wyndorf is singing about is not some chick that has spurned him, cock-teased him, or jilted him in some way, not a psycho bitch at all.  It's this crazy, fucked-up upside down cuckoo-land world we're living in these days with a reality show president, every one screaming "fake news" and "libtards" at what we traditionally think of as the good guys, cops gunning down innocents and unarmed people in the streets, BREXIT is a reality, and global warming is actually deemed debatable even though the science is rock solid.  Am I on a soap box right now?  Maybe, but I'm just trying to get you into the frame of mind to comprehend Mindfucker the album, "Mindfucker" the song and Mindfucker the concept right now, this is where Dave is coming from and he's pissed off about it, which makes for great music.  The last time Dave was this pissed off we got Powertrip.

The video was a bit of a let down.  I half expected footage of protests from around the world, police clashing with protesters, newscasters in front of tear-gassed scenes, some tanks, our president speaking, but instead we got a green screen band video.  Oh well.

The second single was the old Robert Calvert tune "Ejection" originally performed by Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters in 1974.  I had not heard the original until I sat down to pen this review.  I looked it up and listened to it on YouTube.  I quite enjoyed it.  I think Monster Magnet really did a faithful rendering of the subject matter.  I like both versions.  The original is unique because it has vocal parts where a pilot breaks in over his mic before ejection.  Monster Magnet didn't copy that and I believe that was a smart choice.  Don't make your remake exactly like the original.  The Monster Magnet version has a harder edge, and that I like.  Again, I was disappointed with the video.  We have a poor-man's "Negasonic Teenage Warhead" video.  Shot in front of a green screen, we have the band hurtling through outer space on a disc, whoopee!  A swing and a miss on the video, at least it sounds good.

Then a few days later on Marsh 23rd the album dropped.   Let's take it one track at a time, shall we?

"Rocket Freak."  We jump right in with a standard straight-up rocker, and it's very much what Dave was shooting for in the vain of the Stooges, MC5, etc. but with a touch of Hawkwind in subject matter.  A smoking track, and among my favorites on the record.  "Soul" is up next, riff packed and energetic, but not a stand-out in my mind.  We slide into the sweet title track next, which I've already gone over to some degree.  I'm a huge fan of "Mindfucker," the song, it's well crafted, on target message-wise and a lot of fun.  Bringing Side A to a close is the enigmatic tune that has Dave making a bold declaration - "I'm God"... The song is pared down to the bones, but it still has a classic 70s guitar rock fusion going on and when Dave Wyndorf sings "I'm God," dammit I believe him.  This may be my favorite tune on the record.

Let's flip this sucker over and check out the B side.  First up is the mellowed out "Drowning."  I relate to this song in ways I really don't want to admit.  Many of my Monster Magnet loving friends have messaged me that this is their favorite track and I think it's because they relate to it too.  The guitars swirl in this mellow melodrama, making for another Monster Magnet instant classic.  The Robert Calvert cover fills the next groove on the record and we'll briefly touch on it again.  Love "Ejection."  It's a great rocker, with an amazing solo at the end.  "Want Some."  Not one of Dave's more moving titles, but the song's not bad.  It's not a standout track either.  "Brainwashed," on the other hand, will stick with you, either good or bad.  The first couple times I heard it I couldn't stand it.  But about the third time I heard it, it clicked.  I got the joke.  I was admitted to the club, so to speak.  Dave is having a laugh with this rockabilly jam session with a sense of humor, just listen to the way he delivers the chorus, "I'VE BEEN BRAINWASHED!!!"  It's over the top intentionally.  It's bad acting from the school of William Shatner and it's hilarious.  And, is that Tim Cronin I hear screaming in the background?

On to Side C.  "All Day Midnight."  I LOVE the bass at the onset.  The song settles into a nice groove right from the get-go.  This tune is a breath of fresh air.  Not that the album is filled with gloom and doom, or anything, but this song is kind of refreshing in some way, it's hard to describe, but it's almost an uplifting punk rocker.  The CD (and download) ends with the next track, the six-minute epic "When the Hammer Comes Down."  It's a great closing track, passing judgment on the entire world, and we're all FUCKED!  Stellar!!!  Supernovas! The end of the world, death, gloom and doom, and there's guitars.

BUT WAIT, if you have the vinyl, there's more.

The first bonus track on the vinyl is the quirky "You Can't Be Trusted."  It's a trippy, upbeat little number with a jangly guitar and a killer solo at the finish amongst Dave's howling.  Finally we come to "Utopia."  And isn't that what we're all looking for?  This is far and away the song with the most in common to what Monster Magnet had done on its previous three releases dating back to Last Patrol.  It is the lone psychedelic number on the album and it's refreshing to end the album with a revisit to what Monster Magnet has been doing the past few years with this track, considering how much the rest of the record was in touch with Dave's punk roots.  Initially I thought this song was out of place, but the more I listen to the album as a complete animal I think it serves as the perfect overall closer, even though "When the Hammer Comes Down" was intended to be the closer, I think this bonus track is better suited for the job.

It's not a perfect album, it has a couple of blemishes here and there, but damn it's a hell of a lot of fun and the vinyl has a lovely, thought provoking closer.  95/100