Monster Magnet - Mastermind

1. Hallucination Bomb
2. Bored With Sorcery
3. Dig That Hole
4. Gods And Punks
5. The Titan Who Cried Like A Baby
6. Mastermind
7. 100 Million Miles
8. Perish In Fire
9. Time Machine
10. When The Planes Fall From The Sky
11. Ghost Story
12. All Outta Nothin'

As an avowed fan of Monster Magnet, I was keen on doing the review for the current opus "Mastermind". Afterwards, however, there was only one question left: "Why?". In the hope that this is one of those albums you have to listen to repeatedly until it develops its potential, I did exactly this. Nevertheless nothing else than simple disappointment remains...

The opener "Hallucination Bomb" lives up to its title and drifts in a psychedelic way. But, yeah, it's drifting; nothing that would knock your socks off. The opener of their last record "4-Way Diablo" with the eponymous title was head and shoulders better! The second song is much more rocking and "Bored With Sorcery" would have been a better opener for this album as well, for sure, but even this song offers nothing new. It's getting better with track 3, "Dig That Hole": "Monster Magnet at its best" with a very catchy riff. The riff on "Gods And Punks" is catchy, too, and "The Titan Who Cried Like A Baby" is unusually quiet but sounds interesting. Also interesting is the beginning of the title track "Mastermind" but then, somehow, the song gets lost.

"100 Million Miles" and "Perish In Fire" are more dynamic but nevertheless they lack in excitement. Once again. But then comes the highlight of this album, at least in my humble opinion: "Time Machine". Like "The Titan Who Cried Like A Baby", "Time Machine" is again surprisingly quiet, especially for a Rock'n'Roll combo like Monster Magnet. Next to "Dig That Hole", this beautiful melancholy ballad is one of the few songs which make the whole album worth listening to at all 'cause the following three and last songs of "Mastermind" have the same characteristics like many of its other tracks: They get lost. They will stick neither in your ears nor in your mind. It's a pity.

A band discography that consists of strong and weak albums might be the normal case and in case of Monster Magnet, "Mastermind" rather belongs to the second category. At least, "Mastermind" isn't a "Masterpiece". However, it doesn't matter that much as we hope that this won't be the last record of Dave Wyndorf and his pals. So until the next release, I recommend you warmly to listen to their last album "4-Way Diablo" 'cause here I needed to listen to it only once to know: This CD belongs to my record collection!

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