Mental Vortex
Occupation
- Vocals / Bass: Ron Broder
- Guitar: Tommy Vetterli
- Drums: Marky Edelmann
Mental Vortex (English
Formation
The recordings for Mental Vortex found in the period from April to June in 1991 in the Sky Trak Studios in Berlin. Shortly before the band had to forfeit their tour bus by fire. The musicians were also dissatisfied with the studio. Drummer Marky Edelmann described the recording room to be quite small, which led to problems with the instruments.
For the album 's seven songs were written. In addition a cover version. Prior to the recordings, the musicians could not agree on a song. In their rehearsal room the band discovered a copy of the album Abbey Road by the Beatles. Here, the band, the song I Want You ( She's So Heavy) fell on, which is a pretty powerful song in the opinion of the musician and would fit well with the self-penned songs.
The album was produced by Tom Morris, who abmischte the album in his Morris Sound Studios in Tampa, Florida. As a guest musician keyboardist Kent Smith and the guest singer Janelle Sadler and Steve Gruden be heard.
Background
The music on Mental Vortex is partly a slower pace, according to statement from drummer Marky Edelmann but also " heavier, deeper, more brutal ." The band wanted to continue to develop within the thrash style, they too had noticed that some of the earlier songs live did not work as desired. So you 've written in Mental Vortex " for the stage ." Only the final Beatles Cover I Want You ( She's So Heavy) was aware of no more Thrash, although it was played much harder than the original.
The album cover shows a modified photo of actor Anthony Perkins in his role as Norman Bates from the movie Psycho. It is a " moment of absolute confusion " symbolize, according to Edelmann. According to the title of the album, a circular vortex effect was placed over the face of the actor. For the intro of the song Divine Step ( conspectu Mortis ) samples were used in the horror film Re-Animator. The song is about the moment of death. Marky Edelmann, who wrote all the lyrics of the band's songs on the album, said that for him would from that moment a " fascination ", without that he is tired of life. The text also treat the question of what exactly happened there. At the end of the song Semtex Revolution samples were used from the movie Moonstruck, where it comes to the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. The song is also dedicated to the mental states of an assassin. Pale Sister, however, goes to the question of what motivates a nun, " to be " as it is.
Reception
Mental Vortex is considered a classic of the genre. According to Frank Albrecht by the German magazine Rock Hard Coroner have " done brought the feat to write very compact, catchy songs, without sacrificing the high technical standards ." Albrecht awarded for the album in this contemporary review 9.5 out of ten. Eduardo Rivadavia of Allmusic described online magazine Mental Vortex as the " creative peak of the band's history " and praised the " unconventional songwriting " of the group that " the boundaries of the Heavy Metal flirts in spite of and with jazz and progressive rock ."
In the book Best of Rock & Metal in which the top 500 metal and hard rock albums of all time are listed in the opinion of the editors of the German magazine Rock Hard, Metal Vortex was ranked 128; the best placement of an album by a Swiss band.