Interview with the metalband Mind Terrorist

Please tell us how your band "Mind Terrorist" was founded?

At first thank you for your interest. Mind Terrorist started as a solo project, with the help of some friends, before two years. In fact I had in mind to create music for the many people that were generally interested in rock and metal music. The point is that I would like to speak to everyone, not only to the members of certain subcultures, and make it through a modern way that could give to the scene a certain importance. So, it was a personal decision to start, I felt like making a project because I wanted to give a different direction to the listeners, both in music and writings. This year, we are trying to change it from a personal project to a band with steady structure and members.

How would you describe your music? 

Well, no doubt that it is about metal. Although the guitars give some heavy riffs, you can also listen to some nu parts in guitars, the voice is influenced mostly from hardcore and metalcore, so it is a little bit mixed. The first person ever listened to Mind Terrorist spoke about “alternative metal”, so I kept it because I think that it is close to reality, especially for tracks like “Dictatorship of stars and stripes”, which is our newest one.

Do you guys belong to a particular subculture?

Not at all. Of course we give respect to groups who are trying to create parallel forms against state’s pressure, no matter their ideological or political background, but personally I believe that subcultures just act into certain borders. We are here to think and act “outside the box” and smash the political dogmas. To speak without stereotypes, express ourselves and influence ideally every single person. Our music is not a tool of subcultures, it is something dynamic, in our effort not to separate people according to substyles and behaviors, but affect things in togetherness and unity.  

Which bands are your sources of inspiration?

Many bands with heavy/thrash/hardcore metal background (Sepultura, Slayer, In Flames, Pantera, Machine Head, Moshpit etc.) but we try to filtrate our influences so as to give a personal music stigma, the way it is possible. For example, in our debut album “Once upon a heartbeat” you can hear songs like “Freedom for Death” that reminds you a Paradise Lost riffin’, although some solos are more classical. We think that this kind of combination gives to the final result a good balance and makes it more interesting to the listener. So, to return back to the question about the description of our music, In Metal Hammer’s review they wrote that “the music contains many elements from the spectrum of modern heavy metal, perhaps with a touch of industrial (which can be derived simply from production) here and there, while the vocals reach in some cases more the hardcore side (similar to Cavalera style, not in tone). There is something familiar and comforting in, sometimes minimalist approach configurations, with the result not to be tiring. Although Mind Terrorist is not “reinventing the wheel” musically, I feel that the cd will be a pleasant listening for anyone who bothered to listen to them”.

What are your political views?

Okay, although the band is not categorized as far as politics concerned, because each of the people who help has its own view, personally I support anti-statist groups and movements. I am Tribal Anarchist (no relation with Marxists or Antifa), but I keep a widely open mind to hear everything and discuss everything. I believe that the social, economical, ecological matters concern every creature on earth, every human or non-human being. This is the base from which I start. I am against categorization of people in political parties or the simple dogmas of left and right. I support all people who fight for their freedom against the oppression of the state.

What are your thoughts on the current situation in your fatherland Greece? 

Unfortunately, we face a dead end, and we are of course a part of an existing problem but also a strong part of the solution. We have to gain in consciousness and awareness that we are able to support the change. Any decision within the existing framework simply maintains what currently exists, so we have to make a further step. To speak about crisis, we must not emphasize to what is well known, the fact that many people have not enough money to survive. There are things that are more important. This is an era when people have no values and no respect for their lives. They tend to earn money and make life through it, and it is capitalism that takes their time. Most of our needs are not “real”, capitalism always creates new ones so as to consume. Other priorities are set aside. People now are getting so empty and greedy, wanting more and more, but they rarely give to the others sentiments like love, sympathy, solidarity, togetherness, and friendship. They don’t appreciate a voluntary action, because capitalism destroys a no-money society and makes people like thieves who steal from one another. It is not about a “greek problem”, but a whole crisis caused by the liberal dictatorship of capitalism. Take a look around the world regarding matters like human relations, code of values, racial solidarity, nature and environmental matters, social balance etc. 

Is the national - revolutionary/national-anarchist idea popular within Greece? 

Well, I think that these ideas gain in popularity day by day and I am very satisfied that we participate in such efforts. It is very promising that we are getting in contact with people from different political backgrounds and try to make a creative synthesis of concepts and ideas.

Any plans for the future?

At the moment we are recording new material for a full length album that is going to be released at the end of the year through One People One Struggle Records. This will be our second album, under the title “Fragments of human decay”, containing 10 tracks. You can get more information through our official website www.mindterrorist.gr or our facebook profile www.facebook.com/onceuponaheartbeat.