The last time My Mind’s Weapon came up with a demo it was praised, and rightly so, for taking a cartload of influences that were smack in the middle of the zeitgeist and stamping their own authority on them to create something familiar yet interesting. This time, with A Negation of All Our Hopes, they’ve followed a very similar template. Rather than the post-hardcore-with-balls that characterised their earlier material, they’ve gone straight down the metalcore route, for reasons unknown.
‘Luckly Like Kokura’, making a reappearance, is still a mightily impressive song. But the effect is somewhat spoiled by the insistence on a too-shiny metallic production that simply reeks of Killswitch Engage. The shift in gear is startling from the previous demo, as A Negation… is a clear attempt to fit into yet another genre. Unfortunately, despite the musical proficiency on display, the passion and verve that I was hoping to find isn’t quite as evolved as I would have liked. ‘A Sense of Wonder’ and ‘Six Oh Two’ are both fairly impressive tracks, with some good riffing and an interesting approach to structure, but overall this feels like a EP from a band just starting to find their feet, rather than one as well established as MMW. Sprinkled through all four songs are moments of inspiration that suggest that maybe if they forget about trying to fit in, MMW might just be onto a winner.
If they were three years younger then the lack of originality would be excusable but I had such high hopes for MMW. Rather than superseding the sum of their parts, as they did on their 2005 demo, A Negation… sits firmly in the bracket marked ‘adequate’. If they took a few more risks, as I hope they do in the future, then they will again be a band worth watching. But if they make more music as derivative as this, then I fear they could be forgotten.