An Aberdeen band not blessed with subtlety but, historically at least, not without sparkle, Min Diesel hit the ground running with their album “Mince” but it doesn’t look like they have anywhere to go.
The strident guitar that leads “War Band” off into somewhere where the post punk aesthetic still lives sets the tone for this album and provides the overwhelming focus for pretty much all the songs here and, whilst some subtlety does creep into “Pagan Pageant”, this is an isolated incident soon drowned in a sea of musical underachievement and pained vocals.
Note quite everything is driven by heavy handed riff delivery though and “Down on the Green” does seem altogether more consistent with a desire to experiment with the oblique even if the song itself is not entirely successful. “Last Bus”, to damn the song with faint praise, does manage to pull off a thoroughly professional twee pop to red meat transformation as if the Just Joans had taken to the smack in search of lyrical inspiration.
Whilst there are more uncomfortably discordant guitars in the ingredients than anything else, Min Diesel deserve credit for not sounding like they come from Aberdeen and I don’t doubt that there will be many people with unfortunate beards ready and willing to take them into their arms. Perhaps unfortunately, I suspect that will be the limit of their appeal.