Music / Reviews
Review: Mineral, The Exchange
In the past five years, use of the term ‘Emo Revival’ among bands like Mineral, who were at the forefront of the 90s post-hardcore scene, has grown each year and, at times, reunions and full album anniversary tours have felt like money grabs or cheap attempt to exploit nostalgia.
The performance by Mineral at the Exchange, however, was as honest a show after a band reunion as there possibly could be.
The dynamic shift from soft and fiddly guitar melodies to heavy, near drone level verses were punctuated by lead singer, Chris Simpson’s, cracking and wavering cries as Mineral took the stage midway through this 20-year anniversary tour.
Each track was powered by a signature calm and chaotic binary that finds itself riddled with angst-fuelled energy and discomfort.
Simpson’s lyrical content’s remains resonant nearly 20 years after the group disbanded and it fills each verse with thematic reminders of how an individual can remain happily in touch with some of their most difficult feelings. This was nostalgia in its most literal, and unsettling, definition.
Bands and labels spend endless amounts of money on creating a look of nonchalance and try to produce a sound that’s just dirty enough to sound under-produced. Bands like Mineral created this aesthetic through talent, inspiration and a desire to create something using any means they had.
Their authenticity ages so well that during the performance whines from a guitar and subtle hitches in vocals from emotion feel infectious. Drummer, Gabriel Wiley, tore through each number to the point where his kit was disassembled by the end of the band’s encore.
The rest of the band followed suit and dropped their instruments, leaving just the echo of their performance and a crowd filled with forgotten memories in their heads.
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