MINECREEP, The London Sessions (2008, demo)

The skull:
I think the logo and the skull were some kind of papercraft art project. Like, the bassist sat hunched over a table with a piece of construction paper and a pair of safety scissors for the entire weekend while the other guys got high and made fun of him, but when he opened that folded piece of paper and revealed a logo and a skull cut neatly out of the middle, they changed their tune right quick. Of course, it would have been better if he hadn’t used light blue paper, so in the end they had to scan it for their demo. And since they were already in the computer, they pasted the silhouette over some orangey-brown background, because deep in their hearts they understood that skulls like earthtones best.

The music:
You wouldn’t think groove metal, Therapy?, and mid-90s Megadeth would work together, and you’d be right, but listening to Minecreep, you might occasionally think that maybe there could be a chance you were wrong. This is a clunky demo with bad singing and an unenviable set of influences, but Minecreep almost make it work, sometimes, because although it’s pretty easy to hear where a lot of these ideas came from, they’re sufficiently warped to end up sounding at least somewhat new. Then again, there are moments of pure groove metal hell, and on top of it all, the miserable yelping vocals, so it’s not like this ever really rises above, but when they band locks in on a cool riff, it suggests at least some possibility. But they’ve had 5 years to make something of that, and so far, this remains the sole offering of Minecreep, so I’m not gonna hold my breath
— Friar Johnsen