Tired Minds’ new EP The Body is a Burden – a sludge-soaked serve of metallic post-hardcore.
With gritty instrumentals, impassioned lyricism and tense compositions, The Body Is A Burden reveals the band’s appreciation of acts such as Converge, Touché Amore, La Dispute and Cult Leader. In many ways, the EP feels like a love letter to some of the best melodic heavy acts of the past two decades, though delivered with an urgency and intensity that reveals the Newcastle post-hardcore act at the top of their game.
“We started recording this back in 2019 and have been chipping away at it since then with a lot of life events happening during this time including friends and family passing away,” says guitarist Ben Bullivant. “We really wanted to focus on bringing just a heavier, more crushing vibe to what we have done in the past, in general simplifying down some of the riffs but really laying down lots of guitar tracks to push the sound in the direction we wanted.”
Single one from The Body Is A Burden is The Fray Of Rotted Rope, a furious track with bone-shattering kicks and cyclical murky riffs. The track heaves like a tide – heavy and calm sections are juxtaposed to create a tense backdrop to the despaired howls.
“This track draws on lyrical themes around the body and power,” begins Bullivant, “but I think from an instrumental perspective this is the direction we want to go. The song flows in and out of the relentless main riff and an airier verse section, before combining the two feels towards the end of the song.”
Several years have passed since Tired Minds released LOOM in 2017 – the band keeping busy in the meantime with tours across Australia, Japan and New Zealand. Prior to the pandemic, the band were fortunate enough to share the stage with Modern Life is War, Cult Leader and Foundation, each proving a formative inspiration to the band in many ways. Yet as the pandemic subsides, hopes of returning to the stage are rekindled. Talks of rescheduling their previously cancelled Europe tour is now back on the table with a view to slot in a South-East Asia tour, time permitting. For those in Australia, the raw fury of their live shows are not to be missed.
The Body Is A Burden shows that time has not slowed Newcastle’s Tired Minds. The sheer power of their new record cements their place in the Australian hardcore scene, and makes this an essential listen for heavy music lovers the world over.
