Bed Lore cuts open with pulverising crusty beats and terrorising howls.
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.”
As the follow-up single to The Fray of Rotted Rope, Bed Lore cuts open with pulverising crusty beats and terrorising howls. With a stitched in slow, sludge-punk transition, the track’s second half descends into a bubbling marsh of tar-soaked riffs and drums before it eventually simmers to a close.
“Bed Lore sees us diving right into the style of European darker hardcore that we draw so much from,” says Bullivant. “Lyrically it’s about the lifecycle of power and control. It’s a shorter, more chaotic single that feels like a successor to songs of ours like Worm of the Earth or Endless Throne. It’s big heavy chords, a jam-based middle section and little bits of noodly leads mushed together.”
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.
