Mundus Intelletualis

Approfondimenti

It always stinks when a good band wears out their stay and they audibly begin to lose their passion. Mundus Intellectualis gives the impression that after years of perfecting their gimmick, Scatterbrain has nowhere to go with it and they know it. Their earlier material (when they were known as Ludichrist) had a vicious edge and a hardcore influence, while Scatterbrain's debut was the perfect approach to this kind of material. Even the disappointing Scamboogery had an energy and sense of adventure that was undeniable. But this is all just rehashed ideas and stale lyrics, from the bland "Beer Muscles" to the third recorded version of "Down With the Ship." To anyone unfamiliar with the track, it's basically singer Tommy Christ saying that he won't go down with the ship repeatedly while riffs from mainstream rock songs are used between verses. Although their intention was to mock the music that had pushed them into the metal underground after an unsuccessful run with Elektra, it is actually quite an apt way to sum up their career. After forming a specialized niche in the metal genre, they found themselves returning to the same gimmicks again, while forward-thinking bands captured the public's attention with new sounds and approaches. If they only would've dumped the joke lyrics and Christ, the band would probably be around today. After all, the guitar/bass intermingling is the only exciting and fresh thing about this album, and their talents would have suited a different singer just fine. But that isn't what happened, leaving Mundus Intellectualis as a poor epitaph for a band that carried the joke way too far.
© Bradley Torreano /TiVo