UMUR "Mindscraper" is the 4th full-length studio album by US goregrind/ death metal act Blood Freak. The album was originally meant to be released in 2008 through Razorback Records but that never materialized and in December 2010 Blood Freak signed a deal with Willowtip Records who released the album in April 2011. I don´t know if the band has made improvements, re-recorded tracks or anything else that could set this version of "Mindscraper" apart from the version which was intended for release in 2008. The 2008 version was meant to be titled "Scared Stiff" and feature a cover artwork by Edward Repka though, while "Mindscraper" ended up featuring a cover artwork by Mark K. of "Frightfeast Comix".

Compared to the earlier releases by the band "Mindscraper" has most similarities to "Multiplex Massacre (2007)". The songs have become even longer this time though. Most of them clocks in around 3 to 4 minutes in length. That´s actually pretty long for goregrind tracks. Of course Blood Freak isn´t an out an out goregrind act as they incorporate filthy mid-paced old school death metal in their music. Acts like early Carcass and Impetigo are the prime influences. The lyrical themes still evolve around cheesy B-Horror movies, Zombies, blood and splatter and song-titles like "Slaughterhouse Recollections", "Sex Trash Princess", "Paralyzed by the Medusa Spider", "We Kill Cause We Care" and "Death Trip... In the Drug Den of the Damned" are a testament to that.

"Maniac" Neil Smith as usual handle vocals, guitars and bass but he is helped out on this album by Travis Ruvo on drums and Kevin on vocals. The band are generally very well playing but they make sure to leave room for some loose organic playing to keep the whole thing filthy and authentic sounding.

Besides the tracks generally being longer than usual, "Mindscraper" doesn´t add that much new if you are already familiar with Blood Freak (well a couple of electronic experiments are a new feature). Personally I think the album sounds a bit too much like a routine release. I´m not as enthusiastic about the album as I have been about all three predecessors, but it´s hard to say exactly why that is. I just don´t find "Mindscraper" as oddly charming as the predecessors. It could be because the songs are longer and they really don´t feature enough quality riffs and ideas to justify being that long or it could be the more sparse use of cool B-horror movie samples which dominated the earlier releases by the band. We´re definitely not talking a bad release here by any means, but considering the usually very high quality level of the band´s material I think I´ll reserve the right to be slightly disappointed here and I find that a 3 - 3.5 star rating is warranted.

UMUR Sleaze Merchants is the debut full-length studio album by American goregrind/ death metal act Blood Freak. The album was released in November 2003 through Razorback Records. Blood Freak is the brainchild of Neil Smith who performs all instruments and vocals on Blood Freak´s studio recordings.

The music on Sleaze Merchants is goregrind/ death metal in the tradition of early Carcass. There are literally hundreds of Carcass clones playing this style, but Blood Freak is definitely one of the better ones. They have a tongue in cheek/ kitchy kind of approach to the genre which I appreciate. In addition to the fast-paced blasting parts, the songs also contain mid-paced parts which makes the music a bit easier to digest. Each song starts with a horror movie sample which really gives the album a great kitchy low budget horror movie atmosphere. Check out songtitles like Bloodthirsty Butchers from Beyond, Flesheaters from Outerspace, The Cult of the Cannibal Freaks or Dr. Cannibal. That´s just priceless bizarre humour. The vocals are a total ripp-off of the classic Carcass vocal style. That means one sneering, one deep growling and one gurgling kind of vocal style. It works really well here though and gives the music some needed variation. There are 22 tracks on the album and needless to say that they are all pretty short, but that´s great because that´s how this style works the best. Short powerful bursts of aggressive brutality. On a funny sidenote Neil Smith have brewed a fake story about the album. Supposedly it was recorded in the late eighties/ early nineties and the last couple of tracks are demo tracks with a different production, which is supposed to make the story more authentic. I love this little hoax, but of course it´s not true.

The production on the album is excellent. It´s powerful and actually warm. A bit surprising really. As mentioned the last couple of tracks ( the so called demo tracks) have a more lo-fi sound but they still sound pretty great.

I´ve listened to my fair share of Carcass imitators over the years, and while most are entertaining, they seldom really impress. The music on Sleaze Merchants is a bit different though and I must say that Blood Freak really hit something great on this one. Maybe it´s the low budget horror movie humour that gets me rolling on the floor or maybe it´s the generally high quality ( for the genre) songwriting and good musicianship, but Sleaze Merchants is a really enjoyable album and a 3.5 - 4 star rating is deserved.