Any fan of Texas punk rock mainstay, The Marked Men, would’ve been hard-pressed to dislike Mind Spiders’ 2011 debut LP. The album immediately launched into extended chants of “Goooooooo!” backed by Mark Ryan’s signature sense of lo-fi catchy urgency. It was basically as close to the then-hiatused Marked Men sound that fans were gonna get. But on Inhumanistic, Mind Spiders’ third album in as many years, Ryan seems intent on seeing how far Marked Men fans will follow him. The album often drifts away from the familiar song structure and fast-paced tempo of the band’s previous two albums and leans a bit heavier on the spoooooky-sounding synths.But at its heart, Inhumanistic is still somehow distinctly Mark Ryan. And really, anything the guy touches turns to musical gold, whether it’s his seemingly countless Texas-based bands like High Tension Wires or even just his contributions to last year’s Riverboat Gamblers album, the guy clearly has a knack for crafting a fun jam.Inhumanistic is out next week from Dirtnap Records.
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