MENS REA – EP [2nd Edition]

Are you one of those who have been looking for new Grunge bands? Mens Rea is a Grunge band with the spirit of early Grunge bands like Alice In Chains. This Israeli four-piece are about to merge out of the underground in their home country and are, in their own words, “…craving for an international career” as well. They have done more than a few live performances (approximately 60 shows) including performances at two major Israeli festivals (The Bereshit Festival and Tel Aviv University’s Student Day) and a U.S. tour (New York and New Jersey).

There are five tracks on this CD. The first is also the band’s newest single. “Abandoned” is a great Grunge song that’s also the highlight on this CD. Guitarist Ran Gliksberg plays a cool melody line that sets the mood for the song, and vocalist Tal Kedmy shows that he masters both low and high vocal range. The song is catchy and that goes for the rest of the songs on this CD as well.

“Talentless” starts off beautiful with an acoustic guitar intro, but it doesn’t take long before the Hard Rock guitars kick in. The guitar solo is cool with lots of delay and wah-wah effects. The part after the solo is dominated by lots of toms, courtesy of Zach ben Michael, and is a nice transition to the last chorus. Kedmy is perhaps the most impressive part about this band. His voice is especially emotional and great in the high range. He’s no Layne Staley (late Alice In Chains vocalist), but there’s plenty of talent in this 25 year old singer.

The rhythm section is also very impressive where drummer Michael and bass player Itay Miron builds every song’s foundation. Miron doesn’t play the usual AC/DC-ish 8th note on the keynotes only, but he often plays around the keynotes, making it more interesting for those listening. At times the same goes for guitarist Gliksberg when he plays around Kedmy’s vocal lines.

When it comes to this CD overall, the first two songs on this release are high quality Grunge songs, while the other three songs lack that “little extra”. It’s not to say that they are bad, it’s just that in comparison they don’t hold the same quality as the first two.

The CD could have seen a better production as it seems a bit low budget. But as long as this is not an album, but rather a five track EP, it’s the music itself that counts. The band is tight and the song material is great, and they score a lot on this part. Currently you can hear all five of these songs on the band’s MySpace site, and you definitely should.

This is a promising start from a band the music world is guaranteed to hear more from in the future.

Mens Rea is

• Tal Kedmy – Vocals and rhythm guitar
• Ran Gliksberg – Lead guitar and backing vocals
• Itay Miron – Bass guitar
• Zach ben Michael – Drums

Tracklist

1. Abandoned
2. Talentless
3. Guilty Mind
4. Don’t Wanna Hear You Now
5. Naive