When I heard that members of legendary NY Hard Core outfit Kill Your Idols went on to form a black/thrash group, I won’t lie, I was very skeptical. I mean, really what do a few aging hardcore kids from NYC know about the dark cold roots that lie within black metal? Beyond that, the simple transition from hardcore to black metal is neigh impossible, seeing as each genre upholds blatantly opposing values.

But after hearing the opening track “Margin For Terror” I was determined to get a hold of Time Insults the Mind.

Black Anvil fuse the thrash-y-ness of Celtic Frost with the dark sound and atmosphere of Darkthrone. Even though Time Insults the Mind sidesteps the average kvlter-than-thou production, delivering the songs on a clean and 100% audible platter, they do not fail to convey a dark and evil atmosphere. Songs like the opening “Margin For Terror” and “Ten Talons Deep” really uphold classic Celtic-Frost-ian riffery. While other tracks like “Deathsomnia” still rock a distinct NYHC vibe masked in scorched black metal corpsepaint.

The truth is, purists will most likely despise this album, since P, R and G have trouble completely detaching from the grooves so omnipresent in Kill Your Idols. Furthermore, as I mentioned before, Black Anvil opted for crystal clear production more akin to, say a band like Arsis, than any of the black metal classics.

All bigoted elitism aside Time Insults The Mind is a fantastic album that ushers the black thrash of yore into the modern age. Regretfully, Black Anvil fall victim to the trap of most modern black metal, that they are really not doing anything new.

They rock the same rehashed CF riffs with the stereotypical black metal rasp, and with the exception of injecting a little extra groove, they are essentially another black metal outfit.