New Jersey Stage logo
New Jersey Stage Menu


?>

 

Makin Waves Record of the Week: Monster Magnet's "Mindfucker"


By Bob Makin

originally published: 03/22/2018


Beloved Red Bank hard rockers Monster Magnet return with one of their most fun commentary albums to date, “Mindfucker,” a covert statement about how we’re all fucked if we don’t put our minds together to make things better. Fueled by the Detroit rock of MC5 and The Stooges, as well as Hawkwind and Kiss, “Mindfucker” will be a trip live at three upcoming area shows.

Are you a fan of MC5, The Stooges, Hawkwind and Kiss? Then Monster Magnet’s new LP, “Mindfucker,” is your jam.

On their 10th studio album and latest since 2013’s “Last Patrol,” the veteran Red Bank-based hard-rock band have some meaningful fun paying homage to those influences, while also depicting the world gone mad, particularly on the Kiss-like title track, a 21stcentury cross between “Love Gun” and the Stones’ “Star Star.”

Anchored by thick slabs of rhythm from drummer Bob Pantella and bassist Chris Kosnik and a propelled by the ginormous guitar work of Phil Caivano and Garrett Sweeny, drummer Monster Magnet blast their brand of madness right from the get-go with the frenzied opener, “Rocket Freak.” The combustible tune lives up to its title by lighting ablaze a tower of sonic sludge until its climatic end. The intensity continues on the second track, “Soul,” which finds founding front man Dave Wyndorf delivering a particularly soulful vocal.




Follow New Jersey Stage on social media
Facebook, Threads, Instagram, Twitter, Bluesky



The pace briefly slows with a great spoken word intro that prefaces the explosive but textured “I’m God,” an overt nod to the Detroit rock of MC5 and The Stooges with Wyndorf at his most invincible, as is the case with a mighty cover of Hawkwind’s “Ejection,” which could by the 61-year-old rocker’s biography. The rocket-fueled tune features one of my favorite lines on the record: “I’m too fast to die.”

What makes “Mindfucker” really interesting is the range of characters detailed. While “I’m God” and “Ejection” push the needle toured invincible, “Brainwashed” presents a Wyndorf character at his most vulnerable after seemingly being dosed until his face is “melting in the mirror.”

I also really like “Drowning,” perhaps the best written song on “Mindfucker.” The dynamic track starts out slowly with a great eerie vocal within slow-burning verses that creep into blasting choruses and a wanna-be happy ending. Among the song’s great lyrics are the lines, “I could get paid for a thousand days and I’d still be begging at night” and “How much are happy endings? Can I buy you that moon up in the sky?”

I also really like “All Day Midnight,” a fat ’60s-inspired blues in the spirit of Steppenwolf and Blue Cheer that traces the roots of rock right before heavy blues became heavy metal.

Check out “Mindfucker” live on March 29 at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn; March 30, Starland Ballroom, Sayreville, and March 31, The Fillmore, Philadelphia before Monster Magnet jet over to Europe to tour throughout April into early May. An extensive U.S. fall tour will follow, but first check out an interview with Wyndorf next week right here in Makin Waves. 

Bob Makin is the reporter for www.MyCentralJersey.com/entertainment and a former managing editor of The Aquarian Weekly, which launched this column in 1988. Contact him at makinwaves64@yahoo.com. And like Makin Waves at www.facebook.com/makinwavescolumn.




New Jersey Stage is proud to be the home of Bob Makin's Makin Waves column since 2017. His Song of the Week column comes out every Friday. He also writes an Album of the Month and Interview of the Month as well.




Follow New Jersey Stage on social media
Facebook, Threads, Instagram, Twitter, Bluesky



FEATURED EVENTS

ART | COMEDY | DANCE | FILM | MUSIC | THEATRE | COMMUNITY

To narrow results by date range, categories,
or region of New Jersey
click here for our advanced search.


Curtis

Curtis Salgado

Wednesday, July 02, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Lizzie Rose Music Room
217 E. Main Street, Tuckerton, NJ 08087
category: music


 

John

John Lee & Friends

Thursday, July 03, 2025 @ 7:30pm
The Morris Museum Back Deck
6 Normandy Heights Road, Morristown, NJ 07960
category: music


 

Blues

Blues People with Special Guest: Jeff Levine

Saturday, July 05, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Lizzie Rose Music Room
217 E. Main Street, Tuckerton, NJ 08087
category: music


 

Straight

Straight No Chaser - Summer: The 90’s Part 2

Tuesday, July 08, 2025 @ 7:00pm
Bergen Performing Arts Center (bergenPAC)
30 North Van Brunt Street, Englewood, NJ 07631
category: music


 

Frisson

Frisson Winds

Thursday, July 10, 2025 @ 7:30pm
The Morris Museum Back Deck
6 Normandy Heights Road, Morristown, NJ 07960
category: music


 


 

EVENT PREVIEWS

Two

Two NJ Jazz Musicians Will Play with The Jazz Ambassadors in Morristown

Pianist Anthony Pocetti grew up in Hamilton, NJ, studying piano, "doing sort of traditional piano lessons. I have an uncle who was always encouraging me to get into the jazz thing. He gave me the (Miles Davis) Kind of Blue CD, and he knew that the jazz pianist Jim Ridl was living in Hamilton."



Asbury

Asbury Lanes presents There, There - A Tribute to Radiohead

(ASBURY PARK, NJ) -- Asbury Lanes presents There, There on Saturday, July 12, 2025 at 8:00pm. They are the premier Radiohead tribute act, playing songs from throughout the band's iconic multi-decade catalogue.



bergenPAC

bergenPAC presents Straight No Chaser - Summer: The 90's Part 2

(ENGLEWOOD, NJ) -- After a totally fly 2024 summer tour packed full of 90s boy band, pop, and R&B hits, RIAA-certified Gold a cappella group Straight No Chaser is back by popular demand with "Straight No Chaser Summer: 90s Part 2." The tour comes to Bergen Performing Arts Center (bergenPAC) on Thursday, July 8, 2025 at 7:00pm.



Blue

Blue Curtain presents 2025 Summer Concert Series in Princeton

(PRINCETON, NJ) -- Blue Curtain returns to Pettoranello Gardens Amphitheater this July with a free three-concert series. The 2025 season opens on Saturday, July 12 at 8:00pm with a performance by internationally acclaimed trombonist, composer, and bandleader Jimmy Bosch, also known as El Trombon Criollo.



NJPAC

NJPAC presents KEM with special guest Melania Fiona

(NEWARK, NJ) -- New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) presents a special evening with KEM, known as Soul's Greatness, on Friday, July 18, 2025 at 8:00pm. Special guest Melanie Fiona will open the night.