Minas – ‘All My Love Has Failed Me’ [Album Review]

UK rap/hip-hop outfit Minas releases their new album All My Love Has Failed Me, featuring previously released singles “Payday,” “Foreign,” “Fight One,” and “B&R.” The project of Greek/Welsh producer and musician James Minas, alongside rhythm section the Davies Brothers, Minas calls his sound “ramblepunk.”

Minas grew up in the circus with parents who were heavily involved in the ’80s punk scene and then moved to secondary school in the Welsh Valleys. His music draws from the boredom and shenanigans that took place. The songs reveal stories of a checkered past over a mix of deep melodic soundscapes and loud, aggressive effects.

Embracing a dozen tracks, the album begins with “B&R,” which opens on swirling, discordant tones and then rolls into a blend of trap with tints of punk dynamics.

Minas explains, “This is one of the fastest songs I’ve ever written, as in it probably took me an hour. I had the first line in my head for a while. ‘It’s like two clashing skulls made of rusted iron, I’m a lion and you’re a mouse, this country’s my house, and your ass will be handed to you in advance.’ It’s basically a crappy description of Boris Johnson and Donald Trump and how their messed-up ego sounds. The song is essentially an introduction to my writing style on a lot of this album.”

Entry points include the title track, featuring a rumbling, relentless bassline topped by Minas’ low, rasping voice full of intense timbres. Whereas “Foreign” presents a more traditional hip-hop soundscape brimming with kaleidoscopic washes of synths, at once dreamy and gliding.

“Payday” conjures up suggestions of Talking Heads pumping out a hip-hop version of Nine Inch Nails. Crunching drums and a sleazy, fuzzed-out bassline inject the rhythm with industrial flavours, while Minas’ rapping flow, spiked with punk edginess, gives the lyrics angry flavours.

There’s a poetic motion to the lyrics of “Fight One,” riding dark, heavy synths and scratchy percussion as a dirge-like organ infuses the harmonics with eerie, ominous colours.

Commenting on “Fight One,” Minas says, “Even though I was on the right path, I had relapses. This was a conversation I was having with myself, not to fix it, just to start noticing what was happening more. I guess this track serves as the first real moment of fear I had, fear of where the hell I was going, where I would end up if I carried on. I didn’t like myself at all; I felt my life was a bit of a joke and I wasn’t of much use to anyone.”

Minas

“I’ve Covered My Hands In This” might best be categorized as a heady amalgamation of prog-hip-hop dipped in lysergic EDM, a mixture that, against all expectations, works well.

The last track, “Drinker (Reprise),” travels on soft, sweeping, orchestral strings, sad and desolate, while unnerving voices float overhead.

Speaking about “Drinker,” Minas shares, “Back on the road to recovery. It’s the only option, and the result is good and secure and safe. Things will work out, I hope. I use one of my older songs, ‘Drinker’ which is one I wrote in the midst of the madness before this album was finished. It works as a reprise and a new version of the song, with a lot more hope this time.”

Innovative and divulging unbridled candour, All My Love Has Failed Me expresses a policy of unadorned, hard-hitting veracity.

All My Love Has Failed Me Track Listing:

1. B&R
2. All My Love Has Failed Me
3. Foreign
4. Payday
5. Shush
6. Protests
7. Fight One
8. Stress
9. Needs, Wants
10. I’ve Covered My Hands In This
11. Belly Down
12. Drinker (Reprise)

Run Time: 32:30
Release Date: November 11, 2022
Record Label: Libertino Records