Mortal Prophets aren’t here to pay tribute. They’re here to interrogate. On their new EP, “UNDER THE INFLUENCE,” the project—spearheaded by the singular vision of John Beckmann—treats iconic songs not as sacred texts, but as volatile fuel for a post-punk inferno. This is five tracks of radical, fearless reinterpretation that drags influence into a shadowy downtown warehouse, and rebuilds it from the screws up.
Forget everything you know about “covers.” Beckmann, the mastermind behind all music, vocals, and production here, operates more like a mad scientist in a lawless lab. “UNDER THE INFLUENCE” is a confrontational experiment, bending avant-rock minimalism, post-punk abrasion, and that signature nocturnal romanticism into a weapon. The mission is to strip these songs down to their nervous systems and wire them into a tense, vibrating present. It’s got more spine than most “original” records dropping this year.
The track-by-track walk is a tour through a brilliantly distorted museum. They take Elton John’s wide-open, sun-drenched “Tiny Dancer” and turn it inside out. What’s left is an ambient elegy—hushed, fragile, and hauntingly interior. It’s a dare that pays off. Then they lock onto Brian Eno’s jagged “Third Uncle.” The original’s proto-punk freak-out is sharpened into a serrated, post-industrial sprint. They crank the mechanical urgency until the whole track feels like it’s vibrating on the edge of a cliff.
The Berlin-era decadence gets its due with a dive into Iggy Pop’s “Sister Midnight.” The Prophets plunge it deeper into the paranoid night, amplifying the track’s predatory swagger. Then they go even colder with David Bowie’s “Repetition.” The original’s chilling minimalism is pushed to a claustrophobic extreme, reduced to a pulsing, unsettling study in tension. It’s brilliant and uncomfortable in the best way. They close the EP proper with a resurrection of the no-wave classic, Bush Tetras’ “Too Many Creeps.” It’s reborn as a fractured downtown apparition, all jagged, driving basslines and concrete-jungle dread. This is the sound of a city’s nervous breakdown.
But wait, there’s a ghost in the machine. Recorded during the same sessions but released as a standalone single is their take on The Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody.” And this is where the genius of the project really snaps into focus. While the EP is all abrasion and velocity, the single is pure cinematic stillness. Beckmann drains the 60s orchestral grandeur and rebuilds the song as a slow-motion, weightless incantation. It’s emotionally exposed—too raw and tender to sit beside the EP’s harsher contours. So it orbits the project like a lonely, beautiful satellite, completing the picture by stark contrast.
The brains and brawn behind this operation is John Beckmann. His vision is uncompromising, treating these songs as living entities to be dissected and reanimated. He’s backed by a crack team: David Sisko on mixing and Tom Rogers on mastering. This crew knows how to translate a vicious aesthetic into a punishingly good listen.
“UNDER THE INFLUENCE” IS artistic audacity. Mortal Prophets aren’t living in the past; they’re using its bones to build something new, tense, and thrillingly alive. It’s a record that proves influence isn’t about reverence—it’s about risk. And Beckmann & co. are all-in, throwing every spark they’ve got into the dark.