Mindmaze
Back From the Edge
Inner Wound Recordings
2014
This is the second album from these Americans. They employ Mike Lepond (Symphony X) on bass, who seems to be doing quite a few sessions actually and being quite in demand. They play a rather straight forward power metal with female vocals, but the beauty of the thing or if you will the interesting thing is that their singer Sarah Teets, doesn’t try to go for an ethereal, pseudo classical delivery rather opting to sing in a very straightforward modern, clean voice, almost like how a male counterpart of hers would, but obviously being a female, she sounds quite different, thus making the band’s sound quite unique and interesting at the same time in the same time, even if they aren’t musically, actually playing something that much different than what a few other bands are. They sound a bit like A Sound Of Thunder or a Lighter and more prog influenced Benedictum with Ms Teets being also a lighter singer than Veronika. I suppose, Seven Kingdoms, is another obvious and comparable band, but I find these guys a lot better, both in ideas and I must say that I like the vocals better.
Although this sort of power metal with meandering prog overtones and oft solos, can often feel like an acquired taste and I seriously feel detached from it, I cannot fault the band for their musicianship, which is indeed high level. What tired me a bit, was the constant tempos, (mostly medium or slightly fast). There’s a ten minute song “The Machine Stops” with different moods, but it’s a ten minute song… the band seems unable to change moods within a song and to me that is a very important factor of good songwriting. I suppose, other than the title track, I had a hard time really remembering a certain tune. It wasn’t that I didn’t like parts of songs or certain melodies in songs like “Moment of Flight” for instance but overall, the songs, however melodious, don’t have much staying power, perhaps because of their somewhat uniform nature.
In-fact some people might feel compelled to check the band out and by all means they might find an interesting proposition. If they work on what they have, and improve on their songwriting, I think they are able to do a lot more.
Although this sort of power metal with meandering prog overtones and oft solos, can often feel like an acquired taste and I seriously feel detached from it, I cannot fault the band for their musicianship, which is indeed high level. What tired me a bit, was the constant tempos, (mostly medium or slightly fast). There’s a ten minute song “The Machine Stops” with different moods, but it’s a ten minute song… the band seems unable to change moods within a song and to me that is a very important factor of good songwriting. I suppose, other than the title track, I had a hard time really remembering a certain tune. It wasn’t that I didn’t like parts of songs or certain melodies in songs like “Moment of Flight” for instance but overall, the songs, however melodious, don’t have much staying power, perhaps because of their somewhat uniform nature.
In-fact some people might feel compelled to check the band out and by all means they might find an interesting proposition. If they work on what they have, and improve on their songwriting, I think they are able to do a lot more.