It’s been 16 years since I last heard of this band. In more recent times, famous for having the Rage guitarist Victor Smolski in their ranks (this was in fact his original band before he joined Rage).
The record label has tagged this one as “melodic metal”; melodic power metal if you want to pigeon hole this release. Progressive elements mixed with euro power metal melodies, which are found on many a Gamma Ray or Rage album (as you might expect), are all accounted for with the aforementioned guitarists many influences thrown into the pan. Mario Le Mole’s vocals prove to be top notch, precise and powerful. In fact they remind me of Ralf Scheepers (Primal Fear).
‘Riding and Ruling’ is a good start to the disc, and this is the track featured on their MySpace site, and can be truly a good reference point for this album in general. The genius arrangements come later on in the album proper. The acoustic passage flowing through ‘Under the Moonlight’ is simply majestic and for me provides one of the highlights, even if this is a ballad type song. ‘I Want it All’ will get the most stubborn power/melodic metal fan foot tapping and head nodding; it’s simply addictive! Although I am not really a fan of keyboards, they are subtle and come from the more classical and jazz music scenes rather than simply following the melody and ruining the songs.
The riffs of ‘Final Flight’ give the album a nod to my days of listening to Steve Vai and Nuno Bettencourt for musical inspiration, blitzing up, down and all around the fretboard whilst keeping things under the radar just enough so as not to make things too over the top. Keyboard and fretboard wizardry comes to the boil on ‘Higherground’ backed with appropriate drums and bass amalgamating into a powerhouse of European metal mastery. Ok, it’s not groundbreaking, but it’s accomplished at what it is. Having said that, I bet this would be something else in a live gig setting.
Upon first listen, I was not sure whether this album would do it for me, however, a few more detailed listens brought out the quality. If you enjoy masterful song writing coupled with clever arrangements, that might become any would-be guitarists dream, and then this is an album for you.
http://www.myspace.com/mindodyssey07
http://www.mindodyssey.de
http://www.napalmrecords.com
