Artist: Mind's Eye
Label: Lion Records
Release: 2006
Rating: 4/5
“Walking On H2O” is the third Mind’s Eye album and the first in four years! Let me quickly refresh your memory. The band’s leader is keyboardist and drummer Daniel Flores, who is also responsible for most of the compositions on the new Mind’s Eye album. He’s a seasoned musician and probably the most in-demand “session” drummer in Scandinavia right now, having contributed his drumming to more than 50 albums by various artists so far. This is a veteran who’s used to pulling off a string of magnificent drum tricks, and he puts them to good use on the new album from his home band too. The band’s longtime bassist Johan Nieman, who also plays with Therion, has picked up the electric guitar after original guitarist Fredrik Grünberger left the band (and the band patched up Fredrik’s absence superbly), while Andreas Novak is still on vocals, and once again he effortlessly bewitches the listener with his clean, powerful voice. That’s just the cherry on top of a perfect feel for melody that this band clearly has built into its genes.
As a concept album, it doesn’t offer anything new. Clearly, the vast majority of bands today whose lyrics aim for a bit more depth and intellect feel the need to put their opinion on record about humanity’s corrupting influence on planet Earth. So the album opens with a typical symphonic-bombastic “overkill” that deliberately and effectively grabs your attention. The intro is nothing special. It’s a stitched-together collage titled Earth – The Movie, and it gives you a quick taste of what’s to come. But with A Rabbit In The Hat, the fun really kicks off! The rabbit leaps out of the hat and hits you “right between the eyes”, because the impressive melodies are there straight away, seasoned with tasty transitional passages. Outstanding orchestral arrangements (on the keyboards) fill the track to the brim. The guitar “riffing” isn’t pushed to the front of the production, but sits in excellent balance with the other instruments. The vocals are incredibly clean and at the same time bring the exceptional power that this kind of music demands. He’s decisive in every sequence of notes, high and low alike. The album truly sounds progressive at its core. Rhythms keep tumbling into counter-rhythms and vice versa. Typical progressive approach. No doubt about it. But what sets this album apart from the standard setup of yet another all-out “prog metal slash-fest” is first and foremost the production, which brings Mind’s Eye’s new record close to the stylistic class and crystal-clear sound of the core AOR bands. The choruses are masterfully composed and push their way to the front of the songs, which is interesting, because with bands wearing the “progressive” badge you usually wait for the instrumental improvisation that’s supposed to be the peak of the song, the thing that will “shake” you, and you’re not so hung up on compactness, which is usually pretty thin on the ground in properly stretched-out progressive approaches. With Mind’s Eye, it’s exactly the opposite. So this is an album that suits fans of AOR just as well as those of you who love progressive complexity, exploration and wit, which is what the realm of music offers anyway whenever you look a bit deeper. Mind’s Eye clearly know this well. The AOR flavor comes first and foremost from the splendid multi-harmonies built from many vocal lines. Just like the opening, the album keeps developing in a wildly unpredictable way, and that’s one of the extra charms that makes the record so appealing and exciting.
There are plenty of big melodies and big songs, and the remark about anthemic AOR seasoning proves spot on already in Equally Immortal, where the vocal choruses remind us of Foreigner in their best days. Songs like The Nazca Lines, Out Of My System and Mrs Clair Voyance confirm the exceptional instrumental coexistence in perfect balance that the band achieves in the production and in the very construction of its musical collages. The clash of progressive standards and AOR elements in these songs is downright incredible, and that’s what makes Mind’s Eye special! They’re shamelessly easy to listen to (the choruses just jump into your ear all by themselves). In these songs the band reaches a highly dramatic, theatrical atmosphere, while the tracks also carry a compactness and a catchy, melodic grab that’s just wow! Judging by the title alone, Sahara In An Hourglass is an expected cruise through Arabic scales, but the song isn’t a cliché, because besides the melodic “arabesques”, Mind’s Eye even adapted the rhythmic textures to Arabic ethno-folk elements! The atmosphere is truly masterful, and the melody is unique because of it. Umbrellas Under The Sun is the track on the whole record with the most obvious lean toward AOR, and once again it’s an excellent fusion of prog rock metal with AOR. With the vocal arrangements in some places, E.L.O., Foreigner and Asia come to mind again. So pomp is guaranteed. Still, the guys don’t wade through those “soft waters” for too long, and they sail out of them unmistakably with the instrumental Flight Of The An.Unna.Ki, where they show off their instrumental chops through a parade of impressive solo breakouts and expertly fused transitions, which confirm their unique creativity and the excellent working chemistry in the studio!
If we label this album a prog metal representative, the tag holds up in broad strokes, but Mind’s Eye go further with “Walking On H2O”. It’s a refined fusion of classic progressive elements, which the modern, younger prog metal bands are full of, wisely crossed with the splendor of the melodic “pomp” AOR approach, and thanks to that symphonic bombast it brings Mind’s Eye close to the likes of Ayreon, the sharper side of Symphony X, or even Brazil’s Angra, though with much calmer guitar riffing in the production and in the solo attacks themselves. The vocal arrangements, the use of keyboards and the compactness of songs with juicy choruses tip the scales toward the “prog pomp rock” label, so that Mind’s Eye offer a truly special experience and something totally fresh and different in the oversaturated, predictable present of “prog metal” and melodic “hard rock”. Maybe the album runs a minute or so too long, but there’s so much top-notch stuff on it that it simply can’t disappoint. Variety and unpredictability are the prerequisites for the high dynamics and sudden swings in mood that Mind’s Eye string together on “Walking On Water” as if it were nothing. This is an album that rewards even the most spoiled and demanding listeners in every way imaginable!
Lineup
Andreas Novak – vocals
Johan Niemann – bass, guitar
Daniel Flores – drums, keyboards
Production
Daniel Flores
Track list
1. Earth – The Movie (1:33)
2. A Rabbit In The Hat (6:12)
3. Equally Immortal (5:27)
4. Mrs. Clair Voyance (5:55)
5. Sahara In An Hourglass (5:32)
6. Out Of My System (6:15)
7. Umbrellas Under The Sun (6:00)
8. Sacred Rules (5:04)
9. The Nazca Lines (6:30)
10. Flight Of The An.Unna.Ki (3:20)
11. Heal My Karma (8:06)
12. When I Whisper (3:59)
13. Poseidon Says (11:02)
Album length: 72:02
