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Mind Odyssey > Time to Change It > Reviews
Mind Odyssey - Time to Change It

Really is time to change it... - 55%

Daru_Jericho, June 16th, 2009

‘Time To Change It’ is Mind Odyssey’s first album in ten years. The German progressive metallers ceased to be after the release of their album ‘Signs’ in 1999 but reunited last year to work on this full-length.

Most of the songs on this album contain thrashy riffing executed in a progressive metal manner. ‘Enemy Daggers’ and the title track even contain some groove metal movements. The guitars additionally stray into heavy metal territory, such as on ‘Under the Moonlight’. Vocalist Mario LeMole sounds like a cross between Andi Deris and Ralph Scheepers without any falsettos.

Unfortunately, LeMole’s vocals are one-dimensional and before the record stops, they become tiresome. Some of the songs feel like filler and nothing more, the model example of this being ‘Raven and Swan’. The album fails to remain compelling throughout, which seems astounding given the obvious talent of these Germans.

This album collects numerous genres including hard rock progressive, heavy and thrash metal which makes it an interesting listen altogether but the novelty wears a little thin. If LeMole varied his vocals and made them more dynamic perhaps that would encourage enough sensibility to retain the listener’s attention.

Originally written for www.soundshock.net

Sometimes you need 9 years off. - 80%

hells_unicorn, March 8th, 2009

There’s something of an extended history applies to Mind Odyssey, going all the way back to 1993, the famed year that metal was official dead according to corporate shill outfits like Kerrang and Rolling Stone Magazine. Their existence was a basic contradiction to the notion that what was worth listening to at the time was either grunge or otherwise equally decrepit rot like what Pantera started churning out just a year prior. Naturally these outfits were forced to acknowledge a few token acts like Dream Theater and various death metal acts, but bands like this didn’t really receive a heck of a lot of support, and to this day progressive metal doesn’t have quite the exposure in Germany that it ought to.

Things didn’t really start to get interesting for the band until they took on guitarist Victor Smokski, who saw the band for their last two albums before starting a nine year hiatus in 2000. With things back in full swing, he proves to be the principle focus of intrigue on their latest offering, which would otherwise come off as your standard technical variant on heavy metal. On here he basically functions as a more riff happy version of Magnus Karlsson, placing a lot of emphasis on spacey guitar effects while largely relying on powerful rhythm lines. Intro riffs like those heard on “Storm Warning” and “Riding And Ruling” seem a bit closer to the agitated and busy style of Primal Fear, though the overall atmosphere definitely shares some commonalities with Midnight Sun.

How this really fits into the mold of progressive metal is a bit difficult to articulate, as most of this definitely points towards a slower and more modern variant on the power metal revival of the late 1990s. The songwriting is definitely a bit busier, throwing in some off the cuff changes that aren’t quite as epic as what you’d get from Gamma Ray circa 1997, but still with a fairly defined flow that resemble a traditional verse/chorus approach. The keyboard heavy instrumentation and loud as hell drum production gives this a somewhat techno-like feel, though not quite the robotic dance music heard out of Rammstein. Odd vocal and guitar effects also factor into the equation heavily, particularly on “Time To Change It”, which is plenty catchy despite being a really elaborate fit of riff mayhem superimposed over a keyboard and drum heavy production.

The main element that makes this music sound like power metal, even though it clearly seeks not to, is vocalist Mario Schneider. His history as a vocalist dips back into the mid 80s when vocalists were expected to try and upstage Rob Halford or Bruce Dickinson at their own game, and his character of voice definitely puts him in that direction. His voice has been graveled up a little to try and sound modern, but commonalities to Tim Owens and Ralf Scheepers are unavoidable. His better performances occur on the slow grooving crusher “Face In The Rain” and the down tempo half-ballad “Higher Ground”, where he doesn’t try to avoid his vocal roots at all and rips out wicked note after wicked note 80s NWOBHM style.

As an overall listen, this ranks a little above the groovy quasi-progressive brand of metal of Midnight Sun, and pretty handedly above the recent offering by Karlsson via The Codex. It’s actually fairly similar to listening to a spiced up and slightly more technical version of At Vance’s “The Evil In You”. It definitely has an overriding German power metal character in its overt chorus emphasis; though the virtuoso guitar work does make it a draw for fans of instrumental guitar gods like Rusty Cooley and Tony Hernando. It’s worth checking out, though the keyboard tech. and guitar effects get to be a little much at times.

Originally submitted to (www.metal-observer.com) on March 8, 2009.