Progressive metal is a term you can put on a lot of bands
nowadays. Most of the readers will immediately think of music in the style of
Dream Theater. For me progressive more stands for diversity and change. This
Dutch band Mind:Soul shows us a musical pallet in which they differ and vary a lot.
Main
man behind this band is Tom de Wit (vocals, guitars, synths and orchestra). A
lot of songs are written by Tom, but half of the songs with the help of the
other musicians. The vocals on this album are clean ones for most parts, but some
songs have occasional heavier grunting ones too. Several parts are rather heavy, but
on the other hand there are lots of quieter serene parts as well. Compared with
their EP 'Patterns' the clean singing has improved a lot and the harsh grunting
ones don't irritate at all.
Does Mind:Soul play an original style of music? Well, to be original
nowadays isn't easy and they aren't either, but they have succeed in combining
elements of different bands and melting them into a logical piece of music and
not creating a mess. In "Novea" you hear Dream Theater influences and in "Pillow
Talk" the band Shadow Gallery isn't far away. "I Tried to Help" has so many
different influences that I don't even know where to start, Shadow Gallery,
Dream Theater, a spoken kind of Faith No More part and heavy death metal pieces.
In other songs they lend from Pain of Salvation or Porcupine Tree. The lyrical
concept of the album is about love, hate, desire and disappointment and must be
recognizable for lots of divorsed people.
If
you are looking for a diverse album with real heavy parts, but also with typical
progressive rock/metal influences this is an album you have to check out for
certain.
