Mind Odyssey

Time To Change It

Written by: PP on 02/03/2009 18:15:55

"Do not resort into yet another review dissecting the wrongs of heavy/power metal". That's what I tried to tell myself before reviewing Mind Odyssey's new album "Time To Change It", but as you'll come to see in the rest of the review, I failed miserably at my goal. That's precisely what you'll get for the remainder of this review, because Mind Odyssey are a boring, uninspiring progressive power/heavy metal from--surprise surprise--Germany who live up to every single cliché of the genre. All the songs sound so average and samey that it hurts, and to say they might make an impression on the listener is a huge overstatement of the capability of this record. There aren't any particularly noteworthy guitar riffs, let alone solos, and the vocal work is as standard generic heavy metal as it comes. Their influences and inspirations are clear: nuances from bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Helloween, Accept, Silent Force, etc etc can be heard throughout the disc, but only in the form that makes you shake your head and sigh over how much better said bands are at what they do than Mind Odyssey.

The whole ultra generic power/heavy metal thing is especially evident as one is browsing through Mind Odyssey's similar artists list on Last.FM - it's full of bands you've never heard of, and a quick sampling of the first five on Myspace says it all: they all sound like Mind Odyssey, and Mind Odyssey sounds just like all of them; average, boring, generic power/heavy metal with one foot in the 80s and another one in the grave. How the huge gray mass of bands like Mind Odyssey finds more fans or anyone to go to their shows is a huge mystery to me, but more than that, it's even a bigger injustice towards far better bands that deserve the support of the metal fans. I realize that I'm starting to sound like a broken record when it comes to power/heavy metal releases, but can you blame me when the very genre is pretty much the ultimate broken record? Case in point, there are plenty of moments where Mind Odyssey are attempting to sound 'epic' through a spacey production and huge guitar riffs, but the whole echoing soundscape complete with distantly pounding drums has been done so many times over and over again that to call it anything else than cliché and predictable could almost be classified as a crime against humanity.

Furthermore, what does it tell you if after something like ten listens I can't remember a single passage from the record? I don't think it needs to be mentioned, but I'll say it anyway: it means that the record lacks originality, punch, urgency, and pretty much all the elements that separates an utterly average record from a decent, let alone a good record. It's only ironic that Mind Odyssey have titled their record "Time To Change It" when in fact they're not straying the slightest bit out of the textbook examples. Seriously, it's about time for us music fans to make a stand and let power metal bands know that we don't want more of the same crap shoved down our throats year-on-year. Even if you're into that type of thing, you could always turn to chart music because that's essentially what power metal has become: formulaic, uninspired music for the (German) masses.

3

Download: Enemy Daggers
For the fans of: Generic power/heavy metal with prog tendencies
Listen: Myspace

Release date 02.03.2009
Napalm Records

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