BARRIERS

Barriers is the debut release by Scottish progressive rock/ metal act A Torn Mind. It´s a 5 track 39:31 minute long EP. The EP is an entirely self-produced and self- released affair. Barriers was released on the 1st of March 2010.

The music on the EP is somewhere between progressive metal and contemporary progressive rock in style. This is not the most "metal" release you´ll ever hear but there are certainly parts that are pretty heavy. References to especially Dream Theater are very obvious but a band like Enchant and their more commercially friendly take on the progressive rock/ metal genre is also a valid reference. Most of the time A Torn Mind are not nearly as heavy as those two acts can be though. The 5 tracks on the EP show the diversity of A Torn Mind well. This is one of those eclectic progressive acts that are hard to pin down. One moment they play some technically complex Dream Theater-like instrumental runs and the next they are closer to sounding like an emotional contemporary rock act. The addition of saxophone to a couple of tracks on the EP gives the music yet another dimension. The vocals are the weak point here. While they are certainly not bad, they don´t really provide the music with that extra something that could have meant that Barriers would have risen above the average. It´s when the band play the instrumental parts that they shine IMO. And shine they do. A Torn Mind are very accomplished musicians. There are lots of tempo- and time signature changes in the songs, fast runs and just loads of great ideas that the band are fortunately accomplished enough to pull off. So right now the strength of A Torn Mind lies mostly in their great musicianship. They will have to work on their material, cut down the most obvious influences and work on the vocals too if they want to impress me with a future full-length studio album release. I think Edge of the World has the strongest memorable melodic material on the EP. More of that please.

The production is good for an independent release, but it´s not fully professional. Again it´s mostly the sound on the vocals that isn´t fully on par with the rest of the production. Overall the EP is pretty well sounding though.

Barriers is a promising first release by A Torn Mind and if they make the right decisions in the coming years I actually think they stand a chance of being discovered. I have great respect for artists with an adventurous attitude and A Torn Mind fits that description very well. A 3 star rating is warranted.