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Mastermind - Mastermind IV - Until Eternity  CD (album) cover

MASTERMIND IV - UNTIL ETERNITY

Mastermind

Eclectic Prog


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Cesar Inca
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars Mastermind's fourth album finds them moving forward into the increasing amount of jazz rock elements into their prog sound, which until their Vol. 3 consisted basically of a combination of symphonic grandeur (a la ELP & Kansas) and metal prog fire, with some notches of AOR melodic drive. The jazz thing is clearly present and developed in 'Inferno' and 'Jubilee', as well as some parts of the closing namesake suite. Curious thing: the main lead guitar theme that kicks off the opening track 'Under the Wheels' is pretty Crimsonian, with a wicked metal twist, making it both spectacular and challenging. One way or another, the listener suspects from this moment that nothing can go wrong with the rest of teh album, and it's certainly true - paving the way for the jazz fusion splendour of 'Excelsior!' (IMHO, their best effort ever), this repertoire manages to portray a varied spectrum of musical ideas within the confines of Mastermind's prototypical pompous sound, as it is shown in 'The Tempest' and the namesake suite. Other tracks such as 'Dreaming' are more AOR oriented, allowing some fresh air in order to occasionally relieve the listener from the predominant sonic "oppression". Given the fact that the jazz factor becomes more obvious and more important, the rhythm section is given opportunity to shine in a more sophisticated way than in the band's previous albums (which were not really easy-playing, of course). Yet, it is guitarist extraordinaire Bill Berends who remains the frontman in the instrumental ensamble; always expanding himself on his normal electric guitar and using clever midi tricks in order to create a symphonic amalgam. A great album this is, so I regard it as an excellent addition to any good prog collection.

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Posted Saturday, August 28, 2004 | Review Permalink
b_olariu
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars Mastermind reaches with this forth album from 1996 the peak of their career so far. To my ears this is their best effort 'till today of this almost unknow american band and stands as equal in greatness with Angels of the apocalypse from 2000. They manage to creat such a solid album , maybe because is the same line-up like on predecesor , and the tight musical unit is seen here on every track. Again quite in the same vein with previouses albums, that eclectic prog very well combined with ELP keyboard driven prog and a lots of twists and time signatures, and here and there some symphonic moments and jazzy interplays. So to me this forth album - Untl eternity is the best Mastermind album, and a true carier of ELP music in the '90's, beaing without doubt one of the most intristing american duo bands from today. With all that Mastermind never was considered as big league band, thay are in shadow of other names, sad, because they keep in their music an unique sound made by the two brothers Berends. The best pieces are:The two instrumentals Jubilee and the title track Until eternity - a 14 minutes of stunning virtuosity and great musicianship, the rest are ok. So I will give 3.5 rounded to 4 , just because is another well done Mastemind album, and holds the best pieces they ever done so far.
Report this review (#191194)
Posted Monday, December 1, 2008 | Review Permalink
3 stars My entry point to Matermind is their excellent Angels of the Apocalypse album. With two strong positive reviews by experienced reviewers before me, I couldnt hesitate a bit when I found a new Mastermid IV in an online auction.

The Berends Brothers are the two key masterminds here. If you're reading this, you probably know that the band is pretty much influenced by ELP, but interestingly Bill Berends' use of MIDI guitar has provided them the unusual, to say the least, approach to how a keyboard is played. You'll be able to find plenty of examples in this disc. Too bad the composition for the whole lot of instrument is a work of one mind, so although the melodies are very very strong, the diversity suffers quite a bit here i.e. every instruments try to act as a guitar. (They are actually all guitars!!!) This doesn't happen in AotA as the keyboards duty are tastefully responsible by wizard Jens Johansson.

While my first love with the band is mostly due to the angelic voice of Lisa Bouchelle, this is another weak area in this album. Unfortunately, Bill's is just no leading voice; it is quite weak and amateurish at best, although he is pretty good in backing role as in AotA. And the brothers seem to realise this fact by releasing the all instrumental album right after this one, and hiring singers to front them in AotA and the subsequent EP. So, whilst I love the vocal melodies, I kept looking forward to the instrumental section. In spite of my disappointing comment, his singing in track 3 Dreaming is pretty ok though. I kept thinking throughout the listening how this would sound with Ms Bouchelle's voice (i havent heard the EP so have no idea whatsoever how the most recent singer sounds.

The mixing is another disappointment. It sounds like there are a lot of room for improvement had the album been properly financed. I'd really love to hear if this album will be remixed with technologies of the present day. What else, the artwork is pretty lame.

With all the good melodies and interesting ideas, this deserve at least 3.5 stars. Sadly I just can't think of this album be in the same level as my other 3-4 star albums due to some outstanding weaknesses, so I'm giving this 2.75 at best.

Report this review (#245095)
Posted Sunday, October 18, 2009 | Review Permalink

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