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MINDFLOW

Progressive Metal • Brazil


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Mindflow biography
MINDFLOW's style of prog rock was born in 1999 with the proposal of creating technically complex songs yet accessible to everyone. Linked with all types of artistic expressions, from literature to plastic arts, the band is able to project a film from it's sound track.

- "We try to activate memories and feelings through sound, which makes our song a painting with colours and contrasts."

Many classical bands inspired MINDFLOW, such as: RUSH, YES, DREAM THEATER, PINK FLOYD, MEGADETH. The energy emanated from the band members can be noticed by heavy riffs with traces of electronical music like in the powerful song "Meeting her eyes", the feeling and simplicity evident in "Invisible Messages" and "Touch of Immortality".

Sharing stage with world wide known Brazilian bands and international artists such as: ANGRA members, Dr. Sin, Eric Singer, MINDFLOW has had notability among Latin America bands in the metal scene.

"Professionalism and talent. There isn't a better combination for a band to show it's debut. I'm sure it will not be a surprise any impact that MINDFLOW will cause when it's album gets on hand of the most demanding listeners. An album very well balanced and with excellent production, working in a perfect way technique, musicality and harmony." - Aquiles Priester - ANGRA

This album is highly recommended!!!

: : : Fabiana Troli, BRAZIL : : :

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MINDFLOW discography


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MINDFLOW top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

4.11 | 59 ratings
Just The Two of US Me and Them
2004
3.87 | 70 ratings
Mind Over Body
2006
3.76 | 27 ratings
Destructive Device
2008
3.83 | 12 ratings
365
2011
2.61 | 17 ratings
With Bare Hands
2011

MINDFLOW Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

MINDFLOW Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)

MINDFLOW Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.50 | 2 ratings
Just a Destructive Mind
2009

MINDFLOW Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)

4.00 | 1 ratings
J.A.C.K. - Follow Your Instincts 2.0
2009

MINDFLOW Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 With Bare Hands by MINDFLOW album cover Studio Album, 2011
2.61 | 17 ratings

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With Bare Hands
Mindflow Progressive Metal

Review by memowakeman
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

2 stars This is a brazilian quartet that focus on creating progressive metal, I don't really know about metal genres but here I find a blend of melodic with some kind of thrash metal or even hardcore in some moments, actually sometimes I have that conflict because I cannot separate those genres, and sometimes is pretty difficult to me to find the progressive rock element in some of these bands, but well, that does not matter, what bring us here is the music.

"With Bare Hands" is the title of the fifth studio album of Mindflow, an album that features fourteen songs and a total time of 66 minutes. In some moments they use electronic elements that spice the music, however I really miss a true use of keyboards in this album, I believe that would have really helped and given to the music a much more interesting sound. With the opener track "Break me out" they give us a nice introduction, with great guitars and cool drums. However, the moment is lost when we listen to songs such as "Breakthrough" which has that kind of mainstream metal sound that kids would love, nothing new to add, nothing interesting in this particular track.

Though there are some nice melodic moments, we can often listen to a powerful sound, with emotional and in moments angry vocals, which are not bad at all. The drums work is pretty cool all over the album, Rafael Pensado is an excellent drummer. Well, all of them are great musicians honestly, though they don't really explore deeper territories, I mean, the songs are not that complex and do not have so much changes, so sometimes I feel them plain and with something to be desired.

The songs' length goes from 4 to 6 minutes average, and to my ears there are not tracks that stand apart, all of them are just nice average songs that complete the album. Some pieces I would highlight are "Under an Alias", "Lethal" and "Destructive Device", there are nice bass lines in some of them, constant guitars and nice but not outstanding guitar work, along with a brief death voice.

Honestly I don't really have anything to add, I did not actually like the album as a whole, I enjoyed a couple of tracks and that's it. I don't believe this is an innovative album or something that cannot be missed, not even by those who do like metal. The musicians are good, but I believe they have not really exploded their compositional skills, they surely have more interesting things to offer. I am sorry if I am being mean, but I am not satisfied with this. My final grade will be two stars. However?

Enjoy it!

 With Bare Hands by MINDFLOW album cover Studio Album, 2011
2.61 | 17 ratings

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With Bare Hands
Mindflow Progressive Metal

Review by J-Man
Prog Reviewer

3 stars Like many progressive metal bands seem to be doing nowadays, Brazilian act Mindflow have been slowly shedding away their prog influence in favor of a sleek melodic metal sound, and With Bare Hands shows the band at their most commercial thus far. On this, their fifth full-length studio album, Mindflow sport a modern melodic metal sound that leans more in the direction of Disturbed and recent-Evergrey than Dream Theater and Pain of Salvation. Mindflow's slick new direction is one that I'm certainly not opposed to - after all, I am a fan of both Disturbed and Evergrey - but I feel that With Bare Hands ultimately lacks the "bite" that made their early albums so appealing. Their are plenty of memorable songs here, but they are far too rooted in convention to strike me as anything terribly original.

Right of the bat, I must criticize With Bare Hands for being a bit too conventional and formulaic for my tastes. Nothing here hasn't been done before, and the fairly straightforward songwriting techniques lack enough power and emotion to avoid feeling just a tad redundant towards the end of the album. With that said, damn near everything else about With Bare Hands is pretty impressive. Mindflow are a group of very talented musicians who really have a knack for creating catchy hooks and tasteful instrumental backdrops, and every song on With Bare Hands is highly memorable. The compositions, although a bit too predictable, are generally well-structured and coherent, and even further exemplify Mindflow's talent as songwriters.

With Bare Hands certainly has plenty of positive assets, but I can't help but feel that Mindflow played it a bit safe with this effort. In spite of the sleek production, memorable hooks, and solid musicianship, With Bare Hands lacks the power and conviction that made albums like Just the Two of Us... Me and Them so great. I have no doubt that this is a very good album, but in today's crowded melodic metal market, one has to wonder if "very good" cuts it anymore. 3 stars are deserved for this solid effort and its generally pleasing results, although a bit more originality will be key to winning over this reviewer.

 With Bare Hands by MINDFLOW album cover Studio Album, 2011
2.61 | 17 ratings

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With Bare Hands
Mindflow Progressive Metal

Review by toroddfuglesteg

2 stars Mindflow is a new name to me. They are from Brazil too and they peddle a kind of modern thrash metal. Take some Linkin Park, Flotsam & Jetsam, hardcore and the sound of numerous post millenium deathcore/thrash metal bands. The kind of music that arrived after I had dropped off the scene. The kind of music that does not really excite me at all.

The musicians in Mindflow does a competent enough job. The vocals are very good. The samples are good too. The music is not that good though. It is a mix of crushing hard and some rather soft stuff, baked into the post millenium metal sound. I am sure this band and the material on this album is good on a stage. But on an album and through a stereo rack, this is not a great listening experience. The problem with this album is simply a lack of any good riffs and melodies. There is none here. This album is as memorable as a shopping list for the daily grocery shopping. Forgetable, in other words.

Good band with a half decent album. Sorry.

2 stars

 With Bare Hands by MINDFLOW album cover Studio Album, 2011
2.61 | 17 ratings

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With Bare Hands
Mindflow Progressive Metal

Review by Conor Fynes
Prog Reviewer

3 stars 'With Bare Hands' - Mindflow (6/10)

Mindflow is a slick melodic metal band from Brazil that first caught my ear with 'Mind Over Body'. Sounding close in sound to the band Pain of Salvation, the band may not have had the most original sound in progressive metal, but they executed the sound with passion and power all the same. As the band has gone on, their sound has certainly drifted increasingly towards a more accessible side of metal, and now at the point of their fifth studio album 'With Bare Hands', Mindflow has drifted almost completely to melodic, rather than progressive sounds in metal. This is not to say that the technicality has been completely abolished, but it is clear that the band is becoming deadset on a more conventional rock song format. 'With Bare Hands' may meet some unsteady ears from the progressive community as a result, but all things considered, the band offers some strong songwriting with this record. At the same time though, there are some issues which can make the album less powerful than it could have been.

As I thought originally with 'Mind Over Body', Mindflow takes quite a bit from the progressive metal giants Dream Theater and Pain of Salvation, possibly leaning a little more to the latter. Many bands are driven by the sounds of their influences in progressive metal, and Mindflow is no exception to this. It would have been nice to here a little more originality from the band though, and to a minor extent, Mindflow is developing a more steady sound for themselves. When compared to 'Mind Over Body' (arguably their best album still), the less proggy sound takes the band away from the Pain of Salvation comparisons, but does not make them any more original sounding. Instead, here the band sounds like quite a few modern hard rock bands, with the neoclassical Dream Theater riffs and Daniel Gildenlow- sounding voice to go along with it. Mindflow is still developing more of an identity for themselves however, although the more simple approach they take here is admittedly less impressive.

Although the songs are generally conventionally structured, they are well written. The vocalist here has a beautifully melodic voice that can also get aggressive when it needs to. There is not such a great variety to the music, but the songs all hold some memorable ideas going on for them. There is a dark vibe to these deeply melodic compositions, and a crisp sound to the whole thing makes it easy on the ears. One thing that I would have liked to see with Mindflow however is a more organic style of production. The drums here sound too dry, and the guitars sound triggered and far too polished, robbing the performance of some of its humanity. Luckily, the guitar solos here are incredible, and when the band gets technical, these issues fade and I find myself very impressed by what Mindflow have to offer.

'With Bare Hands' is another development for this band, and while the band may not have yet developed a truly distinct sound for themselves, Mindflow have established themselves in my mind as a remarkably capable act; be it for powerful melodies, crisp production or great musical skills, Mindflow hold their own very nicely, although there are still better albums of similar style that I would likely recommend sooner than this.

 Mind Over Body by MINDFLOW album cover Studio Album, 2006
3.87 | 70 ratings

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Mind Over Body
Mindflow Progressive Metal

Review by Mellotron Storm
Prog Reviewer

3 stars MINDFLOW are a Prog-Metal band out of Brazil and this is their sophomore release. I quite liked their debut but on this one they've created a dense and complex work that isn't nearly as melodic as their first album. So yeah 80 minutes of it makes it tough to digest. I've owned this for a couple of years but have kept putting off the review because I knew it would be a battle to break it down. Ambitious is an understatement I suppose when it comes to this detailed concept album.There's even two thick liner notes to wade through.

"Crossing Enemy's Line" has a great sounding intro then it gets heavier before a minute.Vocals 1 1/2 minutes in and they aren't normal. Not the most melodic music i've heard either. It does settle 9 minutes in with regular vocals then settles even more after 10 minutes with fragile vocals. It does pick back up before it ends. "Upload Spirit" opens with some intense music including the vocals. It's heavier after 3 minutes then it settles 5 minutes in with piano and intricate drumming before it kicks back in. "A Thousand Miles From You" features fragile vocals and piano to start then a beat joins in.

"Just Water,You Navigate" starts to pick up a minute in with vocals. It kicks in after 4 minutes and passionate vocals follow. "Chair Designer" hits the ground running and we get piano too.Vocals also join in then it settles back some as the tempo continues to shift. "A Gift To You" features soft vocals and piano. Some guest violin half way through. "Hellbitat" kicks in hard quickly. Spoken words as the heaviness continues before 6 minutes.Vocals are back then it settles after 7 minutes followed by piano then vocals.Violin too on this one. It kicks back in after 10 minutes. A calm ends it. "Follow Your Instinct" sounds great with that dark intensity. It does settle though before 1 1/2 minutes. Spoken words after 2 1/2 minutes then it kicks back in hard. Another calm after 9 minutes. It's heavy again after 11 minutes. I don't like when they shout out the words. "Hide And Seek" opens with piano and violin then it turns fuller quickly. A calm with vocals a minute in then it kicks back in.

This just isn't the style of Metal I enjoy. I can appreciate it certainly but it's not something I want to play.

 Mind Over Body by MINDFLOW album cover Studio Album, 2006
3.87 | 70 ratings

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Mind Over Body
Mindflow Progressive Metal

Review by Dunn Khan

3 stars The moment I heard the very first minutes of "Mind Over Body" I knew I was facing a somewhat decent DREAM THEATER clone. Decent as in they keys and guitar work are really good but do they really need to stick to the Labrie-esque vocals?

Around 7 minutes in, at last, I heard a very nice riff and then... modified vocals? It just keeps going this way for the entire album. For me, this album consists of good parts, bad parts, horrible parts... all mixed together. I'm giving them a 3 star rating for the good work on the keys and guitar (which I find is the only good thing in here) and I hope they create something more unique on their future works.

 Mind Over Body by MINDFLOW album cover Studio Album, 2006
3.87 | 70 ratings

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Mind Over Body
Mindflow Progressive Metal

Review by Conor Fynes
Prog Reviewer

3 stars 'Mind Over Body' - Mindflow (6/10)

Coming from a part of the world that is now becoming one of the hotspots for metal, Brazillian progressive metal group Mindflow is one of the more promising melodic metal bands I've heard in recent times. As my first introduction to this band's music, I had little to no idea of what I would find with Mindflow's second full-length studio album 'Mind Over Body', but after having digested it throughly, I am left torn by my opinions. On one hand, the band presents a very appetizing, proggy sound and stellar performance. However, the band's biggest problem lies in the fact that they sound far too much like the genre's existing giants to really take a unique shape of their own.

Going well-past the hourlong mark and featuring many tracks with lengths passing ten minutes, there's no denying that Mindflow are seasoned composers and performers. Led onwards by the strong, trained tenor voice of Benilo Herbert (a voice who sounds close in comparison to fellow Brazillian Edu Falaschi of Angra) the album makes it's label of prog metal well founded from the first moment on. With the opening mini-epic 'Crossing Enemy's Line', Mindflow unfold 'Mind Over Body's greatest track and strength from the beginning, instantly giving a powerful, if derivative journey that while at times quite effective and beautiful, does seem to cycle through sounding like a couple of Mindflow's more obvious influences.

This is where 'Mind Over Body's greatest weakness lies. While the band proves themselves to be highly proficient and skilled, they come across sounding like a bastard child of progressive metal's two greatest acts. While the proggier and heavier instrumental moments could easily be compared with anything Dream Theater has done, Mindflow seems to be a band that also shelters underneath the umbrella of Pain of Salvation as well. Many of Benilo Herbert's vocal stylings seem to suggest he has used Daniel Gildenlow as a vocal model with which to develop under. While the band does work well underneath the shadow of these two giants, as do the majority of progressive metal acts, giving the band a bit of a rough foundation to begin with.

Another issue (albeit to a lesser extent) is that of the consistency in the musical quality. The album is marked throughout by recurring motifs and ideas to give a sort of latent cohesion to the work, but the moments of brilliance are interspersed with drawn out sections that really feel like they could have been cut down in length, in order to preserve some of the lost interest. While each track is bound to have moments that jump out and really amaze, the songs themselves generally feel quite scattered, despite having plenty of awesome musical ideas to use.

A masterpiece that certainly 'could have been', Mindflow really deserves a commendation for a brilliant technical performance and having some moments that easily rival those of Dream Theater or Pain of Salvation. However, the spectres of these two prog metal giants seems to loom over Mindflow's head, refusing to let the band really develop their own unique style and sound. Until then, the album remains a good piece of work, but something that truly has been done countless times before.

 Just The Two of US Me and Them  by MINDFLOW album cover Studio Album, 2004
4.11 | 59 ratings

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Just The Two of US Me and Them
Mindflow Progressive Metal

Review by ProgShine
Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

4 stars Mindflow's first album Just The Two Of Us? Me And Them (2004) was released as any other of the band's albums. Full of pomp and with no support of the big labels. And yet, with high quality.

During many years the band offered this album as a free download everywhere, including their website (and it's still there at mindflow.com.br/downloads.php).

At first this comes as a surprise to me, being a Brazilian I wasn't aware of them at all and the time I discovered them they were already touring their second album Mind Over Body (2006).

In this debut album they have a very interesting concept where the girl Pearl write things in her diary that eventually come to be reality. And then the girl is infused in a completely chaotic world. In the music department Mindlfow was playing simply and plain Progressive Metal, a good one indeed, but sounding too much as the biggest names on the scenery (read it as DT). It would take 2 albums for the band actually get rid of these influences.

Anyway, an album that any Prog Metal fan should check, especially because it's a free download in the link above.

 Destructive Device by MINDFLOW album cover Studio Album, 2008
3.76 | 27 ratings

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Destructive Device
Mindflow Progressive Metal

Review by Gatot
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

4 stars Having bombarded myself with many symphonic prog albums recently, it's time to break with metal related album like this one by Brazilian Mindflow. Well, I had actually been listening to this album previously before I was shocked by the beauty of Simon Says music couple of weeks ago when I wrote pretty long review about it. But now it's time returning back to Mindflow so that I can skip to other review.

One thing, for sure, that hooks me to this album is the melody of almost all songs it contains that fits with my taste - and this is probably very objective as people having different taste when it comes to melody. This is not the first time I experience this feeling as it happened also with my case when I listened to Dali's Dilemma for the first time. I am not saying that the other elements of the music not good - they in fact compliment one another. Take the harmony side of the composition, I find it very interesting as the combination of musical riffs resulting from guitar or combined with bass guitar and keyboard is very good, I think. In terms of complexity, this is actually not that complex but it runs in typically fast speed like metal music - you can see how the double bass drums sound like any other power metal music. There are relatively many changes of style in the songs and the transition pieces work smoothly so that they don't sound disconnect from one segment to another. The album has a solid structural integrity in each song as well as an album as a whole - it sounds like a concept album.

The melody and the harmonies are excellent ...

If you ask me which songs are the best cuts, it's hard for me to recommend but I really enjoy listening this album from start to end. The opening track 'Destructive Device' (6:44) which starts with an ambient mode, moves beautifully when all the instruments start to blast and bring the music in an energetic way. The momentum is well maintained when the album moves to the second track 'Lethal' (5:29) and it then breaks into slower mode with 'Breakthrough' (5:09). For my personal taste I do really love the fourth track 'Under An Alias' (4:05) and two things: the beautiful opening which actually the riffs and the chorus line especially when the growling vocals enhanced the music. It's really nice!

'Inevitable Nightfall' (5:40) brings the music in heavy mode with guitar riffs. Again, I like the chorus line especially when it's combined with guitar riffs. 'Said & Done' (5:19) is another track with excellent heavy riffs, growling vocal and nice melody. 'Fragile State Of Peace' (6:05) starts with catchy piano intro combined with synthesizer follwed with dynamic music. While 'Not Free Enough' (7:09) puts keyboard as main rhythm section followed with musical riffs as a result of guitar and bass guitar. The song moves dynamically with some staccato segments. 'Inapt World' has nice keyboard work. 'Shocking Death Bed Confession' (11:50) sounds like an epic with narration on the intro part - an interesting and enjoyable track, really. The album concludes with a narration 'The Screwdriver Effect' (3:06).

Overall, this is an excellent album. It has nice melody and balanced harmonies combining great keyboard work and guitar riffs. For those of you who like progressive metal, this is one of my recommendations. Keep on proggin' ...!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

 Mind Over Body by MINDFLOW album cover Studio Album, 2006
3.87 | 70 ratings

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Mind Over Body
Mindflow Progressive Metal

Review by The T
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

3 stars I've just heard MINDFLOW's 2006 work Mind over Body and I have to say, I'm at the same time impressed and dissapointed.

I'm impressed (favorably) because the band is certailny a terrific, outstanding, amazing group of musicians. The vocals are nothing to write home about but the guitars and keys are just great. The level of playing that Hidalgo and Spada can achieve is demonstrated by the complicated textures, solos and the variety of styles that they go over in this release. No doubt the band is one of the great surprises in musicianship in the progressive-metal world. Even better to know that they come from Brazil, a land that has given us good power-prog-metal acts before (ANGRA), even though MINDFLOW is much more progressive in a typical way.

I'm impressed by the production values. Not only is the recording perfect and the sound of the disc something to really applaud; the band has also made an effort to provide its fans with one of the best booklet/cases, with beautiful artwork and even a whole song (and the album's concept) put into comic in a second booklet. The band takes the fans and its art seriously, and I really like that.

But there are some dissapointing elements to this album. And I find them where most people find this album's strengths: in the complexity of the music. I've given my opinion a million times: I love to hear technical displays of prowess and intricate structures, but not at the expense of coherence. I've hear Mind over Body more than a few times and I still think that it's very difficult to grasp any kind of structure in some of the songs. The musicians (very good nes, I say it again) lose themselves in change after change after change, never allowing a song to just, well, flow (pun intended).

Now, it can be said that some of prog's best moments have arrived thanks to challenges to the traditional structures and to completely difficult-to-get songs. I agree. But I can't sense any sense of symphonism here: this is not something like Close to The Edge; I also can't sense any multi-sectionism a la Supper's Ready or A Change of Seasons (metallic rhapsodism?). I can't even detect the broad, far-reaching maps of many post-metal songs; what is even more deciding, I can't find riff to riff structures like in DEATH. Just to focus in the genre, PAIN OF SALVATION (wihout a doubt the band MINDFLOW tries to emulate) has never failed to have a sense of coherence, structure, song-craftmanship. Yet MINDFLOW has. And that is what ultimately dissapointed me about them.

The music? Complex progressive-metal with touches of DREAM THEATER, QUEENSRYCHE, but mostly, PAIN OF SALVATION. At times the band sounds too much like Gildenlow's creature. But without the art of the song that the Swede masters possess.

All in all, a good, if flawed album, by a band that I'm sure can very easily deliver a 5-star album in the future, should they choose to let the music flow and save some of the complexity for future releases.

Recommended for: PAIN OF SALVATION fans, progressive-metal fans with a love for very progressive music...

... progressive doesn't always mean how many solos and sections a song can have, you know.

Thanks to ProgLucky for the artist addition.

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