JOURNEY OF A ROUGH DIAMOND

WOW! - Mind Key must be rated up with their other Italian colleagues Empty Tremor and DGM. This is the album that DGM should've come up with after Hidden Place - but that's another review. Back to JOARD. This is awesome. Superb song structures and brilliantly executed by some very talented musicians. Melodic, jazzy in places, heavy in others but always progressive. Vocalist has a great mid-range voice which compliments both the up- tempo and the slower passages - shame he has now been replaced. Rhythm section, particularly the drums are amazing - Mike Portnoy would be proud of this guy! This has to be one of the best debut albums I've heard. Fans of all progressive and melodic metal should add this to their collection as well as those into Journey, Toto and Kansas. Fantastic!