MIND GAMES

I'm wandering quite often about the past and the future of the so called progressive metal music. After all, the conclusion of my inner thoughts was rather disappointing... Very few artists have taken seriously their intentions and even fewer succeeded to present to the public a refreshing and non predictable musical proposition.

Everwood belong to the brave new generation that still has self consciousness, true belief to the vision and the guts to record a remarkable set of dynamic compositions that will surely "touch" the sensitive chords of every serious prog metal fan. The production is simply outstanding (I still can't find a logical reason to explain why the Greek bands & studios aren't able to reach such quality), the magnificent artwork reminded me a lot of Arena's previous opus "Contagion" and what I can really say about the content of the album?

"Mind Games" is quite long in duration but on the contrary there isn't a single non inspiring or mediocre song that flows into boredom. The expressive and lyrical approach of their singer (although I insist that his interpretation owes much more to prog rock performers than modern metal vocalists) is surely the ace in the sleeve of the band but hopefully it's not the only one. The overall songs structure has similarities with Poverty's No Crime's composing way, one of the most honest and decent European prog bands but after all I don't think this is the main point in our case.

I've listened many times the album and I confess that the more I'm listening it, the more I discover well hidden rhythms and melodies which can't be traced from the beginning. "Mind Games" is a rich effort by all this means. The orchestrations are beautifully placed in such a way that leaves no hesitation about the potential of the quintet and its ability to fulfill our expectations for high class, melodic and powerful progressive metal. And mark the word METAL if you please.

In conclusion, the excitement I felt for this record is something that I truly want to share with every fan/supporter of this music. Make a favor to yourselves and buy this album. Regrets don't come easy and be sure that in the case of Everwood, they'll never hit your door. Simply essential!