MIND'S EYE

It's good that the underrated Swedish band Mind's Eye found a wider audience with this release (threefold increase in ratings here on PA, nomination, according to the band's website, for several obscure fanzine awards). But I wouldn't call it their best. Part of the reason for its success lies with its populistic metallic approach, label promotion and the word of mouth of being a cinema-ready story of a political assassin. It's on par with previous Mind releases I've listened to (Work of art and Walking on H20) - cool art (its clear that a lot of thought and effort goes into these releases), melodic hooks, top-of-the-line clean vocals, conventional song structures, but enhanced with backing synths and off-beat multi-layered rhythms. Perhaps more streamlined (songs on earlier albums did feel a bit too long) and overdriven - drums and guitars pound, vocals hit snarlier tones, synths sound more mechanic.

Dont get me wrong - It's highly melodic, professional and listenable for fans of more complex, but not avantgarde, metal. Just would appreciate more variety along all the drama. And lyrics and spoken samples, frankly, are embarrassing.

On a side note, the creative leader, Daniel Flores, has a fascination with American Cold War history. References to JFK, Jacqueline Kennedy, Marylin Monroe, CIA and the "Apollo hoax", with leanings toward the conspiracy-minded school.

Each Mind's Eye album has a mind of its own. From the cozy clearness of 2002's Work of Art to the full blown metal of 2007's Gentleman's Hurricane. Walking on H20 is in between in heaviness, speed and density. Basically, it's hard rock with huge choruses and choppy, stop-start rhythms. Unusual feature of this band that it's a project of the drummer - hence the attention to rhythm. He also provides background synths, that, although nothing special, add one more rhythmic layer.

To me, this album has a certain 80s feel to it, the bright keys and a slick, treble-y production. Also reminding of the 80s are the overlong song lengths, even though they are mostly similar in structure: introductory melody-verse-transition-pre-chorus-chorus, repeat, bridge, well you get the picture. So, even though almost every song has a strong hook - mainly in the melody introducing the verse and the chorus - 74 minutes of mid-tempo choppy rhythms is best digested in several sittings.

What I like about Mind's Eye is that, while maintaing its musical identity, each album sounds different. On 2006's Walking on H2O it's anthemic hard rock with huge choruses, on 2007's Gentleman's Hurricane full-blown metal. 2002's A work of Art is, well, a work of art-rockish hard rock. Production is not as dense as 2006 or 2007, but by no means weak or cheap (as on some DYI works), you could almost feel being in small recording room with the band, hearing each instrument clearly.

Distinct features of Mind's Eye are complex drumming (band's leader is a drummer), often shifting rhythms within a section of a song, I call it "stuttering" (verse, for example, may contain several melodic parts), excellent "normal" commercial rock-sounding vocals. Drummer also plays synths, but they, while adding depth to music, are mostly in background.

Highlights of A Work of Art from melodic standpoint are energetic opener Courage Within that you could tap danse to, with a gorgeous if brief tap solo, mid-tempo Moment of Honor (epitome of the band's style, if you will) and Eye for Eye (such a swe-eet solo and strings-like effects on the after-chorus), laid-back nostalgic Kindred Soul (with a gorgeous pastoral beginning and ending section) and Shallow Water.

Overall, I would say the album has a 50 percent strike rate, placing it above average (I usually pull 3-4 songs from a typical album). It's a relief to hear, once in a while, among all over-blown stuff out there, a proggish album of such pleasant soulfullness.

Basically this is the first MIND'S EYE album and from the beginning I must say that I felt from the beginning the huge potential of the Sweds because they had since the first musical steps something very enjoyable and catchy in their music!This is a band that was strong since the debut and album after album,brick after brick,they builded themselves a serious reputation of being one of the best prog metal European acts!On this very first LP of the band we can hear JOHAN PERSSON ,a decent vocal player which proves here an undeniable talent ,but,let's be honest and fair,he's far from the sensational voice of Mr Novak-the actual vocalist of the band! DANIEL FLORES-the mastermind and main composer of the band marks with this album also his huge,tremendeous talent an drumer but as producer too!The MIND'S EYE sound is not well defined here-only on WAITING FOR THE TIDE-the second opus-we can hear the basic roots of MIND'S EYE sound,which is present even today!Also FREDRIK GRUNBERGER-the guitar player is pretty impressive with some hot solos and offers some attractive interventions in each song!He left the band after the third album of MIND'S EYE-A WORK OF ART,and Johan Niemann took the responsability to be also the guitar player on recordings,not only the bass player!By the way,NIEMANN is very busy with THERION too,a world famous band with a different musican aproach!An instrumental on this INTO THE UNKNOWN album shines really- LIGHT WAVES-is strong enough to prove the impressive technical potential of the band and in the end we have a little of more then 40 minutes of excellent prog metal of a very ambitious and talented band who became nowadays one of the surest values of European prog metal! 4 strong stars for an impressive and convincing debut album !

Definitelly-A GENTLEMAN'S HURRICANE is MIND'S EYE's most ambitious,complex,mature and elaborated album to date!It's a fantastic concept album in the vein of QUEENSRYCHE'S- OPERATION MINDCRIME album and has all the ingredients to become a classic album,a milestone of the genre!This pure masterpiece of modern progressive metal has all the ingredients of a very solid album,made by some fantastic musicians and includes all the contents of a solid and trully fantastic piece of true art!The whole concept of the story is very intriguing and interesting and the crescendo of the album offers the listeners pure moments of true musical delightment!The presentation of the album is impressive-MIND'S EYE is doing on this album the maximum that an album can offer -the cd plus the DVD-with FEED MY REVOLVER-video and the catchy MAKING OF and a great booklet-all in a DVD format slipcase! The music of A GENTLEMAN'S HURRICANE is close to 80 minutes and in the end we have the true feeling that we just had an audition of something monumental,a pure chef d'oeuvre-a masterpiece!DANIEL FLORES,the mastermind behind the concept is a very intelligent musician and on this album he pushed his limits of cretivity,innovation and componistic skills to realise a fabulous album ,very complex and complete!I don't think at all that MIND'S EYE has something in common with ROYAL HUNT!Absolutelly nothing-it's pure progressive metal of high caliber-nothing neo classical or pure metal here -and the keyboards are not at all proeminent and very present on this album!Johan Niemann is a very talented bass and guitar player-his solos are impressive and ANDREAS NOVAK is simply one of the best prog metal singers in the world-a magical voice with an impressive range ,register of expression !The album must be heard in it's integrality and it's difficult to make one evidence for a particular song,because all tracks are amazing,the FLOYD atmosphere is present because of the many interesting interludes with bizarre sounds and theatrical voices.I think that an album like A GENTLEMAN'S HURRICANE deserves to have a particular place in the collection of any prog music lover-even it's rock or metal-because this album is really IMPORTANT in the history of the genre!I don't know what future will bring to MIND'S EYE-because they have put so high the limits of creativity and musical skills on this album.5 STARS for a pure masterpiece!

Hey!An album that is not at all an ordinary one in this too crowded,maybee,world of prog metal bands!I followed MIND'S EYE career since their very first album edited on SENSORY and I knew since then that this band will have someting to say in today's music!Since the beginning they had a strong personality,a precise vision about what they want to do and a huuuge potential,both componistic and technical The mastermind behing the combo is the exceptional drumer DANIEL FLORES, a trully amazing musician,seriously involved in numerous projects especially as a producer,but as performer too!Anyway.WALKING ON H2O is MIND'S EYE's first album edited at the ambitious label LION MUSIC and it's pure bomb!After 3 excellent studio albums,this album marks the full maturity of the band in all their ways of expression!It's rare to have an album of more then 70 minutes and to consider it perfectly listenable from the first to the last note!Well,WALKING ON H2O proves thet this band has definitelly the full maturity and wisdom to offer a very complete and complex album,trying permanently to reinvent itself and trying also to find more modern and atractive sonic soundscapes!The specific of MIND'S EYE music is here at 100 %...superbe melodic lines...perfect choruses ...great drum and bass synchronicity...wonderful guitar solos...heavy riffs....clever interludes and overall a sensational production!This is pure prog metal,modern and catchy,interesting and atractive,agressive and melancholic in the same time,diverse and various in compositions!Yes,MIND'S EYE have their own sound and it's a pure typically MIND'S EYE sound on all albums,but literally it explodes on this album!Flores is a brilliant sound engineer too and this album is touching perfection under all aspects!Very,very inspired songs and a focused attention on compositions especially,not neglecting at all the impressive technical aspect!Undoubtedly MIND'S EYE is one of the surest EUROPEAN values in modern prog metal and this band continues to grow album after album...A GENTLEMAN'S HURRICANE is the perfect prove for what a concept album should be today!4.5 STARS, to this amazing album,because A GENTLEMAN is simply PERFECT!

|B-| A powerful and brilliantly produced prog metal album with a great story.

Mind's Eye is a band that's been slowly rising in the ranks of prog metal acts, especially with their most recent release, A Gentleman's Hurricane. Here we have a pretty standard but quality prog metal album with an interesting storyline about an assassin, bringing Operation Mindcrime to mind, as others have mentioned. There are also some very slight power metal, AOR, and alternative rock influences mixed in, along with some classical, and even some folk in the track track Graveyard Hands, my favorite track on the album. These influences are blended quite well, making for a quite unique sounding release for the band.

Overall the album is of pretty consistent quality composition, with both some incredibly strong and slightly weaker moments. Vocal melodies are a prominent force in driving the music as well as catchy riffs, but combined with those two elements is some great keyboard work, drumming, and vocal harmonies, done by the brilliant Daniel Flores. The first half of the album is a bit stronger than the second, having the strongest tracks on the album (1-6), all of which I love. The second half has all good tracks, but the only outstanding ones are Red Winter Sirens and Graveyard Hands.

This was a strong release for this band, and I'm now more interested to see what the rest of their discography sounds like. There is a lot of great energy in this music. It's very inspired sounding, and the production quality sounds really top-notch to these ears, very impressive indeed, as is the storyline, filled with some good though slightly obvious symbolism. Astonishing music coming from three quite gifted musicians. I strongly recommend this album to prog-metal listeners especially. If you like bands of the more melodic and heavier nature, this is an album for your collection.

I'll be the next person to say this: 'A Gentleman's Hurricane' is the 'Operation: Mindcrime' of the 2000's. MIND'S EYE have taken quite a different approach in this album. 1.) They wrote a story of an assassin overwhelmed by guilt who confides in a priest at a church in Virginia. 2.) They've become much heavier. Although each of their albums have gotten gradually heavier, but 'A Gentleman's Hurricane' knocks all of MIND'S EYE's albums out of the water. Bassist/guitarist Johan Niemann brings a much crunchier guitar sound to the table, and drummer/keyboardist Daniel Flores is now much more energetic behind the kit than before. 3.) They thought of a pretty neat packaging idea. Along with the standard album, is a DVD loaded with extras, and a booklet with lyrics printed quite cleverly and a comic strip that goes along with the concept found in the album.

MIND'S EYE's darker sound is quite apparent with ''Praying For Confession'', with a threatening, cinematic intro complete with a soliloquy from the main character, a child's choir, and an excellent performance from the band. ''Seven Days'' pops up out of nowhere with crushing guitars and solid rhythm. Andreas Novak shines vocally here. This is quite a catchy number, and my favorite off the album. ''Assassination'' opens with a Rudessesque keyboard motif and is another jarring track, along with ''Chaos Unleashed''. ''Hell's Invitation'' has another cinematic intro with a conversation between the assassin and the priest. Once again, it's heavy. ''Feed My Revolver'' is the best- known track off of the album. The song has an urgent rhythm with an arpeggiatic synth motif. ''Ashes to Ashes (In Land Lullaby)'' has a kinda weird intro, being mostly heavy, but for the chorus has a soft moment that looks back to the band's 'Into the Unknown' era. ''The Hour of Need'' is the sole ballad, containing a duet between Andreas and Mia Coldheart. The rest of the songs aren't much different, apart of the Celtic stylings of ''Graveyard Hands'' and the creepy rhythm of ''Skin Crawl''. ''Pandora's Musical Box'' closes the album the way it began, cinematically with a child's choir.

All in all, Mind's Eye have delivered their best album to date (and their heaviest.) Any fans of Queensrÿche or any heavy AOR-ish bands will be pleased here.

Hello everyone! This is my first review of an album here on Prog Archives.com. I hope you enjoy my short review.

I will be giving this album a review for its overall feel, level of progression and construction from start to finish. I will not be doing an individual track analysis.

This is the second latest album released by the Sweden originated progressive rock/metal band Mind's Eye. I have listened to all of their previous albums except for their first, as well as their latest album A Gentleman's Hurricane. Walking on H2O, to me, shows a vast amount of maturity from the band with their new label and a good step up from their previous albums. This level of maturity and amount of advancement in their musical style and sound - not only an evolution, but a precursor and preview to their newest album - gives high praise from me.

The construction and composition reminds me of a somewhat Dream Theater-esque feel of their second album with their debut of James Labrie, Images and Words. That is not to say that they sound the same, rather it is that the level of progression, evolution of sound, construction, and instrumental choice and arrangement feel similar. As such, again due to level of progression from their previous albums, I give this praise again in terms of compositional elements, diversity and arrangement.

The overall feel of the album is a slightly heavier, yet loftier, feeling album, with some good scores of passion mixed in there. The post-production and mastering of the album sounds much more crisp and solid than all of their previous works, and the vocal performance has taken a large leap. Again, this is a good preview of what their future album sounds like and the amount of growth - like the acceleration of a Ferrari Testarossa - does not slow down from A Work of Art, to this one, to A Gentleman's Hurricane. Musical performances also feel more polished as well and the band delivers a good performance overall.

As a static rating with no previous comparisons, I would give this album a 3.4 to a 3.5 out of five. However, taking into account the amount of progression they have made and the good sense of direction they had to get to A Gentleman's Hurricane, their effort cannot be ignored. Thus, I rate this album as a solid 4/5.

Similar to Dream Theater's progression from When Dream and Day Unite to Images and Words, this album reflects the same effort, growth, and promise. Originally, I began listening to their latest album out of curiosity based on the rating this album had on the front page of Prog Archives. I then listened to their other albums - starting from their first all the way to this one. Now, after listening to this album over four times and taking everything I have mentioned into account, I can say that this album is approved for my rating.

I hope you have enjoyed my first review! Keep an eye out for more of my reviews on Prog Archives.

Until Darkness Falls,

- Shadow -

This album was originally a self-titled demo by a young band called Afterglow, who would later become known as MIND'S EYE. It was released in 1994, but has been remastered, given new artwork, and released through Lion Music in 2008. The music on this album is very different from Mind's Eye's current sound.

The band itself was much different too. They were much younger (most of them in their late teens), and had a different singer back then, Germán Pascual. Pascual's vocal style is very similar to that of Stratovarius' Timo Kotipelito, and it fits the music well, which is more of a raw power metal than the prog rock/metal of Mind's Eye's current days. Here, ''No Exit''-era Fates Warning is their most prominent influence. All of the songs here are heavy, but aren't very cohesive, a sign of the band's inexperience. Plus they aren't too memorable, one exception being the intro to A Thousand Nights After The Last Sundown, which shows that even at the age of 15, Daniel Flores can play some kickass drumbeats.

All in all, if you dig more of a power metal type of release, or if you are a hardcore ME fan, you should get this album. But, this is NOT the place to begin if you are new to Mind's Eye. Try out ''A Gentleman's Hurricane'' for starters instead.