Source: Album Artwork
Mindshift are the latest new breed to come out of the continuously growing Swedish metal scene, and Horizon is the second full-length album released by the three-piece and has been available since 29th April via Eclipse Records. The album features 15 tracks so they obviously felt like they had a lot to offer. band’sands style is very much in the region of melodic metal and metalcore featuring a lot of melodic harmonies and heavy riffing.
The album starts off strong with ‘Arise’ and ‘Horizon’ both featuring thumping rhythms and being led by heavy guitar parts. There’s an influence of some ‘groove’ styled metal that, although very subtle, works in the bands favour and gives their music an extra edge at times. Something that is definitely noticeable about the bands performance on the album is the ability that lead singer Marcus ‘Mao’ Uggla has to switch from the harsh growls and screams to very clear and melodic clean vocals. It’s a skill that is difficult to pull off at times but Mao manages to remain consistent throughout the album. His vocals are showcased at a high standard few every track but his cleaner vocals really shine in the synth led track ‘Drowning’.
The momentum from the strong start to the album continues through the first half of the tracks. However, for most of the second half, listening to the album starts to become a little bit of a chore. The band are definitely capable of writing and performing at a high standard. However, what does cause a problem is the sheer number of songs on the album as well as the lack of variation throughout. There is nothing to distinguish the start, climax and end to the album and this is what causes the issue; it’s a continuous onslaught of tracks that are all roughly the same length and that mostly follow an almost identical formula to each other.
Although the album hasn’t blown as away on this particular occasion, the progress in Mindshift’s ability and sound from their debut album is noticeable and we think that they will still be something to look out for in the future.
