With their 3rd release, Mindmaze from Allentown, Pennsylvania spent some time on the road recently opening for Arkona and Sirenia. As a huge fan of Sirenia, I thought I would check out who the opening bands are, as they were new to me. Mindmaze sounded good as I listened to some sound clips online before the show in Toronto. I wanted to make sure I got down early enough to the show to check them out. With amazement, I was blown away with their energy and the rocking vocals. After their set, I went down and met the lead singer Sarah Teets and, of course, picking up their brand new release Resolve released April 28th, 2017. After Sirenia played I found myself back at the merchandise booth speaking to the lead guitarist Jeff Teets. Next thing I know I am picking up their first two releases, Back From The Edge and Mask Of Lies. Resolve is their second release on Inner Wound Recordings.
As I have been listening to Resolve many times and enjoyed this release, I felt I needed to share this experience with everyone. The album gives me a feeling of a complete concept storyline.
The story starts with “Reverie”, a hard rocking instrumental which leads into “Fight The Future”. Fast riffs leading into the clean vocals of Sarah. This has a classic 80’s heavy metal feel with the fast guitars and pounding drums throughout. “In The Void” is an instrumental with lots of keys slowing the pace down before getting into “Drown Me”. Over eight minutes this track has lots of elements which lean mostly to the heavy sound of MindMaze.
The single “Sign Of Life” is a rocking melodic song and Sarah is pure genius. On guitar, Jeff shows his talent with his fingers dancing on the fretboard during the solo.
“Abandon” is a hard rocking track with lots of footwork on the drums by Mark Bennett. Sarah shows her range with some screams but keeps it clean without the growls.
Another instrumental “Sanity’s Collapse” is a great little track while “One More Moment” slows the pace down starting out with Jeff on keys and the beautiful talented vocals of Sarah. Adding a bit of strings gives this track a symphonic feel but keeps to the hard rock ballad style the band set out to accomplish.
“Twisted Dream” is just under 7 minutes starting off with almost 2 minutes of instrumental before the Sarah kicks in. Sarah brings you into her twisted mind throughout this track with her hypnotizing sound. Full of different styles of music and vocal texture, this song is exactly what the title is about.
“True Reflection” kicks off with a rocking riff and some killer base by Rich Pasqualone. Heading towards the melodic sound, this is one of my favorite tracks even though I have been rocking to all that I have heard so far on this album.
“Shattered Self” is another fast paced heavy track with lots of guitar work and a hint of Iron Maiden sound.
“Release” brings in the acoustic guitar on this slower track. Sarah once again is true brilliance with this performance. Bringing in the electric guitar with a great melodic solo.
The last track on the album, “The Path To Perseverance” is just under 12 minutes. It is a well-written song that has brought out the best of MindMaze. I am not usually a fan of long tracks but this story has me listening deeply into this track.
Overall I have really enjoyed this album and it will find regular rotation in my CD player or on my iPod.
If the band is coming to your area you will not want to miss this high energy show.
Check out MindMaze sites and give a listen. If you like, I recommend supporting MindMaze by purchasing their music.
Shawn “Animalize” Irwin
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