• New Music Reviews
• |
• Archives
• |
• News
• |
• Submissions
• |
• About
• |
• 
• |
• 

February 2025

• Craig Brooks: Desolation Freeway
• Mantric Momentum: Alienized
• Pattern-Seeking Animals: Friend Of All Creatures
• Crazy Lixx: Thrill Of The Bite
• Ginger Evil: The Way It Burns
• Dream Theater: Parasomnia
• Tyran: Tyran's Oath
• Saber: Lost In Flames

January 2025

• Wildness: Avenger
• The Ferrymen: Iron Will
• Labyrinth: In The Vanishing Echoes Of Goodbye
• Bonfire: Higher Ground
• The Big Deal: Electrified
• Landfall: Wide Open Sky

December 2024

• After Lapse: Pathways
• Illusion Force: Halfana
• Powell-Payne: Voilá

November 2024

• Sunstorm: Restless Fight
• Storace: Crossfire
• Voodoo Circle: Hail To The King
• Lionville: Supernatural
• Starchaser: Into The Great Unkown
• Empires Of Eden: Guardians Of Time
• Lonerider: Down In The Dust
• Seventh Crystal: Entity
• Neal Morse & The Resonance: No Hill For A Climber
• Beardfish: Songs For Beating Hearts
• Impellitteri: War Machine
• Brothers Of Metal: Fimbulvinter

October 2024

• Casandra's Crossing: Garden Of Earthly Delights
• DGM: Endless
• Daytona: Garder la Flamme
• Fate: Reconnect 'N Ignite
• Frost*: Life In The Wires
• Aries Descendant: From The Ashes Of Deceit
• Fans Of The Dark: Video
• Radioactive: Reset
• House Of Lords: Full Tilt Overdrive
• Cleanbreak: We Are The Fire

[ More Music Reviews ]

Mindcrime: Checkmate The King

Hard Rock/Heavy Metal

3.0/5.0

Website Facebook YouTube
Red Cat Records
Words: Craig Hartranft  Added: 17.09.2014

I suspected as much when I was pitched the band for review. Mindcrime began as a Queensryche tribute band in Italy about five years ago. (If you check their Facebook page, they do a good job of ripping off the band's logo.) In recent years they've been working on original material, with Checkmate The King being their debut album.

Mindcrime: just hanging out.

The good news is Mindcrime doesn't intentionally sound like Queensryche within these eleven original songs. The bad news is that neither the band or the songs sound all that interesting. Most times the songs sound chunky, flat, and overly deliberate in their presentation like they were either over-rehearsed or put together by, well, a cover band. Until Once Upon a Day, I struggled to endure the first half of this album.

But there are some high points. A anthem or ballad, Once Upon a Day had an interesting arrangement using both acoustic and electric guitar, but yet still seemed laborious. A similar song is You Always Believed in Me which has this light start with guitar and voice. As for the rest of the songs, sadly, nothing really caught my attention or interest. However, across the album, the lead guitar work is quite good and interesting, probably the best thing about the album. Bruno Baudo' vocals not so much. He's adequate, but seemed to sound the same on nearly every song. And being a former Queensryche tribute band, I'm not sure if he has anything in common with Geoff Tate. This, in turn, makes me wonder if they're any good at being a Queensryche tribute band. Give the band kudos for their effort, but there's more work to be done before I'm willing to listen again.

Note: All Amazon advertising in this review first benefits the artist, then Craig Hartranft also receives a residual. Click, and thanks for your support.

The good news is Mindcrime doesn't intentionally sound like Queensryche within these 11 original songs. The bad news is that neither the band or the songs sound all that interesting.

Alphabetical Index

By now it's old news. Everybody in the prog universe knows: Dream Theater got the band back together. Drummer and founding member Mike Portnoy returned to his Dream Theater family to celebrate their 40th ... [ Read More ]