| 1. Ocean Mind 6:09 2. Change? 4:37 3. Shadowed Words Forgotten 4:56 4. No Part of This 4:12 5. Leaves 4:53 6. Horizon 4:48 7. Cry To Heaven 3:55 8. Underworld 5:37 9. Forever Changing Winds 8:13 |
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| First off let me ask this, are you interested in prog metal music? Does watered down repetitious melodies, weak and overdone keyboard runs, less than interesting guitar solos, all fit into little excrutating packages that will just make you want to scream to get it over with. Lay on top of it all, a Geoff Tate/Midnight clone that hits notes that are highly annoying, not because of any glass shattering abilities, but rather with this midrange monotone, that will seriously make you think of taking the cd and using it for much more honorable purposes other than being a cd. I hear this disc makes an exceptionally good coaster, and that dogs love playing frisbee with it. Maybe the disc isn't quite THAT bad, the production sounds OK, although maybe a bit hollow at times, and I'm sure the band members gave it their best effort, but some of the time changes make no sense. And the leanings toward sounding like an early Queensryche clone are pretty pitiful when coupled with the "Falling Into Infinity" kind of Dream Theater sound, and toss in some really cheesy 70s synthesizer "effects" that will take you back to the days of Rush. I think I was more ecstatic when the songs ended than anything else, some real searching has to be done to actually point out the good things about the cd. Dwight Hill is the vocalist, and he can go smoothly from sounding like Midnight's long lost twin brother, to Geoff Tate's clone.. yeah I guess he was the first one to actually be cloned successfully..err...well not too successfully. With some work on the delivery and another band, I think he could pass for a decent prog metal vocalist. The other members of the band, I really can't think of anything good to say about at all....so on to the music. |
| 1. Ocean Mind ---
Well let's see, you have the horribly repetitious title track, "Ocean
Mind". The really sad part about this song, is the fact its one of the better
tracks on the disc, at least the beginning sounds Okay but after 6 minutes of this, I
already feel like I've been tortured enough by this band, and there are eight more tracks
to go. 2. Change --- Then they pose the question..."change?" Well if the song sounds like that, Lord, please let them change. Next... 3. Shadowed Words Forgotten --- eek whatever it was they forgot, please let them remember, for this song is plodding and just... boring. 4. No Part of This ---sounds like a Dream Theater ripoff, just without all the little neat things that make DT so worthy of my listening time...mainly a nice flowing melody and a few hooky guitar riffs thrown in. Ugh, this even demonstrates how much the vocalist sucks when his voice has been distorted to sound like one of those spiky blue haired alternative freaks. No no I don't want any part of this either, please let it stop... 5. Leaves --- Now its time for their attempt at a ballad. The vocal performance is not too bad, even though average. Its not a bad song yet it just seems to plod along, even the chorus is uninspiring. I guess we'll never know if the guitar solo is any good or not, because I can't stand to listen to it another second. It 'leaves' much to be desired, oh aren't I cute? Next please. 6. Horizon --- MMMmmm truthfully this next song is a HUGE improvement, and is frankly the reason why I bought this disc, with it being the only song I was familiar with at the time of purchase. "Horizon" sees the band finally taking everything that they do have going for them, and wrapping it up into a better presentation. Really nice hook, that reminds me alot of.. yes, the best of Queensryche, well maybe not the best, but average at least, with some Dream Theater mixed in, even the vocals mirror James LaBrie at times. The pacing is good for this song, and some chimes brought to you by the synth keeps it interesting. Of course it waters down just a tad in the middle for a less than enthusiastic sounding finish, but at least they quit the song before they wore out their welcome with it. 7. Cry to Heaven --- Unfortunately this song reminds me of "Pull Me Under" type Dream Theater, and those vocals are really starting to grate on my nerves, even though its a more aggressive delivery this time. Okay I have put up with enough of this. 8. Underworld --- Oh
yes one of my favorite tracks (a hint of sarcasm of course), uhh, "Underworld".
More distorted vocals that just sound like shit, some very annoying drumwork, which seems
to just too relaxed to sound like it does, sloppy, overdone, and way to prominent
considering how freaking annoying they are. Now let us discuss the lyrical content. I'll
give them this, they are trying to make some kind of point, what, I'm not sure, but we
have burning cans, some cheesy, father - child interaction that the song reflects back to,
where the underworld is revealed. Its uneventful, and just reeks of boredom. There's a
mention of evil dragons, and judging from the lyrics I'm not too sure if they were trying
to make a social statement or else they really believe this shit...hmm. |
So let's review once again. There's boring plodding songs that seem to be 20 minutes long or more when in reality most of them never even get up in the 8 minute range. The majority of the songs are 5 minutes long on the average, yet they seem soooo much longer. The guitar is boring, the vocals are OK yet they lack personality, the keyboard player should be shot on sight and then killed again just for putting all those synth 'effects' in the middle of all this, the drummer tries to sound like the DT guy but just comes off as being annoying, and the bass player even needs some practice. The bass adds nothing to these songs, so I haven't even mentioned it. This cd is nowhere near greatness, or even averageness, its just plain bad, and shows that even when you take pieces of two different worlds, mainly Queensryche and Dream Theater, and combine them together, it doesn't necessarily mean its any good. Furthermore, it also demostrates that no matter how many musicians you have, it doesn't mean you can record a decent album, for there are six on this little outing, and out of nine songs they only managed to whip out one decent one. Avoid this cd at all costs, unless you can get it for 50 cents in the closeout bin, it may be worth that for that one song, then again, perhaps not.
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