Jack Of All Metal
Melodic, progressive and power are three adjectives that can be thrown at Mind Odyssey because across an album of theirs they can arguably encapsulate the aspects of all three genres. They're hardly the most well known metal band in the world, in fact the opposite could be said, but this German outfit have been churning out albums since 1993's 'Keep It All Turning'. Three more albums followed, 1995's 'Schizophrenia', 1998's 'Nailed To The Shade' and 1999's orchestral washed 'Signs'. The band entered hiatus mode until 2008 when a 'Best Of…' appeared and now 'Time To Change It' demonstrates that heavy metal is perhaps no worse off with a Mind Odyssey album.
The album kicks into gear with the fist pumping rocker 'Riding And Ruling'. It's a pretty standard rocker that Andi Deris can write with both hands tied behind his back. This is followed by 'Enemy Daggers' which is a much more interesting track. It contains a catchy main riff, rhythmical vocal melody and a chorus that comes in from left field. But after two songs I was still waiting for the 'progressive' element their myspace page promised. 'I Want It All' completes the opening trio of songs and up to this point the only thing progressive about 'Time To Change It' is its Dream Theater feel and sound, less the mesmerising instrumental breaks of course. This isn't to say this album is bad it just wasn't delivering what I was hoping.
With the above in mind and expectations shattered, 'Time To Change It' suddenly becomes more enjoyable. 'Face In The Rain' is a respectable slow rocker with perhaps an overload on the keyboard pops and squeaks. 'Final Fight' contains some excellent riffing but the overly melodic chorus lets it down slightly, and 'Storm Warning' is an upbeat tune we've all heard many times before. This is the problem with 'Time To Change It', although very listenable and enjoyable there's nothing here that you can't get from a plethora of other power/prog metal bands. Even the album's grandiose centre-piece 'Higher Ground' is something Savatage were doing fifteen years ago. It is a similar story with 'Raven And Swan' except Savatage is replaced with Primal Fear, and the least said about the ballad at the end the better. Only the title track successfully demonstrates the band's own individualism and is the most entertaining song in this collection because of this. If Mind Odyssey could concentrate on this type of expansive, dark and epic style of music then I'd probably spend more time talking about their inventiveness rather than picking holes in their tunes.
'Time To Change It' isn't brilliant but it's got high value if you're after something that's damn catchy, melodic and, on occasion, progressive and bombastic. The individual performances are first class and the production is rich and powerful. However, even with all of the above in their favour they sound a little too much like everyone else within their musical spectrum to really stand out. If you're a fan of Dream Theater then you may get a little joy from this, but it'd only be a little, likewise with fans of Zak Stevens era Savatage and post Somewhere Out In Space era Gamma Ray. Having said that, 'Time To Change It' is enjoyable despite its flaws, a tribute to the bands song-writing and experience. It'd be nice to hear them carve out their own niche a little more on later releases because at this moment they're jack of all metal, master of none.