Mind Odyssey

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Mind Odyssey
General information
origin Berlin , Germany
Genre (s) Power Metal , Progressive Metal , Heavy Metal
founding 1993, 2007
resolution 1999
Website http://www.mindodyssey.de/
Current occupation
Vocals , initially also electric bass
Mario Le Mole
Dan Uhden
Electric bass
 Jan-Michael Keller
Electric guitar
 Victor Smolski
The Animal
former members
Drums
 Volker Schultz
Electric guitar
 Rocco wheelwright
Electric bass
 Gregor Avianus
Electric guitar
 Garret Matzko
Andreas Dirksmeier
Drums
 Charly Czajkowski

Mind Odyssey is a Berlin heavy , power and progressive metal band that was founded in 1993, disbanded in 1999 and has been active again since 2007.

history

The band was founded in 1993 by the bass player and singer Mario Le Mole , the guitarists Dan Uhden and Rocco Stellmacher, all three of whom had already played in the GDR for a band called Merlin, and the drummer Volker Schultz. Due to the unavailability of western heavy metal records and the bans on their original performers, it was customary in the GDR for the bands there to play the songs of their role models. Merlin started with Judas Priest classics, then had an intense Iron Maiden phase, tried his hand at Accept and got stuck with Helloween , as Le Mole's voice exactly matched it. Before he continued stylistically with Mind Odyssey, Le Mole first made a detour to the West Berlin band Splinter, where he met Volker Schultz. Splinter had released a demo under the new name Gracious Violence in 1992 , which had been produced by Frank Bornemann . Good reviews brought the band a CD offer, but they didn't have enough material for a full album and the songwriting didn't work out. Le Mole was able to work perfectly with Dan Uhden, which is why he contacted him and worked with him on a new project, which he completed with Rocco Stellmacher and Volker Schultz. The reason for the name Mind Odyssey was the fact that the musicians had haplessly wandered around and yet, as it were, returned to each other's lap. The group recorded a demo in the Horus Sound Studio in Hanover , which was produced by Bornemann. The song Illusion reached number 1 on the Japanese demo charts. In 1994, the Bornemann debut album by Mind Odyssey under the name Keep It All Turning followed via Noise Records . However, this time there was no success in Japan, which is why the band then disaffected and separated from Noise Records. After the release, Gregor Avianus also joined the band as the new bass player, which allowed Le Mole to concentrate fully on the vocals. In 1995, Rising Sun Productions, which specializes in the Japanese market, followed suit with the second album Schizophenia , which was produced by Accept guitarist Herman Frank , with guitarists Uhden and Stellmacher having already left the band. As a replacement, Victor Smolski came to the band, whose father was a famous conductor and composer in Belarus . Garret Matzko can still be heard as guitarist on the album. In addition, a music video was produced, which was also broadcast on MTV and VIVA . Before a European tour with Vicious Rumors at the end of 1996 , the guitarist Avianus left the band, whereupon Jan Michael Keller joined the band as a replacement and Andreas Dirksmeier as keyboardist. In addition, the band separated from Rising Sun Productions again because the band did not feel they were financially supported enough by the label and the tour was very poorly attended. In 1998 came the next album, Nailed to the Shade , this time on GUN Records and produced by Charly Czajkowski , before the group went on tour with Savatage . Since GUN Records was no longer interested in any further collaboration with the band because, according to Le Mole, they were lying at the feet of the Guano Apes , the singer founded the B.Mind label with a partner. The album Signs was released in September 1999 via B.Mind and Point Music as a distributor , whereby the step towards independence and expected carelessness ultimately turned out to be a fallacy, as the company and band split up in the same year. The reason for this was that the band had split up with Smolski because, according to Le Mole, he had changed too much since he played with Rage .

After the dissolution, Smolski continued to devote himself to rage and was also active as a racing driver, while the track of the other members was largely lost. In 2007 he was asked to write songs for various singers for the 20th anniversary of Nuclear Blast , whereupon he came back in contact with Le Mole, Keller, Schulz and Dirksmeier. A short time later, they decided to revive Mind Odyssey. After the publication of the compilation Best Of - 15 Years in 2008, the studio album Time to Change It joined via Napalm Records in late February 2009 . In April they went on tour with Rage, where "The Animal" was the drummer.

style

According to laut.de , the debut album Keep It All Turning has similarities to bands like Helloween, Gamma Ray and Heaven's Gate . Stefan Glas from Metal Hammer described the music on Keep It All Turning as "melodic and powerful Metal". The song Illusions is hymn-like , while the title song is ballad-like . Open Fire is strongly characterized by the use of double bass . According to Andreas Schöwe ​​from Metal Hammer , the band on Schizophenia has moved away from Helloween comparisons. Instead, a groove has been incorporated that is reminiscent of extremes . In an interview with Schöwe, the singer Le Mole stated that the band had been influenced by the previously released albums by Extreme and Pink Cream 69 . In his review, Schöwe ​​described that the band had still played Power Metal with a funk part on the previous album , whereas on Nailed to the Shade the group now tends towards a mixture of Speed and Power Metal, as on the debut album. You can also hear influences from progressive metal and jazz . Schöwe ​​wrote about the album Signs that the band was referring even more to the debut album, which for him was "melody and up-tempo metal". He also drew a comparison with Helloween again. The vocals of Le Mole have moved over the years from the pitches of Michael Kiske and Andi Deris to James LaBrie- like singing in the times of Awake and Images and Words . With the classical and occasionally progressive guitar playing by Victor Smolski, the band could set itself apart from Helloween. According to Schöwe, the first two songs on Time to Change It would sound like a heavy metal version of Depeche Mode . The guitar work would often be reminiscent of rage. The clear vocals sound like a mixture of Judas Priest, Praying Mantis , Gamma Ray and Helloween. The arrangements often have progressive or classical features.

For Rock Hard , Frank Trojan followed the early years of Mind Odyssey. He placed the debut in a row with Helloween, Gamma Ray and Heaven's Gate. He categorized in "half ballad" ( Illusions ), "acoustic piece" ( Keep It All Turning ), "worn stompers" ( Odyssey ) and "Uptempo-Kracher" ( Possessed by You ). In Schizophenia he made a general stylistic tendency towards Judas Priest and singing style towards Michael Kiske and Andi Deris. He saw Berliners more mature, more powerful and more sophisticated in nailed-at-the-shade times. The varied Power Metal repertoire this time also includes a radio-compatible song ( Confide in You ) and a longtrack ( Memories ). In his opinion, Signs songs are qualitatively different. Men of No Return is a “driving opener”, the title track a “fast-paced smasher” and Slaves of the Desert “epic”. At the lower end of the rating scale are Golden Age and The Liar .

In the Horror Infernal , the similarity with Helloween and Gamma Ray was pointed out in two places at the start of the career, namely in the interview as in the CD review, and Scanner and Mania were also mentioned in the review . Mind Odyssey is not a copy, but an addition; Melody and power formed the framework for catchy tunes, the only disadvantage of which was a certain polished finish.

Le Mole explained that the lyrics of the debut were not fixed, that there was fantasy content, as well as political topics or current events were processed. For the successor he is planning a specific, uniform orientation. Le Mole could understand that these first texts were sometimes criticized. They were actually superficial, but on the other hand one could have looked more closely at the "concept" behind them. The new album was based on a clear intention: "Simply to make an album, also about our oh-so-modern society, which certainly has its positive achievements, but is also becoming more and more impersonal and inhuman due to more and more pressure to perform and constantly growing social differences He commented on Signs texts: “Despite all modern technology and science, the world is still full of puzzles. For example, structures like the pyramids are still not fully explored. The texts deal with these enigmatic signs of history. ”The trained digital and print media designer also designed the matching surreal cover motif for his reflections .

Discography

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Biography. (No longer available online.) Rockdetector.com, archived from the original on August 19, 2014 ; Retrieved August 17, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rockdetector.com
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Frank Famulla: Mind Odyssey . In: Horror Infernal . No. 52 , April 1994, pp. 62 f .
  3. ↑ a b c History of Mind Odyssey ... mindodyssey.de, accessed on August 17, 2014 .
  4. ↑ a b c Frank Trojan: MInd Odyssey . Juicy defiant reaction. In: Rock Hard . No. 111 , August 1996, p. 113 .
  5. ↑ a b Holger Stratmann: Rock Hard Encyclopedia . ROCK HARD GmbH, 1998, ISBN 3-9805171-0-1 , p. 252 .
  6. ↑ a b Andreas Schöwe: Mind Odyssey . Successful metamorphosis. In: Metal Hammer . May 1996, p. 115 .
  7. ^ Matthias Mineur: Mind Odyssey . Rough seas. In: Metal Hammer . September 1998, p. 75 .
  8. ^ A b Matthias Mineur: Mind Odyssey . Disoriented. In: Metal Hammer . February 2000, p. 45 .
  9. ↑ a b c d e f Marcus Schleutermann: Mind Odyssey . Mysterious characters. In: Rock Hard . No. 153 , February 2000, Smalltalk - in a nutshell, p. 69 .
  10. ↑ a b Mind Odyssey. laut.de , accessed on August 17, 2014 .
  11. ^ Stefan Glas: Mind Odyssey . Keep It All Turning. In: Metal Hammer . March 1994, p. 58 .
  12. ↑ Andreas Schöwe: Mind Odyssey . Nailed to the shade. In: Metal Hammer . August 1998, p. 94 .
  13. ↑ Andreas Schöwe: Mind Odyssey . Signs. In: Metal Hammer . December 1999, p. 93 .
  14. ↑ Andreas Schöwe: Mind Odyssey . Purification. In: Metal Hammer . March 1999, p. 103 .
  15. ^ Frank Trojan: Mind Odyssey . Keep It All Turning. In: Rock Hard . No. 82 , March 1994, p. ? .
  16. ^ Frank Trojan: Mind Odyssey . Schizophenia. In: Rock Hard . No. 106 , March 1996, p. 92 .
  17. ^ Reck [= Frank] Trojan: Mind Odyssey . Nailed to the shade. In: Rock Hard . No. 135 , August 1998, p. 121 .
  18. ^ Frank Trojan: Mind Odyssey . Signs. In: Rock Hard . No. 151 , December 1999, p. 106 .
  19. ^ A b Frank Famulla: Mind Odyssey . Keep It All Turning. In: Horror Infernal . No. 52 , April 1994, pp. 48 .